What's Cookin Good Lookin?
So, what's going on with all the food pictures lately? Well...
Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a great cook. Actually, if setting kitchen fires was an Olympic event I would very likely take home the gold. I recently burned a piece of toast so bad that when I threw it outside on the patio (to keep the fire alarm in my building from going off) it was snubbed even by our local raccoons (totally saw paw prints in the snow walk up to it and then turn around and walk away leaving it untouched!).
I am, however, quite good at following directions. Give me a well written recipe that explains what I am supposed to do when, and has clear measurements and times, and I am good to go (although there is still a good chance I will light something on fire during the process, it just can't be helped).
So, when I randomly saw an ad for Plated I thought I'd give it a try. We are now on our third week of recipes from this service, both Bill and I are pretty impressed. Each week you pick the meals from their menu that you want and you specify how many "plates" (servings) you need. Then they ship you all the ingredients (with the exception of some kitchen staples like salt and pepper) and the recipes. So far everything has been fresh and the quality excellent.
Yes, it is a little expensive (though they have some pretty great trial offers) but it is getting us cooking (we always say we are going to try new recipes but are just not organized enough when it is food shopping time, and then end up just having a lot of grilled chicken over the course of the week). And, quite honestly, I don't know if we could get the ingredients to make these recipes any cheaper if we went out and tried to buy the stuff ourselves. Plus, it's definitely less expensive than eating out! The customer service has also been great. One shipment was missing the chives for one of the recipes so they gave us a $15 credit!
Anyway, I'm not usually one to try to sell stuff, but if you want to start cooking at home more, are just learning how to cook, or just need some new recipes, I would recommend giving Plated a try. So far everything has been relatively easy to make and quite good. For dinner tonight we had Dijon Pork Medallions with Broccolini and Smashed Potatoes. Next on the menu for the upcoming week we have Citrus Soy Chicken Thighs with Soba Noodles and Spring Veggie Burgers with Carrot Chips and Lemon Aioli on the way!
In case you missed the pictures on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook (I'm a little obsessed with trying to win the weekly picture contest) here is what we have cooked so far:
