Did you know you can find Plated Meal Kits at the Grocery Store?

Recently, I was enjoying the option of being able to skip a trip to the grocery store by ordering my groceries online.  Seriously, what a treat!  As I was ordering I saw that my local Jewel carries Plated meals, and thought I'd give it a try.  If you are like me, you like to try new recipes and are happy for the convenience of getting a box containing everything you need along with detailed instructions.   Yesterday I made the Gnocchi Pomodoro.  I had one slight hiccup with my meal prep.  The yellow squash in the meal kit was not fresh. Lucky for me, I had garden fresh zucchini ready to use.  If I hadn't, I would have contacted Plated to see if I could get a replacement meal because the yellow squash shouldn't have had brown slimy spots. 

You get a bi-fold in the kit showing the included ingredients and step-by-step instructions with pictures.

Here is my good looking zucchini 

The instructions were easy to follow and the meal came together quickly.  The kit included a small amount of sugar to add to sauce, I chose not to use it as the sauce had  a nice rich flavor.

 I love a skillet filled with a colorful meal and this meal definitely fit that criteria.

Behold!  The finished product.  The meal claims to be for two people but I got three decent sized servings. If you threw in one more squash or zucchini or some mushrooms, you could feel a family of four from this kit.

Will I buy more from Plated?  Yes, but in the future I'll be sure to buy it when I am at the store and can see the meal and judge the freshness of the produce. (FWIW this isn't an ad, I paid for the meal and just felt like writing about it.)

****
How's the book going?

Thanks for asking!  I spent a few days thinking I should start back at the beginning of my book and read through what I have written and work on finding continuity errors. I sort of started on this work, but now I'm back in the frame of mind that I should just keep on writing until I get to the end and then begin to work through what I have written to do major editing and revising.

 I did spend some time make a detailed floor plan of my main character's condo- not really necessary- what I should be doing is make a map of the town where my book takes place so I have that to refer to when I am placing people and places.

Have a great day!
xoxo

We tried Blue Apron! And I am so behind on my holiday shopping

Who else can't believe that it's already 2 weeks until Christmas?  I'm in big trouble as I have barely started shopping! Don't tell Patrick but I am hoping he will like his 'big present' I went out on a limb as he didn't ask for this, but I got tickets to see Hamilton! Cheap seats to be sure, but still a big expense. This afternoon he was singing a song from the show so I think he will be excited.
Fingers crossed.

Then for BMO all he wants is one thing...a Nintendo Switch. Ugh they are $299 and you can't get any good deal on those.  Don't let anyone tell you kids aren't expensive.

picture from digitaltrends.com

Anna wants a few items, including REAL Ugg boots.  I was hoping Uggs weren't really a thing anymore, but apparently they are, and only REAL Uggs are acceptable.  I don't know that Uggs will be happening. I just don't see the value in purchasing the 'real' boots when the basic style are $20 - $30 and function as well. Also they are bad for feet, they have zero arch support.

Clearly I'm already broke with these three kids. :)

I did get a nice deal from a coworker. She gave me a code for free meals from Blue Apron and I tried a couple of meals this week. Instead of three free two-person meals, I got two of the family meals, those serve four people. I knew at least one kid wouldn't like something about whatever meals I picked, so we would be fine, quantity wise.  Also,  I added extra potatoes for the sides with each meal so there was more food  for the man. I liked the quality of produce and meat that we received.  The steps were a bit more labor intensive than I had anticipated, but nothing too taxing.  The food was definitely restaurant quality and assuming that to eat at a restaurant is at least $12 per person, Blue Apron is less expensive and you can eat in your pajamas. I think we will get Blue Apron about once a month moving forward, it's easy to pick meals and I like to try new recipes.  Maybe at some point I'll be able to mince garlic fine enough to turn it into a garlic paste- something both my recipes asked me to do and I failed at doing.  

Braised Chicken & Smashed Potatoes with Olives, Herbs, & Broccoli

I liked the capers in the smashed potatoes, a nice way to add flavor!

Shiitake & Hoisin Beef Burgers with Miso Mayonnaise & Roasted Sweet Potatoes

You top the burger with baby bok choy.  This was easy to make and I'll use the recipe again.  

So far I'm enjoying the Blue Apron, basically it's meals I would try at a restaurant that I can  make at home without too much effort. I'm looking forward to see what recipes come up in 2018!

Review and Recipes

All the Little Liars by Charlaine Harris
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I found that the voice of Aurora Teagarden was much more the voice of Charlaine Harris a 60-something than that of a 30-something librarian. For example, what 37 year old woman in 2016 uses the word trousers to describe pants. C'mon! This book takes place just a few weeks after the last one, which is disjointing. (esp. since the previous book was set in the early 2000s)  So just a few weeks ago Aurora finds her SIL dead and now it is Christmas, she is pregnant, married and not only is her step brother missing but there are other kids missing AND dead teenagers. It seems like a bit much, and yet there is plenty of time for the author to give paragraphs of space to the discussion of  Aurora preparing the most bland food ever eaten.

Lastly during the book Aurora does three stupid things and hides 2 crucial details from police that prolong the mystery and are so reckless it's hard to fathom. I almost through the book across the room a couple of times due to the lack of critical thinking by Aurora and her husband.


View all my reviews

A common thread in all Charlaine Harris books is uneccessary discussion of what food the protagonist is preparing.  If the food sounded good, that would be forgiving, but her main characters are bad cooks.   Just the most boring food. It's depressing.  If I was her editor, I'd put big red slashes through all food talk!

To combat bad food writing I thought I would share a couple fun Halloween themed recipes:

Pumpkin Soup with Herbed Pumpkin Seeds (Tastefully Simple) 

ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. 1 tsp. Avocado Oil or olive oil, divided

  add to cart
• 2 Tbsp. Onion Onion Seasoning 

  add to cart
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 (15 oz.) cans 100% pure pumpkin
• 13-14 oz. can coconut milk
• ½ cup roasted and salted shelled pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 1 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
• Sour cream (optional)

directions

Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add Onion Onion™ Seasoning; sautè 30 seconds.

Stir in broth; bring to a simmer. Add pumpkin and 1 Tbsp. Rustic Herb Seasoning; simmer 5 minutes. Stir in coconut milk; continue simmering 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine pumpkin seeds and remaining 1 tsp. oil in small bowl. Add remaining 1 Tbsp. Rustic Herb Seasoning and Parmesan cheese. Toss to coat.

Ladle soup into bowls or shot or cordial glasses. Sprinkle with herbed pumpkin seeds.

Tips:

• To decorate the glasses, add sour cream to a resealable plastic bag. Cut off a bag corner. Pipe slightly wavy ring around the inside of each glass. Using a wooden skewer, push the sour cream down to make elongated lines. Pour soup into glasses.
• Serve soup in Jack Be Little or other small pumpkins. To prepare pumpkins, cut top ½ inch off each pumpkin; scrape out seeds. Place on a baking sheet with rim. Add ½ cup water to baking sheet; cover pumpkins with foil. Bake 20 minutes or until soft enough to scoop out pumpkin flesh. Remove from oven and cool; gently scoop out flesh, leaving a ¼-inch shell.

And here is a recipe from All Recipes that sounds like a fantastic Chili!
Pumpkin Turkey Chili !