I Cooked Meat!!!

I did it!!!  I COOKED MEAT!!!

I suppose one must first understand my complete and total disdain for cooking, touching, or even looking at raw meat in order to truly grasp the enormity of that statement.  I think it stems from early memories of my mother making fried chicken when we were young.  I still have the mental images of her cutting body parts off of raw chickens in our kitchen sink.  And let me just say...  OMG!!! EWWWW!!!  Don't even get me started on the nastiness of preparing meatloaf!  And then the whole trimming the fat off of round steak or shoving your hand up a turkey's hind end...  I'm gagging at the mere thought of it!

Thanks to the joys of frozen, boneless, skinless, fully-cooked chicken breast, my dad (the Master of Meat) who makes the best BBQ on the planet, and these things called "restaurants," I've managed to go most of my adult life without having to go down the meat aisle at the grocery store.  "What about when you make Hamburger Helper," you ask?  I do Hamburger Helper without the hamburger.  And I've also discovered the awesomeness of those Banquets Homestyle Complete Meals.  Everything is right there for you.  No nastiness required.

When Angel moved in with me last summer, you would think that my major concern would have been how she would adjust to having rules or if I could handle the situation as a whole.  But no...  My big "panic" was over the thought of having to cook dinner and how that would most likely have to include a meat of some sort!  I was dreading it like you wouldn't believe!  I prayed she was a vegetarian!  You can imagine my excitement that first day when Angel asked if she could be in charge of cooking.  :)  She insisted that she loved to cook, and that she really wanted to do it...  and the dozen jars of spices that she unpacked from the very few belongings that she brought with her proved that she meant business!  Let me tell you, I ate well when she was with me.  That girl can cook!!!

I don't think Angel believed me when I told her that I couldn't be near raw meat until one particular trip to the grocery store.  Most shopping trips, I'd just send Angel to grab whatever she needed from the meat aisle while I was getting other stuff.  I could avoid gagging, and Angel wouldn't have to see her mother act like a fool in public.  It was a win/win situation.  However, the day before Christmas, we had to make a special trip to the store to get the ingredients for Angel to make fajitas (SOOOO GOOD!!!) for our Mexican Food Christmas with the family.  Somehow, I didn't time it correctly, and I headed back to find Angel just as she was holding up two packages of (I cringe as I think of it) raw chicken strips and steak and asked me, "Do you think these will work, Mom?"  I must have turned three shades of green and started dry heaving as I turned my back and walked away without answering.  And all I could hear (besides the ringing in my ears) was Angel giggling in the background and yelling, "Sorry, Mom!"  :)

So, yeah...  I don't cook meat.

Fastforward to last Monday when I decided to try "Something New" and make Red Beans and Rice with ground hamburger...  Just like Angel used to make for us...  I DID IT!!!  I BOUGHT AND COOKED THE MEAT ALL BY MYSELF!!!  I even used the spices that Angel used for it, and added additional red beans and everything.  Granted, I never actually touched the meat.  I cut the cellophane off of the top of the carton and dumped it straight into the skillet.  Then I used a spatula to separate it all up.  I tried not to really look at it until it was nearly completely cooked, and I think I only gagged a couple of times.  :)

Yes!  I cooked meat!  And it was good! 

Who knows...  Maybe I'll brave up and do meatloaf soon!  (Is it possible to prepare meatloaf without touching it?)