From the Menu | Dinner for Family

My brother, James and his wife, Romina are in town for a stop on their road trip back to the east coast. It’s been great seeing them again and I am glad William finally got to meet his Zio and Zia.

Last Thursday, the whole gang came over for dinner and I knew I wanted to make something that would be easy and that I could make ahead of time. It also needed to taste good! Here’s what I came up with…

Menu | Buttermilk Roast Chicken | Homestyle Macaroni and Cheese | Green Bean Casserole

You’ll have to excuse the bad photo and presentation. I didn’t get a shot of my plate on Thursday..this is a plate of leftovers on Friday. Regardless of the bad photo….it was GOOD food! I was so happy with all the recipes and how everything came out. The chicken was so easy to make and quite tasty. The mac n cheese was the same one I made for Easter and only one small portion was left at the end of the night. And the green bean casserole was no where near a casserole. Delish! I highly, highly recommend you try one or all of these recipes. Enjoy!

My Thoughts on eMeals

I recently subscribed to three months of eMeals. A friend told me about it and at the time, it was exactly what I needed. A week of meals emailed to me with a grocery list. Quick and easy. They have many different meal plans but I went with their Clean Eating option.

For the first couple of months, we really enjoyed it. The meals were tasty, easy to prepare and healthy. I briefly tried their Low Carb option as well as their Natural and Organic (which didn’t seem to be much of either) but preferred the Clean Eating.

It’s a great service but I cancelled my subscription. Of the menu they sent each week, I maybe used 3 or 4 out of the 7 meals. Some of them were things we wouldn’t enjoy and I don’t cook curry at home. There seemed to be a lot of curry dishes…I felt like some of the meals were not meals but side dishes. I also ended up having to doctor a few of them because they had no flavor. Clean Eating does not have to equal boring.

This was one of the dishes I made last week – a zucchini frittata. Their idea was good but I jazzed it up with more fresh herbs. I also wish I hadn’t cooked them in the ramekin like they suggested. A muffin tin would have been better. We scrubbed those things for a week! For sides, I did sausage links and a fruit salad topped with agave, lemon juice and fresh mint.

This was a quinoa dish with chicken, peas, asparagus and mint. I cooked the chicken on the side instead and left out the peas because I didn’t have any. It was very fresh and pretty good.

One meal was a risotto. No meat, that was it. The risotto was really good and I was pretty proud of myself for my first ever attempt. But as an entree? It would not have been enough for us. I made it a side and cooked up some salmon as well. A lovely pairing.

Another meal were turkey sliders. Fun idea that I turned into my take on the Magic ‘Shroom Burger from Hopdoddy minus the “shroom”. These were really good!

In conclusion, eMeals is a great idea and service. They recently launched an app and a menu of crockpot meals. You can also add on lunch and breakfast menus. I definitely appreciated it for getting me out of my menu/grocery list rut but will be going back to my old menu making ways (Pinterest and Clean Eating Magazine). If you decide to try it out, check out retailmenot.com for a coupon code. 

No Ruffles and Tutus

William and I did some retail therapy today. It was also his first visit to the mall. He was a great shopping buddy.

Sometimes I lament the fact that I don’t get to buy ruffled skirts, floral leggings or hair bows. But then I remember neck ties, bow ties, button down shirts, vests and smart fedoras…my boy is pretty darn handsome.

We used a birthday gift card to get him some shorts and tops…it’s weird to not put him in the onesies as much anymore. Not having a bunch of snaps is a good thing though…he’s such a wiggle worm.

I guess I’ll just have to shop for my niece when I get the urge to buy a dress.

William did such a good job during our shopping adventure I had to make sure he had some outside and dirt time.