Category: Food

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Food Meal kits Reviews

Review :: Home Chef’s Crispy Prosciutto and Pesto Penne with Tomatoes and Parmesan

A couple of nights ago I made the Crispy Prosciutto and Pesto Penne with Tomatoes and Parmesan dish from Home Chef.

This is one of their “15 Minute Meal Kit” options. This is perfect for nights when we have something to do in the evening and don’t want to order out. I’m talking about Zoom Happy Hour nights, yes I am.

This was super easy and quick. The onions were pre-cut and the sauce pre-made. I just had to cut the tomatoes and prosciutto.

Crispy Prosciutto and Pesto Penne
Prepping for Crispy Prosciutto and Pesto Penne

Leave it to me, to even have trouble with that.  I started to cut it up not realizing that there were plastic sheets between all the slices of meat. Oopsie. It took me awhile to pull all those slices apart and remove the plastic. But I’m happy to report that I got all of them and neither of us ate any plastic.

This dish was delicious. It’s so decadent that I assumed it was at least 800 calories, but it’s just over 600 so that’s not so bad. If I do this again I’ll make a salad to go along with it.

Crispy Prosciutto and Pesto Penne
Crispy Prosciutto and Pesto Penne

I also wish I’d taken a photo before putting the Parm on it, everything with Parm on it looks the same. But trust me, it was pretty!

Here’s the recipe! – Not that you can make it at home iwhtout a pre-made sauce….

Click here to get Home Chef meals, $35 off.

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Food Recipes Tried

2021 Project :: March Green Curry Soup

I decided that I would like to create a little project for the new year. I decided that I would make one dish from each issue of Bon Appetit, starting January 2021.

So, the one I chose from the March issue of Bon Appetit Magazine is Green Curry Lentil Soup (page 46). I chose it because I had all the ingredients and had just gotten some new green lentils from Imperfect Foods. I also had some sweet potatoes that were starting to mock me because I let them sit on the counter for too long.

set up for Green Curry Lentil Soup

The only thing I did differently is that I cooked it in the Instant Pot. This was a super easy and pretty quick dish to make. It involved a bunch of chopping, but you could certainly buy onions, garlic, and ginger prechopped to make this even easier and quicker.

set up for Green Curry Lentil Soup
Chopped stuff for Green Curry Lentil Soup

I actually measured the green curry paste and holy Jebus was it HOT! I love spice but this was off the charts. It was still delicious, but yowza!

This is the curry paste I used:

mae ploy green curry paste

I would make this again and the Instant Pot worked well.  Here’s the recipe.

Green Curry Lentil Soup
Green Curry Lentil Soup
Green Curry Lentil Soup
Green Curry Lentil Soup

When you get your April issue, let me know what I should make for April!

January’s project meal

February’s project meal 

The lentils, sweet potatoes, lime, and garlic were all from Imperfect Foods. Use my link and get $10 off your first box. Full disclosure, I get $10 too.

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Food Recipes Tried

Creamy Mushroom Risotto

Last week I made the Creamy Mushroom Risotto with Roasted Garlic and Crispy Sage. This is from the cookbook Passion: My Journey Through Food by Jules Meyer. Full disclosure; I know Jules. She’s my cousin. We grew up almost like sisters.

She released this book last year and it’s really beautiful.

You can buy it here

Here’s the recipe on her blog.

I love mushrooms, garlic and risotto so I was pretty sure I’d love this.

I made a few changes (shocker) out of necessity.

Firstly, I didn’t have fresh sage. I know, it’s an integral part of the dish, but I didn’t have it, and Greg and I were both in COVID quarantine* and weren’t able to leave the house to get sage. I wasn’t about to put in an Amazon Fresh order for only a bunch of sage and then wait a day. I wanted this NOW!

So, I used fresh thyme and rosemary. It was still amazing, but I do recommend using sage if at all possible. Because crispy sage is so delicious.

The only other thing I did differently is I didn’t use that much cream. Mostly because I was panicking about the butter and cream already in there. I think I used about a cup.

Oh and I didn’t have regular button mushrooms so I used two packages of bellas.

As you know, risotto is busy work. You have to stand there stirring for ages. But it’s so worth it. With the roasted garlic and the mushrooms, it’s heavenly.

mushrooms and garlic
Mushrooms and garlic for the Creamy Mushroom Risotto with Roasted Garlic and Crispy Sage

I wanted to eat the whole pan, but I only ate ¼ of it. I don’t even want to know if I had more than one serving.

Creamy Mushroom Risotto with Roasted Garlic and Crispy Sage

Greg who is a caveman and can’t have a meal without meat, added some sautéed chicken thighs to his.

Creamy Mushroom Risotto with Roasted Garlic and Crispy Sage
with chicken thighs

Leftovers were reheated the next day for lunch. Then the following day, I reheated the risotto and plopped an egg on it for breakfast. Amazing! (sorry I didn’t take a pic.)

Try this one, and let me know what you think.

Or get her cookbook and try any other wonderful recipe!

You can buy it here: https://amzn.to/3riqAWB

*we don’t have COVID, we had just gotten tested (negative) and needed to quarantine because we were both having medical procedures at the end of the week.

 

 

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Food Recipes Tried

Dinner :: Buttermilk Marinated Air Fryer Whole Roasted Chicken

Recipe: https://www.skinnytaste.com/air-fryer-whole-chicken/

We made this as a Sunday Dinner.  This is from Gina over at Skinnytaste, so we knew it would be good! But, we had a little trouble cooking:

I did this in my regular oven on the Air-Fry mode because my Instant Pot (with air-fryer lid) isn’t large enough for this chicken.

After it cooking for 25 minutes on each side, the breast was still raw. I’m not sure how this is possible. It came from the store refrigerated (not frozen), it sat in our refrigerator for 2 or 3 days before we marinated it. Then it sat in the marinate for a day, and out on the counter for an hour before cooking. So I’d be really surprised if it was still frozen.

After the air-frying, we put it back in on bake for another 10 minutes. I was afraid the dark meat would be overdone. So we carved it up, served the dark meat and the breasts went into the microwave to finish. Not the way I would have preferred to cook it, but it worked.

Air Fryer Buttermilk Chicken

And holy cats was it delicious!! Only buttermilk and salt and pepper and it was amazing. I served it with baked potatoes (with sour cream, butter and green onions) and Brussels Sprouts. The chicken may appear burned but it is not! The Brussels on the other hand were inedible.

Air Fryer Buttermilk Chicken

After eating and carving all the meat off the bones, the bones went into the instant pot with the potato skins and some seasoning and we made a nice broth.

Day two, the leftover chicken was used both as an addition to an otherwise vegetarian ravioli dish, as a main course (with gravy made from the broth) and then day 3 as a topper for salad. It remained moist (yeah, I said it) and flavorful. I don’t know if I’ll ever NOT marinate in buttermilk again.

Highly recommended. Just be sure you have a meat thermometer and be sure the breast is done.

We have this one, but it appears to be out of stock.

This one looks close to it.

Try this and let me know what you think!
Skinnytaste Recipe:

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Food Meal kits Reviews

Review :: Spinach Ravioli from Home Chef

Recipe: Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli Bolognese with Parmesan

This is one of those easy ones where you just mix and put in the provided tray and pop in the oven.

ingredients for Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli Bolognese with Parmesan
Ingredients for Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli Bolognese with Parmesan


It comes with a plastic tray. Which would be fine in the microwave, but it said that I was supposed to cook it in that tray, in the oven! Plastic, in the oven?! I got too nervous to use it in the oven, so I used my own ovenware.

Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli Bolognese with Parmesan from the oven
Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli Bolognese with Parmesan from the oven



This had great flavor, but I would prepare it differently. The sauce didn’t really come together, nor was there enough of it. Also, the ravioli didn’t get cooked through, it was still pretty chewy.


I had ordered my Home Chef this particular week with 4 servings per meal instead of 2 because my husband is always still hungry after we eat our two servings. But instead of giving me double portions of everything, they just gave me two bags of each meal. So, I ended up making each meal twice instead of making the 4 servings.


Therefore, I had a choice to make it a different way. A few days later, I did it this way:

I used the instant pot, only because I was working in the bar kitchen and didn’t have a large pot down there and was too lazy to go upstairs and get one.


So, I heated the pot on sauté and added the sauce ingredients whisking to make the sure the cream cheese was really mixed into the sauce. I also added about ½ cup water since I wanted the pasta to cook all the way through.


After adding the ravioli, I set the Instant Pot on high for just 1 minute, but just as it came to pressure I got the dreaded “burn notice”! So I just let it bubble on sauté.

Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli Bolognese with Parmesan from the Instant Pot
Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli Bolognese with Parmesan from the Instant Pot


The pasta still didn’t get done enough, but the sauce was good. One of the raviolis stuck to the bottom of the pot and got destroyed, so it sort of became part of the sauce.


I don’t know if I’d get this again. It would be easy enough to make it again on my own if I had a good meat sauce. But it would probably be a lot better in the microwave.


Have you tried this one? What was your experience?

Here’s their recipe.

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Experiments Food Recipes Tried

Dinner :: Chef John’s Salisbury Steak

One night when my husband and I were watching TV a conversation came up on Salisbury Steak. I think he said he didn’t like it, and I said I loved it and would make a good one for him to prove it.

However, my bravado wrote a check that my skills couldn’t cash. My favorite Salisbury Steak is this one.

Swansons TV dinner from the 70s

Those silky potatoes and that chocolate cake was sooo good, even when it burned a little. But the steaks were so tasty and that gravy!? *Swoon*

Also, I used to work at a place that provided lunch for staff and their Salisbury Steak was the BOMB! They didn’t make it in house, it was from a food service company. So it was like school lunch, but better.

[Update] I just found out that the food we were served at work was…..{drum roll please…} STOUFFERS!! ]

So I did some digging and I already had a few Salisbury recipes in my cookbook (I use CopyMeThat). The one that had the most stars (given by me) was the one from Home Chef. Here’s how it came out when I made it then:

HomeChef Salisbury Steak
Home Chef Salisbury Steak

The sauce looks too creamy and light colored for what I wanted.

So, I kept looking. When I Googled it, I realized that Chef John from Food Wishes had a recipe. So I watched the video again and decided to use this one.

Mushrooms and onions sauteing

I did make the meat ahead and let it rest in the refrigerator, as suggested. What I didn’t love is the ketchup. Something in it felt not quite right and I think it’s the ketchup. He does say in the video that his recipe is more like meatloaf and I guess I don’t really like that aspect. If I want meatloaf I’ll just make that.

Salisbury Steak
Finished Salisbury Steak

This was good, but I think the Home Chef one was better.  Note, there are 2 HC Salisbury recipes, one is “steak” and the other one is meatballs. I liked them both and rated them both 4 stars, but they are different.

Maybe I have to take things from all three of these recipes and make one of my own with them as guides.

What’s your favorite recipe for Salisbury Steak?

Salisbury Steak
Bonus photo, Salisbury Steak

The beef, mushrooms, and beans were from Imperfect Foods. Use my link and get $10 off your first box. (Full disclosure, I get $10 off too.)

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Food Recipes Tried

2021 Project :: January Tofu with Rice and Miso-Maple Dressing

Tofu with Rice and Miso-Maple Dressing

I decided that I would like to create a little project for the new year. I decided that I would make one dish from each issue of Bon Appetit, starting January 2021.

I decided this around January 25th, 2021. Because apparently I thrive on self-imposed deadlines.

So I grabbed the January issue of Bon Appetit and looked at each recipe to see which one I would make. First of all, that issue doesn’t have very many recipes. It’s all story. Which is cool, cool stories….but I needed recipes to choose from!

Part of the parameters of this are that I will FOLLOW the recipe exactly or as best I can. So I had to pick something that I already had all the ingredients for on hand.

I’m not kidding when I say the ONLY recipe in this issue that met those criteria is this one.

Tofu with Rice and Miso-Maple Dressing

Good thing I like tofu!

The marinade for the tofu was delicious, and as it turns out, it also basically the dressing (minus the cornstarch).

Ingredients on the counter

I loved the fresh flavors of this. I followed the directions nearly exactly (the only thing I didn’t do is grate the garlic because I couldn’t find the grater. I just chopped it really fine).

Finished dish

The only things I would change are…

  • It says to use one clove garlic. Usually I think, “aww, cute!” and then double it (at least). So, I did use two cloves of garlic and dare I say…it was too much. Since it’s raw it was really strong. I recommend sticking with one clove.
  • The recipe doesn’t say to do this, but I think they did do it, judging by their photo. I would toss the tofu in the dressing before putting it on the rice. Then drizzle the leftover dressing on the whole thing. The tofu was a tad dry coming straight out of the oven and I think it would have been better if it were tossed in the dressing. But you still need dressing to go over the rice and veggies.

I’ll make this again. It reminded me of the Yum Yum Rice Bowls from World Street Kitchen!

Close up finished dish

The carrots were from Imperfect Foods. Use my link and get $10 off your first box. (Full disclosure, I get $10 off too.)

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Experiments Food Reviews

Product :: Dash Waffle Maker

I saw this cute waffle iron on Tiktok and had to have it. I found it in Amazon packaged with a cookbook.

I had bought a box of Bisquick as I remembered from my childhood that all you had to do was add water (I remembered wrong).

So I made the batter but I didn’t need 12 of these today so I poured half the batter into a container and saved it for tomorrow.

To the half I had out, I added garlic powder, pepper, a tiny pinch of salt, and about 1\4 cup of shredded cheese.

I sprayed the Dash with cooking spray and I used a 1\4-cup measuring cup to pour the batter into the Dash.

I didn’t time how long it took to cook them but it was maybe 5-7 minutes per waffle.

Just be sure not to overfill!
dash waffle iron, overfilled

These were delicious! This little gem is easy to use, easy to clean (even if you overfill as I did) and if you get the one with the cookbook it’s an even better value.

I served my cheesy waffles with an egg and bacon (sugar-free).

Mini Waffles and Eggs on a plate

I can recommend this product, it’s cute and works well!

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Food Recipes Tried

Dinner :: Greek Style Green Beans

Greek Style Green Beans-Fasolakia Lathera

Original Recipe: Greek Style Green Beans 

Last night for dinner I did a couple of things…one was a whole chicken in the Instant Pot, using also the Air Fryer lid. Needs work, I’ll report back on that later.

But as a side dish, I made one of the new Greek recipes I found from Olive Tomato.

This was really yummy, however, I don’t like my green beans to be cooked to the point of mush and being discolored.

I like them to look like this

Green beans, potatoes and tomatoes in pan
This was right after I put them in the pan.


But when they were “done” according to the recipe, they were brown-ish and mushy.

Cooked green beans, potatoes and tomatoes

So while I would make this again for sure, I would add the beans at the last 5 minutes, when the potatoes are done, not let them cook for 40 minutes.

Here’s the finished dish, looks better with the creamy feta on top!

finished dish, green beans, potatoes and tomatoes

Here’s a close up.

close up beans, tomatoes, and potatoes

The beans, potatoes, tomatoes and onions were all from Imperfect Foods.
Use my link and get $10 off your first box. (Full disclosure, I get $10 off too.)

Just a weird aside…when I cut open the first tomato for this dish I was horrified by what I saw and felt inside.

inside of a tomato sprouted
Coming soon to a horror movie theater near you…

I’ve been assured it was fine, just the seeds had sprouted. Which of course is what I thought, but I really didn’t think they started sprouting inside the fresh tomato! I thought they’d start once the fruit was rotting or smashed, etc.
So while it looks a little like a horror movie, it’s also pretty cool.

 

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Food Recipes Mine

Recipe :: Chicken Sausage Gnocchi Soup

This was originally called Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup and it was an Olive Garden copycat. But I changed so much that I feel it is my own now.
I was debating between a Zuppa Toscana and this Olive Garden copycat for dinner last night. I decided I wanted to use the gnocchi I got from Imperfect Foods.

I’ve never had the soup at Olive Garden so I have no reference point. Plus I as I mentioned, I changed so much that it’s not the same recipe at all.

Chicken Sausage Gnocchi Soup
Chicken Sausage Gnocchi Soup

Chicken Sausage Gnocchi Soup

Ingredients

  • Cooking spray
  • 10 ounces True Story Organic Chicken Sausage 
  • ½ cup onion diced
  • ½ cup shredded carrots
  • ½ cup green pepper, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 tablespoons butter
  • 1 ½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 ½ cups beef (or veg, or chicken) broth.
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 cups fresh spinach leaves chopped
  • 1 (16 ounce) package potato gnocchi

Prep ingredients as noted (chop, slice veg and sausage).

Spray a large soup pot with cooking spray.

Over medium high heat sauté chicken sausage, onion, green pepper and garlic until tender.

Add the butter and stir veggies until butter is melted.

Add the flour and stir well so that the flour is all incorporated, no white spots showing.

Slowly add the chicken broth and stir or whisk until it starts to thicken.

Add the gnocchi and simmer for about 5 minutes or until gnocchi is cooked and soup is thickened.

Add the spinach to the pot and turn off the heat. Stir, then cover for about 5 minutes until the spinach is wilted (if the soup is too thin, leave the cover off.

Add salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

The only changes I might make next time are to use a hot sausage instead of sweet, or add some cayenne to the soup for a kick.

I also might use red pepper instead of green just for some color.

My Recipe: Chicken Sausage Gnocchi Soup 

Original Recipe: Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup

The gnocchi, green pepper, onion, carrot, chicken sausage, and garlic  were all from Imperfect Foods.  Use my link and get $10 off your first box. (Full disclosure, I get $10 off too.)