Pet Peeve - changing recipes before trying !!!

A pet peeve I have involves recipes and people who make changes to them and then knock the original recipe. I have seen this on cooking sites where someone will give a recipe with low sodium ingredients and someone comes in and says well I used this instead of this and this instead of this and I didn't like the recipe because it was too salty. This really happens!!

For me personally this began many years ago. My go-to very easy and very good recipe has been a big hit in travels, super bowl parties, and office luncheons. When I lived in Dallas a few people at the office and I were discussing recipes and I mentioned my chicken rotel casserole. One of the ladies seemed to get excited and said she had family coming in that weekend and would love to do my casserole. Later that week I gave her the recipe so she could prepare it that weekend.

Well, Monday morning she walks up to me and announces that her family did not like my chicken rotel casserole. I really thought she was being sarcastic and said laughingly “YOUR WHOLE FAMILY?” She said that she was serious and not one member of her family liked MY recipe and she had promptly tossed the written instructions into the trash can.

So I start trying to figure out what could have happened that a whole group of people would not like it. Turns out she used tortilla chips instead of Fritos, did the chicken differently, and other things that I can’t remember. Why the heck would she drastically change a recipe she had never tried? And of course when it was screwed up I am sure I got all the credit for the crap recipe.

Now for the payback, this seldom happens in these cases. But a couple/few months later we had a luncheon at the office. I went with my go-to once again since I could make it the night before and then just warm it up that day. I live close to work so I went home and warmed it in the oven, wrapped and covered it and brought it to work.

I was younger and had forgotten about the recipe changing lady or just didn’t give a flying “F”. Well everyone tried the chicken rotel casserole and like normal were talking about how great it was and asking for the recipe. So after the event is over, this lady who butchered the recipe previously comes up to me and said she had tried mine and thought it was fantastic. She then had the gall to ask me for the recipe again.

I told her “NO PROBLEM” I would give it to her. Since it was a Friday, I told her I would bring it the next week. Here it is over 15 years later and she is still waiting on that damn recipe!!!