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HelloFresh Meal Review: Sweet and Savory Plum Flatbreads with Ricotta, Charred Onion, and Arugula

cooking, Dietitian, Food, Grains, health, health goals, Healthy Diet, Heart Healthy, HelloFresh, home cooked meal, meal delivery, meal planning, Recipe, Vegetarian, , , , , , , , , ,

I love every single word in the name of this dish! Color me excited to make this one!

If you want a deal, I can offer you this:  Get Cooking Today With HelloFresh And Get 50% Off!

HelloFresh categorizes this meal as a breakfast according to the recipe card. I think this would make a divine breakfast but it is just a little too much work for me to do while on my first cup of coffee. Don’t get me wrong, I love a hot breakfast. In fact, I have a hot breakfast pretty much every day! I can cook a veggie omelet with one eye closed and one hand on that coffee mug; but this recipe was just a bit too involved for that level of attention (or rather that lack of attention…).

As the video shows, there are not that many steps but there is some multi-tasking. Once again, I turned to my non-stick pan so my plums did not get any delicious carmelization action… and my onions did not get charred. I think I was a wee bit heavy-handed with the oil (which you may notice in the video!).

What would I change? Well, per the recipe card, this recipe calls for 5 teaspoons of olive oil for 2 servings. I love me some healthy oils but this was too much for me. Reducing the oil could easily be done by omitting from arugula and not coating the flatbreads and I think the recipe would be just as good without this much oil. I also found this dish to be flavorful enough without the honey drizzle – which was fun to do – but omitting honey would reduce the sugar which comes in at 21 grams. For my taste buds, the extra sweetness is not needed and doesn’t add any extra nutrition.

What did I love? Once again – this is a meal of delicious flavors that I would never have thought to put together. I love that HelloFresh is introducing me to new flavor combinations! I got excited a while back mixing blackberries and blue cheese (uh, yeah, so good!) but plums and red onion? No way! Totally works. I also love the small amounts of leftover ingredients. This time I had some pomegranate balsamic vinegar and almonds that got tossed onto the next days lunch salad… and there was leftover arugula which hubs and I ate on the side with the flatbreads.

Things I learned:

Non-stick pans – once again – are not always the best option

There is a world of flatbreads outside of my stand-by FlatOut wraps

I really have to double-check that my video shots are centered before I film!

Here’s that info again if you want to take advantage of the discount I can offer you to try out HelloFresh! Get Cooking Today With HelloFresh And Get 50% Off!

4-Plum-Flatbreads-Pic

HelloFresh provided a Meal Delivery Box containing three meals to me free of charge. This is #sponsored and I was so impressed that I have joined their #affiliate program. As always, all opinions in my reviews are mine and I if love it or hate it, I’ll let you know.

HelloFresh Meal Review: Emeril Lagasse’s Herby Dijon Chicken Breasts with Zucchini and Red Potatoes

chicken, chicken recipe, cooking, Dietitian, Food, health goals, Healthy Diet, HelloFresh, home cooked meal, meal delivery, meal planning, , , , , , , , ,

HelloFresh provided a Meal Delivery Box containing three meals to me free of charge. I was so impressed that I have joined their #affiliate program. As always, all opinions in my reviews are mine and I if love it or hate it, I’ll let you know.

Take advantage of this discount – Get Cooking Today With HelloFresh And Get 50% Off!

I was so excited to make this meal! The pictures on the recipe card look amazing and I (like many others) am more comfortable cooking chicken than I am with cooking fish, which was my first HelloFresh meal.

This recipe was prepared on a work-night and did not take much time from start to finish. All that was needed from my kitchen was olive oil, pans, a strainer, and a small bowl – oh and a cutting board and knife of course! Prep time didn’t take long as there was very little chopping involved, just half a shallot, a few potatoes, home herbs, and a zucchini. Although, I must chop faster than the average person (thank you Food Lab in undergrad nutrition program!) as I found myself waiting on the chicken to cook. I admit to starting Step 3 (cook chicken) before Step 2 (prep/chopping) and the chicken took a little longer to get to temp than expected.

Now, I do not typically cook chicken on the stove-top. So, I will warn those of you who also typically bake or grill you chicken: beware the oil splatter! I have a mesh screen to prevent the splatter but by the time I realized I needed it, the splatter had happened so I let it go. You could easily bake the chicken instead and end up with less cleaning (splatter and one less pan) and this also would be nutritionally less fat and calories if that’s important to you. But you would lose the searing which gives the meat some flavor as well as leaves those tasty little brown bits in the pan to get incorporated into sauce – and the sauce makes this meal!

I’m also kind of a food safety and sanitation freak so be sure to sanitize anything that contacts the raw chicken. I cut all that out of the video but make sure to do that at home! Oh, I also cut out a lot of wine sipping. Oh my gosh, so many edits to take out the wine sipping!

Another random tip is don’t use a non-stick pan for potatoes like I did or they won’t get crusty-crispy. I was smart enough to use a regular pan for the chicken because I knew I wanted those brown bits for the sauce; but I did not bring that logic over to the vegetables pan.

This recipe is definitely more cost effective from #HelloFresh than if you had purchased ingredients from the store! All that was leftover was half a lemon, half a shallot, and some tarragon– bonus. My pictures do not do this dish justice… that’s what happens when drinking wine with dinner – I got too excited about the food and didn’t take good pictures!

Final review: This meal is flavorful yet subtle and is made with familiar foods – I will be making this meal again!

Things I learned

A mesh splatter screen is a useful kitchen gadget

Non-stick pans are not always the best choice

Emeril may have some more recipes out there that I need to try!

Here’s that info again if you want to take advantage of the discount I can offer you to try out HelloFresh! Get Cooking Today With HelloFresh And Get 50% Off!

HelloFresh Meal Review: Zesty Crusted Catfish over Cilantro Jasmine Rice and Roasted Broccoli

cooking, Dietitian, Fish, Food, health, health goals, Healthy Diet, HelloFresh, home cooked meal, meal delivery, Recipe, , , , , ,

HelloFresh provided a Meal Delivery Box containing three meals. This is #sponsored and I was so impressed that I have joined their #affiliate program. As always, all opinions in my reviews are mine and I if love it or hate it, I’ll let you know.

If you want to check it out yourself, I can offer you a great deal as an affiliate! Get Cooking Today With HelloFresh And Get 50% Off!

I have to start out by saying I had never had catfish before this meal. I never had it because I didn’t think I liked it… so when I got my HelloFresh box with a catfish meal in it, well, I wasn’t too jazzed – but I was opened minded and hopeful that I would like it. I chose this meal as the first one to make since it is fish and being ever-mindful of food safety, I knew it would spoil the fastest. In fact, the nutrition information card states that this dish is best if made within 2 days after receiving box or the fish should be frozen.

As I mentioned in the first post (opening the box), this was perfect timing. Hubs and I had gotten home late from a quick vacation the day before and both had to go right into a full day of work. No time to even think about dinner – let alone shop or prep – before it was 6:30 p.m. and we found each other in the kitchen with ravenous tummies! I think this is a great set-up for making a HelloFresh meal! Meal delivery is designed to make it easy to get healthy meals on the table quickly and we were putting that to the test for-reals, hungry after a long work day.

The ingredients for each meal are packaged into their own box and are already measured out. There are some ingredients where you end up with leftovers and this will be stated in the instructions so you don’t use too much. For example, the recipe called for 2 teaspoons of the seasoning spice but the packet held more – bonus, leftover spices! I don’t know if you’ve noticed but spices ain’t cheap! And did you see the fish in the video??? Those were gorgeous pieces of fish! Oh my gosh! Thick, beautifully fileted, and a nice bright, light color! The only thing needed out of my pantry was olive oil.

The instructions were easy to follow and the pictures helped to keep me on track. I think if I hadn’t been making a video, the timing would have been spot-on as well. However, with the video process, I ended up having to let the rice sit for a little while so the fish could cook to temp. One thing that really impressed me, since some of my clients are newbies in the kitchen and want to work on improving their cooking skills, is that even a novice cook could make this meal beautifully. HelloFresh is a great way to gain experience in the kitchen and build confidence as there was nothing complex or confusing and the result is a beautiful and delicious – and fast – meal!

Nutritionally, this meal comes in at a hunger-satisfying 650 calories with only 5 grams of saturated fat and 150 mg of sodium! For those who are interested, there are 85 grams carbohydrates, 6 grams fiber, and 34 grams protein. The ingredients list is one that clean-eaters would be happy to see and there is information on where the ingredients were produced with most of them coming from the USA.

What would I change?

The only thing that would have improved the meal for me would be more vegetables. (I can hear the collective groan already – yes the dietitian wants us all to eat our veggies…). I realize I probably eat a lot more veggies than the average person so, while this was a nice sized serving of vegetables and would most likely be perfect for many, I tend to have more of them on my plate. Quick fix if you are a veggie-lover like me would be to add a steamer bag to the meal.

What did I love?

While fish, rice, and veg is a common dinner plate in my household, I love that HelloFresh showed me a new way to prepare fish and rice. I don’t typically put oil-based seasonings onto fish before panko – turns out it keeps it moist and adds more flavor. I also would not have thought to flavor rice in this way. I don’t typically zest and making rice exciting for me is adding some salsa – this rice was a-whole-nother level! I love that it was easy and quick to prepare. I love how little food waste there is and, did I mention, I love the bonus spices.

Things I learned:

Catfish is still not my favorite fish (it was good, just not my fav, the seasoned panko was amazing)

Adding some oomph (lemon and cilantro) to rice makes it ridiculously delicious

I need a new zester

If you want to check it out yourself, I can offer you a great deal as an affiliate! Get Cooking Today With HelloFresh And Get 50% Off!

ZestyCatfish-HelloFresh

The AquaTally Cup (Image from http://aquatally.com)

Mindful Drinking: AquaTally Cup (Product Review)

Dietitian, drinking cup, hydration, water, , , ,

I’m a water drinker. In fact, I drink my cup of coffee in the morning, drink water all day, and occasionally enjoy a cup of tea in the afternoon or glass of wine or a beer in the evenings. That’s it. No soda, no juice, no fancy energy drinks for me. However, there are still days where I don’t drink that much water. So, I was excited to be able to review the AquaTally cup. The cup is a double-walled, hard plastic, sealed cup with a straw that has a moveable band that allows you to keep track of the number of cups of water consumed during the day. I wondered if AquaTally would help me to drink more water…

First, the basics of water and hyrdation:

Water is an essential nutrient, which means that we must drink water or enjoy other foods/drinks that provide our body with fluids. As I tell my clients, drinking enough water is important for many reasons. For more information, click here.

Interestingly, while researching how much water a healthy person should drink for optimal health, I learned that there is wide discrepancy on the amount. The eight 8-ounce glasses of water rule is a “rule of thumb,” an easy way to estimate and ensure people are getting enough to stay hydrated. The real goal is to drink enough water to replace what your body uses up every day. Your personal needs will vary based on activity level, temperature and humidity, altitude, health conditions, medications, and the water content of the foods you eat.

The two extremes with water are dehydration and intoxication. Dehydration happens when there is not enough fluid in the body. By the time you are thirsty, you have already lost approximately 2 cups of fluids! People who are chronically dehydrated may have a higher risk for heart problems, bladder or colon cancer, gallstones or kidney stones, and urinary tract infections. Water intoxication is when there is too much water in the body. This is very rare; but it is very dangerous.

Now back to the AquaTally cup.

The AquaTally Cup (Image from MyAquaTally.com)
The AquaTally Cup (Image from MyAquaTally.com)

I’m a fan of water cups with a straw since they are easy to drink from, there’s no reverse suction that you get with some squeeze bottles, and I tend not to dribble water all over myself using them like I do with wide-mouthed bottles. When AquaTally approached me to review their cup, of course I was interested since it’s the type of cup I prefer… and I’d recently dropped my current cup a few times and it was looking pretty scratched up and sad.

As soon as I got it, I took a good look at it and here’s what I found:

  • First thing I checked was the bottom of the cup and yes, it is BPA free!
  • It is exactly 2 measured cups when filled up
  • The ring used for tracking cups of water slides very easily; but doesn’t move around on its own
  • The cup seals easily– many of these type of design get off track and are difficult to twist on
  • The cup seals well – I filled it and tilted it and there was no leaking from the lid, of course, if tilted enough so the water hits the opening for the straw, it will leak from that hole
  • It keeps my water cold when I fill it with a few ice cubes and cold water
  • It accidentally got dropped on pavement and it didn’t break and barely got scratched at all – an important consideration for others like me who tend to be a bit clumsy
  • It’s a bit smaller than other cups of this design that I’ve had which means I can carry it more easily in my small hands and it fits in all the cup-holder-pockets on my bags without having to force it

I think this cup would be helpful for those trying to increase how much water they drink. My personal experience is that I did drink more water using this cup on some days. I found that if I was close to getting in 8 cups, the AquaTally cup helped me get to the goal because it brought my awareness to the fact that I was so close. I also think this cup would be useful for those who, for medical reasons, may be trying to limit the amount of fluids they drink or have others/caretakers monitoring their fluid intake. The cup comes in blue, green, or red and it currently sells for $11.95. For more information, check out their Web site at http://myaquatally.com

Overall, I give it a resoundingly positive review. The only negative thing I found about the cup was my disappointment that more people didn’t ask me about it!

Disclosure:

In exchange for reviewing an AquaTally cup, I received a cup from the company at no cost.

Sources: