Restaurant Week for the Holmies in Colorado Springs

I quit. I am not the cook any more.

After months of researching several freezer cooking books, weight watchers recipes and my personal collection of cookbooks, coupon/store sales blogs, I thought I had this home economist thing figured out. I needed my food to be nutritious (no frankenfoods), inexpensive, healthy (low in points), and convenient. I cooked a 15 lb. turkey that I got for $.32/lb and served it for dinner with all the tday trimmings. Dinner went over well and I had so much left over, I made up a dinner for a family needing a meal at my church. I still had a ton left over so I used the rest to make several casseroles/soups. I even put the carcass with a few veggies and water in the crockpot on high to make several cups of broth as a base for my casseroles, mashed potatoes and soups. Wow, I was so impressed with myself. The part I didn't plan on was that my family didn't like the casseroles I made. I've made them before and they have liked it, but not this week for some reason. My little ones were on a hunger strike and my husband just seemed to want something else. So, I was stuck with a bunch on casserole that couldn't be refrozen. After all the time and work. Ugh! So, I declared this week restaurant week. I am not cooking and doing tons of dishes and shopping. We are going out to eat all week until I am ready to cook again. Until then, forget it.

Mouse, well, mostly Mouse, and I sat down to make a war plan for the week. We researched all the kids eat free places, looked over the Entertainment book and online for deals, and looked at the coupons we got in the mail. Since we have moved to the Springs, we've eaten out like 6 times, so this was going to be a change for us.

We started by eating at the Elephant Bar on Monday. I liked the Elephant bar and for lunch, the portions are reasonable and the food was very good. The kids liked the place and for my two preschoolers, they shared a kids entree and had plenty to eat. Mouse and I had the lunch specials and enjoyed them much. The best is the hot fudge sundae for dessert. Yum!

Tuesday morning we went to Chick Fil A for breakfast, they are giving away free breakfasts all month. This week they gave away breakfast burritos which I didn't like and neither did the girls. We ordered the chicken minis and that worked out. Tuesday night, we went to Fazoli's (kids eat for $1). Fazoli's is a fast food italian restaurant. My assessment was yuk. I was love to see an ingredients list for their food, because my bet is that it would be a mile long with ingredients that read like a chemistry project. Mouse had the Chicken Parmesian, which seemed ok and the girls and I had the pizza which was completely worth forgetting. The plus side is that our bill was $11, but I left that meal not feeling nourished. The Black-eyed Pea is a much better bet where kids eat free on Tuesdays and the veggie plate is a great standby for mom.

Wednesday, I took the girls to one of my favorite places for lunch - the Air Force Academy Falcon Club. We are members and lunch is always a great experience. I like to take the girls to this place for what I call a "big girl lunch" so we can practice etiquette and behaving like ladies. The staff is warm and always welcoming to the girls, remembering their names and surprising them with special treats they have in the back. The food is fresh and served buffet style so my little ladies can try new foods. This week, Princess especially enjoyed the black-eyed peas. They have different themed meals each day of the week, and today was chef's choice. Other days they have southern comfort, italian, from the grill. The best part is that the girls eat free and lunch for all three of us is $9 including tax and a nice tip for our server. You can't beat that price anywhere. Wednesday night, we went to La Casita, where, you guessed it, kids eat free. I had no idea what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised. La Casita is a fast food mexican restaurant, but fast here means fresh. The tortillas were made from scratch and the girls enjoyed seeing them being made and the chicken being grilled. The food was fast only because the staff was humping. They were busy. I had the chicken fajitas with guacamole and it was really yummy. Princess liked her beans and beef taco, Spidergirl is on a hunger strike. Dinner for us 4 was $18 and I'd recommend it. We'll be back.

Today for lunch, I went to King Sooper and got an 8 pack of chicken to go. The girls are still on a hunger strike, but I liked it and it is always a good standby and is on sale this week.

We have a few more days to go on this eating out adventure. I enjoyed eating out more when I was working and on an expense account. I am enjoying not having to run the dishwasher 2x a day and cooking for now. Maybe I'll be ready next week.