Random Thoughts...Food, Firearms, and Fun

They just about admitted it, since I bothered to point out that none of the newer employees have ever taken the time to introduce themselves, and since I admitted to my quirks... Wendy, I stand by my staff and I am very proud of the excellent customer service they provide to every guest that walks through our doors. I can only conclude from your emails that you are not happy at our store and no longer wish to continue as a guest. I will go ahead and cancel your October order. Respectfully, Dorothy Kolmer Manager dreamdinners.com Dream Dinners Lancaster P. 717-509-4530 F. 717-509-4531 lancasterpa@dreamdinners.com 1577 Manheim Pike Lancaster, PA 17601 From: Wendy Lunko Sent: Sunday, October 2, 2016 10:23 AM To: Lancaster Dream Dinners Subject: Re: cancel my order   Dorothy, Sorry for not replying sooner, but as I explained, my schedule was crazy other than ...

Since I've been frequenting Dream Dinners for almost two years, I can now easily explain exactly why I love Dream Dinners. I first visited Dream Dinners at the suggestion of a friend, when I inquired about once a month cooking. I was concerned about the logistics of once-a-month cooking, including the logistics of the prep work, doing a large grocery shopping, and storing the food before prepping it. I love cooking, and I love taking care of Mac, knowing that I'm preparing healthy meals, but I hate the prep work, and with our kitchen being so small, I hate the clean-up. If I did the prep work at home, I'd fill both sinks before I'd finished the prep work, and would then need to wash dishes at least once before finishing the prep work. Our rule has always been that if I cook, Mac takes care of the dishes, and if I he cooks, I take care of the dishes. When he and I discussed once-a-month cooking, he was not happy about the thought of all of the cleaning! A friend me...

I prepared the Dream Dinners Chicken Soft Tacos with Key Lime Corn meal on Tuesday night. Monday night, we went out to dinner, and then headed to bed, because we were both exhausted. The chicken soft tacos were very easy to prepare. I simply cooked the chicken and carrots in a skillet, added the sauce, and then allowed most of it to cook off before serving. I heated the tortillas in the oven while that was cooking, and and sauteed the corn and sauce. I served the corn on the tacos, and it gave it a very nice lime flavor. The carrots weren't noticeable, so if you have kids, it's a great way to sneak them into a meal. There were 8 tortillas in the foil packages, which just always strikes me as an odd number for a 6-serving meal. Mac took the leftovers for lunch the next day. We packaged it in the mini crock pot, and then he simply took the container and the tortillas. It was extremely enjoyable, and we'll definitely order it again.

Before Mac left for Wyoming, one of our dinners was Dream Dinners Outlaw Chicken Marinara, which was prepared at their location in a pan, and then baked at home. I broiled it for a few minutes in addition to baking it, so it had a nice bubbly look to it. I loved that it was easy to prepare (bake, and that's it), and that cleanup was easy as well, since all I had to do was toss the pan in the garbage, once leftovers were packed away. Mac was not sold on it, and said it had a bit of a similar taste to the Maple Valley Pork Chops and the Normandy Pork Roast. I didn't taste that, but did taste a hint of an odd flavor to the ricotta cheese. Nothing too serious, and it was enjoyable. I served it over mini farfalle pasta, since it needed pasta of some sort. It wasn't bad, and I'd probably try it again, although probably just a 3 serving portion, because the 6 serving portion was HUGE! Outlaw Chicken Marinara

The Taste of Dream Dinners event was fun, and while we had an eclectic mix of people and personalities, I think it all went really well. My guests were a coworker, a friend from Toastmasters, and a friend from the Dress for Success Professional Women's Group. Tiffany's guests were two of her friends. We all arrived before they were ready for us, so we stood outside talking for a while, getting to know each other and joking. When we entered, we were each asked to complete a short questionnaire, and then we were asked to write our names on name tags. We were each asked to give our biggest dinner issue, and for those of us who attended, if Dream Dinners had solved it, and how. Our issues ranged from cooking/eating for one, to not having time or knowing what to prepare, to watching what we're eating. Yes, Dream Dinners can solve much, if not all of that. From there, they did a demonstration of how to prepare a meal, and then turned all of us loose on preparing our mea...

Our Taste of Dream Dinners event is tomorrow. We've had a last minute cancellation, so I've invited a Professional Women's Group member to attend. She is very outgoing, so I'm sure she'll fit in without a problem, and she's generally on top of things, so I don't hesitate to throw her into that situation! I'm very excited about it. I think it will be very enjoyable, and it keeps me busy while Mac is out hunting!

Our October Dream Dinners session was on Saturday, so I now have a freezer filled with more food! The meals I prepared are: Baked Potato Chicken Chicken Yakitori with Jasmine Rice (I omitted the water chestnuts) Crispy French Onion Chicken Dreamy Bocca Chicken Creamy Chicken Risotto (I used brown rice) Mediterranean Pasta with Chicken (I omitted the olives and added extra artichokes) Thanks to being so organized, and having our November order ready the week before our session, they always sneak us a copy of the December menu. We already have our December menu choices selected! Mac and I took a few minutes and selected our items Saturday after I came home. We have a Taste of Dream Dinners event scheduled for later in October, and I'm excited about that. I think there are at least a few of the ladies participating who are very interested in signing up at some point.

This is an odd week, in that I'm not cooking on Thursday, and I'm trying to use some of the items left in our freezer from the previous few months. I love that the freezer is filled with dinners, but I also realize that we need to rotate some of the dinners. I have our menu for October and portions of November planned. I'm trying to incorporate items in the freezer into our rotation, while still trying all of the Dream Dinners meals in the month that I prepare them at Dream Dinners. This way, if I really like one of the meals, I can return and prepare additional servings of it that month. This week's menu: Monday--Dream Dinners Central Park Garlic Chicken, with Rice Pilaf and Southwestern Corn Tuesday--Hungarian Goulash (crock pot), served over egg noodles Wednesday--Dream Dinners Outlaw Chicken Marinara, served with Penne Pasta The Hungarian Goulash is a recipe I found on The Test Kitchen of Melissa Fallis , which I prepared in April and froze, to toss in the cr...

Last night's dinner was Dream Dinners Normandy Pork Roast with Apples. I should've guessed that it was not going to go well when, upon opening the Ziploc bag, I thought, "Gee, this smells similar to the Maple Valley Pork Chops." I baked it for an hour, covered, then for 15 minutes uncovered. I removed it from the pan, and crushed the apples, with seasoning, while allowing it to sit for 10 minutes. I prepared carrots and mashed potatoes during that 10 minutes as well. Once everything was on the table, Mac walked in, sniffed, gave the apples another sniff, and said, "What's that?" I explained, and his comment was, "Oh, I thought you took the leftovers from the Maple Valley Pork Chops and reheated it." Apparently, the portions of the pork that didn't touch the apples were decent, and as Mac said, the mashed potatoes were good. Same musty/moldy smell and taste as the Maple Valley Pork Chops. Yet another meal I will not order again. No...

Simmered Chinese Chicken with Jasmine Rice is yet another very easy to prepare meal from Dream Dinners. Cook the rice, cook the chicken in a skillet, add the sauce, allow it to simmer for 10-15 minutes, remove the chicken, stir the sauce, and it's ready. Simply plate the rice and chicken, top with sauce, and sprinkle with sesame seeds! It was very flavorful and spicy, with a nice balance. The spice wasn't too overpowering. It tasted almost like a grilled version of General Tso's Chicken. I served it with green beans. I'll order this again, the next time it comes around on the menu, although I might consider making fried rice at home, rather than using the jasmine rice, since I think fried rice would add to this. Dream Dinners - Simmered Chinese Chicken with Jasmine Rice Up tonight for dinner--Dream Dinners Normandy Pork Roast.

The best thing I can say about the Dream Dinners Maple Valley Boneless Pork Chops with Rice Pilaf meal is that it caused us to discover a pizza shop that has a really great selection of microbrews! I had a rough day at work on Friday, and after relaxing for a bit once I was home, I started cooking. This was the only Dream Dinners meal we had left that was thawed, and I opted to serve it with broccoli with cheese sauce. The longest part of cooking the meal was allowing the rice to cook. The pork chops were easy to cook, as I simply sprayed a pan with non-stick cooking spray, seared the pork chops for a few minutes on one side, and then flipped them, allowed them to cook a bit more, and added the marinade. I then allowed the marinade to cook to thicken a bit. While Mac was finishing up in the basement, I plated everything, so as soon as he ventured upstairs, we could eat. Maple Valley Boneless Pork Chops with Rice Pilaf We each had a bite, and I asked him what he thought. He c...

Dinner last night was the Dream Dinners Creamy Chicken Chipotle Ravioli. I expected this to have a decent kick, but it was really rather mediocre. It wasn't bad, but I had numerous problems with it. Many of the ravioli split open either while cooking or while being drained. The sauce was pretty bland, not spicy like expected and like implied by the name. It required using two pots, one to cook the ravioli, one to heat the sauce, plus a strainer, so it added a lot of dishes. I did like that it was ready in no time, as the longest part of preparing it was waiting for the water to boil!  Creamy Chicken Chipotle Ravioli  We had enough chicken and sauce left after our meal that I packaged it in a container and tossed it in the freezer. It'll be a quick, inexpensive meal this winter, when paired with pasta, when there's not much else in the house. Either that or I'll cook it while Mac is out hunting in Wyoming, since I typically either rely on skillet meals...

I prepared the Dream Dinners Terracotta Chicken with Pita and Hummus for dinner last night. I served it with broccoli with cheese sauce. It was very easy to prepare. I simply wrapped the pitas in foil, placed them in the oven, which was heated to 350, and then cooked the chicken breasts in olive oil for a few minutes on each side. I did add the extra marinade to the skillet, rather than discarding it, as I figured it would add a bit of extra flavor. Once the chicken was cooked, and the pitas were heated, I cut them, according to the directions. I spread hummus on the pita quarters. Terracotta Chicken with Pita and Hummus The chicken had a very nice, spicy, complex flavor, and the pitas were warm and soft from the oven. The only problem we had with the meal was that served as directed, we didn't experience all of the flavors of the meal in each bite. After a few bites though, Mac and I both decided that the next time I prepare these, we're going to cut the chicken into s...

At our last Dream Dinners visit, I was asked if I would be willing to try a test recipe. Basically, they prepare it, following very detailed instructions about measurements and such, and then people take it home, at no cost, and cook it at home, like a normal Dream Dinners meal, and then take a short survey about it afterwards. There is a requirement that you must prepare it within 14 days. My recipe was Un-stuffed Pork Chops. Looking at the list of test recipes, I'm very excited for some of them, and hope they did well in the test! For the Un-stuffed Pork Chops, I formed stuffing into 3, tightly pressed sections, and placed it on a greased baking sheet. I then melted butter (provided) in a skillet, and cooked the pork chops for 2 minutes on each side, then placed them on top of the stuffing. I then placed that in a pre-heated oven, cooked it for 12 minutes, and heated a mushroom sauce in the skillet. The mushroom sauce was to be heated until it started to thicken, but mine w...

Tiffany and I headed to Dream Dinners early on Saturday, for our July meal prep experience. We arrived a few minutes late, but it wasn't a big deal, since this time, we knew exactly what we needed to do. We divided up our cooking instruction cards, and jumped into preparing the meals. I did customize my first meal, which was the "Chicago Style Choice Cut Chicken with Red Skin Potatoes." I added a bit extra to the sauce, as when I cook it, I'll simply add extra chicken breasts for extra leftovers. I had a few small issues with some of the meals this month. One was that for the pork burritos, I ended up with extra burrito filling, as if I filled them with the quantity they specified, I couldn't get them to roll without the filling leaking out of the shell. The other issue with it was that the shells tore a bit a few times. The third issue involved the Ziploc bags for most of the meals. I had multiple quart bags tear above the zipper. Nothing major though. When I...

I spent yesterday afternoon transporting two dogs on their journey to new homes. Both were very sweet, but a bit timid. As such, when I got home, I didn't want to put much effort into dinner, and didn't want to go to the baseball game. Mac and I went to the grocery store to pick up fruits and veggies for a few days, and once we got back, I cooked the Steak Salsa Verde from Dream Dinners. The Steak Salsa Verde was an impulse buy when I was there preparing my extra servings of Mango Chutney Chicken. It sounded good, in part because Mac loves green chile. It was one of their Chef Touched entrees, where it's already prepared, minus the cooking, and you just grab it from their freezer. I used our George Foreman Grill, and cooking was an adventure. Apparently, other than the fridge and the stove, we have 2 circuits in our kitchen. The microwave is on one, and the toaster and toaster oven are on the other. I plugged in the grill on the same circuit as the microwave, and then, ...