Trying Plated

I like to cook and try new things, but meal planning and food shopping aren't fun. I found a great coupon for Plated, a meal delivery service, so Dave and I gave it a try. This isn't the first time we tried a service like this. Last year we tried Blue Apron. The first box was missing ingredients and one of the meals from the second box made Dave violently sick. That was the end of that.

So what happens with Plated is that you pick a meal plan and choose from 20 meal options for the week. I chose two meals/week for two people. They send you the recipes and the ingredients, and you do the rest. Easy peasy! Something I liked was that each recipe gets its own bag inside the box. When we tried Blue Apron, they put all the ingredients loose in the box and I had to sort through them all, dividing them up among three recipes. This way is much easier. I grab the recipe bag for the meal I'm cooking and I'm ready to start.

The first box had salmon, potatoes, and kale with a creamy dill sauce.

YUM! This was delicious. The second meal was roasted chicken with mushrooms, garlic, onions, and orzo.

This was tasty, but I liked the salmon better. On to the second box! The first recipe from the second box was butternut squash and black bean quesadillas. I only used black beans on my portion because Dave thinks black beans are gross. I mean, he's wrong, but since he picks them out if I make something with them, I've learned not to try to get him to eat them.

Very good! I didn't get it to crisp up on the top like it should have...because I wasn't thinking and turned off the oven after the squash roasted and didn't have the patience to wait for it to fully get back up to temperature. Oops. The second recipe from this box was Lebanese cod, rice pilaf, and red peppers.

I know that doesn't sound very exciting. It doesn't look very exciting. Well, it was fantastic. Dave took one bite and said HOLY %#&! THIS IS GOOD.

We really like Plated, but it is kind of expensive. It's not something we'll do often, but we'll keep getting boxes every once in a while.

Oreo meringues

Dave and I really like forgotten cookies baked using my grandmother's recipe. When I saw a recipe that was similar, but used oreos, I thought they might be good.

Dave said he could eat a million of these. They were pretty tasty. 

Pupdate November 2018

Jedi continues to be his hyperactive, sweet, loving self. During the day, he hangs out in my home office with me while I work. Around three p.m., Jedi wants attention so he starts knocking things over. He knocks over books, photo frames, my box of the Endless figurines from the Sandman...anything in range. One day he swiped at these books with his paw, turned around, and looked at me.

Hellooooo! I demand attention now.

Crazy beagle. Sometimes I want a change of scenery so I sit on the couch downstairs with Jedi while I work. This turns into a constant battle. I like to sit on the end of the couch next to the end table. I can have my tea within arm's reach, my phone, etc. Jedi likes this end of the couch, too. Any time I get up, he immediately makes his move.

The look on his face...

Dave wanted to get Jedi used to swimming. Of course I got Jedi a life vest. He wasn't super thrilled about this development.

He didn't hate it as much as I thought. That's it for Pupdate November 2018!

Roasted chicken legs with potatoes and kale

I saved this recipe from Food & Wine ages ago and finally got around to trying it. The good news: We actually had leftovers! The bad news: No one wants to eat them.

I'm not a huge fan of dark meat, and the chicken was bland. Paprika didn't do anything to add flavor. There wasn't much in the recipe to add flavor to the chicken. The potatoes and kale were very good. The drippings from the chicken did add flavor to them.

It's too bad this isn't better because it's very easy and all done in the roasting pan.