Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Pizza Crust

As promised, here is an easy and delicious pizza crust recipe from my cousin, Beth.

Be creative with your pizza! How 'bout this Thai Chicken Pizza? Or just go for something simple with the freshest ingredients possible. Really, it's tough to loose!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

I Caved...

I ate out today. After an afternoon of running back and forth across town, and a little episode with my truck. By little episode I mean an annoying incident that left me on the outside of the vehicle while my keys hung out inside, on the seat in plain view. Just taunting me...

Last night I cooked a killer rib-eye with garlic mashed potatoes and a bourbon/thyme pan sauce. After all of the cooking and cleaning yesterday, plus the long afternoon running around, it was very easy to cave in and head to one of our local Mexican joints.

I suppose I am learning about my own weaknesses. Step 2 would involve learning how to combat them...

Tomorrow is another day!

Friday, August 7, 2009

That Was Easy

So far so good! I only ate out once this week.

Let me just say how lucky I am though! My mother lives about 2 miles away, and is retired, AND loves to cook. That means that goodies are constantly getting sent my way. Just yesterday, and I must admit this was a particularly generous day, I received gifts of shrimp and pesto pasta, lasagna, and home made North Carolina style pulled pork BBQ. Now who needs eating on the run when you have treasures like these partying it up in your fridge.

Now that my husband is brewing beer at our house, you may never see us out again! But please...do visit.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Ate Out Yesterday...

Yesterday I went to Panara Bread for lunch with friends. See, that's where I get to cheat....It's the "with friends" part that keeps that specific outing in line with my goals. The main purpose of this "month off" is to teach myself that with a little bit of disipline, I can save myself money and calories if I just plan ahead a bit. I however do not plain on curbing my social lifestyle.

Monday's pizza turned out fabulous, and I even made enough to send John off with some for lunch. I really think leftovers will be the key to success here because there is just no excuse for not finding the energy to heat something up for 60 seconds in the microwave, ya know?

Take today for example:

Breakfast: Leftover pancakes.
Lunch: Leftover egg salad sandwich on whole grain bread and some cherries

For dinner I am planning a beef and bean stirfry with a hefty serving of thai basil from my garden. See this recipe for the basics. Sub out any veggies or meats you want!

Monday, August 3, 2009

I'll be Eating In, Thank You

I'm back! At least for now.... Ever since our move into a new house, things have been just so busy that my blogging has fallen to the wayside.

Hopefully I will still continue to post recipes and pictures, but for now, I am going to ease back into the blogosphere by posting about my latest scheme to eat more healthy/ save money/ save the world, etc. Ok, maybe the world will not be saved, but I HAVE set a pretty lofty goal for myself.

The goal is to not eat out for an entire month! Save for planned outings with friends, I will be cooking all meals at home and enjoying them! No more random stops at Wendy's while rushing around, or lazy nights when a hectic day has made cooking seem impossible. The perks here will be that I will splurge a bit on ingredients when I really want something. Yesterday for instance I had a bowl full of fresh veggies marinated in a delicious ginger dressing and an entire 1/2 pound fillet of pecan crusted catfish from Whole Foods for only 5 bucks...the cost of a crappy hamburger at McDonalds!

So here goes nothin'

Day 1 Breakfast: Coffee and a homemade granola bar leftover from this weekends bake sale. Yummy!

For lunch, I'll have to see what I can throw together...

Dinner: I've got some homemade pizza crust in the fridge, all set and ready for grilled BBQ chicken pizza this evening.

How often do you eat out? I think I was about 4 times a week...