When To hot To turn on Stove

[Beekissed]

I can't imagine eating out often, though I know that many people do...I have family who seem to do it nearly every single day. I enjoy the weekly lunch when I'm in town or the occasional supper with family, but I'd soon grow tired of eating in public and the food isn't better than I can cook it, not to mention the money spent.

That boggles my mind a bit, but I guess that's the world in which we live....not me, though, as I live 20 miles from the nearest town or restaurant. I think I'd get tired of going out or ordering in, as the food isn't nearly as good as what I cook at home and is way more expensive. Though I might be lured in by the convenience of delivery over time...one never knows.

The other day my son and his wife wanted to take mother and I out after he had put in a long week at work but I asked him if we could just bring stuff and I'd do all the cooking and cleaning up. Brought new taters and sweet corn from the garden, fresh picked tomatoes, green peppers, sweet onions, baby yellow squash and had a feast of epic proportions on just veggies, though I did throw some kielbasa into the skillet with the spuds, peppers, squash and onions. Very minimal clean up from a skillet of veggies and a boiling pot for the corn, so easy peasy meal that tasted wonderful!

He was very glad to have not gone out, dragging the babies and a tired wife along with. I'm hoping this encourages them to do more of the same when they get the urge to eat out due to being too tired to cook....fast meal prep and easy cleanup, not to mention superior freshness and flavor, can be had for minimal effort and expense.

 

[journey11]

We fire up the grill instead. From burgers to salmon, it's all good!

But, if I'm too busy sweating away in the garden, I will settle for pb&j or cereal just so I can get back to work in the cool of the evening.

 

[Nyboy]

Bee part of why I eat out all the time is the being served. After working a long day it is nice to sit down and have anything I want bought to me. And then have everything taken away and cleaned. For me the food is also much better tasting then I can make at home.

 

[bobm]

We eat much better at home as my wife is a GREAT CHEF . Then consider that the restaurants pour in TOO MUCH SALT and not to mention the EXTRA CALORIES which translates to one having to be on an everlasting DIET and on prescription drugs to counter heart issues from too much salt and extra calories. NOPE , not a good idea for eating out .

 

[aftermidnight]

I much prefer home cooking, even when we were on holiday and eating out at fine restaurants that got old pretty quick, after a week I'm looking forward to a home cooked meal. BUT, when you get to my age you'll enjoy that time not chained to the stove, I sure do.
I've always loved cooking and so do all our kids, one of our boys is a chef, the other two are great cooks, although our daughter who is also a great cook is still working her hubby does most of the cooking. I use very little salt if any when cooking and I 'usually' substitute Becel if a recipe calls for butter, most of our salads (and we eat a lot of green salads), have an oil and vinegar dressing. When I make soup mostly chicken and split pea I make big batches and freeze them in meal size portions. Spaghetti sauce is another, make a big pot and freeze it.
Annette

 

[ninnymary]

Yes, though I can make some good dishes, I get tired of my own cooking. Eating out has some better dishes than I could prepare. This is especially true for asian dishes which I love. For me, it's a special treat since I don't have to cook and clean up. I can just let someone else do it while I enjoy a glass of wine.

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

Yes....Chinese food I could never do as well as they can, so that's our favorite eating out experience. Same with Mexican food if done by the original authors of the style...I could never do it as good as they can. But, simple fare I can do better than a restaurant around these parts...we only have a series of chain restaurants like Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday, Cheddars, etc., .....even though I don't particularly care to cook. I don't consider myself a great cook nor do I really like to do it, though I love to make my own bread and am a fair hand at that.

NY, I like the aspect of being served too and especially not having to clean up afterwards...that seems a real treat to me, though I often feel a smidge guilty about the mess on the table and start "clearing up" the dishes before we leave. Force of habit being an old mom. I also find myself hugely overtipping and most likely for the same reason...I know how hard it is to serve people all day, many of them indifferent or ungrateful to your efforts.

I think that's one reason I would hate to eat out too often...it would take the whole luxurious treating of oneself feeling out of it and it would become commonplace to me. That's one of the many joys I love in this life, so I wouldn't want that to be dimmed or be taken for granted by overuse.

Same with staying in a nice hotel....LOVE doing that on occasion but would dearly hate to do it every week.

I'm a hermit at heart and do so enjoy my own home above all other places.

 

[aftermidnight]

"I'm a hermit at heart and do so enjoy my own home above all other places". Me too.

Annette

 

[digitS']

I take pleasure in simplicity.

There are 3 stovetop lunches/dinners I specialize in, I guess. All take only a few brief minutes. Variety is in the choice and combinations of ingredients. I spend more time standing over a cutting board than the stove.

Simplest must be my pasta sauce. For about 15 years, I have had a couple of dozen varieties of tomatoes in my garden. I will make sauce once or twice a week with whatever is ripe. That will begin soon and continue until late October and maybe longer. Bags of sauce will be frozen and take only minutes to defrost and go over all manner of things, mostly pasta . As you know, pasta only takes a few minutes to cook.

DW is more interested in eating meat than I am. I am interested in the bones . In 90 minutes of simmering, I can have a quart of broth to freeze from a single steak bone and a double handful of vegetables.

Minutes over the cutting board and several more minutes of simmering, I can turn that broth into a nice, hot bowl of soup .

Using essentially the same ingredients, I can make a stir-fry. There, an additional sauce might be used. I just counted 7 choices in the fridge. The broth is unsalted and I try to use soy sauce, etc. to add both the salt and flavor. Mostly, the stir-fries go on rice and the rice cooker has done as much cooking as I have with the skillet.

Winter, I may again use the same ingredients but put them in a casserole dish and fire up the oven. By "same ingredients" I don't mean I'm limited to only a few but chopped veggies, broth and the starch. Proportions change but so can selection. About the only thing that I will use in one thing but not another is cheese. It's commonly used in my casseroles, sometimes in my soups, and never in my stir-fries .

I won't cook casseroles in the summer because of the heat. The ingredients may be the same ... I spend very little time with any of these meals.

Steve
& then i make omelets, sometimes with leftovers

 

[aftermidnight]

I cooked a beef roast on Sunday, had that with all the trimmings, had the same again on Monday. Today I made a stir fry using a bit of the meat. The rest of the roast I ground up with an onion, added the leftover gravy and had enough for two shepherd pies, these I froze. All I have to do is thaw, put in a casserole dish, add some hash browns on the top and put it in the oven for an hour. This is my gran's recipe for shepherd pie, she always put leftover mashed potatoes on the top but I seldom have any left over. I try to cook just enough for the meal, I've never made a shepherd pie with ground beef I prefer gran's recipe.
Annette