Hello everyone!

I'll be posting topics of the day from time to time. Please join in the discussion! Also, please don't hesitate to post your own threads for cooking questions, problems, recipes, etc.

Ok, so here is my funny cooking story:

I worked at my brother and sister-in-law�s restaurant in high school.

One of my first cooking assignments was to make a banana split.

I was so excited, and wanted to make the most perfect banana split the customer had ever seen!

I carefully measured the ingredients, made sure the toppings were carefully placed over the ice cream, added 3 beautiful swirls of whip cream, and then sprinkled the exact amount of nuts over each swirl.

I eagerly showed my brother-in-law what I thought had to be the most impressive banana split he�d ever seen.

This puzzled look came over his face, and then it spread to a wide grin. Followed by roars of laughter, so much he had tears coming down his cheeks.

After he finally caught his breath, he said, �Brandii, where�s the banana?�

Yes, that�s right, I forgot the banana!

All was not lost, however, as he took the banana, and expertly slid it under the toppings without disturbing a single ingredient!

The customer even said it was the best banana split he�d ever had. If he only knew it was almost a banana-less split!

What�s your funny cooking story, or one involving your kids?

One time when I was watching my 3 nieces and nephews, plus my own two kids, I got flustered making lunch and caught a pot holder on fire! The kids had been making lots of noise and suddenly it was totally quiet as they watched me put out the flames.

It wasn't too funny at the time but they all talk about the time Aunt Stacy set the kitchen on fire.

Hi Stacy!

Thank you so much for posting that story! I can see how that is one of those �funny now but not then� stories!

Did you guys see the Oprah episode with Paul Deen?

Paula was making a pound cake, and dropped the bottle of Vanilla into the mixer as it was going!

I am trying to find a clip to show everyone, and once I do a will put a link on the forum. It was hilarious (and no one got hurt thank goodness).

Come on everyone else�I know you all have some interesting cooking stories out there either of you or your kids! It can�t be any worse than leaving a banana out of a banana split, now can it?

Hi everyone!

I just posted a new recipe on the Cooking For Kids site called No Bake Orange Balls. As I was working on it, a funny story came to mind:

In the recipe, I talk about how my grandmother rolled perfect 1 inch balls to be coated with powdered sugar. When I say 1 inch balls, I mean the balls were exactly one inch, every single one of them!

Not � an inch, not 1 � inches�1 inch. Period!

So as I expanded on that recipe, I created all different sizes of balls, which then led to my idea of creating "orange ball snowmen coated with powdered sugar."

Well, my grandmother has not seen my different take on her recipe (which I think makes it more kid friendly) but I'm sure she'd think it was a HUGE cooking mishap!

Good thing she doesn�t have Internet access!

Click here to read the No Bake Orange Recipe:BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

last week, i bought a chicken and put it in the to cook. we did the math and the chicken had to bake in foil for 1 hour, then take foil off for last 20-25 mins.

so i put the chicken in at 4pm, and went back at 5pm to remove foil. to my absolute horror!!!! i forgot to switch the cooker on!!! i stood there and shouted "I dont believe this!!!" my husband came in and asked whet was wrong, i told him, and removed the foil to show him.

his reply was "no, that isnt cooked, is it?"

Hi TriniDana!

That is sooo funny!! I have done that so many times, and now we just laugh and order pizza whenever it happens.

Thank you for posting--I am so happy to know I'm not the only one who has funny cooking mishaps!

My nieces call them "learning opportunities"...

Hope you are having a great day!

OK - I just did this one this morning.

For a little background, my mom is a caterer, and I have been cooking since I was 12. I have been baking and decorating cakes since I was 15. I should know what to do when it comes to making a cake.

My kids had requested that I make a Milky Way cake because I had made one for the school fair, and they really wanted to try it. So I'm working this morning on it, have my batter all done, and am greasing my pan. Then I pop it in the oven and all's good.

Until the cake is done. I let it rest in the pan for a few minutes so it will contract from the sides and be easier to turn out. Then I turn it out onto my cooling rack - or I try to. It's stuck. I try letting it rest upside down for a few minutes, no good. I shake it, thump it, jiggle it up and down - this cake is not coming out. And I can't figure out why, since I've never had a problem in the past.

Then it hits me - I greased my pan, but I never floured the darn thing. So instead of just slipping against it - the rather thick batter just cooked right into the shortening in the pan, making a perfect seal.

I finally resorted to taking a knife and running it around the edges (of a bundt cake pan with all of its ridges). Took me forever, and it came out in 3 pieces. But I don't have enough stuff to make another one - so I just stuck it back together, and will pour tons of icing over the top.

Hi Bella Harmony!

Ok, now you have me wanting a Milky Wake Cake�YUM!!

How did it turn out? I�m sure it was delicious.

I too have another funny cooking story from Thanksgiving (and I know there are other stories to be told, so keep them coming)!

My husband and I have been married nine years. Every year, I make stuffing that comes out of the bag (Pepperidge Farm). I add some chicken broth, a little butter, and maybe some onions and celery. Simple, yet delicious.

We talked to my mother-in-law on the phone Thanksgiving morning.

She said that she tried a new stuffing recipe out this year, and it was one that came out of box where you just add water (or chicken broth). I told her I�d always used that type of recipe, and it was one of our favorites.

So then she tells me that it used to take hours to prepare the stuffing before it was ready. She said that after using this new recipe, she�d never go back to the �old way� because this was so much simpler. And, she told me not to worry because our way tasted just as good as the old way.

After we hung up, I told my husband that I didn�t realize he had this elaborate (and wonderful sounding) stuffing growing up, and we could always get the recipe if he missed it from his childhood. Or better yet, beg his Mom to make it for us.

He died laughing, and said, they had used the same type of Pepperidge Farm stuffing that we do now. However, the only difference this year was that his mom had used the �box� of stuffing instead of the �bag� of stuffing. And, she left out the chestnuts, which took quite a few hours to prepare. Other than that, it was the same!

I guess I misunderstood, and was picturing this ten step recipe, but was relieved to find out it was close to our recipe (despite the box/bag aspect of it).

However, if it was a ten step recipe, I was serious about begging, as my mother-in-law if is a fabulous cook!

Ok, I like to call this cooking story:

Not all Microwave Popcorn Buttons are Created Equal!

When my husband and I were dating, we thought we�d pop some popcorn, and watch a movie.

Here�s a play by play account of what happened:

Husband: Why don�t you start it out at around 2 minutes?

Me: Silly you, that�s what the popcorn button is for!

Husband: I really think we should just start it out for a minute or two, and then increase if needed.

Me: Why do all that when you can hit the nice little popcorn button?

Husband: Sigh�

Three minutes later, my apartment filled with smoke so fast, but luckily no fire.

We quickly got the bag out of the microwave, and opened up all of the windows (in the middle of a 32 degree winter day).

My husband was nice enough to rub it in too much, thought he did get a new bag of popcorn and read, word for word from the back of the bag: �Do Not Use Popcorn Button on Microwave��

I'll have a new topic of the week coming up soon--feel free to keep adding to this one! We can all use a laugh now and then, right?

Also, feel free to start your own thread anytime!

Hope everyone is having a great day!

My 1st husband did something similar to that.

Back when I was pregant with my (now 10 yr old) daughter, I worked in surgery, which meant I had to pull call every now and then. And so one weekend we had a very bad car crash come in, 3 surgeries, and were up all night. So I came home and got to go to sleep at about 10 AM.

Well, the Braves were playing that day, and my ex is a huge fan. He decided to make some lunch while the game was on. He turned on a pan of oil to make french fries. Unfortunately, the game got to be very tight, and he forgot about the oil on the stove. Even more unfortunately, the stove was gas, not electrical.

Next thing I know - I'm being woken out of a deep sleep by, "get out, get out! The house is on fire!" The oils had splattered over the pan, onto the flame, and had soared all the way up the cabinets.

We did not have a fire extinguisher (although we did the next day!) But we had 2 cats, so I ran and grabbed the bag of kitty litter and threw it on the flames. Luckily it worked. It was a horrible mess to clean up though.

Like I said, my mom is a caterer, so kitchen fires tended not to panic me as much as him, but if that litter hadn't worked, we'd have been in big trouble!