A milestone of sorts

I think it's well known to family, friends, neighbors and probably even you my blog readers that I don't exactly cook if I can help it.  Wanting to avoid Father's Day crowds at the restaurants last Saturday night I suggested to Bryan that we think about cooking dinner instead of buying it.  We had eaten some form of take out or restaurant food every day that week (not uncommon for us) and I was getting fed up with the lack of variety.  We pondered what to make for dinner for a little bit after the kids and I returned home from Mass and decided to try and replicate our two favorite dishes from Olive Garden.  Making dinner required us to go to the grocery store and get some necessary ingredients.  While preparing dinner alongside Bryan I began to realize that this cooking thing really wasn't all that bad and it was saving us a lot of money.  The food turned out to be pretty close to what we get at the Olive Garden and we had not only saved money, but we had also saved ourselves about an hour of travel time.  This meant we could take a longer walk with the kids and just enjoy time together as a family.

I was struck by how much we had simplified our life by making our dinner instead of eating out.  I knew we'd be eating at home on Sunday since we had my parents and brother coming over for Father's Day.  Enjoying the luxury of another simplified day, I decided to see if I couldn't keep it up for the rest of the week.  Instead of running to McDonald's or Chick Fil A for lunch with the girls, I made all of our lunches at home.  For dinner we tried to work with the foods that were currently in the house and once again we succeeded.  I did make several food buying trips during the week to add some variety and in the end everyone was happy.  Bryan and I decided that we are going to be a one dinner household.  The days of me being the short order cook for the girls are done.  As we contemplate adding to our family the prospect of one day cooking four or five different meals for one dinner seems nothing short of insane.  I really expected the girls to give us a hard time about having to eat what we serve but they've been very good about it.  In fact, on Thursday the kids happily told me that I'm a good cook and that they like all the food I've been making them.

By cooking all week I've learned a few things.  Preparing food ahead of time when I'm not feeling a time crunch works great.  I've also discovered that with some thought, leftover ingredients can be turned into a lunch or dinner component for the next day.  In the past I've been notorious for wasting perfectly good food.  Food preparation isn't all that difficult when I take the time to plan ahead.

I'm feeling pretty good about our decision to eat at home.  If all goes well this will become and stay our new normal.

Because I Can't Be That Person...

You know the person I'm talking about, the one who brings his own syrup or utensils to the restaurant because what they have isn't nearly good enough for him.  I would willingly be that person in some cases, but I have a husband who will call me on my ridiculous behavior and that makes me stop and think, and in most cases I decide I'll deal with the less than ideal situation.  I'll happily capitulate and not bring my own beverages when visiting his side of the family lest I be accused, in a non-flattering way, of being like my parents. (They bring their own sodas to our house when they visit since I don't stock Diet Coke.  Typically the only soda you'll ever find in my house when we're not having a party is 12oz cans of Sprite.)

Up until last year I really enjoyed eating at the Cracker Barrel.  We'd eat there almost monthly.  If I wasn't getting their sugar cured ham, I was ordering their french toast.  Bryan, likes to go there for gritz and their equally gross looking saw mill gravy.  I'm usually able to stomach the unappetizing appearance of his food since I have incredibly delicious food in front of me.  What has always made Cracker Barrel's food appealing to me is their maple syrup.  Most restaurants will give you syrup that is made from corn syrup (and no, I'm not one of those anti-corn syrup nuts) and that simply doesn't fly with me.  I'm a 100% pure maple syrup kind of gal.  It's also worth mentioning that when you get maple syrup on your fingers you can lick it off and there's no sticky residue.  You won't have that kind of success with the other syrups!  Last year Cracker Barrel changed from 100% maple syrup to 70% maple syrup and 30% cane sugar.  The change resulted in cheap tasting syrup that is sticky. Yuck!  This change created a  problem for me.  I can't eat the sugar cured ham without the syrup. (I'm like Buddy the Elf, I like syrup, just not on spaghetti!)  And even worse, now that I've finally found a restaurant that makes french toast that's not gross and doesn't hint at tasting like scrambled eggs (I despise scrambled eggs.) I was posed with a serious issue.  Either I deal with awful syrup on my tasty french toast, or we simply don't patronize Cracker Barrel.  Since I can't be that person who brings her own syrup to the restaurant, I have had to forgo that delicious french toast that haunts my taste buds.

In my longing for french toast I decided to go online and see if I could dig up the secret behind Cracker Barrel's french toast.  I found some recipes, but I also read comments the pointed out inaccuracies in the knock off recipes.  Since the recipe called for milk, an ingredient that was likely responsible for every scrambled egg tasting piece of french toast I've ever consumed, I decided to heed the words of wisdom from a commenter who said Cracker Barrel does not use milk.  I was skeptical, but I figured I was worth a shot.  What's the worst that could happen?

I attempted the french toast recipe for lunch today.  The recipe is incredibly simple.  Sourdough bread (Pepperidge Farm) and eggs.  I whisked up two eggs with a fork, soaked the bread after I let it get a little stale for an hour, and tossed it on my heated and buttered pancake pan. (Yes, I have a special frying pan for pancakes. It's an 11 inch non-stick square pan.)  The french toast, topped with 100% maple syrup and whipped butter (I like Land O Lakes) tasted every bit as good as Cracker Barrel's.  I am incredibly happy with the results.  Cracker Barrel probably won't be seeing me for a very long time, if ever and it's all because they changed their syrup.

Life Lesson for the Day

It is incredibly difficult, to the point of being almost impossible, to place a vinyl glove on a damp hand. You're probably wondering why I'm giving you such pointless information, right? Well, I refuse to touch raw chicken with my bare hands. Maybe it's just me, but raw chicken feels like a giant piece of snot. And I don't know about you, but touching something that feels like a big blob of nasal mucous is not something I enjoy in the least.

My raw chicken aversion leaves me with a few options. 1. All chicken must come into the house fully prepared. (Not always practical, but I do like the fully prepared part of this option.) 2. I deal with the gross feeling and allow raw chicken to come in contact with my skin. (Not going to happen.) or 3. I play Dr. Karen and put on some medical grade vinyl gloves and have a nice barrier between my skin and the raw poultry.

Lately, I've been going with option 3 because it allows me to make chicken breast smothered in Rainforest Cafe barbecue sauce and burritos (not at the same time, but I make enough chicken for more than one meal at a time so I can do burritos and quesadillas). Tonight, I made the fun discovery that it is very difficult to put a vinyl glove on a freshly washed hand. Who would have guessed? So there you have it. You now have the benefit of my lesson learned for your own future reference.

Small Successes

Celebrating the little things that add up.

1. After nearly two and a half weeks of trying to decide what I should plant in my retainer wall garden, I stumbled upon the strawberry plant clearance rack at my local Lowes.  What strawberry lover can resist .30 strawberry plants that have flowers and in some cases strawberries already growing on them?  I planted 18 lovely looking strawberry plants in the retainer wall two days ago.  I also picked up some blueberry bushes and rosemary plants for the garden, but they still have to be planted.  There's nothing like having plants that produce yummy food!

2. I made two home cooked meals for my family this week....and they're still alive!  Best of all, Ellie actually agreed to eat her vegetables both nights and she even ate baked potato. Success! The second night she went so far as to request the baked potato!  That's pretty huge since she has refused to eat potatoes (unless they're in french fry form) since she was a baby.

3. Today, I remembered to dress Ellie for Topsy Turvy day at school.  Given my frequent Mommy Brain moments as of late, I'm pretty pleased with myself for remembering this.  I am happy to say that I sent my child to school with two hair styles and hair clips, two different shoes and socks, inside out and backwards pants and jacket, and a backwards shirt.  If this were a normal day I'd start twitching at the thought of letting her leave the house like this.