Random Thoughts...Food, Firearms, and Fun

I'm always looking for ways to pick up a little extra spending or saving money, so as of this week, I've become a Pampered Chef consultant. If you want to order anything from Pampered Chef, please drop me an email through the contact form, and I'll let you know how to place your order. Before I decided to do this, I participated in a Pampered Chef Freezer Cooking Workshop at a friend's house. I figured it would give me some meal options that I wouldn't have through Dream Dinners, as Mac and I usually order duplicates of some of the Dream Dinners meals. The concept of the Pampered Chef Freezer Cooking Workshop is similar to Dream Dinners, but it is designed to give the consultant some sales, and give everyone who attends a chance to try out some of the Pampered Chef products. The consultant gives you a total for the Pampered Chef Pantry items you'll need to order, and then she handles placing the order. She then also sends you an email listing all of the ingr

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 had my Dream Dinners session tonight. Mac was going to come with me, and then we were going to do some shopping nearby. We arrived, and there were so many people there that Mac opted to do the shopping while I prepared the Dream Dinners order. It was really busy, but I was only preparing four meals, although I was preparing two each of two of them (Chicken and Pasta with Lemon and Artichoke Sauce and Southwest Pork Carnitas with Chipotle Maple Corn) and three each of two of them (Cattleman's Pie and Creamy Chicken Florentine Tortellini). My other two were Fast Lane meals (Central Park Garlic Chicken with Roasted Heirloom Potatoes and Sage and Parmesan Boneless Pork Chops with Toasted Onion Potato Wedges). In preparing the Cattleman's Pie, one adds the onions and carrots in one bag, and the peas and parsley in another. However, the peas and carrots are next to each other in the back, and the onions are in front of the peas, with the parsley in front of the carrots. To me,

Yesterday was a hellish day, between a lot of things at work, plus 4 different phone calls with the vet. We think Geno has another UTI, and I'd made an appointment with the vet tech for Friday to get a specimen, only to realize that I needed to reschedule. I moved the appointment to last night, which resulted in a phone call from one of the employees to let me know that our regular vet was out of town, and to reassure me about the fill-in vet. I inquired a bit and balked, because well, Geno doesn't do well with new people, and she called me back to reassure me about the vet's qualifications. In the end, we didn't even see the vet, and we won't know until Friday or Saturday if he has a UTI. We go back to the vet on the 9th, so if nothing else, we'll see our normal vet then." As I'd thought I'd be home to make dinner, I'd planned on cooking the Dream Dinners Pub Style Chicken with Mashed Potatoes. I was in the mood for comfort food after a rough

For dinner on Wednesday, we tried the Dream Dinners Fully Loaded Chicken & Potato Soup with Breadsticks. This week has been crazy at work, and looking at the cooking instructions, I knew the soup wouldn’t take long to prepare. I simply preheated the oven to bake the breadsticks, heated the bacon until it was crisp, tossed the soup base (mashed potatoes and other yummy things) into a stock pot, allowed that to boil, then added the chicken and potatoes and allowed those to heat. Once it was ready, I topped it with cheese and bacon, and dinner was served! I did add some black pepper to the soup as it was cooking, and Mac added a bit more once he’d tasted it. This was great comfort food, and it was so easy to prepare! I’m hoping this makes it back to the menu in December or January, so I can pick up a few orders of it. It would be great for a snowy day, especially if I had time to allow it to simmer for a while. Dinner last night was the Old Fashioned Meatloaf with Twice Baked Potato

My test recipe was the Sicilian Cheese Stuffed Turkey Burgers, served on pretzel rolls. I prepared this for dinner last night, and took the requested survey after we cleaned up from dinner, so that everything was fresh in my mind. Mac and I were underwhelmed, and without changes, wouldn't order this as it currently is prepared. Preparation: The ground turkey was actually individual patties, but when it thawed, they congealed together. This worked just fine, I guess, except that it was rather messy, because I needed to place the meat and spice mixture into a bowl, mix it, then form patties, add the cheese, reform patties, and then cook the burgers. While I realize it would take a bit of time at the store, I'd rather bag each patty individually, add the spices and cheese, and then be able to mix that patty in the bag, so I'd not need a mixing bowl. I'd also not get cheese all over, trying to stuff it into patties. When mixing and forming the patties, my hands became cov

Mac came with me to my Dream Dinners session on Friday. We had other errands to run out that way, so he agreed to join me. We arrived at 9 AM, which was the start time for the flex session. Mac jumped into preparing the Cattleman's Pie, while I prepared the Crispy French Onion Chicken. As we discussed later, we should have swapped meals! While we were preparing the cooking instructions cards and getting our drawer and freezer space, I was asked if I wanted to try a test recipe. Mac agreed that we should try it, so that was placed on our shelf. I won't spill on that quite yet, as I'll wait until we try it! I love the test recipes, as they are so unexpected, and it really made my day! We'll have that next week, once Mac is back in town. Preparing the meals was easy, as usual, and the session wasn't very busy, so it was nice. Mac and I could work together to prepare the meals. I love that he'll be working on assembling part of a recipe while I'll be working o

I decided to try the Dream Dinners Asian Barbecue Braised Ribs for dinner on Thursday. They were easy to prepare, as I simply placed them on foil, doused them with pineapple juice, foiled the foil over, and then baked them for a while. After baking them for 50 minutes, I removed them from the oven, opened the foil, and added the sauce, then allowed them to broil for a few minutes. The result was lousy. The sauce was very odd, did not go well with the pineapple flavor, and was in no way, shape, or form, reminiscent of barbecue. As I took care of ordering pizza for dinner, Mac deboned the ribs, rinsed off the sauce, and packed them in a storage container. We're hoping that we can add some standard BBQ sauce and salvage them for dinner tonight.

I stumbled onto plated.com, a website that offers a service very similar to Dream Dinners, except that it's a weekly menu, and rather than have to go to a store, they ship the food directly to you. It does cost more per serving, but because I found a promo code, I figured I'd try it. I do like that the price/serving is the same, whether you order chicken, shrimp, fish, or steak. I ordered four plates of shrimp tacos with grilled Mexican corn. My order should arrive next Tuesday, and I think I'm simply going to cook it for dinner Tuesday night. Should you want to try it, you can use my referral link https://www.plated.com/invites/c7178b to receive 2 free plates (pay $10 for shipping), and you can try to stack it with the promo code of FIRSTPLATED for 4 free plates.

I'll admit, when preparing the Rio Grande Chicken Fajitas at Dream Dinners, I was a bit annoyed by the directions. I was instructed to mix a marinade, and then pour half of it into a Ziploc bag with the chicken, and the other half into a bag with the peppers and onions. I can about guarantee that one bag had more than the other. I'd have preferred that I mix 2 batches of the marinade, or that all of the marinade go with the chicken, as the peppers and onions, when thawed, don't really need a lot of extra liquid. In cooking these, I appreciated that it only required one pan, plus baking the foil wrapped tortillas. I also appreciated that the number of tortilla made sense. I may have added extra chicken to each tortilla, but it seemed like there was far less chicken than what was needed for all of the tortillas. That said, next time, I'll cook some refried beans and some rice as well, and that will stretch the chicken. Mac and I both really enjoyed this meal although it

I cooked the Buffalo Ranch Chicken Burgers the other night, and semi-followed the directions. We don't have a grill, other than our Foreman grill, so I tossed them in the skillet, and then once they were cooked, broiled them a bit to melt the cheese. I heated the rolls in the oven, although they didn't get too hot. I served this with the seasoned onion rings from the Finishing Touch Freezer. The sandwiches were good, and were very filling, although Mac and I both found the buffalo flavor a bit milder than we'd like. I ordered two portions of this, so for the next order, I'll probably add some extra buffalo sauce. I'll also pick up some lettuce and red onions before we cook the next portion, as I think the sandwiches really would have been more enjoyable with a topping or two like that.

When preparing the Cheesy Bacon Quesadillas at Dream Dinners, I was slightly confused, as the directions indicated that I should roll them. I thought I'd probably fold them in half, or just place the filling on top of a tortilla, then cover it with another tortilla. In cooking these, I followed the directions to "fry" them in a skillet, although because they were semi-round, it was difficult to cook them on all sides. Also, the rice took far longer than the quesadillas, so in the future, I'll wait until the rice is cooked before starting on the quesadillas, or at least until it's almost fully-cooked. The quesadillas were very flavorful, and who can go wrong with bacon? I'd have preferred a bit more cheese, but overall, they had a nice flavor, with a hint of spice. I will definitely order these again.

When I placed my July order, and added 2 extra 6-servings to it, I opted to add an extra 6-serving of the Sweet Cider BBQ Chicken. It sounded like we'd enjoy it, but when I prepared the first 6-serving, we realized that it is not all we thought it would be. The sauce had far too much of a ginger and bitter taste for my enjoyment, and Mac, who enjoys ginger, did not care for it either. I was disappointed in the flavor, as there was not a BBQ flavor, but rather a bitter, ginger and ketchup flavor to the sauce. I will not order the Sweet Cider BBQ Chicken again, and it serves as a reminder that unless I'm positive we'll enjoy something, I should stick to ordering 1 6-serving of it.

On Saturday, Mac and Seth went to the range for a few hours while I cleaned and cooked dinner. I also had a quick grocery shopping trip so we could enjoy dessert as well. I prepared the Dream Dinners Crispy Coconut Chicken with Jasmine Rice, along with a side of mixed veggies, salad, and apple pie for dessert. The Crispy Coconut Chicken was extremely easy to prepare, as I simply tossed each piece of chicken into the Ziploc bag with the coconut and panko bread crumbs, shook the bag, and then removed the chicken from the bag. I placed it onto a cookie sheet that I'd covered with aluminum foil and sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Once I'd added all six pieces of chicken, I topped it with the extra coconut and bread crumbs. I baked it for 15 minutes, while the apple pie was baking, and cooked the rice and veggies. Mac and I really enjoyed the chicken, and Seth was impressed with it. I'd mentioned the concept of Dream Dinners to Seth and his wife before, so perhaps now th

I'm very excited about the September Dream Dinners menu! It features the return of many of my favorites, including the return of Crispy French Onion Chicken, Cattleman's Pie, and Santa Fe Shredded Pork Burritos. It also includes Old Fashioned Meatloaf with Twice Baked Potatoes, Chicken Parmesan, with Garlic Bread, Fully Loaded Chicken and Potato Soup with Bread Sticks, and Colorado Beef Roast. My order, and the WW PointsPlus values are below: Crispy French Onion Chicken--6 points Old Fashioned Meatloaf with Twice Baked Potatoes--8 points Chicken Parmesan with Garlic Bread--14 points Chicken Enchiladas--8 points Cattleman's Pie--10 points Santa Fe Shredded Pork Burritos--8 points Fully Loaded Chicken and Potato Soup with Bread Sicks--17 points Pesto Cheese Ravioli with Chicken and Walnuts--11 points Colorado Beef Roast--6 points

I prepared the Dream Dinners Crispy Salsa Ranch Chicken for dinner last night. I was going to prepare it for dinner on Friday, but then decided I wanted BBQ, so it was tabled until yesterday. When I came home from work, Mac was napping, but woke up when the dogs let him know that I was home. I asked if he wanted dinner within half an hour or if he wanted to wait a while. He opted for dinner within half an hour, so I went to work cooking dinner. :) I served the Crispy Salsa Ranch Chicken with broccoli and cauliflower and southwestern style rice with peppers and onions. It was very easy to prepare. I simply lined a cookie sheet with foil, sprayed it with non-stick cooking spray, then placed the chicken tenders on the cookie sheet and covered them with the tortilla chips, cheese, and spices. I then baked it for 15 minutes, and while it was cooking, prepared a Caesar salad and heated the veggies and rice in the microwave. I didn't enjoy this quite as much as the BBQ Chip Chicken Tend

Mac and I prepared the Dream Dinners Canadian Bacon Stuffed French Bread for dinner last night. I used the programmed bake feature on my stove, so that it cooked it while we were on our way home. This was the first I've tried that, and I was a bit nervous. It worked well, other than we were delayed about 10 minutes in getting home, so it wasn't quite as hot as I'd hoped. It was very enjoyable, especially the butter and cream cheese spread. To me, the sausage distracted from the taste, so next time, I'd probably omit the sausage, and perhaps ask about adding extra Canadian bacon and/or cream cheese spread. I would have liked to have added the cream cheese spread to both sides of the bread. Mac was also very thrilled with it, and we'll definitely order it again, sans sausage.

I had my July Dream Dinners session on Saturday, and even though everything fit in my freezer, I decided I'd pull out a few meals: Charhouse Chicken Sandwich on a Pretzel Bun, Grilled Bruschetta Chicken, and Canadian Bacon Stuffed French Bread. We cooked the Charhouse Chicken Sandwiches for dinner on Saturday. We knew we didn't need leftovers for his lunches for the early part of the week, so sandwiches made sense. I opted to broil them, so it didn't take long at all to cook them. I topped them with the cheese blend, allowed it to melt, and then served them. I liked that the pretzel rolls were pre-sliced, as I didn't need to fuss with that. The mayo was very similar to the sauce for the Outlaw Chicken Sliders. It may be the same sauce, although the menu didn't specify that it was the same.Neither Mac nor I really was thrilled with this meal, in part because the sauce was too much like the sauce for the Outlaw Chicken Sliders. I think this could have been improved by

I prepared the Savory Grilled Chicken with Sesame Honey Butter last week, and it was uninspiring. I didn't care for the taste at all, and Mac was less than impressed with it. I think it was too bland for his tastes. He did eat the rest of it for lunch and dinner later in the week, but really, I think that's only because he hates to see food go to waste! This is one of those meals where I'm not too upset that we ordered it, but we definitely won't order it again!

Last week was rather crazy for me. I had a few deadlines at work and then I also had to prepare for the Dress for Success Professional Women's Group Success Summit. That was this past weekend, in Miami. We stayed at EPIC - A Kimpton Hotel, and it was amazing! Due to how crazy my week was going to be, I opted for very quick and easy meals last week for dinner. One of those was the Savannah Grill Chicken with Sweet Potato Fries. Mac is not a fan of sweet potatoes, so I knew the fries might not appeal to him, but I figured we'd try the chicken anyway. It was very easy to prepare, as I simply cooked the chicken in a skillet, then added the sauce, and baked the fries. I really enjoyed the flavor of the chicken and sauce, and I didn't mind the sweet potato fries. Mac said the fries were edible, although we both found that they were more enjoyable if we added a bit of the sauce to them. We did discuss that, with side items like that included with the entree, it would be nice