My Cooking Blog!

TracieJ65 · January 2011

Hello All! A few weeks ago I had made an announcement on my home page, and here on the boards, that with the New Year I would be starting a "What's for dinner tonight" blog. (I have actually changed it to "Tracie's day in the kitchen!"

Yesterday was day one of my new blog and it dawned on me that maybe I should do a new post, here, about the blog I started.

Just a quick background as to why I began this! I love to cook. I have been cooking since I was old enough to help my mom in the kitchen. I find cooking very fulfilling and relaxing and there is nothing better than the sounds of someone enjoying something that I cook. Not only can I cook well but I bake and am very well rounded at both. When the year turned to 2009 I decided that we were not going to go out to dinner as much anymore. We were eating out a ridiculous amount of time each month and not only was that horrible for our health, but our pocket books. In 2009 we ate out only 21 times. 11 days were while on vacation and there were various reasons for the other 10. (About the same amount of times in 2010)

When it turned to 2010 and I had proven to myself that I could keep a goal like that I became very committed to finally accomplishing the "yearly" New Years resolution, that I would make, about getting healthy and losing weight. Well, now 2010 has come and gone and I have committed to that goal as well. So, I wanted to keep up with giving myself a yearly goal. There have been so many posts lately about people who are asking for help on making dinner menus, going grocery shopping, cooking, etc. Well, I knew that I did it all well and thought that maybe what I do on a daily basis could help others.

When I began my journey, last year, I changed the kinds of cookbooks, recipes, recipes sites, and magazines that I would read. I am very picky about the amount of calories in recipes and just as picky with the amount of sodium. I began to change the way I cooked and am able to incorporate every meal that I make into my daily food diary.

I am a firm believer in cooking, and eating at home. I would much rather put a bite of food in my mouth that I made and that I know what went into it. I have absolutely no urge to eat out anymore and I literally feel quizy when I drive down our main street and smell all of the fast food.

I am going to blog what it is that I cook, every day. There will always be a dinner, unless it is leftover night, and sometimes there will be other things that I cook throughout the day. I will give you where I get the recipe from, tips that I may have, changes that I may have made, and a critic of the meal. It will be kind of daily cooking diary. Also, when I am preparing my two week menu,and grocery list, I will blog about that.

I am just about 11 days shy of being at this lifestyle change for 1 year and I am at a point that I feel like I know what I am doing and have a handle on it. So, if I can help out just one person along this path, via the way of cooking at home, then I will feel great.

Yesterday was day one of my blog and you can find it at www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/TracieJ65

I really hope that you enjoy this and I hope that it helps someone out there. Cooking a meal at home is very rewarding.

Fancy_Nancy2 · January 2011

Very cool I also live to cook and we try to eat outlier 2 x a mounth 1 as a family and the other for mine and hubby once a mounth date night. But I will not eat fast food anymore. Can't wait to see what you are going to make

elf618 · January 2011

Sounds great, I can't wait to follow along. Thanks for posting, I can always use some new recipes!

maeflower1234 · January 2011

I just read what you posted. It all sounds great. I don't cook much so this will inspire me to find some healthy recipes I can try. Thank you.

Jeezer · January 2011

You sound a little old fashioned and that is a good thing. As I was growing up in a large family I used to cook and bake with my mother. I am a guy, and my friends thought that was kind of wierd, that I cooked and baked with my mother. Well it didn't take long for them to find out when we were baking bread, they would all mesteriously show up on bread baking day. And of course my mother would always figure one extra loaf for the guys.

I enjoyed that time, however I have not baked bread in quite some time and forgot what we did. If it would not be asking too much I would appreciate if you had a bread recipe you would care to share. I love bread and if it is there I will eat it, so hopefully the recipe that you might share would be whole grain,

Thanks,

Jim

Buttsmom · January 2011

Thanks I bookmarked your blog, I always need ideas for dinner.

TracieJ65 · January 2011

I actually have a couple of really good bread recipes, Jm, I just haven't made them in quite a while because I do limit myself with bread, now. I use a bread maker, though, so if you don't have one they probably wouldn't work for you.

I just made 10 loaves of a cinnamon streusel coffee cake, during the holidays, to give to my neighbors, mailman, hair dresser, vet, and a few other people. I tried to "healthify" it as best I could! But the smell of it was so wonderful every time I made one.

As far as you being a "boy," and being in the kitchen with your mom, I have two words, WOLFGANG PUCK! Same thing happened to him as a boy! (he was even made fun of by his own father) I love him and have had the pleasure of meeting him.

StephieAmber · January 2011

This is great! Thanx so much for letting us know...I know I'll definitely be interested in your recipes. I'm always lookin' for ways to keep money in my wallet and sodium out of my diet

healtymama · January 2011

WOW!!! I have not been on this site for too long so this is my first time reading your post. It's as if your ideas were implanted into my head and that of my husband. Right before the end of the year, we both got on board with a mission. Our mission has several components but overall it's for the best of our entire family. We have a blended family of 8 kids. We too were eating way too much out of the home. In the process, we didn't lose any more of the weight we had lost 2 years prior. As a result, our money was not being spent on remodeling several areas of our home including a bathroom and a kitchen. SO....we decided to not eat out our first 31 days of the year and after that we are limited to only 1 outing per month (if we really want to). We have also gotten back to tracking our foods and exercise. My first assignment was to develop 2 weeks of menus for our entire family. Aside from that, vegetarian meals we can eat 2-3 days a week. We are using coupons for our groceries and only shopping 2x a month except for the occasional gallon of milk or loaf of bread. When I saw your post, I actually felt validated because that means my hubby and I are not too far off in our ideas. SO....thank you! I will definitely be coming back to see what you cook, bake or give tips on.

TracieJ65 · January 2011

Healtymama, let me tell you, it is worth it. I only shop twice a month! There are actually a couple of reasons why, first, because I shop at our military commissary and the base is 10 miles out of town. I don't like to make that trip until I absolutely have to, especially in my North Dakota winters, and two because I really hate to grocery shop! So, when it is the week of my grocery shopping trip I take the time to figure out what recipes that I want to have on hand for the next week, put all of the ingredients on my grocery list, make a list of what/where the meals are that I am shopping for, put that list on my refrigerator, and go shopping. Like you, except for the occassional loaf of bread, milk, or something small that I may need or have forgotten, I do not go to the store again until my "regular" trip.

I do not make a plan that this is what I will cook this day of every week. I do not like to limit myself that way and set myself up to not follow it. I find that if I have two weeks worth of meals, on a list on my fridge, then I still have the option of choosing, day by day, what I want to make. Plus, I am a big believer on cooking ONCE, eating TWICE. So, there are a couple of leftover days distributed throughout those two weeks. Plus, if you have leftover meals on hand, it makes it easier if a day gets crazy and you just find you didn't have the time to cook, like you had planned, and bam, there is your meal ready for you. Saves you MONEY too.

When I made this decision, in 2009, we had a crazy amount of little credit cards! Dept stores, gas cards, this and that, and it was taking so much extra money to just make the minimum amount payments on all of them. Then, top that with eating out 2-3 times per week and it was a paycheck to paycheck kind of time. With all of the extra money, from eating at home, in 2009, I paid off every single one of those things and threw them away. In 2010 we were FINALLY able to do home improvements, ourselves, because of it. We were in great need of home imporvements on windows and doors especially because there was so much cold air coming through during our winter months. Well, now, since this winter has begun my gas/electric bills are a tad smaller because my heater is not running constantly. So, it ends up being a win/win situation all the way around.

So if I can do all of that I thought that merely blogging about it on a daily basis may help others and that is why I decided to do it. I hope it helps others and I hope it gives others some great ideas of what they can do in the kitchen. Cooking really is satisfying to me and ever since I can remember people ask for my cooking. "One night of cooking by me" was actually auctioned off at a charity auction held for soldiers in Iraq once and got a very high amount of money, not to brag or anything. That was second most satisfying for me because it was in honor of soldiers in Iraq. It was a group of 8 college hockey players that got together and paid for it, by the way. :-) They didn't have to eat the school food that night!!!!

healtymama · January 2011

Now here is where I love how other find things that fit their needs and how I try them to see how it fits my family. Unfortunately, if I don't have a set plan meal for my family every night, then things turn chaotic. This happens only because we have so many kids with several after school (sometimes, evening) activities. AND...with my hubby at work all day and me in school, part-time job and household chores, it seems to work better. The other thing that has been helpful in keeping with the daily meals is that every day 2 kids sign up to help cook and wash dishes just for dinner prepping. Since I do have older kids, some of the menu meals are things we have eaten before and they have learned to make. Any real meal changes that I could possibly have leftovers, are mine and my hubby's vegetarian meals that I cook in larger batches.

It's so awesome to see how you have continued this mission since 2008. That is something that we strive to do. We didn't want this to be just a temporary fix but rather a new way of living. We want to be out of debt and remain that way too. Looking forward to more of your posts. Thanks!!

TracieJ65 · January 2011

Just put tonights dinner on my blog! Ravio-Sagna! YUM, enjoy

My Cooking Blog!

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