January 2002 “Cooking Tips” Winner —
Heather Slater

I spend some time freezing onions once a week and then I put the chopped onion in a Ziploc bag and freeze them. It is so easy to take out just as much as I need for a recipe and save the rest for later. Much tastier than dried minced onion without the oniony mess of chopping!

Heather Slater

Prize:

• Cooking tips: Dean Jacobs Smoke Natural Flavors

January 2002 “Cooking Disasters” Winner —
Laura Emerson

I wanted to make my first holiday dinner with my brand new in-laws perfect as I knew that they felt that I was far from perfect in any way! My husband wanted to take us all out for dinner as he knew that I was cooking challenged but of course I wanted to prove that I could make a meal just fine as long as I followed directions. I followed the directions on the turkey and popped him in the oven. Unfortunately I had miscalculated the weight time so decided to turn up the oven. It was only a bit so I thought it would be okay. While waiting for the turkey to cook, I decided to start getting ready, humming Christmas Carols in anticipation for the wonderful dinner we would have. While relaxing in a hot bubble bath, I thought I heard the phone but knew the answering machine would pick it up. Soon after though I thought I smelled smoke, so ran into the kitchen. My stove was smoking and so was the back wall of the stove! I grabbed the Fire Extinguisher just as my husband ran in the house. We put the fire out but had to call the air force base Fire Department as it was Base Housing. The Fire Chief along with two fire trucks pulled up at the same time as my in-laws. The Chief did an inspection and found the cause. It turns out that a piece of paper had fallen on the coils. The paper: A sticker with the Keesler Fire Department numbers on it! Somehow I had basted the turkey with the sticker stuck on my potholder and it fell into the oven. The whole meal was a disaster and my mother-in-law just went around the rest of the day kind of mumbling "I told you so!". Now though we are very good friends and can laugh at it but that whole day will always stick in my mind as the day I "should have known better".

Laura Emerson
Keesler AFB

Prize:

• Cooking Disasters: Dean Jacobs Pasta Seasonings

Previous Winners

Click here to see our previous "Cooking Tips" and "Cooking Disasters" contest winners!