Hubby and I went to Tractor Supply to get us some chicks this morning.(By the way, they were out.) Of course while we were out and about, we went and had something to eat. We ate at a nice restaurant. The food was good but the service, not so much. Sure it was busy, but not any more busy than a normal Sunday afternoon. Our waitress kept giving us excuses. Dumb excuses. I hate excuses. Needless to say, she didn't get a very good tip.
Then I got to thinking about how people, in general, make excuses. They think that once they give them, then everything is fine. My dad always told me,"Excuses only satisfy those who make them." And, he is right. Take me as example. I was making excuses about not having money to build a barn, yet Hubby and I were eating out. We eat out a lot. So what I've decided, was to see how much money we can save by not eating out. Every time we want to eat out, I'm going to put the money, that we would have spent, in a "barn fund."
I don't think we will miss eating out. We like my cooking and service better. One of the main reasons we do eat out is because I get bored with making the same things over and over. I need some new recipes. I thought about going through a cook book or two (I have a million of them. I think.)and just pointing at a recipe and making in. Maybe I won't be that bored in making dinner then. I'm going to get a barn one way or the other!!!!!!
So I'm also asking for your help. Do you have a recipe that you love? Please share!!!! And then if I find one I like, I'll share here too!
So until next time,
Small Farm Girl, soon to be barn owner.
25 comments:
I just watch those TV shows about how messed up and filthy the restaurant kitchens are. I have less trouble not eating out after seeing how dirty things are. Anyway you will save a lot of money, eating out is very expensive for what you get and in this bad economy the restaurants aren't buying the best ingredients, you will do much better at home.
You have a good plan. We all get bored cooking the same thing. I don't know if I fix anything different than you do, but I have a page of foodstuffs on our blog. It is on the 'Cooking With Fern' page. Hope this helps.
Fern
It's just gonna be hard to break the habit. But I know it's gonna be better for us. :-)
I've been cooking since I was 9...I'm 60. Yes I know about how boring cooking can get. What I do is pick out one of my awesome cookbooks and then cook one complete meal (soup, salad, entrée, side dish and dessert)from it a week. It's a ton of work (so easy to stick to the old stand-bys)...but I make it fun. Also I only allow myself $5 to buy the "extras"...I have to use what I have in the freezer, garden or pantry.
HA That is too funny we went to tractor supply today too and we were looking for chicks but all they had were white leghorns so we decided to wait till next weeks shipment . Tactor supply ~ popular fun place with us farmers LOL
Thanks Fern! I WILL check it out!!!!
Lydia, that's sounds about what I want to do. I like the $5 limit!
Willow, I'll take TSC over the mall ANY day!!!! Lol
What do you have a "lot" of in the freezer or pantry? I'll try to think of some of my favorites based on what you have :)
Carolyn, right now we have pork and beef roasts. And a small amount of burger left. It's starting to get time to butcher again, but I wanna hold off until fall.
I have some tasty, quick and easy recipes. Here are some from my blog:
http://goldentosilver.blogspot.com/2007/11/another-quickie-recipe-for-cold-night.html
Here's another:
http://goldentosilver.blogspot.com/2007/11/recipe-for-cold-night.html
one more:
http://goldentosilver.blogspot.com/2008/02/time-for-another-recipe.html
Enjoy!!!
Saving what you would spend by not eating out is a great way to get the money together for your barn. The other day I was feeling jaded with cooking but the cost of eating out was the same as buying a fruit tree, and this thought quickly got me back into the kitchen!
Thanks! I'll have to give these a try!!!
That's a good idea Vera!
for your beef roast....
Italian Beef, Missouri Style
Easy peasy. Use the crock pot. Pre brown your roast, (salt and pepper liberally). Put in the crock pot with a jar of yellow pepper rings, (regular not hot) and half a cup of wish bone italian. cook shred and eat on a hard role.
That sounds easy AND good!
I love Pioneer Women's Spicy Pulled Pork! Or pretty much anything she makes! Just regular down home cooking and not super hard to make.
I like her recipes! I just forget about them. Lol
That Missouri Pot Roast is easy and good, I've made it a few times.
Another easy crock pot recipe for roast or chicken is the 3 envelope roast.
3 lb roast (beef or pork) such as chuck roast
1 pkg dry italian salad dressing mix
1 pkg dry ranch salad dressing mix
1 pkg dry brown gravy mix
1 c water
mix water with the 3 envelopes until well blended, pour over roast in crock pot. (If the mixes are too overwhelming use 1/2 of all packages)
cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours
You can do the same recipe with chicken, just switch out the brown gravy packet for chicken gravy.
These 3 recipes are keepers for me because they are easy and good. I usually serve the roast with mashed potatoes and the chicken with rice, and veggies. :D
Oh Felinae!!!!! Those sound good!!!!!!!
We recently tried a new food plan (paleo). Everything else aside, it required me to look at cooking a whole new way, and I had forgotten how much I LOVE to cook. So much fun to try things so different than what I am used to.
As an added bonus, I feel about 100 times better!!
Eating out is such a roll of the dice. When you get all excited about how good it will be and then eat it and realize that you could have made something much tastier it's really disappointing. Here's a fast supper - Bacon, Noodles and Saurkraut. Cook the bacon and crumble it up. Save the bacon grease in the pan you cooked it in. Cook a bag of noodles and drain. Plop the cooked noodles into the bacon pan, add the crumbled up bacon and also add about half a quart of saurkraut. Heat and stir until all is blended. Pepper to taste, use as much bacon as you want, ditto the saurkraut. It's fast and tasty! Add a tossed salad or fruit salad and you're done. Good luck on the barn. It will be worth it.
Kate, I've heard of that diet. I'll try any different recipes right now. Lol
That sounds really good!!!!! I never would have thought to put that together. But now that I hear it, yummmmmmm!
I noticed a while back that you have commented about eating gluten free. Here are my two favorite gluten free recipes using almond flour. The first is almond pancakes but I use this with my waffle maker. They are really good. Do used the sparkling soda and coconut oil in the recipe. The wheat eaters in my family love it too. http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/breakfast1/r/lowcarbpancakes.htm My second favorite recipe is coconut chicken http://www.paleoplan.com/2009/11-22/coconut-chicken/ I pound the chicken breasts (de-boned) to make it easier to cook evenly and then I fry it up like you would regular fried chicken. I cut the chicken into two bite strips and use coconut oil. Again, my wheat eating family really enjoys this recipe. Make extra it's good cold!
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