Home Chef

I do want to begin this post by saying that the people at Home Chef have been wonderful. I really wish I could say the same about the company they have hired to deliver their product in my area. I have no idea how they chose the delivery company or how wide an area this delivery company covers for them. I only know my experience with them. I will not name the delivery company so don't ask. I am not going to open that particular can of worms.

So I was really excited to try Home Chef, it was one of the first of the meal delivery companies I heard about. One of the couples I watch on YouTube gets meals from them and has wonderful things to say about the foods they get. I have to admit the meals they have shared on their Vlogs played a part in me wanting to go on this adventure of trying the different meal kits.

I have now tried twice to receive my kits from Home Chef and so far I have completely stuck out at actually getting a box delivered to me in time to use it.

The first time (almost a month ago now) I picked out my 2 meals and they both looked amazing. I paid my money and everything looked good. I was very excited when I got the tracking information on my package the morning of the expected delivery. Everything seemed to be good to go. Then the delivery day/night came and went with no package arriving at my home. I looked online at the tracking and for over an hour after the latest expected delivery time it still said my package was out for delivery. Then the tracking changed and told me there was a problem with delivery and it would be delivered the next day. Hmmmmm...... this just didn't sound good at all.

I decided to immediately send an email to the shipping company inquiring about my package (they have the form right there on the tracking page). Late the next morning I got an email back telling me that they had misplaced my package and were searching their facility for it and it would be delivered as soon as possible. Mind you we are in the middle of a heat wave here in Oregon and my box was supposed to contain a beautiful piece of salmon! Not a good thing at all.

I decided to contact Home Chef to see if they would be able to resolve this issue. I talked to a wonderful customer service representative, Nick,who was able to at least fix things so I am not out the money I paid. He assured me that if the box arrives today (1 day late) it will still be perfectly safe but just in case he credited my account I can receive another box to replace the one that seems to be lost.

The shipping company updated my tracking to say that my package was out for delivery, then it said it was delivered. When I again couldn't find the package the next day (by this time the food had probably gone bad) there was no actual answer from them Then the tracking again the  told me the package was “out for delivery”  and I got yet another notice the next morning that it had been delivered. I searched and could not find the box any where. This finally "delivery day" was on Friday for a box that should have arrived on Wednesday.

I picked out 2 new dishes to be delivered 2 weeks later and again they looked amazing. I was truly excited at the thought of trying them. I was also a bit apprehensive about the delivery.

Between the time the first box was supposed to be delivered and the day I was supposed to receive the second box (in excess of a week and a half past the original delivery day) I actually did finally find the first box. It was in the ditch along the road, not the road I live on mind you the next one over. It was partly covered by blackberry bushes and very hard to retrieve. It was really amazing I actually saw it at all, but as soon as I did I just had a feeling it was either my Home Chef box or one belonging to one of my neighbors. I pulled over and checked the box and it was indeed my shipment. It was over a quarter mile from the end of my driveway! It also smelt like rotting food because that was exactly what was contained inside of it. I did load it into my truck and bring it home. I didn't want to leave it littering the road with my name and address on it. I will have to now dispose of it properly (it is sitting on my back porch in the meantime)

The day my second try at getting a Home Chef order I kept track of my tracking information. I checked it often throughout the day and evening. The Home Chef page says the package should arrive by 9 PM on the delivery day. I finally gave up at 10 and went to bed. The next morning I checked the tracking again and it said that my package was still out for delivery. I decided to drive down to where I had found the last box just in case it was there, it wasn't. 

 

Around 8 or 9 in the morning I got a message that the box had been delivered the night before and at this point the tracking was updated to show this also. I again took a drive to the spot the last box was found as well as a drive to the end of the road I live on and back home. There was no package to be found.

At this point I again called Home Chef and again the customer service person (I failed to get her name, I was more than a bit upset/angry at this point) was wonderful. I took her up on the offer to have my money refunded (which happened immediately) and she apologized and promised to contact the shipping company to see if she could find out anything.

So while I would love to be able to post my opinions on the Home Chef product I instead am posting my experience trying to actually even get my hands on the product.

For me this was a terribly disappointing experience, I really did want to try the foods that look so amazing on the website.

Compared to the experience I had with Hello Fresh this was a nightmare. Hello Fresh not only didn't charge for shipping they use UPS who actually can manage to get the package to the recipient. (I think I forgot to mention I had to pay $10 for the privilege of having my package shipped)

In my opinion a shipping company has one job- to take packages from point A to point B. Point A being wherever it was shipped from and point B the address on the package. This un-named company certainly has failed at this and because of their failure I feel I missed out on an fun experience and had a lot of extra stress besides.

Maybe if you live in town or in another part of the country your experience receiving Home Chef would be different but for me I am not willing to try them again.

Hello Fresh

The first of the home delivery meal kits I am trying is from Hello Fresh. I choose the option of 2 meals for 2 people for my delivery (this is the amount/setting I plan to use for all of the meal kits I try when available)

Hello Fresh has 3 plans available for you to pick from.

They offer their “Classic Plan” which seems to offer about a dozen choices of meals to pick from. You can choose to receive 2,3, or 4 recipes per week each serving 2 or 4 people. The base cost of this plan is $9.99 per serving (with free shipping) This is the plan I picked.

They also offer the “Veggie Plan” where you receive 3 recipes per week to serve either 2 or 4 people. This plan also costs $9.99 per serving and has the free shipping. This plan offers vegetarian friendly options though there were only 3 to pick from for the week I looked at.

Lastly they offer the “Family Plan” which serves 4 people and you can choose to receive either 2 or 3 recipes per week. The cost of this plan is $8.74 per serving again with the free shipping. This plan offered 5 recipes to choose from for the week I looked at it. They say that the recipes on this plan are ones the entire family will love.

Hello Fresh box was delivered by UPS which I do love since I have the My Choice account with UPS so I get tracking information sent to me automatically. I am also able to set my delivery preference through their ap and get delivery updates also through the app. This makes me much more comfortable about deliveries in general. So delivery choice was a definite plus for me. The fact it was free was even better.

The box was delivered to my porch on a very hot afternoon and since I happened to be at home at the time I was able to bring it right in the house. Everything in the box was well packed and all items were properly cold. The bags on top were pretty close to refrigerator temperature even though the outside temperature was in the 80's. The meat was at the bottom between 2 large frozen ice packs and was very cold. So packing was also a plus.

I immediately looked over everything in the box and moved the food to my refrigerator. Each meal (minus the meat) was bagged in a brown paper bag that was clearly labeled. (one of the bags did tear in shipping) I love the convenience of the meals being all together in the single bag. So much easier when I am ready to prepare dinner.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos

The first meal I made was the Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos. This meal is vegetarian and if you know me or have read my blog posts you know that I am definitely not vegetarian but I do enjoy a good vegetarian meal from time to time. I chose this selection because I have noticed a lot of recipes that combine black beans with sweet potatoes and since I love both of these items I have really wanted to try the combination. I did move some of the items (sweet potatoes, avocado, lime, and the onion) to my kitchen counter a few hours before I was going to prepare dinner so they could come to room temperature. Those are items I would normally store at room temperature and prefer to work with them that way. I have to say the dish was very easy to prepare, a bit of chopping, grating and then into the oven and a skillet. The ingredients were all of excellent quality. The only complaint I have is the avocado was extremely under ripe so it really wouldn't mash but it still tasted very nice in the finished dish. Since the avocados were refrigerated I don't think waiting a few days would have made much difference.

I did like the dish very much and will be saving the recipe to make again. All the flavors went together very nicely and it was a filling dinner.

The amount in the photo of the finished dish is as close to half of the meal as I could get. I thoroughly enjoyed it for dinner and enjoyed the leftovers couple of days later for my lunch.

I really enjoyed this dish a lot, I am going to be making it in the future for sure (easy to do since I did receive the wonderful illustrated recipe card) but also I will be adding the avocado crema to some of my own dishes since it was wonderfully tasty on its own also.

Crispy Cheddar Frico Cheeseburger

I do apologize that I forgot to take any photos of the ingredients before I made this dish. It totally slipped my mind. For this dish the only things that were needed that were not on the bag were: salt, pepper, olive oil, and sugar.

I did do things slightly differently than the recipe for this dish. It was very hot the day I made this so I decided to move most of the cooking to my grill. I did make the Onion Jam in a skillet in my kitchen but I did all the rest of the cooking on the grill. I just used the same temperatures and times as the recipe directed and it all turned out perfectly. In fact this may be the best tasting burger I have ever eaten. Again it was a super easy recipe and made with ingredients that I can easily get at the store.

My Thoughts

So what are my thoughts on the Hello Fresh shipment I received. I do love both recipes and as I said earlier I will be making both dishes again. I loved trying new flavor combinations, in for me that is the biggest draw of the whole meal kit thing. I love to try new foods and this is a really easy way to do just that.

It is way too early in my process of trying the different kits to say if I will order from Hello Fresh again but it is certainly tempting.

Meal Kits

I'm pretty sure you would have to be living under a rock to not be aware of the massive number of meal kits that you can have conveniently delivered right to your door. There are so many of them advertising everywhere and so many bloggers and you-tubers are talking about them too. I have to admit I have been curious about them.

After watching several of the you-tubers that I normally watch talking about various kits I decided to do my own research. Being really cheap, or-ahhh, frugal (that sounds better right) I starting looking for deals on some of the kits.

Some of the things I have heard I know I disagree with. The thing that comes to my mind first is the claim that they are cheaper than shopping. I have looked at the prices and I know what I spend for things and I know that there is no way I am spending the amount per meal that these kits cost (regular price, not including discounts). If they are cheaper for some people then I think we need talk about shopping habits a bit.

However, I do see that they are very convenient mainly because most of the prep work seems to be done for you. Also I love to try new foods and I love to experiment with new flavor combinations and for me that is one of the draws. It is also why I have purchased several of the meal kits that my local grocery store carries. (I did a blog post on the first one of this, which I did get for free)

So back on topic. I have two meal kits ordered/paid for. One is due to arrive this week (Hello Fresh) and one next week (Home Chef)

Both of these companies were offering introductory deals so the price was significantly lower than the normal price. I will be posting blogs on each of these after I receive them telling you what I thought about them, how much I paid and show you what I get.

I am also looking at some of the other companies that offer the kits to order in the future.

The big question is probably do I intend to continue with any of these. The answer would be maybe. If the food is good enough, and the recipes tempting enough I might. I wouldn't be doing them every week, maybe one or two a month for a change of pace from what I normally make. After all, I do love to cook but I also really enjoy grocery shopping and finding the best deals. For me that really is half the fun of it. I also love to create new dishes and to try to re-create things I have eaten or even read about.

So I hope you will enjoy this process with me in the coming weeks/months as I explore the world of Meal Kits.

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Caramelized Onions

This week I am sharing what has recently become my favorite sandwich of all time. I am just kicking myself for not coming up with it years ago. It blends one of my favorite sandwiches with caramelized onions (which I adore) to make a sandwich that is good anytime of year.

Since it is summer and the middle of a heatwave right now it goes great with a salad. In the dead of winter pair it with a bowl of your favorite soup and you will be cozy and warm.

My choice for the bread on this is a really dark rye, but feel free to use your favorite. I just love the combination of the dark rye with all the other flavors.

You can also play around with the cheese choices, my preference is Muenster and Sharp Cheddar but if you have another favorite try it out.

I used a WallaWalla Sweet Onion that weighed just over a ½ pound and it was close to perfect for two sandwiches. You can really use any onion for caramelized onions but a nice sweet onion is even better and just sooooo yummy. The only real secret to caramelized onions is to cook them on low heat until they reach a nice rich golden color.

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Caramelized Onions

3 Tablespoons butter

1 small to medium (about ½ lb) Sweet Onion, sliced

pinch kosher salt

1 teaspoon dark brown sugar

4 slices of dark rye bread

Dijon mustard

2 slices (1 ½ oz each) Muenster Cheese

2 slices (1 ½ oz each) Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion slices and a pinch of salt. Stir and cook just until the onions start to soften, about 3-5 minutes.

Reduce heat to low (as low as your stove will go) add the brown sugar to the onions and stir to coat. Cook 20 -25 minutes, stirring often until the onons are golden brown and look glazed. They should be very soft at this point. If at anytime they start to get crisp at the edges remove from heat and allow to cool a few minutes before continuing.

While the onions are cooking prep the rest of the sandwiches, lay out the bread and spread all 4 slices with mustard (the amount is up to you, I don't measure I just put on the amount that looks good)

Place the Muenster cheese on 2 slices and the cheddar on the other 2.

Once the onions are cooked divide them evenly between the slices of the bread with the Muenster cheese then top with the slices with the cheddar.

So at this point your layers of sandwich should be as follows:

rye bread

mustard

muenster cheese

caramelized onions

cheddar cheese

mustard

rye bread

Turn the heat back up to medium under the skillet you have been using and add 1 Tablespoon of the butter. Once the butter melts carefully add the sandwiches. Cook about 3 or 4 minutes until the bread is toasted.

Add the last Tablespoon of butter flip the sandwiches and cook another 3 or 4 minutes until the other side is toasted and the cheese has melted.

Enjoy!!

Grilled Stir Fry

This is a recipe I am really excited to share for a couple of reasons. First it is super yummy and secondly it gives me an excuse to tell you about one of my very favorite grill accessories, my grill wok. I have also seen them referred to as a grill skillet. I purchased mine several years ago and I use it all summer long. I love grilled veggies and this is the perfect pan to use for them. I remember I debated for weeks as to whether or not to buy mine. I am so glad I did. Basically this is a skillet to be used on the grill but instead of being a solid pan it has holes all over it. The smoke and all the grilling goodness get into the food so well. You do have to be careful what size things you put in it, anything small or liquid will run right out.

The dish I made for you this week is basically a stir fry like combination that is cooked on the grill. I made mine vegetarian this time (possibly vegan, not sure if the sauce I used is vegan) but it is equally good with chicken. Of course you can change out the veggies I used for your favorites but I do love this combination.

To make this really easy I use a bottled stir-fry sauce, most grocery stores should have at least one brand on the aisle with the Asian foods.

Easy Vegetable Grill-fry

⅔ cup plain long grain rice

1 ⅓ cup water

7 oz Extra Firm Tofu (my store carries tofu in 14 oz packages)

¼ cup purchased stir-fry sauce (divided)

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

2 cups fresh broccoli florets

2 green onions, cut in 2” pieces

1 cup baby carrots, quartered lengthwise

1 cup quartered mushrooms

½ cup snow peas (strings removed)

1 Tablespoon water

Cook the rice in the water using your favorite method (I usually use my rice cooker)

Drain the tofu, gently press between layers of paper towels to remove as much of the liquid as you can. Be careful so you don't break the tofu up but you do want to remove as much water as possible. Then cut the tofu into ¾” cubes.

Heat the grill.

In a large bowl combine 3 Tablespoons of the stir fry sauce with the oil and mix it really well. Add the tofu cubes and gently toss to coat. Add all the veggies and again gently toss to coat everything evenly.

Spray or lightly oil your grill wok.

Place the grill wok over medium high coals on the grill and carefully add the veggie/tofu mixture.

Cook for 10-15 minutes (or until veggies are all cooked, they should be crisp-tender)

Toss the mixture around in the pan occasionally so everything cooks evenly.

In a small bowl combine the remaining Tablespoon of stir fry sauce with the Tablespoon of water, mixing well. Add the cooked veggie mixture and toss to coat evenly.

Serve over rice and enjoy.

This makes 2 nice sized servings

Pesto Potato Salad

I was craving potato salad the other day so I decided to make a batch. I had every intention of just using my normal recipe but then when I opened my fridge I realized there was a partial tub of pesto sauce still sitting in there just begging to be used up. So on an impulse I decided to change up the recipe to make something a bit more interesting. 

 

My potato salad recipe makes about 3 servings, so enough for dinner one night for a couple and then some for lunch for one. (you'll have to work out who gets the leftovers)

Pesto Potato Salad

1 lb potatoes, peeled and cubed

¾ cup mayonnaise

2 Tablespoons Basil Pesto

pinch of salt

pinch of pepper

¼ teaspoon lemon juice

¼ cup diced red bell pepper

2 Tablespoons chopped onion

1 hard boiled egg, chopped

Cook the cubed potatoes in just enough water to cover just until fork tender. *about 8 to 10 minutes, depending on cube size) Drain, rinse with cold water, drain well and cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl combine the mayonnaise, pesto, salt, pepper and lemon juice and mix well with a wire whisk. Be sure to taste this mixture and adjust the seasonngs to suit your pallet. You may want a touch more salt and pepper or maybe you will want it a bit spicy....

When the dressing is seasoned to your liking add the rest of the ingredients and carefully mix with a wooden spoon.

Transfer the potato salad to a small serving bowl, cover with plastic and chill for at least a couple of hours before serving.

Missing in Action

I know I have been absent for a while again. I had some stuff going on in my life and took some time off from all my blogs and youtube for a while. Oh, in case you didn't realize I have multiple blogs and Youtube channels. The links for all my blogs are at the top of this blog so if you are interested you can go check out the rest if you haven't before. Anyway, I had taken some time off them started posting on most of them again. I had been writing and filming for all the blogs/channels then my computer crashed. I had somewhere between 10 and 15 blog posts/videos in process. Since I normally don't backup posts or videos until they are complete I lost all of the ones I was working on along with all the photos to go with them. YIKES!!

I am still without my main computer. My son, Erik, (my IT guy) says he is fairly sure he can get my files off my old hard drive later. In the meantime he is working on putting together a new system for me. But because he is working full time and trying to keep the price as low as he can it will take a while. Currently I am using my old (previously) retired laptop, it is really slow and not terribly reliable (it tends to shut off randomly)

I am doing my best to get back up to where I can post on all my blogs and channels but it might take a while yet before I get back on any kind of “normal” schedule. Please be patient I should be back soon. In the meantime I will be posting when I can with what I can.

Shrimp and Carrot Stir Fry (Review)

I think we have all probably noticed the popularity of the meal kits that have hit the market in the last few years. There are several companies that deliver meals ready for you to cook right to your door. I have looked at them but I really enjoy cooking and I am good a finding deals in the grocery store. While many people may find them to be economical I have run the numbers and find that I could make the meals for a lot less money in most cases. I know a lot of people don't enjoy cooking or don't have the skills and the kits do provide you with excellent instructions and hold your hand through all the steps.

Also for me, the home-delivered boxes of meals would be just too much since I really would only want to use them occasionally not every day.

A while back the grocery store I shop at (Fred Meyer in Oregon City Oregon) did a remodel and added a lot of new things. One of the new things was a case of prepared meal kits in the produce/deli area. The kits are a lot like the ones you can get delivered in that all the ingredient (with very few exceptions) are in the kit, all the measuring is done for you as is most of the work. You just have to do some chopping, mixing and cook the meal. The kits at the store all make 2 servings and range in price from around $15 to around $20 (or so)

I have been very tempted several times but I was waiting to see if the store offered any deals on the kits. The only one they have offered so far was buy one and get one free. Since I just wanted to try one kit I was kind of just waiting to see if they offered a sale or coupon on a single kit.

Then this morning I was shopping in the area where the display is set up and an employee was going up to customers and offering some of the kits that were a day or two from pull date. She explained that all the ingredients would be fine for a couple of days but that they weren't allowed to discount the price so they were giving them away. When she offered me one of the kits I was happy to try it since I have been so tempted already.

the contents of the box

The kit I got is for Shrimp + Carrot Stir Fry over Scallion Pancakes and the retail price is marked at $18.

Inside the box, I found: 2 eggs, coconut milk, sliced green onions, flour, fresh mint, 1 lime, shredded carrots, shrimp, and a full-color recipe card with photos that tells exactly how to create the dish.

I will need to add salt, pepper, and oil. As for tools I will need a whisk, mixing bowl, skillet, measuring spoons, spatula, prep bowl, cutting board, knife and a wooden spoon.

I do love that everything is pre-measured for me.

the picture on the front of the recipe card showing what it should look like

* * * * * *

This next portion of the blog I am writing after I have made the dish and eaten it.

The directions were very easy to follow and everything went together very easily.

As for taste, I am totally impressed. This dish tastes wonderful, the flavors are complex and it really tastes like something from a restaurant.

I think the main thing I was worried about was that the portion would be small but I am totally impressed with the amount of food. There were plenty of shrimp and carrots and the pancakes were filling. I ate 1 serving and was actually a bit too full (but in a good way)

So my thoughts, I am definitely going to try other dishes that are offered. I feel it was a good value for the amount of money that is charged for it. I have a full portion to eat for lunch tomorrow but I would have been proud to serve this to anyone.

I did look up the website listed on the recipe card which has a list of the stores these meals are available at. It appears to all be stores owned by Kroger but those seem to be everywhere so you can probably find one near you too. When you choose your store chain you can see what the meals currently being offered as well as the recipes that are “archived currently” I do notice that all the stores seem to have a good variety of meals available and they range from seafood, chicken, beef, pork and vegetarian (I think some are vegan but I am not 100% sure) The website does list all ingredients in each kit so you can check before you go to the store especially nice if you have any dietary restrictions. 

I'm Back!!

Did anyone miss me? I haven't posted any recipes on here is so long. I had a sinus problem a few months ago and I couldn't taste anything for about 2 weeks. When my sense of taste came back nothing tasted like I knew it should. Since I couldn't trust my sense of taste I didn't want to post recipes here since I really couldn't be sure I liked them. Thankfully everything seems to be back to normal now and I am enjoying cooking (and eating) again.

I have a bunch of posts planned I just need to get the time to do them. Hopefully, I will have something for you in a day or so and then I am going to try to get back to posting a new recipe (or review) about once a week again.