Greek Salad
After a delicious meal at Panera I decided to try and recreate meals from restaurant menus. I love Panera's Greek salad with grilled chicken, but it is really expensive. I decided to try and make the meals that I love at home.
To begin with, I bought a bag of romaine lettuce, feta cheese, one red onion, chopped cucumbers and tomatoes. The Greek salad at Panera has olives instead of cucumbers and I always get cucumbers instead. I decided to buy Greek dressing at the store instead of making my own so I could skip buying some ingredients. Also, I didn't buy chicken because I wanted to save some more money.
I decided to time how long it took me to make this salad as opposed to driving to Panera, ordering and returning with the salad. I figured it takes fifteen minutes round trip and around $8. So, I started the stopwatch and began making this salad.
First, I washed the lettuce. Bags of lettuce always claim they have been washed, but I would rather be safe than sorry and was the lettuce ad vegetables again once I am preparing my meal. After I washed the vegetables, I chopped up some red onion, cucumbers and tomatoes. Then I served out a couple handfuls of lettuce onto a plate and added the vegetables. Next, I added the feta cheese, some random spices and then dressing. After that, I tossed the combination in a bowl and added some salt and pepper.
It took me seven minutes and twenty-three seconds to make this salad. Also, for $10 of store bought food, I will be able to make at least three Greek Salads. Not to mention, I will have extra Greek dressing and feta cheese.
I really enjoyed challenging one of my habits of eating out. Panera is one of my favorite fast food restaurants and I would love to curb my spending there and learn to make their items in my own way rather than wasting money buying their overpriced food.
For my next recipe I would love to try and make spinach dip. It is one of my favorite appetizers when I go out to eat and I would love to learn to make it so I can serve it at my next get together with friends.
I think this blog will help me keep track of how much I eat out and hopefully will curb my spending at restaurants. Also, growing up I never liked to cook and always associated it with something that boring adults do. Now as I grow older I realize there are many activities I use to hate as a kid that I am starting to finally appreciate.
For example, I use to hate gardening. My parents would take my sister and me as kids to a garden show every year in the middle of the summer. My sister and I would complain every year that we were going to die in the heat and that we will never garden. Fast-forward twelve years and my boyfriend loves to garden. He grows his own vegetables and many beautiful flowers in his yard and has helped me to grow (no pun intended) an appreciation for plants and gardening.
This just goes to show that over time people change. I never thought I would be a cook or a gardener but I have begun to appreciate both. I may not be Paula Deen yet and I may still be growing my green thumb, but I have opened my mind to endless possibilities of both.
Maybe next week I will throw a dinner party for some friends and ask them to bring their favorite recipes.
To begin with, I bought a bag of romaine lettuce, feta cheese, one red onion, chopped cucumbers and tomatoes. The Greek salad at Panera has olives instead of cucumbers and I always get cucumbers instead. I decided to buy Greek dressing at the store instead of making my own so I could skip buying some ingredients. Also, I didn't buy chicken because I wanted to save some more money.
I decided to time how long it took me to make this salad as opposed to driving to Panera, ordering and returning with the salad. I figured it takes fifteen minutes round trip and around $8. So, I started the stopwatch and began making this salad.
First, I washed the lettuce. Bags of lettuce always claim they have been washed, but I would rather be safe than sorry and was the lettuce ad vegetables again once I am preparing my meal. After I washed the vegetables, I chopped up some red onion, cucumbers and tomatoes. Then I served out a couple handfuls of lettuce onto a plate and added the vegetables. Next, I added the feta cheese, some random spices and then dressing. After that, I tossed the combination in a bowl and added some salt and pepper.
It took me seven minutes and twenty-three seconds to make this salad. Also, for $10 of store bought food, I will be able to make at least three Greek Salads. Not to mention, I will have extra Greek dressing and feta cheese.
I really enjoyed challenging one of my habits of eating out. Panera is one of my favorite fast food restaurants and I would love to curb my spending there and learn to make their items in my own way rather than wasting money buying their overpriced food.
For my next recipe I would love to try and make spinach dip. It is one of my favorite appetizers when I go out to eat and I would love to learn to make it so I can serve it at my next get together with friends.
I think this blog will help me keep track of how much I eat out and hopefully will curb my spending at restaurants. Also, growing up I never liked to cook and always associated it with something that boring adults do. Now as I grow older I realize there are many activities I use to hate as a kid that I am starting to finally appreciate.
For example, I use to hate gardening. My parents would take my sister and me as kids to a garden show every year in the middle of the summer. My sister and I would complain every year that we were going to die in the heat and that we will never garden. Fast-forward twelve years and my boyfriend loves to garden. He grows his own vegetables and many beautiful flowers in his yard and has helped me to grow (no pun intended) an appreciation for plants and gardening.
This just goes to show that over time people change. I never thought I would be a cook or a gardener but I have begun to appreciate both. I may not be Paula Deen yet and I may still be growing my green thumb, but I have opened my mind to endless possibilities of both.
Maybe next week I will throw a dinner party for some friends and ask them to bring their favorite recipes.