Cheap Eats

I have to admit that I really enjoy going out and trying new restaurants. In fact, we treated my FIL and SMIL to a nice meal at 4th and Swift the other weekend (NOT cheap eats), partly to celebrate FIL's birthday, but also partly because I have been dying to try their food. One of our friends is the Chef de Cuisine there, plus the reviews have been great. Needless to say, it did not disappoint. If I had the money, I'd be there for dinner every night. Some of our favorites that we tried were the brussel sprouts salad (never ate much of these, but I could definitely eat these again!), Three Little Pigs (pork tenderloin, homemade pork sausage, and pork belly with mac and cheese - need I say more?), and the seafood risotto. DH also had probably the best, non-Chinese duck that I have ever tasted.

That being said, with the economic crunch and all, I've been trying to buckle down on my food spending a little. I'm a little concerned with the way the building market is going, and worried that one of us could potentially lose our job, therefore I'm trying to save now just in case. It's so easy to go out and grab something for lunch or dinner during the work week, since there's not much time for cooking. So, I've been trying to have PB&Js for lunch during the week, stretching leftovers, trying to eat down the freezer. I've always been a fan of tofu, so I still try to stick with my "JimmyChow" diet (even though my former co-worker is now retired) - meat only one meal per day. I've added a little exception that bacon for breakfast does not count. I was reading CNN today and ran across this interesting blog: Poor Girl Eats Well. Some of her dishes look really good! And she's a Trader Joe's fan. I'm going to have to check out some of her recipes!