If you’ve been visiting What’s That Smell? for any length of time, you probably have read my stories of cooking disasters.

The worst being when I set an electric stove on fire.

Yep…I started a fire WITHOUT A FLAME.

It’s a gift.

Anyhow, I have been attempting, now that I am a SAHM, to make some nice dinners for my family. It pretty much has backfired so far, but I’m always looking for recipes that I may have some success with. Well I found a site called Myrecipes.com that not only has recipes, they have a way for you to save your favorites both from their site and add your own recipes. You can also save menus and shopping lists too. This seems like a great tool for the domestically challenged!

Many people who know me, and even some who don’t, know that I am essentially banned from using any cooking appliance in any kitchen anywhere. Once you start an electric stove on fire, apparently people don’t trust you to cook.

It was only a small fire.

Not sure how I managed it considering there was NO FLAME involved, but it can happen to anyone, right?

Ever since I left my full time job and became a stay at home mom, I’ve been trying to do the cooking. I figured it was only fair and since my husband is not a fan of Swanson Pot Pies or frozen pizza, I would actually have to learn some skills. So far I’ve pretty much managed to make a bunch of food that the dog got to eat. Mostly my problem is that I get distracted and can’t handle more than 1 thing cooking so I need to find something in a single dish. That’s where paella comes in.

Wikipedia defines paella as follows:

Paella (IPA: [pa'e?a]) is a typical Valencian rice dish from Spain. The origin of the name paella is in the Valencian for frying pan. This word in turn derives from Latin patella and is akin to French poêle, Italian padella, Old Spanish padilla and New Mexican Spanish puela.

Paella is usually garnished with vegetables and meat or seafood. The three key ingredients are rice (usually Calasparra[1][2] or Bomba[2] varieties.), saffron, and olive oil.

Although I’ve only found one paella recipe I will actually eat (I’m a bit of a picky eater), I do have to get a special pan, a paella pan (go figure) which is essentially a shallow pan anywhere from 6″ to 22″ around depending upon how much you are making.

Here’s the recipe I would like to try: Chicken Paella.

I found this recipe online:

Title: FRENCH FRY SPAM CASSEROLE
Categories: Main dish
Yield: 8 servings

Heat oven to 350′F. In large bowl, combine potatoes, cheese, sour
cream, and soup. Stir in SPAM, bell pepper, and green onion. Spoon
into 13×9 baking dish. Sprinkle with crushed flakes. Bake 30-40
minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Sounds appetizing, eh?

Some of the things people eat are just not meant to be combined together….some things just aren’t meant to be eaten at all.