What’s cooking?

I really like to cook and I consider myself a fairly decent cook and to the best of my knowledge no one has ever died from my cooking. so there is that. When I lived alone I cooked all the time, I tried out new recipes and made up others as I went along. Then I moved into a friends house and my cooking started to taper off and then I got together with Mr. S and we started eating out pretty much all the time so I have gotten out of the habit of cooking and I miss it. 

My goal for 2012 is to get back to cooking, I really miss it and I know that getting back into cooking and preparing my own meals will also help me control my calorie intake and it will enable me to eat healthier which in turn will help me feel better. I am also trying to get Mr. S to eat at home more often than we eat out, which can be challenging when his school schedule means that I have to take him directly to class when I get home from work. 

I started by doing some basic meal planning. I find that menu planning helps me stay on track and it absolutely helps me stay on budget when I go to the grocery store. This week’s menu includes leafy green salad with grape tomatoes, beef pot roast with potatoes and baby carrots, Porkolt (Hungarian Stew with Pork), and sausage and lentil soup. I figure all of these things will not only feed me at dinner time but the leftovers will be great for lunches so I am not tempted to go out to lunch during the work week. And since Mr. S starts class again tonight I wanted to pick things that I could throw in the crock pot in the morning before work so that he could have a home cooked meal before he heads to class in the evenings. Plus it will be awesome to get home from work and having dinner ready and waiting for me. 

Maybe, just maybe I can go an entire work week without eating out?

Stranger things have happened.