It’s OK. We’ve all had them. Whether it’s dropping the turkey, overcooking the turkey (it seems many things can go wrong with a turkey!) or perhaps misreading a recipe, we all have a holiday whoopsie to share! Finally, we don’t have to be embarrassed of these faux pas! Finally, we can celebrate them! Thanks to Campbell’s Canada, not only can you celebrate your Holiday Secret, you can actually win big by sharing it with the world!
Campbell’s is asking Canadians to confess their holiday secrets at CampbellsHolidaySecrets.ca and by doing so they’re giving you the opportunity to win 1 of 100 Prepaid Gift Cards valued at $100 each! Amazing! You can use that money to buy a new tablecloth for the one your spilled wine ruined, or maybe a turkey to make up for the extra crunchy one you made last year. Whatever your gaffe is, get it off your shoulders by sharing it and you’re in to win!
Not to put forth my readers into the land of embarrassment alone, I shared my holiday secret already:
I can still remember looking at the bowl of salad and trying to figure out what went wrong! Thankfully, over the years I’ve managed to master my caesar salad dressing recipe and I haven’t had a repeat of that mistake!
Visit Campbell’s Holiday Secrets now and click “Confess Here” to get started! Be sure to browse other confessions too – such a fun read! But hurry – you only have until December 30th to be entered to win! Full rules and regs here.
Need some tips on how to avoid mistakes and keep your guests smiling? Here are some great ideas from Campbell’s:
Pepperidge Farm® Cracker Chips – Fill a bowl with these and no one will notice that dinner’s late!
The bold flavour and crunch of a chip, baked into a wholesome cracker, will leave guests satisfied with these yummy snacks while you scramble to get dinner on the table. Five whole grains, delicious ingredients like savoury real garlic and 60% less fat than 20g of the leading potato chip, your guests can indulge without the guilt!
Campbell’s® Ready to Use Broth – Brings flavour to dishes and helps prevent dry conversation.
While there’s no guarantee that all of Uncle Wayne’s jokes will be winners, your Classic Holiday Stuffing will be! Campbell’s Ready to Use Chicken Broth adds a mouth full of flavour to your holiday meals, with a simple pour straight from the box.
Campbell’s® Condensed Soup – The perfect foundation for classic recipes (that even your mother-in-law will love).
So you burned the turkey last year – who didn’t!? It’s time to redeem yourself. Campbell’s Condensed Soup is “Step 1” in a variety of great recipes, including fan (and in-law) favourite Ultra Creamy Mashed Potatoes. Start with great flavours, plus a glass of wine for the chef, and you’ll be sure to satisfy even the fussiest guests.
Pepperidge Farm® Cookies – Put your foot in your mouth? Your guests would prefer these.
Two easy steps to salvage a holiday faux-pas:
1) Remove foot from mouth
2) Replace foot with Pepperidge Farm® Cookies
Simple! Alternatively, whip up a batch of festive Reindeer Cupcakes decorated with Pepperidge Farm® Monaco® Double Chocolate Cookies. A little something sweet to save you when something you said wasn’t.
Goldfish® Chocolate Grahams – Not a master baker? Throw some of these in a bowl!
Reality check! Moms around the world burn one million batches of chocolate chip cookies every holiday season* in preparation for Santa’s arrival. Skip the stress, and leave him Goldfish Grahams instead! Rumour has it, chocolate is his favourite.
We’ve got our own giveaway to share from our friends at Campbells! Check it out below!
One of our lucky readers is going to win a Holiday Hack Campbell’s Gift Basket filled with all these goodies to help get you through the New Year! To enter to win, just use the entry form below (and check out the bonus entries too!)
How awesome!
I haven’t entered yet but let just say I have has many – including one time I baked a chocolate cake from scratch and put olive oil in instead of vegetable oil – lesson learnt … Not all oils are interchangeable LOL
My family once had to cook our turkey in three different ovens over the course of the day. Ours broke early morning so we were able to work around our neighbours’ oven times to get our turkey cooked!
i entered. when hosting our first Thanksgiving, i forgot to tell my husband he needed to COOK the potatoes before mixing them with the electric beaters. what a mess…little bits of potatoes flew all over the kitchen
I haven’t entered yet so I do not have a story to tell yet.
I have entered. I dropped my mom’s homemade pumpkin pie on the kitchen floor face down. No one knew as hubby quickly made a beeline for the market
forgot about appetizers in oven when I remembered they had fused together and were one rectangular mess and so crisp on bottom I had to throw out my cookie tray
It’s always good to remember to turn the oven on.
I haven’t headed over them to enter yet! One year I dropped a cheesecake (right-side up) and served it anyway because it was too late! It was a bit misshapen!
I entered 🙂 … My turkey got locked in the oven on “self clean mode” … eeekkkk
Haven’t entered yet but I’ll head over there next! 🙂
I entered it already. The shortened version is that after tasting my friend’s pie I mentioned that her pie tasted like one from a local store. I was pretty embarrassed about i, but she didn’t mind. I didn’t mean it in a bad way, I really like the pie from the store lol.
I have entered, I wrote about the time I tried a new recipe and ended up using the wrong ingredient..it was so bad that even our dog wouldn’t eat it
Yes I entered! My story was – One year I was responsible for cleaning and getting the turkey into the oven. I thought I has done great until my sister went to pull out the stuffing and pulled out paper towels as well. I forgot to take them out before I stuffed the bird, I still get reminded of it every year!
I did enter the contest. I once made marbles brownies for a family dinner and forgot a key ingredient, flour, in one of the batters. I served them anyway and everyone loved the “fudgey” brownies.
I did enter the contest – One year I burnt my mashed potatoes and it was horrid. We still ate them and then we all got sick. Worst memory every!
I have not entered yet but I will!
I did enter the contest. In my rush to make food & table setting perfect. I did not completely latch the table leaf & my husband ended up wearing a jug of gravy
Messed up yorkshire pudding and we all still ate it anyways.. hah
I shared my story about tomato soup and juice.
I haven’t entered the Campbell’s contest. The worst I ever did was to use baking soda in stead of baking powder once.
I haven’t entered yet. But my mini disaster was dropping the turkey when I was taking it out of the pan. Not on the floor,thankfully, just on the oven door. I picked it up as best as I could,carved it myself and no one found out.
My disaster was leaving the savory out of the dressing when cooking a turkey dinner for my husband’s family. Newfoundland Savory is a must.
I did enter. I strong armed my friend’s grandpa to the ground (unintentionally!) when pulling open a Christmas cracker.
Haven’t entered yet, but now I will! Thanks for the heads up!
I have entered the Campbell’s Holiday Secret contest. I had a mishap with cabbage rolls. Resulting in a small fire in the stove, a house full of people and a lot of smoke. End result house fine, no cabbages rolls that year, big mess.
I have entered the Campbells holiday secrets contest …. 2 years in a row our oven with the Turkey cooking blew the element in the stove, and both times we were able to find a replacement element . One year we got one from a stove down the street out at he curb left out for the garbage pick-up. We believed in Christmas miracles for sure that year. The next year when the element blew we were lucky to have a neighbour lend us their oven, and yes they actually brought us their oven lol. They rented our basement lol and were going out for their turkey dinner. Both times it ended well and is a good story to tell.
I did enter about a week ago. I wrote about my father drinking to many holiday drinks and falling into the Christmas tree.
I shared my story about making deviled eggs and mixing the paprika INTO the eggs rather than sprinkling on top – they were bright orange 😛
I was making pizza and the crust was overcooked on the bottom was my story. Needless to say, I learnt to cook pizza on TOP rack in oven.
https://twitter.com/FabFitandFrugal/status/545392067984502784 here is my story
I have not entered. Once I was so excited to bake my cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. I burnt them . Seriously. what a buzz kill. Today it is still the joke every Christmas.
i didnt thaw the turkey out all the way so it was not a success
I accidentally used curry powder instead of cinnamon when making a cake!.
yes i entered
I have burnt the turkey on more than one occasion.
I’ve entered – I had family bring mouldy strawberries as their dinner contribution. Fortunately, I already had a dessert made.
i have entered, but my neighbors mashed potatoes, nasty 🙁
One time I made some sweet marie bars for a get together and they turned out rock hard! I was so embarrassed with them but felt even worse for the poor unlucky soul who took one at the get together!
Bringing over my first handmade pie … to forget it was baking in the oven, until the smoke detector went off … and the dog started barking … and it slipped past “golden brown”. I’m no longer allowed to bring over desserts that are not fully cooked.
one time i made cookies but grabbed the jar of salt instead of sugar by accident
no,I have n`t entered yet,,going to check it out right now!
I entered about one of the first times I made the turkey, for some reason, I thought I should start cooking it at 4 pm. Needless to say, it was not ready until way past dinner (pizza).
My very first attempt at making a cheesecake I was so happy it didn’t crack. I was being so careful taking it out of the oven except when I missed the counter and it fell to the ground, top side down!
I have burnt multiple things at multiple occasions
I entered. A few years ago I picked up pre-made food and told people I was the one who made it.
I haven’t entered yet but I will right after!
I did not enter contest yet! But plan to soon!
No I have not entered yet so don’t have a story to relate.
I did enter. I told the story about how I couldn’t resist my mom’s apple blueberry pie. I only meant to have a small slice, but I ended up eating more than half and I had to buy a regular apple pie to replace hers before she noticed.
Yes, I entered. My story is that I was making meatloaf and forgot the breadcrumbs so we had a very soft and messy loaf. We ended up adding some spices and had tacos!
Have not entered yet. But last year we had company over for the holiday and the finger foods in the oven. Did not pay attention to the temp I put the oven on and when I went to check them the outside of lots of them where burnt. Had nothing else at all to serve so I hid in the kitchen to “scrape” off the first layer. I served them and they were not too bad!
I did enter. My story is about using the new convection oven to cook the turkey. Long story short, the outside was lovely golden brown, the inside RAW! Dinner was a little late while I finished cooking the turkey.
One time for Christmas dinner I forgot to cook the potatoes. I just realized it when I began to serve dinner. Thank God for the microwave. It only took a few minutes to bake the potatoes.
First time I baked a cake didn’t turn out so well. So I bought a cake from the local bakery and passed it off as mine….for the last 3 years 😉
Yes I’m entering and once I served food that had fallen on the floor. 10 second rule right?
Yes, I’ve entered quite a few times since the contest started. One year I didn’t cook the mashed potatoes right (they were not ready to mash when I went to mash them). We ended up having instant potatoes that year…
It was my first year making Christmas dinner. I had the table set beautifully and everything looked perfect….except for the turkey. My hubby had bought a HUGE fresh turkey and when I cut into it, it was still raw. We wound up eating a turkey-less turkey dinner – but had nothing but turkey for the next week! Oops!
I did enter I have said the dog had taken the turkey off the counter and he was eating it in the corner.
No I have not entered at Campbells
The oven was acting up and the temperature was way too low….we ate the turkey at midnight!
I haven’t entered yet but will now.
I made soft pretzels and forgot the yeast when we had company coming. They were so chewy in a bad way.
I entered. I shared a story about a stuffing failure from about 6 years ago.
I will enter now
I undercooked a chicken for my niece and her husband.
I have shared a few – one of them dropping the turkey right before getting it to the table. =(
I made Stir Fry and it was a failure although my family lied and said it was good.
Yes I did, I entered the time my mother stuffed the turkey from the wrong hole haha
Turkey Tale
One year, my mom prepared a beautiful Christmas dinner. My grandparents were there and so was their dog Maxi, a little daschund. My mom served the first round of turkey and left the bird in the kitchen on the table. When we all went to get the second round, we gasped in horror as there was a little wagging tail sticking out of the turkey!!
Disaster (at the time) Now a fun family story over the years!!
Miscalculating the amount of wine and not buying enough was my most embarrassing moment.
Last year we were getting ready for a family dinner and when hubby was taking the turkey out of the oven and getting ready to sit it on the counter it slipped out of his hand and felt to the floor with turkey,drippings and onions flying all over my freshly painted cupboards.We still had an amazing dinner with veggies and stuffing and family.
Short version, the dog got into something and pooped under the dinner table! It was not fun, but it was funny. lol
My entry was about putting so much milk in mashed potatoes that a straw would have been required to eat them!
I entered this story: I baked two beautiful fresh loaves of Zucchini Bread for dessert, and on the way out of the oven, one of them hit the floor and exploded into pieces. I picked it up, cut off the broken edges and served it anyway!
I entered! I followed a cherry pie recipe I found online that said I didn’t need to defrost the cherries first! Apparently if you want to make cherry soup you don’t need to defrost them…
Yep, I entered and told a story about fighting with my sister at Christmas dinner 😛
The Christmas two years ago I found out I was pregnant so I was slightly hormonal(understatement if the century) I made this eggnog cake in a bundt pan and was so excited to serve something so fancy but of course when I flipped it over to take it out of the pan it all crumbled into a million pieces…bring pregnant made me slightly sensitive and I Burst into tears like it was the end of the world! I think my husband thought I had officially lost it:)
I accidentally use salt instead of sugar when making cookies
I did enter the contest. I once cooked my first turkey upside down!
I have not entered. Trying to think of a good story.
I did, I admitted I used powder gravy and mixed it with juices to pretend it was “real”
Entered the contest…many a failure when 1st starting out to cook.
Compared to some of the confessions on Campbell’s contest site, mine is rather minor. I used margarine instead of butter in my awesome date squares. They didn’t taste as great as they usually do so I didn’t give them out as gifts…they went to the office instead.
Campbell’s mushroom soup with a bit of chopped onion and garlic makes a tasty sauce/gravy over pork chops
i did enter and my story was eating at 12 midnight as i forgot to turn my stove on
I did enter but my answer was no i had not
I made christmas cupcakes with delicious icing. It turns out I did not crack the eggs properly and so there were eggshells in my delicious cupcakes!
I cooked my first turkey ever with the giblet bag inside. I didn’t even know it was in there until we carved the turkey!
convincing my folks to have family christmas dinners at the local chinese because I hate their cooking but didn’t want to tell them!
I did enter and used the one of my Dad being in charge of the turkey and leaving the giblet bag in! I remember as a kid people laughing. He never ceases to amaze me, the other day, he couldn’t figure why his chocolate muffins wouldn’t rise. Well, hot chocolate mix doesn’t rise!
I entered, and confessed that I don’t actually know how to cook a turkey.
I confessed to burning my first turkey and having pizza for christmas dinner instead
I haven’t entered yet… need to think of a story first! The only thing I can think of at the moment is filling my brand new stand mixer bowl with too much flour while baking cookies and having a flour explosion! Thanks for the giveaway 🙂
didn’t cook a turkey properly, ended up burning it :/
We burned the potatoes and had to secretly substitute instant potatoes!
I accidentally used salt instead of sugar when making a cake
I haven’t entered it yet – but will before it ends. I served plum pudding with french vanilla ice cream – but had rec’d the plum pudding as an x-mas gift – and I got compliments on how good it was, I never admitted that it was a store-bought version that I had rec’d as a gift. ah well – my guests enjoyed it 🙂
As a new bride, I served Christmas dinner to my inlaws. Everything was perfect….fluffy mashed potatoes, tasty vegetables, smooth brown gravy….. Except…..I had forgotten to carve the turkey and put it on the table.
I finally figured out their game… after 15 years, my son and his former wife(both trained chefs) would assure me that it is through these misadventures and disasters in cooking that great chefs are born….I now interpret this as I’ve already put 60 hours in a kitchen, I will eat anything that isn’t moving as long as I don’t have to cook it!
Here is a link to my story – we had company over and the main course took an hour longer than planned to cook so we were really late having dinner https://twitter.com/crazyladybibs/status/548246283685597185
Once I was invited to the dinner where a meat dish tasted awful, because it had lots of little bone chips in it. Unfortunately I told that it was great, since I did not want to spoil my evening plus these guys had heart problems.
Creaming the butter for my shortbread cookies when I tried scrapping the sides with a spatula and it got caught on the mixer and it just made a loud sound and everything was flying around the kitchen before I get to turn it off.
I accidently dumped half the container of parsley into the food, tried to scrape most of it but it was still so over powering
I burnt some cookies!
I entered. Classic: I accidentally put in salt instead of sugar into our cookie batch. i did not taste them before serving them because they were just before our guests arrived so I just served this to them. Now, since they were warm and fresh out the oven, everyone reached for one… and so everyone basically had to spit it out. It was so embarrassing.
I entered my embarrassing story – I was making my first pie and did not pre bake the dough after I rolled it out. I used a fresh pumpkin everything smelled good, but when I took it out of the oven it was obviously still raw but my partner still ate it with a smile. And to make it even worse I only had whole wheat flour and a raw whole wheat pumpkin pie does not taste good!
Id rather not attach my name to it thanks but ti was really messy!
I was baking pies for my family Christmas and fell asleep while they were in the oven….they were so burnt that they weren’t edible.
Turkey half cooked one Christmas. Fuse died so mad
I did not enter the Campbell’s Holiday Secrets contest, and I don’t have a good story either.
I haven’t entered, but the dash of salt became a cascade. Totally destroyed the batter.
I have entered, I wrote about making Quiche for my family and buying the premade crusts. I did not remove the paper liner from the crusts so my Quiche had paper liner as an extra ingredient.
Yes, told the story of the ham slipping off the roasting pan as I took it out of the oven. 5 second rule – scooped it off the floor, quick rinse off, sliced & onto the platter : )