There’s a little under a week left of Eat in Month, and I’m pretty excited about February getting here. But, I’m not letting EIM keep me from any fun.

I hadn’t seen my friend, Dana, in awhile, so when she IMed me the other day about getting dinner, I was initially really excited. Then, I remembered I was still in EIM. But my sweet friend offered to just have me over for dinner instead.

She made this delicious chicken-creole dish. It was comforting and had just the right amount of spice to it. I’ll have to ask her for the recipe.

Has anyone else been doing entertaining “in” for EIM?

***

With one week left in Eat in Month, or if you are trying to slow down on your take-out splurging, I thought I’d share some TCL recipes/non-recipes you could whip up to re-create take-out in the comfort of your home.

5 Take-Out-Like Meals to Make at Home

(Most are recipes, one is a non-recipe…which is more like a tip/idea post)

1. Easy Pizza Night – the most commonly ordered take-out in our house

2. Tangy Tamari Tempeh Noodles – a favorite for lunch or dinner

3. Easy No-Marinade Chicken Fajitas – simple and made without pre-packaged seasoning

4. Whole Health Noodle Soup – reminds me of the noodle bowls I used to order during lunch all the time

5. Chana Masala – this should keep me away from the Indian buffet a bit longer

I was hoping to re-create some common take-out dishes to share the recipes with you guys, but work has been swamping me. But, even if I can’t do it for EIM, I’d like to try to re-create some take-out meals anyways. So, hopefully, I’ll be able to post them one day soon. Any requests?

Hope you’re all having a great week!

My mom has cooked many things over the years, but her beef stroganoff is a true classic in our family. I’ve been enjoying this dish for as long as I can remember. And now, hubby is a fan, too.

I’d say the recipe has remained the same over the years, but I did try to change it one time when I was about middle school age. Mom always put mushrooms in the dish, and since I wasn’t a fan of them, I often voiced my displeasure. After growing tired of my begging to remove the them, she finally told me one day (somehow very patiently) that she’d make her beef stroganoff sans mushrooms next time. I eagerly awaited the next appearance of beef stroganoff on the dinner table.

The next time it was beef stroganoff night, mom tried one last time to talk me into keeping the mushrooms as she began preparing dinner. “It really tastes better with the mushrooms in, honey.” I didn’t believe her. I couldn’t wait to taste the meal without those yucky mushrooms. I just knew it was going to be so much better. She’d see.

Once dinner was served, I eagerly dug in. I remember it a bit more animated than I’m sure it actually was. Me smiling like an overly-enthusiastic cartoon with big googley eyes. Fork raised and ready to dig in and then moving in slow motion. Fork to plate…fork to mouth…chew…chew…cheeeeeewwwww? Eyes shrinking…smile slowly disappearing. The slow realization that it tasted like crap. Ok, it didn’t taste like crap, but mom was right…it really did taste better with mushrooms.

C’est la via…lesson learned. And to this day, I always include mushrooms. Sometimes, I cut them so large they’re easy to pick out. Sometimes, I mince them so they are practically undetectable. Large or small, obvious or not, the mushrooms are always there.

Mom’s Beef Stroganoff

This is probably one of those recipes that was passed around in the 80s by all the cool moms. I’m sure there are similar ones out there, but this is our take. Oh, and if you didn’t read my story earlier in this blog post, be sure to include mushrooms (unless you’re allergic) to get the full taste. I’m not a fan, but I always add them. I like to use cremini, mostly because I enjoy the flavor and you can get them individually at the grocery store, but feel free to substitute your favorite. Anywho, this meal makes an affordable an easy meal that I gravitate towards on my busy weeknights.

Cook time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• 1 small-medium onion, chopped
• 3 cremini mushrooms (I use just enough to get the flavor I want, but feel free to add more), sliced or minced (whichever you prefer)
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup sherry
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 small square (like Wyler’s) or 1 large rectangle (like Knorr) beef bouillon cube
• salt & pepper, to season
• 1 small container sour cream
• cooked pasta (I like egg noodles with this) or rice for serving
• parsley, dried or fresh, optional
• paprika, optional

Directions:

1. Pre-heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add beef and cook till browned, about 5 minutes.
2. Skim fat and then add butter, onion, mushrooms, and garlic. Cook till beef is well browned and onions are translucent, stirring often, about 5-7 minutes.
3. Add water, sherry, lemon juice, bouillon cube(s). Cook till all the liquid is gone, stirring frequently. Mom’s tip: be sure to wait till all the liquid is gone before moving to the next step or the sauce will be too liquidy.
4. Turn off heat, add sour cream, and stir till well combined.
5. Serve over pasta or rice. Top with parsley and paprika, if using. Serve with a vegetable, too – I like steamed broccoli with a drizzle of butter.

Hope you enjoy this as much as my family has. Happy cooking!

Reader question: What classic recipes did you grow up eating?

Spiders and menu plan success? Yes, they are both in this post…

Today started off with a creepy scare. The coffee was brewing as I headed out my front door to take Bailey out to do his morning business. As I was walking out the door, I suddenly noticed a spider right in front of my face. I backed up just in time, which was lucky because I literally would have walked right into it had I kept going. I brought Bailey back inside, got a large envelope and swept (ok, threw the envelope at) the spider to the right of me and quickly withdrew. I was standing there trying to figure out where the spider went when I felt something fall on my head. It was rainy out, so I assumed it was a drop of water because that’s what it felt like.

I got a second envelope and swept around at the open air in front of me to ensure I had removed all traces of spider web…and hopefully, all traces of the spider, too. For some reason, I decided to look up at the bottom of my front porch to see if there was a lot of water accumulated and if I may get hit with another droplet. To my dismay, I realized that there, in fact, no water above me. So what the heck just fell on my head anyways?! I shrieked and ran to the bathroom in a panic. I pictured a large, hairy spider crawling around on my head and frantically checked myself in the mirror. I didn’t see any spiders, but I was still flipping out. I bent over, took my hair out of the clip that was holding it up, and shook out my hair. No spiders.

To make a long story short, it’s now the end of the day, and I haven’t seen any spiders. Let’s hope that it was water that fell on me earlier…that’s what I’m telling myself at least since I haven’t seen any indication it was something else.

But, enough about today, let’s backtrack…I wanted to tell you how I did with my meal plan from Monday. I know a lot of you guys are good with meal plans, but I am not. I was pretty worried I wouldn’t be able to stick to the plan hubby and I came up with.

Here’s how we actually did…

We did have those burgers like we planned on Tuesday. I decided to not take a picture of it, but it was good.

On Wednesday, I made my mom’s beef stroganoff. Someone requested this recipe once, so I think I’ll post it. *Update – the recipe has been posted – click here to view* I’ve been eating this dish since I can remember, so it’s definitely a winner. We had steamed broccoli for our veg.

On Thursday, I cheated on Eat in Month. My company invited me to small lunch get-together. I forgot to mention in my original list of rules, but I decided to make exceptions for work-related events. It’s one thing to challenge yourself…it’s another to be unprofessional or miss out on an opportunity with your team. We ended up going to a restaurant that specializes in Southern cooking, so I got the fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, and beets. Since that was pretty much what we were planning to do for dinner, we decided to change plans. Hubby grilled chicken breasts, and I made a rice pilaf (from the box) with some steamed cabbage. It was simple, affordable, and it tasted great. I was pretty happy with Thursday.

On Friday, I fell off the wagon again. This time I don’t have a good excuse. I actually just decided to cheat (on Eat in Month and the meal plan). I left home in the morning in a rush and got to work a little later than I wanted. I ended up leaving work in a rush, too, thanks to a phone conference that ran over by 20 minutes. I drove through rainy, rush-hour traffic to get to an important event – Zumba instructor auditions. Two years ago, it was my turn on stage. Tonight, it was my friend Shamecia’s. She did fantastic, but she hasn’t found out yet if she made it. Whether she makes it or not, we headed out after auditions to celebrate her hard work. We each got beer flights and shared 3 different things: chicken fingers & fries, a Philly cheesesteak and sweet potato fries, and Margherita pizza (no picture again).

And as for tonight…dinner was inspired by Chinese New Year’s. My friend and I were hoping to find something fun to do for the holiday. I considered going to get dim sum, but I think I’ve cheated on EIM enough so far. I had heard about some events going on this weekend to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year’s, but when I searched for them, I didn’t find anything. So, I just invited her over for a simple stir fry. It’s not authentic, but it tasted good.

Anywho, I hope everyone else doing Eat in Month is doing better than I am!

I have quite a few recipes queued up now, so I just need to figure out which one to post first. Any requests?

Reader question: Did/will you celebrate Chinese New Year’s? What did/will you do?

I’m sure you’re all waiting with bated breath to see how I’m doing with my menu plan, or Eat in Month…or what recipe I’m posting next. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to disappoint you. It seems working from 8am to 8pm is simply not conducive to blogging (or having a life…or sleeping).

As I try to shake away the work-induced zombie-like state I’m feeling at the moment so I can go to bed, let me share a teaser photo with you. I had a reader request a slow cooker beef stew, so I played around with one on Tuesday. I think I browned the beef a bit too much (stupid multi-tasking!), but overall, the stew came out pretty good.

Hope you’re all having a great week!

By the way, does anyone have any easy, weeknight recipes you’d like to share with the Eat-in-Monthers? Please leave a link to the recipe (or the recipe itself if it’s yours and you don’t have a blog), even if it’s to your blog or someone else’s blog/site.

EIM Eats

We’re enjoying a relaxing weekend with my family, which means lots of down time with lots of good food, too.

We had eggs, biscuits/rolls, bacon and my fave – my dad’s potatoes.

Do you make your dog sit away from you when you eat? We do. We usually make him go on his bed, but when he’s at my parent’s house, we just make him sit away. I definitely had to give him the “I’m watching you” sign a la Meet the Parents. I think he knows what it means, too.

Sis and I wanted to spend some QT with my mom for her birthday, but she didn’t really want to do anything except hang out around the house. It’s been forever since I had the chance to just veg-out, so today, with nothing to do, we ended up watching TV. We got caught on the Investigation Discovery channel. Man, that channel really sucks you in…just like Lifetime! lol

We heated up leftovers from last night for a quick lunch with some fresh-cooked veggies.

For dinner, we had dad’s chicken noodle casserole with steamed broccoli & carrots, and a biscuit.

***

Menu Planning

I will be the first to say that I suck at menu planning. I think it’s because I’m always so busy running around, that I find it hard to sit still long enough to think through the week and actually plan something out. I also find that I like to decide on dinners based on what I feel like eating that day. I know – excuses, excuses.

Anywho, I think menu planning can be very effective for not only Eat in Month, but every day living. I keep meaning to start doing it, but I usually only make it a week or two before falling back to my slacker ways. So, since I can’t offer any advice on meal planning, I turned to one of my favorite resources – you guys!

I asked for your personal and recommended sites and blogs (via my Facebook wall and yesterday’s post) for meal planning and here are some you shared:

• Jackie of That Deep Breath posted a link to her Menu Planning category on her blog
• Emily at Relishments posted her tips on menu planning
• Athena shared I’m an Organizing Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday
• And Nicole mentioned finding good inspiration on Pinterest (PS click here to see my Pinterest profile and click here to go straight to my “Entree Chic” board )
• And lastly, I found a cool resource by Real Simple – a PDF you can print and use for menu planning (click here to view) along with a couple quick tips

Do you have any more meal planning sites/blog posts to add? If you’re a reader without a blog, you can just share your meal plans and/or tips in a comment if you want (here or on my Facebook wall).

Hello friends! I hope you’re all having a fabulous weekend. I’m feeling much better now that the weekend is here! Work has been stressful, per the usual, but I’m hoping to get some quality rest time in over the next day or two.

Today started great with scrambled eggs and cheese on whole wheat rolls with slices of blood orange on the side.

After brunch, I headed out to help with Zumba instructor auditions. We had some new guys going through group auditions today. Live auditions will be next week. You may remember when I went through auditions (back in 2010) – it’s scary stuff! The girls did great, and I can’t wait to see who makes it to the live auditions!

After the auditions, I headed home to do a quick packing job so we could head out to visit my family for my mom’s birthday. We were actually heading straight to their house for a quick change and then out for dinner. That’s right…I had to cheat on Eat in Month (since I already used my 1 cheat meal pass for that new restaurant opening event). I called my mom the other day to tell her when we were coming in town, and she excitedly told me that she’d made dinner reservations at a local Japanese steak house. I didn’t have the heart to tell her I wasn’t supposed to be eating out…especially since she seemed so happy about it. And, I want my mom to have a happy birthday celebration. So, I figure I’ll just tack another day to my challenge or something to make up the difference.

So, anywho, after a quick car ride, we did a quick outfit change and then headed out for dinner.

The martinis were on special, so I got an Asian Pear.

Soup (plus salad – not pictured)

I got the chicken and shrimp combination for my meals.

I think mom had a good birthday dinner…even if she was too shy to tell the staff we were celebrating. She didn’t want the big show they always do there.

We had a really special treat waiting back home. My sister had commissioned her friend to bake us a birthday cake for my mom and hubby’s birthdays (they both have January b-days).

We got a butter chocolate drip cake.

Please note luscious chocolate drips. Mmm…

The cake was, of course, delicious. I’ll probably still bake another one for hubby closer to his birthday, though.

***

I was hoping to share some meal plan ideas for Eat in Month (as resources/links, not my own plans). Does anyone out there already blog meal plans or know of any sites that do? I’d love to see some links and share them with the EIM challenge participants. please leave the links in a link.

When I received an email from my PR friend about a new restaurant opening in town called Smalls, I was interested…especially when I read this snippet:

Owner Joseph DiLeo says, “Food lovers will appreciate that we ground our beef, bake our bread and make our pasta in-house. Combine that with extraordinary hospitality and creative handcrafted cuisine and we’re optimistic Smalls will become a destination restaurant, lounge and bar. We designed Smalls as a family friendly restaurant with a relaxed setting through the day that will gain energy into the night, especially with our late night hours Wednesday through Saturday.”

Um…yes, please! And before I could start making plans to visit, I got invited to a special Friends & Family preview event. Score! I happily RSVP’ed and decided this would be a great restaurant to visit as my one cheat meal for Eat in Month.

{Inside Smalls}

My friend Sarah and I went to the event after Zumba. We arrived a little late, but luckily, there was a table for us.

{Our view}

I loved the menu. It was simple, but had a nice selection with mouth-watering descriptions.

As part of the event, Sarah and I each got a free drink coupon (good for a beer or wine of choice) and one free entree. We decided it was a beer night. I got the Olde Mecklenburg Brewery Copper, which is a locally brewed beer.

We decided to share an appetizer of crab cake sliders.

The crab cakes were absolutely wonderful. They didn’t have a fishy flavor like some can. The outside was nice and crispy and the inside was tender and well-seasoned. I loved the little microgreens on top, and the jalapeno cheddar biscuit was one of the best parts of a restaurant like this – from-scratch touches.

Our order turned into a happy-accident from there. We ordered the Beef Short Rib and Chicken & Waffles, but they were out of the short rib. So, instead, we ordered the Pimento Cheese Sliders and some onion rings.

The onion rings were nice and crispy.

They were served with a sauce that reminded me of buffalo wing sauce.

And since our original order had to get replaced, the waitress / restaurant sent out some goodies for us to try on the house – the mashed potatoes, which were nice and cheesey…

…and thought we couldn’t get the Beef Short Rib entree, they had some sliders left!

Yum!

The chicken and waffles were a little difficult to share since they were bone-in, not to mention Sarah and I were feeling pretty stuffed by the time we got to it, so we didn’t eat as much of this one. The fact that I’m a lazy eater and prefer boneless chicken probably contributed to this. But the flavors of this dish were really fun and delicious.

Saving the best for last – the Pimento Cheese Sliders were one of my favorite eats of the night. I love how they grind their own beef here, and I think you could taste the difference in the sliders. I wish the pimento cheese flavor would have been a little stronger, but the beef was top-notch.

All of the food was really tasty. I just want to come back so I can try their house-made desserts. I bet those will be really special, and I’m a sucker for handmade desserts.

Foodies like me will appreciate the attention to detail, small touches, simple but interesting menu, friendly staff, and the fact that they make so many things from scratch. Thank you Smalls!

Reader question: What’s the most important thing to you when you’re choosing a restaurant? Organic ingredients? Supporting local farmers? Having your favorite entree? Location?

I’m thinking of starting a new series for my fellow workers out there to feature meal ideas you can put together after a long work day. You know the one – when you pulled another 10 hour/no-lunch-break kinda day or when you maybe just have a slew of meetings. I’m talking about having the type of day that leaves you feeling like a zombie but still wanting something (anything!) to eat that tastes good, is (maybe? hopefully?) good for you, and most importantly – doesn’t take a lot of time and/or effort.

While I prefer things to be made as much from scratch as possible in general, sometimes it’s better to use some pre-prepped foods than to eat out or order take-out. The meals I’d like to feature would be sort of semi-homemade but TCL-style, which means I’ll take help from the store, but I’ll do it as close to the source and with as natural as possible ingredients/products. And since I actually did work 10 hours today with only a 30 minute break, the only name my zombie-brain can come up with for this new series is “Work Day.” I know…so genius. But the overall concept is an easy meal after a long work day using as natural as possible ingredients. Any other name ideas for the series?

I had a craving for pizza today, and hubby agreed it sounded like a good idea, so I asked him to pick up ingredients to make pizza at the house (since I was working late):

• pizza dough
• sauce
• cheese

Gotta love a short shopping list.

Anywho, pizza night is definitely not a revolutionary idea, but I thought I’d share some photos/tips from tonight’s dinner anyways to show you how I make mine…and if nothing else, as a meal idea for my fellow Eat in Month-ers. I’d also like to gather some tips from some of my most knowledgeable friends – you guys!

I’m not very good at making pizzas at home, but especially since we’re doing Eat in Month, I had no choice but to suck it up and try. I’ve never actually made a pizza entirely from scratch, though I have bookmarked a couple pizza dough recipes. I’d also like to try to make a sauce from scratch, but homemade pizza dough and sauce were not happening after my long work day. So, we took some help from the store.

A couple tips on ingredients:

• Dough: You can get little-processed pizza dough if you know where to go: many grocery stores sell freshly made pizza dough. Trader Joe’s has a nice one for only about $2. And sometimes your local pizza shop will sell you a ball of their dough if you don’t mind making the extra tip and/or paying a little more.
• Sauce: Many stores have special pizza sauce: some of them even have grocery-store-prepped sauce with the dough in a refrigerated section. I know hubby got both the dough and sauce for tonight’s pizza from the same section near the cheese counter.
• Cheese: We used to use shredded, but we’ve recently started using buffalo mozzarella. Both are good options.

I love using corn meal to help keep the dough from sticking to things.

I also like using a baking stone. I think it helps to bake the stone before you put the pizza on it to help get the bottom crispy and help ensure it cooks through (early runs at homemade pizza yielded raw centers). If the pre-baked stone trick doesn’t work, you could also try baking the crust by itself before adding toppings.

I literally just spread some corn meal on this baking stone, baked it for about 10 minutes in the oven, added the dough (which I stretched out with my hands – I didn’t feel like getting the rolling pin dirty), smeared on some marinara sauce, added cheese, added seasonings, and baked.

The pizza seasoning definitely helps add flavor. Oh, and be sure to check out the dough package for baking tips since they can vary from type to type. If you get dough from your local pizza shop, you can try asking them for tips.

By the way, do you like my crooked crust? lol. I kind of like how homemade things can take on a wonky kind of look.

I added a quick spinach salad with green bell pepper, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, and extra virgin olive for a veg serving.

As for the pizza…the center was cooked through (woohoo!), and though it wasn’t nearly as good as our fave local pizza shop, it hit the spot.  

What are your tips for making a quick pizza at home?

How is your new year going so far? I hope it’s been fabulous!

Mine has been a little crazy….mostly on the work-front. The next couple weeks (maybe even several) are going to be pretty busy. Today was a longer than usual day. I pulled 11 hours with only a 15 minute break. Phew! I went to work till about 5:15pm, came home, and had my laptop back up and running by about 5:45pm.

Luckily, hubby saved the day and cooked dinner!

While I typed and calculated away, he turned some leftover spaghetti sauce into baked ziti.

Just before 8pm, I called it quits for the day and got some cabbage steamed up to go with our pasta.

Dinner was great – hubby is a better chef than he thinks!

***

Anywho, on to the camera discussion…

I’ve been thinking for awhile that it’s time to upgrade my camera. I don’t take camera purchases lightly, though. They’re so expensive! No, no, I think long and hard when deciding on such a big purchase. The first time I considered getting a DSLR, it was 2006 and I was researching what kind of camera I needed to shoot photos for my handmade jewelry business (for the web site and promotional material). I was a member to online jewelry-makers groups, I researched web sites, and I read through indie business forums for hours and hours and hours. I studied for a long time and finally decided on the one – the Canon Rebel. But, I couldn’t afford it.

Yup, I didn’t end up getting the Rebel till a couple years later when hubby organized a group gift from him and some of his family to get the Rebel for my Christmas present in 2008. I used the camera for a whole year and exactly one year after hubby purchased it, it died. Luckily, since it was the last day of the warranty, the camera was covered. Phew! Since the camera was trashed, I had my choice – get the same exact camera or get a credit for the same camera and use it to buy a new one. Instead of getting the exact same camera, I got the Rebel XSi (just one step up) because I found the extra auto-focus points really helpful. So, at this point, I’ve been using the same camera since 2009, and she’s been doing great work for me…But, I’m ready for an upgrade.

I actually almost got a new camera last year around this time. If money weren’t an object, I probably would have gotten the Canon Mark 2D, but do you know how much those cost?! You have to either be a professional photographer, a really-really serious hobbyist (and I consider myself pretty serious, but…), or just plain rich. Instead, I asked around to some of my favorite food photographers/bloggers and researched online at a price point I was more comfortable with and decided on the Nikon D7000. Then, I got cold feet.

What if the D7000 was the wrong camera? What if I invest all this money in a camera, and it’s the wrong one? I worried I’d be trapped with the wrong camera forever! Ok, I knew it wouldn’t really be forever, but it would be a long time before I could gather the funds for a replacement. It’s not like I’m just getting a latte. Like I said, I don’t take camera purchases lightly. Not to mention a jump from Canon to Nikon would be a big leap since I’m already comfortable with a Canon camera. Ultimately, I decided that I needed to think about it for a couple more weeks. And a couple more weeks turned into a couple more months, and now here we are, and it’s been a year.

So, in the last couple weeks, I’ve researched cameras more, still leaning towards the D7000, and I tried to really think about if I was making the right decision with the D7000. After some time, and lots of reading, I decided on the D7000 again. At least, I did until…I couldn’t really find it in stock (at the price I wanted to pay). It seems to be out almost everywhere! Some online sources say the flooding could have destroyed a lot of the stock, though I don’t know if that’s true. But you know what rumor I think is even more interesting?

Word on the street is that Nikon is having a press conference tomorrow (January 6th) in Thailand and that they may announce a replacement for the D7000….the D7100! What-what! Yea, if I’m going to spend this much money on something, I’m definitely going to wait to see if those rumors are true. No point in getting the old version if there’s a newer, better one coming out soon, right? I hope we find out some good news tomorrow from the conference!

What’s your dream camera?

Do you get nervous and second guess yourself when you make a big purchase?

Not gonna lie…Eat in Month was a bit of a challenge for me today (I know, I know…it’s only the third day! Whatevs.).

Things started this morning when my I’m-used-to-sleeping-in-thanks-to-vacation a$$ didn’t want to get out of bed. I didn’t snooze too long, but I barely had enough time to down a quick bowl of banana oatmeal. But hey, I managed to eat in, so I’m taking it. I tried adding some almond butter to breakfast for staying power, but I was still pretty hungry by around 10:30am. I managed to wait till after noon to dig into lunch (which, by the way, was packed in about 4 minutes as we were rushing out the door this morning). I had a turkey sandwich on Great Harvest High Fiber bread with some BBQ chips. Simple does it.

I had snacks packed for the rest of the day in case I got hungry, but I ended up too stressed to think about food. I was playing catch up from being on vacation (email inbox h*ll – know what I mean office people?), plus I had to review an important document with about 50 people for an hour and a half for the last part of the day. It was a little nerve-wracking, especially since I didn’t 100% understand the subject matter, but I made it (I have 3 more of these meetings later this week, though…ack!). And then there were the multiple databases and excel files…but that’s another story for another day (who am I kidding, you guys don’t care about that, so that story will likely never be told…hehe).

By the end of the day, I was thinking I could use a cocktail and a stop at the local BBQ joint…till I remembered that we couldn’t go (d*mn you Eat in Month!). Boo! Luckily, hubby had researched some dinner ideas and proposed we turn our leftover pot roast into shepherd’s pie. And since I’m a big fan of shepherd’s pie, I thought that was a great idea.

Here’s a preview photo of the finished result. it’s a goodie!

And here’s a little something-something-else – a preview of a breakfast recipe I played with while I was on vacation.

***

Anywho, stress eating challenges or not, I still made it through another day of the EIM challenge! And the best part (besides rising to the occasion and sticking with the challenge) may have been thinking of all the money I saved by not eating out. Had I eaten out any of the meals today, I may have spent an additional $3 for breakfast, $8-10ish for lunch, and $15 for dinner. I’m not sure exactly how much all today’s meals cost, but they were definitely cheaper than my estimated eat-out expenses!

***

At the end of a stressful day, do you prefer to eat out (or order take-out) or do you prefer cooking at home. Sometimes I think cooking is a great way to de-stress…sometimes I just want something easy and tasty without the effort. What about you?