Sorry for the delayed update, I was traveling for work and paused my Plated shipments.  Happy to be back in the kitchen cooking!  Have you ever had just a magical weekend with your loved one(s)?  That’s what I had with my husband this past Valentine’s Day weekend.  We cooked together, watched Game of Thrones together, and laughed (a lot) together, and just enjoyed each others company.  He also got me these flowers.  🙂   You can see all of my Plated recipe cards in the back!  The front is a Caramel Apple Tart dessert, which I haven’t made yet.

Anyways, we also made Plated’s Brown Butter-Seared Scallops with Root Vegetable Puree.  It was a pricier selection, $30 a plate, but we chose to cook this together instead of going out for Valentine’s Day.  This meal said it would 35-45 minutes.  My husband helped the whole time and it took us 41.  We were really impressed with the quality of the scallops.  It’s hard to find fresh, non-frozen scallops in Toledo, OH this time of year.  Hubby has mad knife skills, so he did all the peeling and chopping, and also made the root puree, while I focused on the scallops.  The root puree was delicious, I don’t believe I’ve ever had celery root before, and it tasted like mashed potatoes.  I liked the texture, but my husband would have preferred to use a mixer to smooth out more of the lumps.  I like lumpy mashed potatoes, because the lumps mean they were homemade!  But that’s just me.  🙂  It was also a little runny, we were given a container of milk and told to use half, and I accidentally poured too much.  I’ve also never had roasted sunchokes before, which I forgot about in the oven and burnt a little, but they were still tasty.

Overall, this was one of our favorite Plated meals.  It was very expensive, but worth it for a special occasion meal.

While I thought this was a tasty dish, I  felt like it lacked flavor.  There just wasn’t enough sauce to go around, as 1.5 TBS hoisin sauce, 1 packet soy sauce, and 1/2 tsp of chili garlic sauce made just a tiny bit.  If I made this again, I would probably add at least an extra tablespoon of hoisin and probably a quarter cup of soy sauce.  Maybe I just like things saucy?  Plated said this would take 35-45 minutes, it took me 49.

This is the second time I’ve had tofu from Plated, I’m still struggling with the best way to drain and cut it.  This time I put it on two paper towels on a plate, then put two more paper towels on top, then put my Kitchenaid mixer on top of that. But it is still really crumbly and impossible for me to cut into perfect cute little squares.

Not too much chopping in this one, just the tofu, cashews, onion, garlic, and ginger.  The most labor intensive part with exception to chopping was cooking the tofu, and turning it to make sure all sides were brown.  All in all, a decent dish, but as I said earlier, could have used more flavor.

If you are interested in Plated, please use my referral code so we both get free meals!! https://www.plated.com/invites/0363c7

Actual text message convo between my husband and I yesterday:

Me: Thinking Philly cheese steaks for dinner tonight

Him: Woah…cheese steaks!! Yes, that would be awesome, we would have to go to the store.  Would you rather do that Saturday as a together thing.

Me: We have Plated cheese steaks, but we can make our own on Saturday together if you want.  Plated uses real cheese.

Him: Woah…back up the real cheese truck, I guess it’s okay this once.  Let’s do them tonight

You see, my husband’s family is from Philadelphia, and his Nana still lives there.  While he is kind of a food snob in many ways, he prefers canned fake cheese on his cheese steaks.  Personally I think he’s crazy, but to each his or her own.

Anyways, this was another delicious meal.  Hubby even said “I could eat this twice a week for the rest of my life”.  It was that good!  It took me 41 minutes, just 1 minute over Plated’s 30-40 minute time estimate.  Most of that time was spent chopping.  SO MUCH CHOPPING!  I think I might be holding my knife wrong, my index finger started to hurt halfway through, I’ll have to ask my husband to watch next time so he can tell me if I’m doing it wrong.  I felt like there was a lot of dishwashing in this one, too.  Two cutting boards, 3 knives, two pans, a baking sheet, a measuring spoon, tongs, and a spatula to stir.

It felt like there was a lot going on at the same time in this one recipe, I had to be cognizant of 2 pans as well as the rolls being warmed in the oven.

This recipe required the broil setting of my oven, which I have never used before, so I looked it up.  In baking, the heat comes from the bottom of the oven.  In broiling, the heat comes from the top.  Makes sense for these cheese steaks, because everything else is already cooked, you are just trying to melt the cheese.  I was really happy that Plated included 4 pieces of cheese instead of the 3 it listed in the recipe, it was nice to be able to just put 2 slices on each.

Here’s the finished product, I took a picture just before putting the cheese on then again after it came out of the oven.  Quite messy to eat as a sandwich, but SO delicious.  A little high in calories at 720 per serving, but SO yummy. 🙂

The Miso Rice Bowl with Roasted Redfish and Fried Parsley was another delicious meal from Plated.  This was probably one of the EASIEST meals thus far, and definitely had the least amount of chopping.  I only had to chop the cucumber and pull the leaves off the parsley, which helped speed things along.  It took me 36 minutes from packaging to plate, so only 1 minute over the 25-35 Plated told me it would take.  I was also able to wash dishes and do a few household tasks during the process.  I can see myself using the same cooking techniques in the future.  I’ve never dotted butter on fish before, you literally just put globs of butter on fish.  I also thoroughly enjoyed the pickled cucumbers.  Just cucumber + kosher salt + 1/2 cup of rice wine vinegar + 10 minutes wait.  Great for a quick snack!

Here’s a picture of the first batch of parsley frying, sorry it’s so dark!  I would have never thought to fry parsley without Plated telling me to.

At 580 calories per serving, this was a nutritious and healthy meal.  Bonus for me – my husband wasn’t very hungry and I got to eat his cucumbers and a little bit of extra rice.  Lucky me!!

If you are interested in Plated, please use my referral code so we both get free meals!! https://www.plated.com/invites/0363c7

I made the Strip Steak with Potato Tian and Caramelized Brussels Sprouts Sunday night, and it was another great dish.  Also, I learned that it is not “brussel sprouts”, but “Brussels sprouts”.  Good to know, been saying it wrong for decades.  Thanks spellchecker!

Anywho, I had big problems with the timing of this.  The tian needed longer than 30 minutes in my oven, and was done after my husband and I had finished our Brussels sprouts and steak.  Even so, it was a delicious meal.  Hubby helped with most of the chopping while I prepped everything else.  With both of us, it took 45 minutes, not including the extra 15 minutes we cooked the tian.  I blame the giant sweet potato!  Recipe said it would take 40-50.  No new cooking techniques in this one, although I did learn that what a tian is, a “rustic French preparation of vegetables as well as the name for the shallow earthenware dish in which they are cooked”.  I was very glad Plated included the aluminum tian, because I definitely did not have one on hand.

I was terrified of burning myself on the pan that had been in the oven with the steak, so I put a potholder on it.  I felt like there was a lot going on at the same time.  I had to be mindful of the tian (which ended up needing more time), the sprouts, the sauce, and the steak all at the same time.  I had 4 different mental timers in my head set to go off at different times.

Here is the tian after I took it out of the oven (the first time) along with the yummy red wine sauce.  I think that the sweet potato was just too big, and that’s why it took so long.  I made one finished plate, before tasting the potatoes and putting them back in the oven.

And here is my sad tianless plate, as well as my feet and my dog’s nose.  The potatoes were delicious when we were finally able to eat them, but I would have liked being able to eat everything together.  Overall, it was a good dish, and I would order it again if it was available.

If you are interested in Plated, please use my referral code so we both get free meals!! https://www.plated.com/invites/0363c7

Friday night I made Braised Chicken with Potatoes and Massaman Curry.  It was spicy and quite tasty!  Unfortunately I messed up the curry sauce, I didn’t measure my oil and used too much, so it was quite oily.  But it was still delicious.  It took me 1 hour and 8 minutes, definitely not the 30-40 minutes Plated told me it would take.  I think those are maybe the times of professional chefs?  I’m getting better at chopping, but it still takes me a while.  If I made this again, I’d measure the oil, as well as slice the chicken into bite size pieces for ease of eating.  There was a bad piece of potato which I did not appreciate, but it was easy enough to cut out and not eat.  I am so thankful that my husband insists on good knives.  They aren’t cheap, but make my job much easier.

I hate touching raw chicken.  It totally icks me out.  Just look at it!!

One thing that surprise me was the coconut milk.  I actually HATE coconut with a passion, and was worried about this being in the recipe.  Luckily it was overpowered by the other flavors and I couldn’t taste it at all.  But look at it.  It was all congealed and globby.

I also thought that the color was totally off compared to the picture.  In the picture, it’s much more yellowish, not the dark reddish orange I got.  Not a big deal, just different.

Here is the finished product, as you can see, it’s extra oily, which is totally my fault and should not be blamed on plated.  It tasted really good, I really liked the heat the curry provided.

If you are interested in Plated, please use my referral code so we both get free meals!! https://www.plated.com/invites/0363c7

Last night I made Plated’s Vietnamese Beef Pho with Thai Basil.  It was the first meal I made from Plated that I just didn’t like.  I didn’t think that the meal was nearly flavorful enough, and despite following directions, the rice noodles were too chewy and bland.  The recipe said it would take 30-40 minutes, and it took me 31.  I did marinate the meat for 30 minutes, so I sliced that and put it in a bowl with the Thai chili paste and sugar prior to starting the timer.

Not too much chopping in this one, just what you can see on the cutting board.  Thai basil, peanuts, lime, and big pieces of shallots and ginger.  I actually sliced the ginger too small, it was harder to strain out later, but it still was good.  The oddest part about this recipe for me was cooking noodles in a bowl.

The recipe called for the noodles to be put in a bowl, then boiling water poured over them.  Honestly, I think this is why I didn’t like the noodle texture, it just didn’t taste like they were done enough.  Also, I didn’t like that the broth was poured over them at the end.  I think that they would have tasted a lot better if they had been cooked in the broth, or at least been able to soak up the yummy flavors.

Here’s the finished plate, it looks pretty, but it’s the first meal that my husband didn’t finish.  He had a couple bites, then just ate the meat out of it.  I finished mine, but as I said, thought it was really lacking.  If I ever made this again, I would cook the noodles in the broth.  I think that would make a HUGE difference in flavor.  I also wasn’t a big fan of the star anise in the pho, but that’s more of a personal dislike of licorice.  If you are interested in Plated, please use my referral code so we both get free meals!! https://www.plated.com/invites/0363c7

On Sunday I made the Butternut Squash Ravioli with Spinach Pesto.  It was the most delicious meal, but also the most time consuming by far.  It estimated 30-40 minutes, which I honestly don’t know how anyone could do unless they are ravioli making wizards.  My half-Italian husband even helped throughout the whole process and we took 55 minutes total.

I’ve made ravioli before, but only with homemade pasta, never with wonton wrappers.  When we made it before, we used a ravioli press hubby’s Nana (Italy born and bred) gave us.

Lots of chopping as usual, the squash needed chopped, the garlic, the walnuts, and the oregano.  I realized I had NEVER seen oregano on the stems before, only already shredded like you would buy in the spice aisle of the store.

I got to use the immersion blender, I did not think that it would be able to handle whole spinach and basil leaves, but it did!  Even if it did take 5 minutes and cause my hand to hurt.

My husband did most of the ravioli making, I was working on the filling and pesto.  I did a couple though!  We ran out of filling though, and ended up with only 13 raviolis and 5 extra wonton wrappers.

But in the end, we had two delicious plates of ravioli to eat.  This was definitely a weekend dish, I’m glad I didn’t try to do it on a weeknight after work. 

If you are interested in Plated, please use my referral code so we both get free meals!! https://www.plated.com/invites/0363c7

Friday night I made Steak Gyros with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce and they were quite tasty!!  I’m still not good enough to get under the estimated time frame, but I’m working on it.  Plated said these would take 20-30 minutes, it took me 31 and I even had help!  These were 530 calories per serving, and very filling.

My husband helped with some of the chopping and flipping the meat.  As always, chopping and slicing was the most time consuming item.  One important thing we forgot to do was to dry off the shredded cucumber, it made the yogurt sauce very watery.

I think the worst part about Plated is all of the dishes it creates.  SO many dishes to wash!!  But the food is really good, healthy, and I am learning new skills.

Despite following the directions, we seemed to have a lot of extra onion mixture.  My husband and I just aren’t that big on raw onion, so we did use it as more of a garnish.  Also, I diced it instead of slicing.

Overall this was a fairly easy dish, and I could see myself making my own yogurt sauce in the future, or maybe even tzatziki!

Last night I made Blood Orange Wild Sockeye Salmon with Brown Butter Gnoochi.  It was the best plated meal yet!!  The meal was 790 calories per serving, and said it would take 20-30 minutes.  It took me about 35, but I at least was able to unload the dishwasher and wash dishes throughout the process.

There was a lot less chopping in this meal, just garlic, sage, and kale.  But there was SO MUCH KALE!

I’ve made kale before (and kale chips nom nom nom), so I know it loses a lot of volume when it’s cooked.  The recipe said to discard the stems, luckily my two dogs LOVE crunchy veggies and were happy to eat the scraps.  My older dog looks at them as treats and takes them into the other room to enjoy in his standard treat spot.

I felt that of all the recipes so far, this was one I am most likely to try to cook on my own.  The easy glaze of a blood orange + soy sauce + Worcestershire sauce is something I could whip up without a fancy recipe card, and my hubby LOVES gnoochi.   And now I know how to brown butter!  I mean, it’s pretty easy.  You just put butter in a pan and stir it occasionally until it’s brown.  But I do feel like Plated is teaching me a lot of new cooking techniques.

Here’s a photo while it’s cooking, I was using the same spatula in both pans, so that’s why there is kale on the salmon.

I thought I had a picture of the two finished plates, but unfortunately my phone misled me.  Could have been operator error.  But here’s a picture of my half eaten plate, haha.

My puppies were very interested in what we were eating, and made sure that they were available if I were to drop anything.  They got a treat on Sunday when I accidentally spilled lentils all over me and the couch, I’m sure they were hoping for a repeat!

A couple people have asked me if Plated is worth the cost.  It’s not cheap, it’s a minimum of $12 a plate, so $24 for a meal for 2.  It’s not cheaper than cooking.  That being said, if I was to attempt to recreate this, I would easily spend over $24 in gathering the necessary ingredients.  You can’t typically buy just a tablespoon of this or a single spring of sage, but having the larger quantities would lend it to other meals.  But knowing me, it’s just as likely to go bad before I use it.  If I wasn’t using Plated, I would probably order in, get carryout, or go to a restaurant.  All of which would easily cost more than $24.  Plated is not for those who are on a tight food budget, or those who don’t want to spend 30-60 minutes prepping, cooking, and cleaning.  But if you are a person who typically eats out but wants to learn to cook, I think it’s worth a try.  My code below will give you 2 free plates!

https://www.plated.com/invites/0363c7