Maple-Mustard Sweet Potato Bowls

Food Prep and Cooking

Nick:

Little bit hectic this time; farro goes in a pot to boil for 30 minutes, sweet potatoes go in the oven to get roasted for 22 minutes, throw the pepper in a pan, cook it, add onion and garlic and collard greens, go to the bathroom and play Pop Town, take the sweet potatoes out, coat them in maple mustard sauce, back into the oven, the farro's done, strain it and return it to the pot, cover it with BBQ spice, stir, plate, then the veggies, then the sweet potato on top. Whew!!

Katie:

Another cooking first for me; wilting something. The collard greens needed wilting in the veggie mixture and I think I pulled it off pretty well. It certainly was not the overly stiff kale we had in previous dishes. There wasn't as much for both of us to do the entire time. While the farro and sweet potatoes were baking, we finished the other stuff with time left to have to actually have a conversation. I kid. We talk literally all day and night, it's kind of impossible for us to get sick of each other's company. Unless Nick knows something I don't.

Post-meal thoughts

Nick:

Hmm, not quite what I expected. This is supposed to be BBQ, maple, and mustard flavored; despite dumping half the BBQ spice over the farro and the other half over the veggies, this only tastes like the maple syrup. Both the BBQ and mustard flavors are almost completely smothered; any bite with maple-coated sweet potato - and that's basically all of them - just tastes like, well, maple-coated sweet potato. Not that that's a bad thing! Give me the choice between salty, peppery, BBQ-y farro and maple sweet potato, and I'm probably going to pick maple sweet potato. Very good, but not what I was expecting it to taste like. To improve this dish, I might remove the collard greens; they were fine, nowhere near as nasty as the bok choy from last time we threw leaves in the sautee pan, but they didn't really add anything, they just made me chew a little longer any time I got a bite with one.

Katie:

I noticed someone deftly avoided addressing my statement about not getting sick of each other. I see. Well. This will long be remembered. In 5 or 10 years, I'm gonna bring this up. "Remember that time in our blog when you said you were sick of me?!". You know, typical wife stuff.

I echo Nick's comments about the BBQ flavoring. There was simply not enough of it. I am all for maple paired with BBQ--heck my favorite BBQ sauce is Sweet Baby Ray's Maple--but the maple definitely outweighed any BBQ flavoring for the most part. The sweet potatoes were absolutely the best part. I could have just eaten a whole bowl full of those. I thought the collard greens were fine. I've never had them before so I thought maybe they'd have more of a taste. I'm not sure why I thought that because dark leafy greens just taste like leaves to me. I'm sure someone out there is aghast at my uncultured palate. 

PS from Nick:

I'm sorry, I thought we were reviewing food. Everyone welcome to Hammer Down Relationship Review. I am going to give me and Katie a 9/10, based on a strong foundation of shared interests and mutual respect. To improve this relationship, I would remove Katie yelling "Come over here, I want to kick you," and also it would be cool if we could read each other's minds, or perhaps physically become one creature like the changelings on Deep Space 9. Also, Katie and I are that annoying couple on the local news where it's like "They met at age 16 and they're still together even though they're old and gross in the nursing home" and who hold hands while they're out to eat. 

PPS from Katie:

It's pretend kicking. The kind where you're like several feet away throwing kicks into the air at a safe distance. It's fun. Just don't accidentally hit like a chair while you're doing it because that hurts. I am stealing Nick's gimmick of suggesting improvements by suggesting we remove Nick's tendency to say "Ew, this is nasty. Here, you try it". 

Creamy Truffle Penne

Food prep and cooking

Katie:

I misread teaspoon as tablespoon and vice versa at least three times while cooking. Luckily, I noticed before we actually measured out the ingredients. I thought the prep was straightforward this time but we did leave a few things out. I'm sorry, I will eat something with peas or mushrooms in it if someone else makes it and they're only a tiny amount...but I'm don't want to add them myself. Plus what does a pea even taste like? Nobody is like, "damn, gotta have some tasty ass pea-flavoring on my food!". Mushrooms I get because they are flavorful...just oddly and wrongly textured for my mouth.

Also, whatever kind of coconut milk that comes in a can as a thick, fluffy paste tastes pretty good. Even Nick liked it and he's notoriously not about coconuts, coconut flakes, or things flavored with/by coconuts.

Nick:

I have to agree with Katie; I've never taken a bite of something and been like "This sure could use some disgusting, mushy peas!". Admittedly, I'm sure they're good if you slather enough butter and salt on them, but you can probably make an old boot okay enough to choke down if you slather enough butter and salt on it. Fuck off, peas. Prep for this was pretty easy; throw peas in the garbage, cook some pasta, roast some veggies and combine them all in the sauce. 

Post-meal thoughts

Katie:

We yet again had trouble getting the sauce to thicken up. We don't have a full array of pans and pots so maybe we used one that was too small. The sauce being more liquidy than creamy didn't take away from the flavor. It was good--the truffle zest and mushroom concentrate gave it a savory, earthy flavor that I really liked. The roasted veggies were a great addition, giving surprise bursts of flavor. I'd order this again in our box for sure.

Nick:

This was pretty good! I'm not sure I've had creamy pasta and sauce before, and this was very tasty; who'd have thought I would have enjoyed coconut milk and my old buddy mushroom stock topping some pasta? That being said, I don't know if I would get this again; it was good, but for the amount of work we put in, I would probably just make ziti and crack open a jar of pre-made red sauce with a lot of garlic in it. Like Katie I liked getting a bite with tomato, but it got a little annoying trying to make sure there was one in every bite. If nothing else, these meals are making me appreciate roasted grape tomatoes. To improve this dish... hmm, I am kind of at a loss here; it's fine, it does everything it sets out to do. If you could order it out of a replicator, that would be great, but we're talking about the same company that sent us a free sample of yogurt in the box but put it UNDER the heavy ingredient bag where it exploded, so I'm trying to stick with the possible here. 

Disney Trip January 2021 Part 2

Liberty Tree Tavern 

All-You-Care-to-Enjoy Plant-based Tavern Keeper’s Feast

Impossible™ Meatloaf

Plant-based Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes, Mushroom Gravy, and Seasonal Vegetables

Nick: I will admit right off the bat I was a little afraid to order this. I've never had meatloaf that I remember, let alone plant-based Impossible(TM) meatloaf, and I was half afraid I was going to get some kind of weird frankenfood that I'd pick at and just eat the mashed potatoes and then the waitress would come by like "what's the matter, didn't like the Impossible(TM) plant-based meatloaf??" and then yell at the back "HE DIDN'T LIKE THE IMPOSSIBLE(TM) PLANT-BASED MEATLOAF!!". As it turns out, the Impossible(TM) Plant-based Meatloaf was so much like the Platonic ideal of perfect Meatloaf that I ate a ton of Impossible(TM) Plant-based Meatloaf. I did a Google search later and apparently this was some kind of mixture of beans, soy protein and spices, but I swear to you if the menu didn't specifically call this out as Impossible(TM) Plant-based Meatloaf I would have thought it was the real thing. And it was very tasty! Somehow, this really did deliver, in taste and texture, the perfect, even slightly burned meatloaf. Amazing. I only ate half the mashed potatoes because I filled up on Impossible(TM) Plant-based Meatloaf, a sentence I never thought I would write. What a time to be alive.

Katie: We also had a salad that was good. The real star was this meatloaf! I swear I thought I didn't like Impossible meat the last time I had it but I think it might have been that particular restaurant's attempt at mimicking it. This was amazing! I would happily swap this for any type of beef, any time. 

Oooey Gooey Toffee Cake

Vanilla Toffee Cake, Chocolate Sauce, and Vanilla Ice Cream

Katie: Oh. My. Gosh. There are no words. Should have...sent a poet. Okay maybe there are some words: joyous, scrumptious, and still-telling-people-about-it-months-laterness.

Nick: Well, now I wish I'd saved some of the energy I put into talking about the joy of Impossible(TM) Plant-based Meatloaf to describe this oooey gooey toffee cake, which was absolutely delicious. Like Katie, I'm not sure I really have the words for this; I'd recommend just clicking on the picture to make it full size. It was just as delicious as it looks. Man, I want oooey gooey toffee cake now.

Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano

Margherita Flatbread

Nick: Pretty good! This is basically pizza dough, tomato sauce, mozzarella, and big tomato slices. I will admit that I picked the mozzarella off this, but only because it upsets my stomach; I ate the big tomato pieces, which is unusual for me. I'm such a brave boy. The world's bravest boy, some say. No, no, there's no time to go into who says that, let's see what Katie has to say.

Katie: I remember liking this. Nick was an extremely brave boy. 

Mama's Italian Pasta

Nick: You know, it's pasta. I ate a bunch of it. It's fine. Fills you up. Gives your cells energy to divide or whatever they're doing in there. Gave my body the energy for my lungs to keep breathing and my legs to keep walking and my brain to come up with thoughts about Mama's Italian Pasta and my fingers to type on a keyboard. You know, pasta. This also came with four huge meatballs I couldn't eat; I like meat more than Katie does, but just biting into a huge ball of it gets old pretty fast. I'm sure they were fine too. End communication.

Katie: My aversion to meat is less "this used to be a cow who was alive and liked being alive somewhere" than I really don't like the texture, taste, and look of putting it in my mouth. It is a huge deal when there is meat I can handle in my mouth and eat. It is somewhat about the whole cow thing (like some I didn't eat any pigs for years after Babe because that scene where he's crying for his mom is heartbreaking) but mostly because I have a thing with food texture. I'm sure some of you can relate.

Anyway, the pasta was really good. I'd order it again but maybe without the appetizer so I can have dessert instead. Yay for cake and ice cream!

Plant-based Protein Taco

Food prep and cooking

Nick:

Interesting food prep this time; one pot had the corn and half the onion getting quick pickled (boiled in vinegar, which did not smell nice, and that's coming from the guy who can rub an onion on his face without adverse effects now), toasting the tortillas in the oven, mixing up the crema - literally just sour cream with a tiny bit of spices in it - and in the main event, stir frying the other half of the onion, green pepper, and the fake meat in a savory broth made from a cup of water, tomato paste, and condensed mushroom stock. Did I like the fake meat broiled up in the mushroom stock water? The answer may surprise you! (That's called a teaser.)

Katie:

I cannot believe how many stages of the cooking process for the recipes we've done so far include "a pinch of salt and pepper". Is all cooking like this? It seems very salty to me but then these past few weeks I've cooked more recipes than I ever have in my whole life. Actually, folks, let me get real with you for a second. I know how to make 3 things that would involve what some would refer to as "cooking" and "effort". They are; pasta soup, fajitas, and a variation of stir fry. Don't be fooled by those, they are all basic dishes with steps like "chop it then put it in a thing until it's hot".

Returning to the prep for this dish, I am pleased by my progress over the past two times on gaining onion chopping skills. It's amazing what you absorb from watching shows like Beat Bobby Flay, Guy's Grocery Games, and Great British Baking Show. I can't say I can pull off a bain-marie or whatever but it definitely helped with knowing certain things. Kinda.

Post-meal thoughts

Nick:

Hey, I didn't even know what a bain-marie was until you told me, and I think I forgot it now anyway! To pay off the teaser, here is what I thought of the fake meat boiled in the mushroom stock water: I think this may have been the most savory thing I have ever eaten (that's called a swerve!). Somehow, the fake meat boiled in mushroom stock concentrate was more meat-flavored than actual meat. The whole dish really works, from the crunch added by the pickled corn to the slightly tomato, sloppy joe flavor added by the tomato paste, to the main event of the fake meat, which is really amazingly lifelike. I never would have guessed this isn't real meat, and it tasted absolutely delicious. In fact, this was so savory it was almost too much. My mouth could not handle the big savory meat explosion. I may have to re-think mushrooms; I hate the texture, but the condensed mushroom stock, I think, really lifted this dish into something special. To improve this dish... you know, I might not have any suggestions for the first time I can think of!

Katie:

So, if memory serves, a bain-marie is a baking method where you get a bowl of boiling water then put another bowl of something that cooks from being in the boiling water. I think. 

Anyway.

This was so flipping good! Think of the best sloppy joe you've ever had; the kind where it's really savory but has that little hint of sweet and you'll have an idea of what the faux-meat tasted like. We made 2 tacos each then Nick had a 3rd. I'm not ashamed to say I scooped what was left of everything into a bowl and ate it. So so so good. I keep wishing we had more so I could keep stuffing my face with it. Nick hit all the marks on describing the food and there are only so many times I can say I really liked this so...the end. 

Barbecue Chickpea Bowls

Food prep and cooking

Katie:

Our corn was forgotten. Sadly waiting for us forever on a rainy park bench, never to be part of a meal or be digested by us.

So...did you know chickpeas can explode? Pop right out of the pan like reverse parachuters? Today I learned.

Nick:

We had a bit of trouble with this recipe, to be fair as a result of not reading ahead; originally the chickpeas go into a bowl, and I used a small one, only to then have to put the kale in there, soften it (which I still don't know how to do), then add more stuff and toss it, which meant I had to change bowls. THEN, we had to use the large sauté pan, which for us is a wok, but then we had to put it in the oven and it's so large it won't fit so we had to change pans!! Also, they forgot our corn. Also also, the chickpeas started exploding, which I totally knew they could do and wasn't surprised by and didn't yell "AAAAAAAH" when the first one blew up and also I'm extremely brave and handsome.

Post-meal thoughts

Katie:

I have to admit, we had some timing issues and we still don't quite have this whole cooking thing down so I was expecting the chick peas to be crunchy, the flavor to be nonexistent, and to be really missing the corn.

But after eating, I can say I barely noticed the corn wasn't there. I was skeptical of the hot stuff going on top of the kale but it made sense together. I did force myself to eat all the kale first, even after mixing everything, to get it out of the way in order to enjoy the rest. Always eat the worst thing first, kids, then you can enjoy what you actually like in peace. Nick is the opposite; he eats his French fries first then the hamburger. I can see the argument there based on the fries being best piping hot but that's why you stuff the burger in your face real fast. Get all that meat-osity out of the way so you can take your time dipping your McD's fries into your milkshake.

Oh yeah, it was good. Not my favorite but I'd eat it again.

Nick:

Well, I think my order of eating fries and burgers has just been described very diplomatically; normally instead of "opposite", I am informed that the way I am eating them is "wrong," "dumb," and that the seagulls will be her friends because she is throwing them French fries. So we're making progress!

As for this dish, you can't really go wrong combining barbeque sauce and ranch dressing; even the combined forces of kale (boo!) and a lot of onion couldn't make this dish go too far wrong. I'd say three out of four stars. To improve this dish, I would actually have all of the ingredients we paid for in the bag, and maybe a little less onion (we got half a good sized onion each, which is quite a lot of onion for me). Despite enjoying this meal, I'm not sure I would have this again; it kind of just makes me want a really good BBQ sauce and ranch burger and nice thick steak fries, which I would eat burger first so my fries aren't given to the seagulls (who, by the way, are just USING you for your French fries! Wake up sheeple!)

Potato digression:

Katie: 

Fries on the cusp of being too thick

Steak fries are too thick. They're too close to being a baked potato but then they taste wrong. I feel like
if a fry is thicker than my pinky, that's too thick. Potatoes can be chunked for soup, whole for baked, smashed for the mash, or stripped for fries. I think twice-baked potatoes were kind of a big deal there for a while at some point in the past but I don't know if that was legitimate potato-bakery or a marketing gimmick. Read on to hear all of Nick's incorrect opinions!

Nick:

All right, you all heard it here; if you dare make steak fries or make the fries too thick, Katie's legion of loyal seagulls will swoop down and arrest you for illegitimate potato-bakery. Also, "Potato digression" sounds like an ironic prog rock band. 

Creamy Corn & Potato Chowder

Food prep and cooking

Nick: 

Pretty easy! Aside from the croutons (cutting up bread and baking it in the oven), basically what you would think of when making a stew: Start with the carrots and potatoes, and as it cooks keep adding veggies until you're down to the wet ingredients (mushroom stock concentrate and coconut cream with corn). Katie even hand-minced the garlic, which is a real pain in the ass. At least it was peeled!

Katie: 

We didn't get our paper recipes this week so were using digital copies I'd requested from Green Chef. This left Nick and I to split the cooking tasks more so than we have been. Nick worked the stovetop and oven while I chopped and minced. I even correctly eyeballed the salt once (don't tell Nick!). There's a lot of "salt and pepper to taste" at the end of these recipes, which I never do. I never add salt or pepper to food that is made for me. I trust the chef to know what they are doing!

Post-meal thoughts

Nick: 

I also have a little trouble with the end step being "salt and pepper to taste"; I don't know what this is supposed to taste like! That's your job, bish! I'm not all sipping a little bit off a spoon like "Needs a pinch of salt"! If I knew that much I wouldn't be subscribing to a box that sends you all the ingredients! Anyway, this was really good; we probably could have stood to cook the potatoes a minute or two longer, but it produced a very nice, hearty, vegetable-y stew. This would have been great on a cold winter night, although come to think of it, it's still pretty cold out. To improve this dish, and I know we have the no-meat Green Chef option, just a little bit of smoky bacon would have really taken this to the next level.

Katie:

It's CHOW-DAH! Say it right, Frenchie! 

Juniper (closest) and Winston (furthest) in a
cuddle puddle. Not pictured: all the allergens

I thought this was delicious and hearty. I enjoyed discovering a bread piece in between massive spoonfuls of potato and corn. I didn't mind the texture of the potatoes. Too squishy and they'd be mashed, not good for soup. I appreciated the bit of firmness to them. As Nick said, a really great wintery meal. This is the type of soup where I'd also seek it out when my allergies are bothering me and I need to decongest a little bit (I'm allergic to our precious babies--Winston and Juniper). I realize that probably sounds gross but I promise, it's a high compliment. I actually find myself wishing I had just a little more right now. 

Disney Trip January 2021 Part 1

We've been talking about how much fun we have writing about the food we eat at Disney and how we wished we knew then we were going to start the blog back up. It's now about 2 months later and we're going to go for it. We'll try to remember what we ate, where, and how it tasted.

Day 1 - The Edison at Disney Springs

DB 'Clothesline Candied Bacon'

Nick: Well, now that's a hanger of bacon all right! I don't know if bacon really tastes better on a hanger, but at 3:45 PM after a day of traveling and only eating Southwest crackers, it certainly does taste good. The little dipping sauce this came with was really good, although it was so thick it didn't want to leave its little metal home and get onto the bacon and from there into my mouth.

Katie: I remember this bacon well. It came out on this cute little clothesline. The bacon was peppery yet sweet. So delicious that I didn't mind paying nearly 20 bucks for it. An appetizer that actually whets your appetite for more rather than feeling like you're done eating and can leave the restaurant now.

The Edison Burger

Nick: Yeah, uh, I definitely remember this. I believe it was ground beef in between two slices of... bun.

You know, hold on a second, I have to go to the bathroom. (loud keyboard clicking) Ahh, okay, right, I totally remember this, it's Signature Beef Blend of Sirloin, Short Rib, and Brisket topped with White Cheddar, Crispy Onions, Smoked Bacon, House-made Pickles, Lettuce, Tomato, Special Sauce, and Hand-cut Fries. Yes, that's it! Okay, no time for questions, it's time for Katie to talk about her thing!

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Katie: I was amused that such a basic lunch staple would be on the menu of a restaurant themed like a 19th century industrial plant. The grilled cheese was elevated to be made with fancy bread and even fancier cheese. Bread as big as a pizza slice that dipped very nicely into the accompanying tomato soup. I only managed maybe 60% of the sandwich before I was defeated.

Caramel Apple Pie a la Mode

Katie: I remember this being quite good. It was good enough for Nick to actually eat apple pie. Which he doesn't normally. To be fair, when we met 20 years ago...he refused to eat anywhere that didn't serve French fries which was all he ordered. One time, he did an entire skit about ketchup court with the knife serving as the prosecutor. I was extremely charmed and won over. So there you go, my dudes. Win your lady love with an elaborate skit about the spoon on trial for napkin murder.

Nick: Ha ha! We didn't meet 20 years ago, that would make me... oh. Oh, no. Oh, no - I'm old!! You guys, I'm old now! When did this happen? I'm like halfway through my life! What am I doing here? I should be out in like a powerboat exploring, uh, somewhere you can get to with a power boat! We all only have so much time left! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!

PS: Pie was fine.

Ancho-Lime Sweet Potato Bowls

with zesty rice, bell pepper, corn, pepitas, & creamy chimichurri

Food prep and cooking

Katie:

We skipped the pepitas since I'm not really into big seeds. Before I move into discussing the bulk of the prep, I want to say that I zested a lime. I knew vaguely what to do from years of watching cooking shows. My only mistake was using holes that were too small on our big grater tower. I'm excited by how many firsts we've done in just the past week or so!

I thought the food prep was a little out of order or perhaps we don't have our planning skills as sharp as a regular cooker. The rice was first, getting finished well before the veggies were done roasting. I wound up reading AITA threads to Nick while we were waiting on the veggies to get done roasting.

Nick:

As Katie noted, the order of operations appears backwards with this recipe; you put the rice on for 16 minutes, then prep all the vegetables and roast them for 22 minutes, leaving you 14 minutes to read /r/AmITheAsshole while waiting for the vegetables to finish. Also, we left out the cilantro, because it's more of a garnish and de-branching tiny leaves is a pain in the ass. Overall, not too tough - we didn't even use a sauté pan!

Trust us, this looked more appealing
once we stirred it.

Post-meal thoughts

Katie:

Wow, so much food! At first, I was questioning putting the slaw right in with the rice and roasted veg. It was cold, they were hot. As the bites went, the cabbage softened and I appreciated the break in the heat. I could have done with perhaps some sour cream on the side to take tiny dips into for the heat. The heat was the creeping spread kind that you don't notice until you're well into the dish. I prefer it to the sudden bomb heat that melts away all flavor and makes me feel like a guilty wimp for not being able to finish (what if the server gets in trouble because I didn't like my spicy food???). I thought this was very good and would definitely eat it again.

Nick:

Pretty good! As Katie noted, this is a lot of food; sometimes after one of these I feel like I've just eaten an extra large appetizer, but you get a lot with this meal. Also as Katie noted, I was a bit worried about the slaw going with the rice and the roasted vegetables, but I think it worked out pretty well to lighten the whole dish up. Without it I can imagine all the carby rice, corn, and sweet potatoes getting heavy very quickly. I think the only real problem I had with this was the onion; despite being roasted in the oven at 425 degrees for 22 minutes, it was still pretty chewy, and I could definitely tell a onion-free bite from one with some onion in it. The only real problem I had with this was the onion texture, and to improve this meal I would remove the onion (there's definitely enough vegetables left over to fill you up and then some).

Katie rebuttal:

WRONG. I literally said out loud "oh, I don't agree" when poor Nick was typing the part about the onion. I would argue that perhaps the onion pieces should be smaller and more integrated into the dish rather than in fairly large slices. Okay, the end.

Nick re-rebuttal:

Okay, I think that's an even better idea. The way the instructions had this prepared is, cut the onion in half, then cut it lengthwise into thin strips. If I made this again, I would core the onion, cut it into thin strips vertically, but then also chop it horizontally so you get little onion pieces; that way I wouldn't still be chewing a onion slice five minutes after I was done with the rest of the food. There, we all agree I'm right and I'm not letting Katie have the keyboard back. Let's see if I can hit Tab over to the Publish button.

Chickpea & Veggie Couscous

with roasted zucchini, grape tomatoes & feta cheese

Food prep and cooking

Nick:

This was an odd one. The little baggie full of garlic-smoked paprika ("CONTAINS: PAPRIKA") was not actually sealed, so garlic-smoked paprika got all over everything in the bag. This did smell delicious, but I would have preferred actually having it on the food. Also, we got double the amount of tomatoes, so if we got someone else's, uh, sorry. For the actual prep, it was pretty easy - roast the veggies in the oven, make the couscous and combine. I feel like I still don't know what simmering is, because the couscous ended up being done with a considerable amount of water still in the pot. At least we didn't make soup this time!

Katie:

I'm getting a little sick of trying to get tiny, itty bitty thyme leaves off the stem so I can ineffectually chop them. I have discovered I like thyme in the process of trying these meals (full disclosure, we tried two before we started the blog) at least. As Nick said, the prep was easy and straight forward. The pictures on the recipes are really helpful to eyeball if you've gotten the right sort of slice or cube for your veggies.

Post-meal thoughts

Nick:

Very good! Not quite my favorite, but definitely up there. The couscous, roasted chickpeas, and tomatoes all work really well together; one bite with all three on the fork produces a hearty, olive oil-y, Mediterranean flavor that I really enjoyed, and I normally hate tomatoes, so that's really saying something. The zucchini I wasn't as much a fan of; I don't know if it's because the pieces of this were just bigger than the half a grape tomato or what, but I didn't really enjoy the zucchini bites as much. Still, I basically inhaled my food, so I can't really complain. To improve this dish, I would eliminate the zucchini and just make the vegetable part all tomatoes (you know I really enjoyed it if I'm asking for more tomatoes).

Katie:

I really enjoyed this dish. The cumin-herb lemon vinaigrette sauce was very flavorful. I normally don't like chickpeas but they were delicious roasted. I second Nick's thoughts on the zucchini being too large. If we get this recipe again, I'll chunk them up smaller. The feta added an extra layer to the Mediterranean flavor, which made the dish even better.

I hadn't realized how easy it is to roast vegetables before either. I assumed there were some special skills in knowing when they were done, perfecting the seasoning but we literally just put a little seasoning on there, some olive oil, and left them to their own devices in the oven for a while. Who knew! I guess people who know how to cook knew. But now that's me!

Sesame-Ginger Glazed Tofu

Food Prep and Cooking

Katie:

I'm pleased they included corn starch for us, as we definitely don't have any. Is that a normal thing to have in your kitchen? Moving on. I touch raw tofu, which I did not realize was so...wet. There was nothing too crazy to do in the prep this time, despite us making tofu which I'd always thought was incredibly complicated to make. Turns out, you just put it in your wok and kinda shimmy it in the sauce. 

Nick:

Pretty easy! The Green Chef MO seems to be taking a grain (rice, quinoa, faro), cooking that in a little pot, then prepping the veggies and combining it all in the wok at the end. This was also my first time making tofu; I'm not really sure what I expected, but as Katie said, you just throw it in the wok with some sauce and flip it once. Not too tough.

Post-meal thoughts

Katie:

I'm going to break it down into two sections--the tofu bit and the slaw part. 

Tofu bit--the tofu with the sauce was my favorite part. The mango 'salsa' (mangos, cilantro, and scallions essentially) went well with it. The quinoa, which we also hadn't made before, was fine. It was a little too salty but I may have added too much. I could have happily just had the tofu and mango salsa over regular white rice with about double the amount of sauce they gave us.

The slaw part--yuck. It just tasted live olive oil, which I like but not on its own. It needs to bring friends if it wants to come to my party. Just me and olive oil alone trying to play spin the bottle or pin the flavor on the taste buds is not a good time. If we'd been allotted more of the sauce to add, I would have liked it as a break from the tofu.

Nick:

Like Katie, I am going to grade the tofu and the "slaw" parts separately, as they don't really have anything to do with each other.

Tofu part - This was pretty good! I was worried because I really hate the texture on tofu, and sure enough eating a cube by itself was squishy and nasty. However, a forkful with the quinoa, tofu, and a mango piece was very good; the saltiness of the quinoa went very well with the savory, umami flavor from the sauce that was applied to the tofu (The tofu itself was well done, which added a nice little note.) I definitely enjoyed this more than I thought I would; in fact, I would probably get this again if we run out of new recipes, which is the first time in history I've requested more tofu. As Katie noted, the quinoa was too salty (the directions had us add only 1/4 of a tablespoon, but that was to just a cup of water), but it worked out pretty well in the end.

The slaw bit - Hmmm. When I think of slaw, I think of... mayonnaise? This was literally carrots and cabbage with a little bit of olive oil drizzled over it. I don't know what kind of world that counts as coleslaw in, but I don't want to live in it. I ate all mine, but only because it was a nice palette cleanser in between bites of mega-salt umami quinoa tofu. To improve this dish, I would either cut this part entirely, or make it more savory to contrast with the other half of the dish; maybe something with cream?

Bonus points: did you spot the odd brand name in the before picture?

Korean Fried Rice with Kimchi

 Food Prep and Cooking

Nick:

Pretty easy! We skipped the peas and mushrooms (for some reason every recipe has peas and mushrooms, which neither of us like), so basically we cooked some rice, put it in a pan with carrots and daikon kimchi, then fried an egg and put that on top, garnished with seeds and scallions. Most of the cook time was sitting around waiting for the rice to cook.

Katie:

I think this was the easiest meal to prepare so far. The carrots were already cubed so the only thing I really had to chop were the scallions. I'm still surprised we're putting rice in a pan to continue cooking it. I keep thinking I'm going to burn it!

Post-meal thoughts

Nick:

Really good! I think this might be the best thing we've made so far. I was a little worried about the kimchi, which I've had before and was nasty, but that was traditional cabbage; this was daikon kimchi, and together with the carrots, rice, and whatever flavoring we put on top of it, it was delicious. The egg I mixed in with the vegetables, and it added a very nice savory note. I would eat this up all day. In terms of improving the dish... uhh, all I can really think of is that I wanted more of it!

Katie:

I thought it was quite good! I admit I wimped out on the egg at the last second. Nick did a great job cooking the eggs, especially considering it was our first time ever making eggs. As Nick said, we had kimchi before and did not like it one bit. The daikon kimchi was delicious! I will definitely be adding kimchi to my list of ingredients-that-are-okay-to-have-in-a-dish-I'm-ordering-from-somewhere.

Thai Noodle Stir Fry

Food Prep and Cooking

Katie:

I think we are developing a good system of who handles which prep jobs. This time, we were not surprised by any terms we didn't know and the prep went well. The ingredients were fresh and looked like they would taste delicious. I felt a little pride in how we used our excellent teamwork skills to split everything without needing to deliberate first.

Nick:

This was the easiest one to make yet (he said in the second post)! Basically, boil some noodles and stir fry a bunch of veggies in a pan. Nice and easy. 

Post-meal thoughts

Katie:

I thought it was good. It reminded me of something I would order at the Kona Café in the Polynesian at Walt Disney World though obviously not as good or in as nice a setting. I wasn't super into the bok choy and felt the peanuts added as the last step for garnish were not melded into the dish but I overall enjoyed everything. I would eat this again but I have to admit I feel a little hungry still. I don't know if Jabba the Hutt over here is used to stuffing herself at dinner or the portions are a little small. We did skip the mushrooms again, maybe they have a hidden ability that super fills you up.

Nick:

Solid 3/5. Like Katie, I got pretty strong Polynesian vibes from this. The first bite I was at 5/5, the second bite I was at 4/5, and from there it settled into okay. Maybe I needed to mix it up more to get the final topping evenly distributed. I'm also taking a point off for the bok choy. I don't really understand what this was doing here; it didn't taste like anything, and the texture was horrendous. Aside from that, though, pretty good all around - a few tweaks and this could be great instead of pretty good. To improve this dish, I would remove the bok choy, and maybe add a little bit more noodles and peanut sauce topping. 

Truffle Butter Risotto

 Food Prep and Cooking:

Nick:

Well, we messed this one up right off the bat. The instructions have you pour four cups of reconstituted vegetable stock into the rice pan, then simmer it for 17 minutes; I guess we don't know what simmering is, because the rice plumped up and got nice and done, but we still had 3 3/4 cups of vegetable stock, so we ended up with very high end vegetable stock soup. Also, the truffle butter and cream cheese didn't melt. (The parm, oddly enough, did.) 

Katie:

We ditched the peas and mushrooms. If peas and mushrooms are a small portion of something someone has made me, I can deal but I'm cooking so I wanted to ditch them.

I, too, thought I knew what simmering was. Other than that disaster, the rest of the directions were fairly easy to follow though as someone not very comfortable at all in the kitchen, having terms like "medium high heat" mean very little to me. 

Post meal thoughts

Nick:

For high-end vegetable stock soup, this was pretty good. The butter, cream cheese and parm were very savory, but the huge amount of vegetable stock made it less savory than I would have expected from risotto. We didn't end up with a risotto, but what we did end up with was tasty. Don't tell my doctor I ate all that fat, though. To improve this dish, I would either, umm, actually prepare it right, or maybe chop the carrots smaller to make them bite-sized and make it into a real soup. Oh, yeah, there's carrots in this - they're fine; they're as much an afterthought when you're eating them as they are here. 

Katie:

Once I realized we'd not properly simmered the risotto, I told myself that if it was edible, I'd be happy. It was and I am. I'd never made anything close to risotto before today (and I guess technically still haven't) so I'm proud that we got as far as we did. I've also never eaten a purple carrot before! I agree with Nick on how we could have improved the dish by preparing it better but we'll know for next time. I will probably look up terms I'm not certain of rather than charging forward pretending I know what 'medium-high heat' actually means. 

We're back!

We're excited to be back to reviewing food! We recently started a subscription to Green Chef so we'll be reviewing the meals we make from their service from now on. We picked the plant-based option since I don't really like eating most meat.

As a disclaimer, we are not very good at cooking (yet). I had to ask a co-worker what a sauce pan was, if you want to calibrate your expectations. It's not to say we don't make things (hello, fajitas and pasta soup!)…we're just not very versed in the language of the kitchen.

Edit: Nick has informed me he knew what a sauce pan was and is offended I didn't ask him first.