Well, I'm right there with you with the bagels, although we quit eating them because they were simply too big. (Not to mention delicious, and bread is a downfall of mine.)

I always pick up coleslaw at the local Price Chopper. It's from the same barbeque place we also frequent, and better than I can make at home. They also make baked beans, and although I can make them as well, it's a ''why bother?'' situation. There's also a local bakery that makes artisan bread, which is fresh daily and I don't have to heat up my kitchen.

I don't deep fry because I don't want all that grease in the kitchen and I don't need to eat fried foods that often. So when I go out I have no guilt about eating french fries or coconut shrimp.
The last time I fried I made onion rings in a heavy pot on the stove and the grease residue on the cabinets and range hood was yucky and time consuming to clean.
I could buy a deep fryer but then I'd make doughnuts....

Deep frying is definitely a no-no in my house too. My once a year foray into deep frying is at Chanukah time for latkes (potato pancakes). DH has taken on that task and does it OUTSIDE using a couple of electric fry pans. I hate the mess and the smell left behind!

Bagels certainly come to mind. There are several excellent bakeries within minutes from home - and I'm on Long Island where the bagels are as good as the corn. I've been thinking about it though.

One thing I rarely cook at home is steak. I like great steak; ok steak I could take or leave. To buy a good, prime, dry-aged steak is going to run me around $20 a pound. I know I'll never cook it to the same perfection as a quality steak-house. (Note I said quality.) So in general I'd rather spend $25-30 apiece, sides a la carte, at a restaurant a couple times a year than to be disappointed in my own.

Anything Mexican. I just can't duplicate it at home!

I love prime rib but don't do it at home. I can cook a great steak though. Maybe it's not prime but choice is good, too, and steaks are so easy.

Fried foods. I can get that anywhere so why mess up my kitchen. I know, I know, I'm getting lazy.

I love making bread but it doesnÂt like me as Arthur has set in my fingers and it's getting more difficult. We have a great bakery that I get it from now.

I think I make a better steak on the grill than most of the restaurants in my area so we are regular grillers of chicken, fish and vegetables doing steak on occasion.

WOW, I just read this post and I sound so old. LOL!

Doughnuts for one thing - I can smell the local bakery when I walk the dog. The couple of times I made doughnuts (years ago) they turned out o.k., but were the biggest mess! Same for bagels, I just don't eat them unless away from home and there is nothing else for breakfast.

I've never cooked a prime rib roast and probably never will. I reserve my "steak" dinner for my BIL's tenderloin on the grill during the holidays.

I do deep fry egg rolls and spring rolls; the Mexican flautas are pan fried. And I don't make homemade ice cream anymore....more's the pity. :o(

I don't bother with bagels because I don't like them well enough to take the trouble, but that's another issue.

We have a bakery, it's OK, but nowhere as good as my baked goods. A couple of greasy spoon restaurants, a bar, a pizza joint and a Subway. That's it, so there's nothing that a local establishment makes well enough that I buy it there.

Annie

I'm with the others on deep fried. Usually I don't eat fried stuff anyway, but if I occasionally do get a hunger for something deep fried, there are numerous greasy spoon restaurants that do it. Let them clean up the mess.
Also, Indian food. I recently developed a taste for Indian food, but there is a perfectly good Indian restaurant near my work, so I won't go to all the trouble to make my own at home.

I've never cooked a rib roast. My favorite local restaurant serves an excellent prime rib two nights a week. For my sister, OTOH, a rib roast is her go to entree when she cooks a special meal.

I'm with most of you on the deep frying thing. However, I am tempted to get a good fryer because there are so many deep fried foods I would use it for, seafoods in particular.

Jim

About the only thing I can think of that I don't or won't make is Halibut Fish and Chips and Dim Sum. Other than that I can't think of anything I wouldn't make if I wanted it. I asked Moe if he could think of anything and he mentioned the same two I had already thought of.

Ann

Any one can cook a good Steak, if it is a good Steak.
I've been getting Steaks with a lot of gristle.
Have to talk to the Butcher tommorrow.

It is nice to sit and be waited on once in a while.
There is a Bar Resturant here that has a T bone Steak Dinner on Thurs. for $16. w. Veggies.

It is an 18 oz. piece of T Bone. I usually get a Baked Potatoe too ( w. the skin on )

I go to the Olive Garden too, when my Credits build up.

Some of the food can be duplicated or made even better but it's a shame,
to waste the credits that have built up for meals.. Lol

Foodon:
I've noticed prices on everything are a lot higher in NY.?
lou

We grill steaks quite often and they are quite good; however, they still aren't up to par of a quality steak house - we just don't have the equipment to duplicate their results.

Also, lobster. We tried this again recently with mixed results. It's just too expensive to keep doing the 'trial and error' method. I hate to mess up good (albeit expensive) food.

I fry in a deep fryer outside about twice a year (fish, hushpuppies, okra); other than that the kiddos get their fried fixes from other outside sources - I don't eat fried very often, except the occasional french fry stolen from their plates.

Also, Asian cuisine I haven't given much time too. Not from intimidation or bother, just haven't gone Asian yet!

I don't deep fry foods or bake any type of breads and rarely bake a cake or pie. I simply do not like to bake. I also do not make doughnuts, potato chips or baked potatoes.

I rarely braise anything because I like it better prepared some other way.

Truth be told River, I bet most of use have been visited by Arthur. He likes my spine and my hips best right now.

In the over 40 years we have been married, I have never made a regular, classic mayonnaise potato salad. I don't make it because my DMIL makes the best in the world.

I'll make other non classic potato salads though.

Lee

I have never fried anything. I tried using a wok about 20 years ago and just about burned the kitchen down, so I stay away from too much high heat cooking.

I've never made artichokes, and I've never tried them. I would like to become brave and try that some day.

I've never made a prime rib or a rib roast, and I'm very chicken to spend that much money on a hunk of good meat and ruin it.

Frankly, my biggest handicap is that I tend to shy away from just about any recipe with a huge long list of ingredients. My eyes just glaze over if the list is too long, and I move on.

I'm certainly not a gourmet chef, but I'm capable enough in the kitchen. I've had very few disasters in my years, although I did learn in our first year of marriage not to mix chicken and grapes. I actually think the recipe turned out as it was supposed to; we just didn't like it.

These days - everything!! Sad, really.

I'll cook just about anything if I want to or am in the mood mind you there is plenty I don't because it seems like to much trouble.

Artisan breads, tortillas, fresh lobster, candies, English Muffins pastrami and deli style corned beef come to mind. I am going to try smoking pastrami this summer though.

I don't cook live lobsters either. I love lobster but can't bring myself to buy one from a tank- I want to set them free...

I'm with everyone on the fried stuff. I just don't like the mess afterwards and the smell! I even fry bacon on the grill outside because I hate the smell in the house.

I think I might try bagels sometime simply because I couldn't find a good bagel around here if my life depended on it! Went to NY last may and finally knew what a good bagel tasted like...sigh.

Most Asian and Thai dishes, only because they usually call for a zillion ingredients and all that chopping!

I also don't see the big hoopla about fresh artichokes. I've had them before, but wasn't really impressed. Now, give me a good, baked artichoke dip and that's another story!

I am like Anne, my choices of food are limited. We have a cafe in town for fries and chicken strips, and half an hour drive our choices are pizza hut, McDonalds, Subway, and Runza. There are a few with good steaks, but nothing beats our inch and half thick t-bones from my parents cattle. We each get a side of beef for Christmas each year. I hate to spend $20 plus for a steak dinner when I can make it for much less and have my own grown lettuce or spinach for a salad itself.

Stacie

There's not much restaurant food around I like, but I don't do much Asian cooking, so if I get in the mood for Chinese food I'll get it from a restaurant. There's a couple of good vegetarian Chinese restaurants several miles away from me that I wish were closer, otherwise I might get in the mood for Chinese food more often. At the same time, there's a really good Asian grocery store on the other side of town that if closer, I might shop at more frequently and do my own Chinese cooking.

The other thing(s) I've made once, because all my baking books said they were so easy and tasted so much better than store bought, was crackers. They didn't turn out well at all, and I haven't tried them again. Maybe I will again some day, because I'd like to make a success of it, but again, why bother? Then again, one of the reasons I strive to make most of my food from scratch is so I can control the ingredients and I know exactly what's in what I prepare.

Sally

Claire,
bagels ... we quit eating them because they were simply too big.
Ya! I agree! I know it sounds crazy but instead of slicing my bagels in half, I usually slice them in thirds or even fourths if I can manage it. And then I don't eat a whole bagel at once.

foodonastump,
Steak! Yes! I actually do cook steak at home but of course it's NOTHING like what we can get at a good steak restaurant. The thing is, DH & I both love steak and could never afford to eat it out as often as we'd like so making it home, knowing it will just not be the same, is the best we can do.

pat_t,
In fact, I was going to mention Mexican. I live in Houston and there are a TON of wonderful TexMex eateries here. However, I do like to make some things at home. Fajitas and tacos for instance are so easy to make. And I have a great recipe for veggie enchiladas in which I can control the amount of heat (for my picky vegetarian son when he's home).

Karen,
Get yourself a KitchenAid mixer! I have JUST recently gotten into the bread baking scene and don't bother kneading by hand as the mixer does such a fab job. Well, that is if you WANT to make bread at home. If you are using the hand issue to get out of it, well, just ignore me! LOL

Karen, I use a bread machine to knead all the dough, because of carpal tunnel, just set it on the dough cycle and let it go, then shape, rise and bake.

Unless it's so blasted hot there that you don't want to turn on the oven, then never mind, you can ignore May and I both, LOL.

Annie

I'm with lowspark on eating okra somewhere else. After my disastrous try this week, and knowing I can get it at a wonderful little cafe downtown (but only at lunch...go figure!), I think I will retire my okra cooking pan.

I don't make cornbread dressing. My mother does that the bestest of everyone in the family.

I was going to try to learn to make olive bread but my daughter FedEx'd me two loaves (from Central Market). One of them promptly went into the freezer, so I can put that off for a while.

I don't bake biscuits from scratch. I use the uncooked frozen kind. And since Sister Shubert hit the scene, I don't make rolls.

I went through a stage of trying to make bread. Using the No-Knead recipe, I had pretty good success. But DH (who grew up on Wonder Bread and "dog cheese") wouldn't eat it.

I'm not against making anything at home. I love the process of cooking, no matter what it is. I like prep work (slicing, chopping, etc.) and don't even mind cleanup.

I can't think of anything I enjoy eating that I wouldn't try cooking myself. If I pick something up for dinner, it's only because it's been a long day, and I'm tired. Not because somebody else does it better.

Lori :D

May, can you post your recipe for vegetarian enchiladas? Mexican food is one of those things that's mixed for me. I make better burritos and tacos than I can get eating out, (compared to take out) but the tortilla chips always seem better at the restaurants. And, enchiladas seem like a lot of work, but I'm game for making them again - this winter. It's too darn hot here right now for much of anything that involves heating stuff up.

Sally

French fries, lobster, pizza. About everything else is made at home. I'm not really located in the back country but restaurants are a drive that I don't often make. Local bar will make me a plate of french fries and cover it with lemon slices... mmm just the way I love them. Grocery store does deep fried fish on Friday for the same price as buying it frozen. Speaking of I'd better get going as I just thought of what I want for breakfast/lunch/dinner... fish! Maybe time to grab a handful of sugar peas from the garden to go with it.

: )
lyra

Sally,
I use this recipe from epicurious. I don't roll each enchilada individually -- too much trouble. I just spray the bottom of the baking dish with pam, then layer the sauce, tortillas, filling, tortillas, sauce.

I also use whatever veggies I have on hand. Usually frozen spinach (thawed and drained), corn and black beans, but really any veggies will do. In fact, you can also do this with browned ground beef or cooked chicken. I think the filling is totally flexible.

The sauce calls for a lot of chili powder and here is where I cut back in order to not have it be spicy. I also don't add green chilis.

This is the best homemade enchilada sauce recipe I have found.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Vegetable Enchiladas

You all bring me your lobster....and one for me too and I'll cook it....I'll put it head first into that pot of boiling water and watch it turn red!! LOL!
We seem to have more than af ew Asian restraunts in town....some better than others, so out of the occasional stir fry I dont' make Chinese, or Korean or Vietnamese.
And while I love a bagel, and can't buy a decent one in towh...I don't make them.
But I deep fry, not often, but I do....
Why I have even made puff pastry....once.....and likely won't do it again. But for the work involved, I can buy decent stuff frozen.
Linda C

I like doing my own cooking and there isn't any place close to go and eat, so I don't think there is anything I won't cook or bake. Maybe Chinese and then we aren't that big on it. We don't eat steak much and we do not eat any seafood except fish.

Sue

I've never tried making Japanese food and probably never will because we have an excellent Japanese restaurant in town and I know I'd never compare. On the other hand, we make a lot of steaks because they are so quick and easy, so when we go out I rarely order it. We don't make lobster often due to the cost and clean-up is a pain, but we do make them because it is so easy, and I like having a messy lobster feast in the comfort of my own home!

I don't make duck mousse paté because the French Market by my old house imports it from France, and it is excellent. It's still not that far away. I do frequently make sushi at home, but I tend to buy the shari rice already cooked because it saves quite a bit of time. I make fried foods more often that I have them out, however, although I have been reluctant to do that in my new house because I'm not ready for the mess yet. I don't make Ethiopian food because there is at least one excellent restaurant where I can get it, but I haven't ruled out making it myself. I'm starting to make more African dishes, since I got the African cookbook from Lee. I don't cook lobster, but then I don't order it in restaurant either. I buy crab legs already cooked and prefer crab to lobster.

I've tried making Japanese pickles, but the ones I can buy are better than the ones I've made - the same with the seaweed salad, although I haven't given that much of a try yet. There used to be a lot of things that I would get in restaurants instead of making them at home, but that list has dwindled down to almost nothing, as I have figured out how to make pretty much all of the things that I love. I guess that's why my kitchen is so full of so many different things.

Lars

Chinese food, I just can't make it as good. Deep fried food which I am not suppose to eat anyway. I get my fix every now and then when eating out. I don't make donuts, bagels or croissants. Too much work. I do make homemade pizza once in a blue moon when I want deep dish Chicago style but most of the time we get one to go.
Clare

I haven't been able to do mongolian at home that is any good so I go out when I want it.

I have done a rib roast and it came out really good I'm waiting on a new rotissere for the grill and I'll try again after a few attempts I'll step up and get a prime rib. The main thing that keeps me from doing it is not enough people to eat it at home I might start cooking it at work plenty of people there to eat it. Also I can get good prime rib just about anytime I want it around here.

I starting to learn to cook a really good steak. I am better than Black Angus but no where near Del Friscos or Mortons yet.

My biggest problem is I'm not good with side dishes. So while I might be able to cook the steak better than a steakhouse they make better sides than I do.

Pizza is another. I would like to but I can't get the 1000 degree temps required for the type of pizza I like.

May - do tacos & fajitas count? :>) I do make those. I guess I meant things like tamales, chiles rellenos, and burritos. I just can't seem to duplicate it. And with the influx of Mexicans into our area in the past few years, we have a ton of good restaurants too. And they're incredibly cheap!

Chinese - I do make a mean stir-fry, but, again, it's just cheaper to eat it in a restaurant than to buy every little ingredient and do all that chopping!

To be fair, most of my meals are pretty simple since it's normally just me. There's not a lot I couldn't or wouldn't cook, and there will always I'm sure be things I will want to try, though I don't delve particularly heavily unless I am having guests. My biggest impediment in the past has been feeling at once overwhelmed by extremely long ingredient lists in recipes, and sometimes by trying to figure out what some of that stuff is and where to find it, but I've tried to work on that and educate myself over time.

I buy a lot of rotisserie chickens at Albertson's (most stores have them but I like theirs best), from which I can get several nice meals of varying types. I don't know if these are sold as "loss leaders" or fall in line with pricing of other items, but for what they cost I'm not going to put forth the effort or turn on the oven or invest in one of those Ron Popeil chicken cookers.

I have found that I don't like purchased "red sauce" (eaten with pasta for a simple, quick workday meal) regardless of how I may try to doctor it so I make it, which is easy and keep it on hand that way.

I go only rarely to any sort of notable steak house, but enjoy steak once in a while beyond that and am quite satisfied with what I can turn out with my All Clad grill pan at not that much cost purchased at a sale. I was surprised at the number of people who don't do rib roasts. They're not cheap, but they're very easy and if you have red meat eaters they make a really elegant special occasion meal.

Baking of any kind I could do night and day and never tire of it. I'd like to learn more of the aesthetic aspect of it. Cooking is fine and I like it, though if I met up with a guy who liked to cook, I'd hand over the reins and never give it another thought, but I'd always continue with the hobby of baking.

Thanks, May. I've copied and pasted the recipe. I'm starting to get squash in my garden, and I have tons of tomatoes, so this looks like a good way to use some of my garden produce.

Sally

Chinese. I love to stir fry, but I rarely make a "combo plate" type meal with fried rice, a deep fried meat (sweet and sour pork) and chow mein. It's one of my favorites, but there's a local 'dive' that makes a great plate for $8. Can't beat it for NO clean up!

I don't really deep fry anything. Hate the clean up and smell.

Prime rib is easy, waaayyyyy cheaper at home and I can make my own rub.

Deanna

There are a lot of dishes really...but the main thing that I can think of is Chicken Teriyaki like from the mall...Sarku Japan I think is the name of the shop. They cook it fresh for you right in front of you on the big grill. YUMMY...of course I tried making it at home and it was a dismal failure! For $5 a person, it's not worth all the work!

Opposum - it stinks up the house and I HATE skinning it!! ;)

arline

And then there's the problem of what to do with the tail......

Sushi is the only one I can think of. I even tried making california rolls once and it was just so much bother to make, and never tasted anywhere near as good as the nearest Japanese takeout.

One the other hand, there are things I normally won't order in a restaurant, because I know I'll be disappointed because I could make it better at home. I won't order pasta unless I'm in a good italian restaurant, because I know my homemade is better. DH agrees. My homemade fajitas are also way better than any I've ordered locally.

I'm the odd one here in that I don't mind deep frying at all. With a good hood over the stove or cross venilation with windows I've not had a challenge with the lingering smell...about the same with frying bacon or sausage for breakfast. It's there but not for days.

Chinese is one of my faves for take out...love the little boxes too. LOL! I can make a good homemade pizza but it is another that I order in or pick up now that I live in the city. I guess after 15 years of no delivery or take out it is still new to me. Donuts, bagels, and sometimes some good bread from the bakery comes into play too. Yes, I can make good to me bread but time plays into that choice too.

David