Plated Meals Week March 21st and 50% Off Promo Code

Plated sends you the fresh ingredients to make meals at home, all sent directly to your house! It's so convenient and even on the busiest nights, it's so easy to make a home cooked meal in about 30 minutes.

Plated lets you pick your delivery day, Tuesday or Friday, and in some locations they also offer Monday delivery. It's overnighted via FedEx, and usually arrives fairly early in the day, plenty of time to prepare it for dinner that night.

I decided on the Chicken Tostadas with Avocado Dressing, and Shepherd's Pie with Ground Beef and Vegetables.

Guinness Shepherd's Pie

It's almost St. Patrick's Day! I heard of this dish somewhere recently, and decided it would be a perfect dish for the holiday weekend. I had to make it a day early because people weren't going to be home to share it with on the actual day, so I made it tonight, and everyone can just binge on leftovers for the next couple of days. It was also a nice excuse to get some Guinness beer for celebrating as well! ; )

I looked online for a good recipe for this, and I'd say it turned out pretty good. I think next time though I'd adapt my original Shepherd's Pie recipe I normally use and add the Guinness to it. But this one works pretty well. I had to adapt it a little so I could dirty fewer dishes and some of the original ingredient amounts didn't quite work. Anyways, check out the recipe below.

Risotto Milanese with Short Ribs and Roasted Carrots

I got kind of on a risotto kick, and decided to make Risotto Milanese to go with the short ribs my mom made. I only have the recipe for the risotto, because my mom just threw the short ribs into the Crock Pot with whatever the hell else she felt like, and I don't think she even remembers what went in there. But it turned out delicious, so I just served up the short ribs on top of the risotto, along with a side of roasted carrots, that we got from the Farmer's Market.

Caramelized-Onion Risotto with Bacon

I had the most wonderful caramelized onion risotto on my trip to Monterey, and have been wanting to attempt to recreate it at home. I found an easy enough recipe, because I've never made risotto before, and so here it is. It was fairly simple, and it turned out pretty good, but nothing like in Monterey. Maybe it was because there were too many other flavors with it, like the bacon and the thyme. I'm also not the best at cooking caramelized onions, I'm too impatient. But anyways, I totally recommend this recipe if you want some nice comforting, creamy risotto.

Homemade Pizza - 3 Ways

An easy thing to make for dinner is homemade pizza. It cooks quickly, you don't have to have a ton of ingredients, and you can buy pizza dough at the store. It's also an easy way to get rid of some pantry jars of stuff to put on your pizza, such as olives, artichoke hearts, anchovies!?, pizza sauce/tomato sauce, whatever you want.

A local grocery store, carries frozen and fresh pizza dough, so we occasionally grab one, freeze it, and then defrost it the day before I want to make it. At first, I was trying to top the dough on a cookie sheet, and then trying to move it over to a pizza stone preheating in the oven. It's impossible. You can flour it, put olive oil on it, but it doesn't matter. It always seems to be too heavy to move easily without just stretching out the dough. So I've learned to just get over it, and cook it on the cookie sheet. I cook these at 500 degrees, for 10-15 minutes.

This was before it went in the oven. Here are the ingredients in order I added them: olive oil, tomato sauce, red pepper flakes, dried oregano, salt, parmesan cheese, fresh mozzarella cheese, fresh basil, and half artichoke hearts. 

As you can see, the basil got kind of fried, so I recommend adding it in the last few minutes of cooking time, or just adding it after it comes out of the oven. This first style was very good, simple and classic.

Here's my 2nd way, ingredients were: olive oil, half pizza sauce, half garlic ranch sauce (bought from the store), red pepper flakes, dried oregano, parmesan, red onions, fresh mozzarella cheese, half artichoke hearts and fresh basil. As you can see, this is right around when our basil plant started dying, so there weren't many leaves to pick for this pizza.

For the 3rd way, I decided to split the dough into 2 pizzas. This one was, olive oil, pizza sauce, red pepper flakes, dried oregano, parmesan cheese, monterey jack cheese, red onions, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese.

The 2nd half of the dough was all the same, just the garlic ranch sauce instead of pizza sauce. 

I really liked the ones with the garlic ranch sauce. I found it with the pizza dough and the store had some fresh packages of pizza ingredients, like pepperoni, pizza sauce, and the ranch sauce. I highly recommend trying to make pizza at home. It's so easy, and it turns out delicious!

Easter Dinner: Scalloped Potatoes and Roasted Cornish Hens

My local Winco grocery store, has a ton of food products for very inexpensive. They even have weirder items like cactus, all kinds of authentic Mexican foods, so many tortilla brands you wouldn't know which to choose, and various other strange items that you can only get there. On one shopping excursion, my mom and I discovered some frozen cornish hens that we impulse bought. I decided to use them for our Easter dinner, instead of doing ham or something else. I roasted them very simply, made scalloped potatoes as our side, and made the rosemary rolls from my last post, since we still had frozen dinner rolls. The chicken came out really tender and juicy, and the scalloped potatoes were creamy and delicious.

Scalloped Potatoes
Here's the recipe adapted from Tyler Florence

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 sprig fresh thyme (I didn't have any, so I left this out. It still tasted delicious)
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Butter
• 2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch thick slices
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for broiling
• 
  
• Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2. In a saucepan, heat up the cream with a sprig of thyme, chopped garlic and nutmeg.

3. While cream is heating up, butter a casserole dish. Place a layer of potato in an overlapping pattern and season with salt and pepper. Remove cream from heat, then pour a little over the potatoes. Top with some grated Parmesan. Make 2 more layers. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Sprinkle some more Parmesan and broil until cheese browns, about 5 minutes.

Roasted Cornish Hens

Here's the recipe adapted from The Neelys

Ingredients:1/2 tablespoon salt1 tablespoon lemon-pepper1/2 tablespoon dried basil1/2 tablespoon poultry seasoning1 tablespoon olive oil
1 stalk celery, large dice
1/2 onion, large dice3 Cornish game hens, about 1 1/2 pounds each, rinsed and dried thoroughly1/2 green bell pepper, large dice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. In a small mixing bowl, stir together salt, lemon pepper, dried basil and poultry seasoning. Rub olive oil all over the hens and season each with the salt mixture. Place the hens on a baking sheet pan with plenty of space between them. You may need to use 2 pans. Loosely stuff the cavities of each hen with some green bell pepper, celery and onion. Roast the hens in the preheated oven for about 1 hour or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165 degrees F and the juices run clear. Remove the hens from the oven, loosely tent with foil and let rest 10 minutes before carving or serving.

TIPS: Line the baking sheet pan with foil under the wire rack for an easy clean-up. The veggies and herbs stuffed in the cavities of the hens will impart flavor to the meat as it cooks.

Shepherd's Pie

This is a great comfort food staple, and it's especially great with ground lamb. You can save time by using packaged mashed potatoes. I added cheese to the top of mine, this is completely optional. I've altered the original recipe to a 2:1 potato to meat ratio, because I found that this is best. If you do 1 to 1, there just doesn't seem to be enough potatoes to fully cover the meat mixture. I also take out the peas and corn, but feel free to leave those in.

Here's the recipe adapted from Alton Brown
4 servings

Ingredients:

For the potatoes:

• 1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes
• 1/4 cup half-and-half
• 2 ounces unsalted butter
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 egg yolk
• Shredded cheddar cheese, for topping (optional)

For the meat filling:

• 1 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced small
• 1 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 pound ground lamb (you can use ground beef, if it's what you have, but the lamb is much more flavorful)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly chopped rosemary leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly chopped thyme leaves
• 1/4 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
• 1/4 cup fresh or frozen English peas

Directions:

1. Peel the potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch dice. Place in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, uncover, decrease the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until tender and easily crushed with tongs, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Place the half-and-half and butter into a microwave-safe container and heat in the microwave until warmed through, about 35 seconds. Drain the potatoes in a colander and then return to the saucepan. Mash the potatoes and then add the half and half, butter, salt and pepper and continue to mash until smooth. Stir in the yolk until well combined.

2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

3. While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the filling. Place the canola oil into a 12-inch saute pan and set over medium high heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the onion and carrots and saute just until they begin to take on color, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and stir to combine. Add the lamb, salt and pepper and cook until browned and cooked through, approximately 3 minutes. Sprinkle the meat with the flour and toss to coat, continuing to cook for another minute. Add the tomato paste, chicken broth, Worcestershire, rosemary, thyme, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer slowly 10 to 12 minutes or until the sauce is thickened slightly.

4. Add the corn and peas to the lamb mixture and spread evenly into an 9 by 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish (anything around this size should work fine). Top with the mashed potatoes, starting around the edges to create a seal to prevent the mixture from bubbling up and smooth with a rubber spatula. Place on a parchment lined half sheet pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25 minutes or just until the potatoes begin to brown. Remove to a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, and Roasted Asparagus

I've made most of this before, but I thought I'd post the photos. You can find the meatloaf recipe here. Everything turned out delicious as always.

Potato Latkes

On Halloween I was getting hungry and had seen some shredded potatoes in the fridge, so I found myself a latke recipe. I made too many, topped them with sriracha sour cream, and then proceeded to eat them all. This was a great recipe, and I'm definitely going to make sure I have applesauce to go with them next time.

Here's the recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Prep Time: 10 min | Cooking Time: 15 min | Difficulty: Easy | Serves: 1-2

Ingredients:
1 large Baking Potato (1 Pound), peeled (or pre-shredded potato hashbrowns. They're usually in the store next to the eggs)
1 small Onion (4 Ounces), peeled
¼ cup All-Purpose Flour
1 large Egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp Salt
¼ tsp Freshly Ground Pepper
Peanut Oil, for frying

Directions:
1. In a food processor or on a box grater, coarsely shred the potato and onion. For longer strands, lay the potato sideways in the chute of your food processor. Transfer to a colander or wrap in a cheesecloth sling, and squeeze as dry as possible. Let stand for 2 minutes, then squeeze dry again.

2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, egg, salt and pepper together. Stir in the potato onion mixture until all pieces are evenly coated.

3. In a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil until shimmering. Drop packed teaspoons of the potato mixture into the skillet and flatten them with the back of a spoon. Cook the latkes over moderately high heat until the edges are golden, about 1 ½ minutes; flip and cook until golden on the bottom, about 1 minute. Drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining potato mixture, adding more oil to the skillet as needed.

4. Serve with sour cream, apple sauce, or sriracha!

Honey-Balsamic Lamb Chops with Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

We got a grill pan for the stove that doubles as a grill on one side, and a flat top on the other for pizza or other foods. I got my first chance to use the grill side with this lamb recipe, which turned out delicious! The sauce was so simple, but tasty. I served this with some roasted garlic mashed potatoes, which were a bit undercooked, but still flavorful.

Honey-Balsamic Lamb Chops
Here's the recipe adapted from Giada at Home.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cooking Time: 10 min | Difficulty: Easy | Serves: 4

Ingredients:
⅓ cup Balsamic Vinegar
1 Garlic Clove
2 Tbsp Honey
¾ cup Vegetable Or Canola Oil
Kosher Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper
4 medium Lamb Chops
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
½ Tbsp Chopped Fresh Rosemary Leaves

Directions:
1. Place a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill.

2. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the balsamic vinegar, garlic, and honey. Pulse until blended. With the machine running, slowly pour in the vegetable oil until the mixture is smooth and forms a thick sauce. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

3. Season the lamb chops with salt and pepper. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with rosemary. Grill the lamb chops for 5 to 7 minutes each side until medium-rare (less if you're lamb chops are thinner).

4. Arrange the lamb chops on a platter. Spoon the sauce over the top or serve the sauce on the side.

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Prep Time: 10 min | Cooking Time: 1 hour | Difficulty: Easy | Serves: 4

Ingredients:
4 Russet Potatoes, peeled
1 Head of Garlic
Olive oil
1/2 cup of Milk or Cream
1 Stick of Unsalted Butter
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Cut off the top of the garlic, place in tin foil. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt. Crimp foil so it makes a pouch around the garlic. Cook in oven for 45 min - 1 hour. Let cool.

3. Cook potatoes until fork tender in boiling water over medium-high heat. Drain and place potatoes back in pot.

4. Add the milk and butter. Mash until almost all lumps are gone. Squeeze the garlic out, and add to potatoes. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Use a hand mixer to whip the potatoes until fluffy and light. Serve.

Caramel Apple Pork Chops

Sorry everyone for the lack of posts lately, but my computer was in the shop. My hard drive was corrupt, and I ended up having to wipe it. Even worse, I don't have everything backed up, and my back up for the rest is missing. : ( So to say the least, every time I get on my computer a bout of depression comes over me whenever it's apparent that I'm missing some of my stuff. Hence, the lack of posts.

I was able to cook some food, despite this technology caused depression; some delicious food! I made Caramel Apple Pork Chops, as I was trying to get rid of some pork chops we had in the freezer. This recipe was quite delicious, but the pork chops were may have been in the freezer too long, they were kind of tough. But I found myself spooning up the sauce and apples down to the last drop. I served these with some mashed potatoes.

Here's the recipe adapted from All Recipes.

Ingredients:
4 (¾ inch) Thick Pork Chops
1 tsp Vegetable Oil
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
Salt And Pepper To Taste
⅛ tsp Ground Cinnamon
⅛ tsp Ground Nutmeg
2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
2 Tart Apples - Peeled, cored and sliced
¼ cup Orange Juice

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brush chops lightly with oil and place in hot pan. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes, on each side, just until browned. Place in a 9x13 pan.

3. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, orange juice, salt and pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add butter to skillet, and stir in brown sugar mixture and apples. Cook until apples are just tender. Pour mixture over pork chops.

4. Place pan in oven and cook until the pork reaches 160-170 degrees F. Serve with mashed potatoes.

Peach Whiskey BBQ Chicken and Mashed Potatoes

We had some chicken thighs in the freezer and some extra time before dinner, so I whipped this up. The BBQ sauce was delicious, and I kept spooning it up with the mashed potatoes! I added a little spicy heat to the bbq sauce, with some Sriracha, and it was so tasty! I just used my favorite kind of box mashed potatoes since we don't have any potatoes at the moment. They are perfect for me because they taste just like the real thing, they're easy to make, and free of lumps, which I hate. This is definitely on my list to make again!

Here's the recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cooking Time: 1 1/2 hours | Difficulty: Easy | Serves: 3

Ingredients:
4 Whole Chicken Thighs
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Butter
1/2 Whole Yellow Onion, Diced (or use a shallot, that's all we had on hand)
½ cup Whiskey
4 Ounces, fluid Barbecue Sauce
1/3 Jar Peach Preserves
1 Tbsp Sriracha chili sauce (more or less depending on your heat tolerance)
1/4 cup Water
1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
3 Whole Green Onions, Sliced Thin


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2. Heat oil and butter in a heavy pot over medium-high heat. Place chicken thighs, in the pot. Brown both sides, then remove to a plate and repeat until all chicken is browned.

3. Pour off half the grease (do this step, I didn't and the sauce turned out a little too greasy), then return pan to stove. Add onions to pan and stir, cooking for 2 minutes. Pour whiskey into the pot, being very careful if you're using an open flame. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan, allowing whiskey to reduce for a minute or two. Pour in barbecue sauce, peach preserves, chili sauce, water, and Worcestershire sauce. Throw in garlic cloves. Stir until combined, then return chicken to the pot, skin side up. Cover and put pot in oven.

4. Cook for 1 hour, then remove from oven.

5. Serve pieces of chicken over a big pile of mashed potatoes. Sprinkle sliced green onions over the top.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Version 2

I was never really given macaroni and cheese as a kid, so I've been binging on it as an adult. I've been watching the new Pioneer Woman show on FoodNetwork, and she made her macaroni and cheese, and got me craving it again. So I whipped some up for a snack. I made a few changes, just to add some extra flavor, but it turned out creamy and crunchy on the top. It was so tasty! My mom even ate some, and she usually makes a face every time I make it.

Here's the recipe adapted from Pioneer Woman.


Prep Time: 15 min | Cooking Time: 25 min | Difficulty: Easy | Serves: 3


Ingredients:
2 cups Dried Macaroni (or other spiral pasta)
½ Whole Egg Beaten
⅛ cup Butter
2 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour
1 ¼ cups Whole Milk (I used 2% since we always have that on hand, but would be better with whole)
2 tsp (heaping) Dry Mustard
8 ounces Cheddar Cheese, Grated
¼ tsp Salt, More To Taste
¼ tsp Ground Black Pepper
½ tsp Cayenne Pepper
¼ tsp of Freshly Grated Nutmeg
Paprika, to sprinkle the top with


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook macaroni until very firm. Macaroni should be too firm to eat right out of the pot. Drain.


2. In a small bowl, beat egg.


3. In a large pot, melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Whisk together over medium-low heat. Cook mixture for five minutes, whisking constantly. Don’t let it burn.


4. Pour in milk, add mustard, and whisk until smooth. Cook for five minutes until very thick. Reduce heat to low. Add cayenne pepper and nutmeg. 


5. Take ¼ cup of the sauce and slowly pour it into beaten egg, whisking constantly to avoid cooking eggs. Whisk together till smooth.


6. Pour egg mixture into sauce, whisking constantly. Stir until smooth.


7. Add in almost all of the cheese and stir to melt. Leave enough to top the macaroni before it goes in the oven. 


8. Add salt and pepper. Taste sauce and add more salt and seasoned salt as needed! DO NOT UNDERSALT.


9. Pour in drained, cooked macaroni and stir to combine.


10. Top with extra cheese, sprinkle the top with paprika, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly and golden on top.


11. Let cool for a few minutes and then serve. 

Fried Macaroni and Cheese!

I told you I was thinking about frying the leftover mac and cheese I had, and I did. It was delicious! I've decided that if I ever open a restaurant, I'm putting this on the menu! I just need to come up with a tasty sauce for dipping. I did top mine with Sriracha, and that was tasty. I pan-fried mine instead of a full fry, just because I hate using a bunch of oil in a big pot. It's much easier to just use a little, and flip them halfway through. Just make sure your oil is hot enough, but not too hot! That way they have enough time to get warm in the middle and not burn on the outside and not get greasy.

Frying up

On my plate!

Look at the inside of these tasty morsels!

Here's the recipe adapted from Alton Brown.


Prep Time: 15 min | Cooking Time: 15 min | Difficulty: Easy | Serves: Depends on amount of mac and cheese leftovers


Ingredients:
Leftover Baked Macaroni And Cheese,refrigerated for at least overnight
1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Cayenne
1 Egg Beaten With 2 Ounces Water
1 cup Panko Bread Crumbs
Oil For Deep Frying, preheated to 375 degrees
Your favorite hot sauce to top


Directions:
1. Cut refrigerated macaroni and cheese into slices or bite size pieces.


2. Season the flour with salt, pepper and cayenne. Dredge each piece through the flour and gently tap off excess. Dip in the egg wash and then coat with the bread crumbs. Allow them to rest for 5 minutes so the crust can set. Very carefully drop into the oil and fry until golden brown, flip to fry other side. Remove to a baking sheet fitted with a rack and rest for 2 minutes before serving.


3. Top with hot sauce or other favorite topping. 

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

I was hungry last night, but didn't have anything planned for dinner, but I thought that we had the ingredients to this wonderful dish, and we did! I love making macaroni and cheese at home, because I tend to always have the ingredients on hand. I usually make my own stove top mac and cheese, but decided I had some time to whip up the baked version. It was delicious, and there are leftovers I'm thinking about pan frying! Yummy! I cut the dish down to 2 servings, but you can always make more and fit them in a larger casserole dish.

Here's the recipe adapted from Alton Brown.


Prep Time: 20 min | Cooking Time: 45 min | Difficulty: Easy | Serves: 2


Ingredients: Use your best guess for these measurements, closest you can get. Some are a weird amount
2.7 ounces Elbow Macaroni
1 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Flour
1 tsp Powdered Mustard
1 cup Milk
2 ⅔ Tbsp Yellow Onion, finely diced
⅓ Bay Leaf
.167 tsp Paprika
⅓ large Egg
4 ounces Sharp Cheddar, shredded
⅓ tsp Kosher Salt
Fresh Black Pepper
Topping:
1 Tbsp Butter
⅓ cup Panko Bread Crumbs


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.


2. In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.


3. While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.


4. Temper in the egg. Stir in ¾ of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.


5. Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.