CATASTROPHE IN THE KITCHEN

My husband and I are getting older. And with that comes a bit of forgetfulness. We have been eating out a lot, for a number of different reasons.  So we decided to spend the past weekend eating at home, instead. One of our favorite things to have during the summer months, is a recipe I got for Italian Sausages, years ago. It requires a yellow, orange, red and green pepper. One large Vidalia onion. Canned or store bought stewed tomatoes. And a big pan to dump it all in. Usually when the veggies are cooking I add the sausages to the mix so the flavors blend. For some reason my hubby got in on the act as I was making this, this time. He suggested we cook the sausages in their own pan and add them to the pepper mix later. I wasn't crazy about the idea, but said okay, I'd try it. WHY, I don't know? So... I put the pepper concoction on the stove to cook down. About a half an hour later... I turned the heat on the peppers to a simmer and I took out another pan to put the sausages in and turned them on medium. Then... I went to watch the evening news with my hubby. I don't know if the news was boring or if we were just tired.... but sleep overtook us. We both dozed off with the stuff cooking on the stove. I'm not sure how much time had passed... but suddenly a funny smell woke me up... as my hubby continued to snore away. It took me a few moments to realize something was burning. (This panicked me because I had lived through a stove fire, a few years back.) So I jumped up... and rushed into the kitchen... to see those sausages... burnt almost to a crisp. I didn't think I could salvage any part of them. I was so mad at myself. We had looked forward to this meal all day. Disgusted I took them out of the pan, but quickly realized if I split them in half... there might be some meat on them to eat. What little there was... I smothered with the veggies, and we had dinner. The burnt parts I cut up in small pieces to put down the garbage disposer. But my hubby tried one piece. and insisted I try one too. And believe it or not, they weren't half bad. Either that, or we were still hungry from the slim pickin's on our plates. Vegans we are not. Whatever the reason... we snacked on these very burnt pieces of Italian Sausages. I told my hubby NEXT time the sausages will go in the BIG pan with all the peppers. And he agreed. "No more burnt meat." And hopefully, next time we cook here at home.... we'll manage to stay awake... so the stove doesn't catch on fire. Have you ever had a catastrophe in the kitchen?