LOL I've done that a few times too. DH would ask what I was making and I'd have to say that I didn't know. We'd see when I was done! Sometimes it was good, and sometimes it wasn't. It's when it turns out REALLY good and you can't quite remember what you did.

LOL! Yep many times....the proper answer to "what's for dinner" would have been "pork!" LOL!
Linda C

Khandi,
I think that's why I hurried here and tried to write down what I did.... in the hopes that I'll remember to do it on purpose some time. It really was good.

You're right Linda, "pork" was the right answer!

I've done it to, especially when I don't check the pantry first and halfway through I realize I don't an important ingredient.

Nancy

Often I don't know what it is when I'm done. Some meat, some veggies, some starch, a bit of gravy....

My "chili" has morphed into a cabbage soup recently. A really good concoction of kidney beans and lots of cabbage in a tomato broth.

When my garden gets going what I gots is whats in the pots.

: )
lyra

LOL!! I'm so glad other people do this! My husband gets a kick out of it, when he sees me chopping veggies, stirring things in pots and picking herbs from my garden, and asks what I'm making for dinner...and I say, I'm not sure yet. I remember that happened one night just this last week, and I have wracked my brain trying to remember what I came up with, but I can't do it for the life of me!

Then there are the times when I tell him we're having one thing and he sits down to something different. Oh well, at least he isn't bored! :D

Sometimes I come up with some pretty good meals this way, and if I've really got it together, I try to make notes. If I'm my usual slightly scattered self (more likely, if I don't even know what I'm making until it's done), I warn him that if he likes it he'd better savor the dish, because he's not likely to get it again!

I'm sure I've done that, but I can't remember a specific example. I've definitely made up recipes as I've gone along, as others have described doing. I've also gone into the kitchen, seeing there's nothing from which I think I can make anything, but all the sudden a lightbulb goes off and wallah, I've got a plan. The times I make it up as I go along, and DH asks what I'm making, I tell him it's an experiment. He's used to my experiments. Sometimes they work, sometimes my hypothesis is way off!

Sally

I asked my husband this morning about the last time I did this, asked him what I ended up making...he laughed and asked me which time I was speaking about? :D

I know a little while ago I started out to make bouillabaisse and ended up making Cioppino because it just sounded better.

I am so glad I am not the only one who has no idea what they are making until they start. I pull something from the freezer or some leftover from the fridge then peruse the pantry for ingredients. When my kids were little and I couldn't give what I made a name (because I didn't use a recipe) the kids would wait until their father tasted it before they would eat it. Because if my DH didn't like it we ordered out pizza. Only one time in 32 years did we have to order out. And to this day if I make something he really likes, he always comments "we'll never have this again will we, because you don't know how you made it!" and of course there have been those time when he said the meal was ok but don't make it again. Like others I have on occassion written down the directions and have made it again but it never gets the same way twice because I don't measure herbs & spices.

Serendipitous event: 40 years ago I had a recipe for the very best Oatmeal Chocolate Fudge Cake ever. Once when visiting the ILs I was asked to bake 2 cakes because there would be soooo many people for supper. As I was making the batter for these two OCFCs a big todo occurred AND I was told that two families wouldn't be coming. So.... I changed the recipe from two to one.... but forgot that I had already doubled certain ingredients.... like the chocolate. The cake was far superior to the old "very best ever" recipe, and so the recipe I've used for the last 36 years is "fantastic."

And, yes, I also make last minute substitutions all the time.... usually with good results.

Hmm-Westelle--that sounds like HEALTHY chocolate fudge cake!

Do you share?

Hey, if you've gotta double up on something, make it chocolate every time!

Sally

Yep. BTDT.

My standard answer to the "What's for dinner" question is "FOOD".
DH doesn't ask much anymore...LOL.

Usually he just sniffs, looks in the pot and waits to taste. He's very tolerant of my experiments. On a rare occasion, he'll ask me to limit the number of 'experimental' meals for awhile. That's when I know he's ready for a Meatloaf/Mashed Potato/Green Bean night!!

Deanna (love the 'savor it, you'll never get it again' idea!)

I read these to DH and, boy, did he identify!