I have been cooking for as long as I can remember. It started with eggs. I always wanted eggs for breakfast, but I was kind of picky about how they were cooked. They had to be just right. The white part needed to be cooked all the way through, but the yolk still had to be soft and bouncy (we called that a "boing-boing yolk"). I think I made a lot of people miserable with those specifications because it's really hard to keep the yolk from breaking or becoming too firm. Finally, mom had had enough of my criticism. She decided if I made the egg myself, I couldn't complain about how it turned out and I would see how tricky it was. So, she taught little 7-year old me, how to make a fried egg.
That started it. I loved to cook. I thought it was fascinating. Some of my more memorable cooking fiascos include: the time a friend and I decided to make a cooking show. We have a videotape of us making cookies, but at one point we couldn't decide if 2 tsp of salt meant teaspoon or tablespoon. We decided it was tablespoon. The cookies were inedible.
Then there was the Saturday morning when Scott and I were up early watching Saturday morning cartoons and were inspired by Alvin and the Chipmunks to start cooking. Mom and Dad were still asleep, so we made sure to ask if it was ok to cook something. Mom, thinking I was referring to cooking eggs, said ok. I decided to make cupcakes though... without a recipe. If Theodore could do it, so could I. Mom and dad came down later that morning to VERY heavy whole wheat cupcakes (because all we had was whole wheat flour) that were covered in an olive colored green slime/glaze also made with whole wheat flour (because obviously you put flour in icing). I still have to give props to the guy who came by that day trying to sell Mom and Dad a water softening system. He kindly took and ate a cupcake offered to him by a little girl who was feeling pretty pleased with herself.
Then, the best possible thing happened. I got a cookbook! It was a soft cover Disney's Mickey Mouse cookbook.
It was so cool. The book was made for kids. It had recipes like Peter Pan's Pasta, which was not a recipe for pasta salad or spaghetti. It was a recipe for how to cook noodles. The ingredients were noodles and water. It also had things like Cinderella's Grilled Cheese Sandwhich (2 slices of bread and a slice of cheese) and Sher Khan's Orange Float (orange soda and vanilla ice cream). It was great! That cookbook taught me so much! The biggest thing it taught me though was that you could add to something that was already good. Canned soup for example. You didn't just have to eat canned soup. You could add simple ingredients to it and make it better! What a concept! The Beanie Weanie Soup recipe became my favorite.
1 can condensed bean with bacon soup
1 hot dog, sliced
Open can of soup and put it into a sauce pan. Add one can of water and mix. Add hot dog. Cook till hot.
Variations:
Since the first revelation that you can embellish canned soup, this recipe has evolved over the years because I LOVE bean with bacon soup and I am forever adding to it to create new and wonderful concoctions. Instead of adding hot dogs, you can also add cheese (or add cheese along with the hot dog if you like). I also like to add salt, pepper, ginger, and nutmeg which just gives the soup a great flavor. Finally, I actually only use about half a can of water when I make condensed soup because it makes a thicker soup.
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