Strollerderby

Gah! I meant to hit the first one. Instead I hit the third. But I have to say, I made dinner a lot because a) I'm inventive with the leftovers, b) I am mostly home and c) I don't have as much money as I'd like to eat out as much as we used to!

Dinner is the biggest pain in the ass ever. Plus my girls don't eat ANYTHING. Except sushi. Go figure.

I plan my meals in advance (5-8 meals at a time) and it has really reduced my stress level.  We eat a home cooked meal probably 95% of the time.

Two words that have changed my life (for the better): Dream Dinners!!!  I hate to cook but these meals are easy and delicious and now we have wonderful home cooked meals that I actually made!

We almost never eat out. As strict vegetarians we make better food at home than we can get most places. Our favorite quick dinner is homemade pizza with whole wheat crust. We can make the dough 2 crusts at a time in the bread maker and then freeze them until we're ready to make pizza. Pull it out that morning, and pizza takes 15 minutes to put together. Quicker than delivery. I wonder if this is influenced by what you experienced when you grew up? Neither my husband's family nor mine ate out very much and almost never did take out. The idea of doing it on a regular basis seems very foreign to me.

We limit ourselves to eating out only once a week, the rest of the time we just keep it simple. We haven't changed what we cook at all. Our daughter has been eating spicy Indian food and such since she started on solids. She's the first kid I've ever known who won't eat Mac and Cheese. I think it helps that one of my first jobs was as a cook. Once you've done meals for a few hundred cooking for three isn't much of a challenge. I think the real secret is good prep work and to clean as you go. It's been great because I've finally been able to include my daughter in "helping" me cook. It makes it alot easier when she's occupied.

We like the occasional taqueria, but for the most part it's home cookin' for us. I usually think of one or two things I want to make the week ahead and get the ingredients for those meals on the weekend. For the rest of the week I wing it with leftovers, freezer finds, or takeout.  Allrecipes.com is a great resource, as is this site: www.101cookbooks.com/index.html, although it doesn't have AS many recipes as Allrecipes has. On Allrecipes you can  also go to an 'ingredients search' and type in ingredients you want to cook with and it will dig up recipes with said ingredients. Helpful when you are trying to use up particular fridge items.

Bon Appetit!

There is almost always the following in my fridge: salsa, leftover rice, cheese, sour cream, guacamole and beans and tortillas in the freezer (I always buy two bags of tortillas every grocery day so taht I'll always have lots). My two go-to meals: quesadillas and burritos. We have this about 3 times a week. Quick, easy, healthy, yummy!

We're mostly homecooked meals and then a smattering of takeout and restaurant fare. It really depends on the week.