Dream Dinners: Chicken Bacon Ranch Stuffed French Bread

Sometimes a meal is so delicious, you need to make it twice.  I had the opportunity to order seconds of some meals this month and it worked out great for us, especially because I forgot to blog about it the first time we tried it.  On Friday, we made the Chicken Bacon Ranch Stuffed French Bread.  I also liked that we could cook this meal from frozen, which is perfect when you are having a busy week.  This is also a very simple meal to make-you just have to put on your patience pants because it does take a long time to cook, especially from frozen.  I preheated the oven and cooked it for 50 minutes.  I unwrapped it and cooked it another 10 minutes.  We let it sit for about 5-10 minutes and cut it into 3 portions.  Dinner was finally ready!  I love the flavors of chicken, bacon, ranch, and cheese on crusty French bread.  We definitely learned in making two different sandwiches from frozen that it is important to cook it for the full time, as the frozen chicken does take a while to cook.  We’ve discovered that we really like any of the sandwiches made on french bread.    Now, we are finally truly finished with October meals and ready to start trying the November meals I just made.

Dream Dinners: Ancho Chili Steaks

On Tuesday, I made my final October Dream Dinners meal, just in time to make room in the freezer for November’s meals.  I made the Ancho Chili Steaks along with the Bacon Green Beans and a baked potato.  I started by heating up the grill pan.   I cooked the steaks on medium high for about 6 minutes on each side.  While the steaks were cooking, I made the green beans in a skillet and popped my potato in the microwave on potato setting.  Everything finished up at about the same time and we were ready to eat.  Each steak was topped with chili butter and french fried onions.  This was a quick, simple, and tasty meal.  I think it took about 15 minutes to make and plate.  The steaks were delicious.  They were cooked to a nice medium/medium well and had excellent flavor.  The chili butter was spicy and creamy and paired nicely with the crispy onions.  Overall, this meal was a hit in our house and there may be a fight tonight to see who gets the leftovers! 

Dream Dinners: Cantonese Beef and Broccoli over Rice

This was the meal that we almost didn’t get to eat.  Apparently, there was a bit of a broccoli shortage in California after periods of too much rain.  We were a little worried we might run out of broccoli for customers, so we saved our meals for until all the customers got their broccoli.  We lucked out and were able to get to make this meal.  Mike and I love most Asian cuisine, so I had high hopes for this meal.  I started off by making the rice.  I put the rice and water in a pot and brought it to a boil.  Next, I stirred it, covered it and simmered on low for about 20 minutes.  While the rice was cooking, I heated up some oil in a pan.  I added the beef and sauce mixture to the pan and simmered it for about 5 minutes.  I added the broccoli and sauce mix to the beef and cooked it about 5-7 minutes until the broccoli was warmed through.  I cooked it a bit longer than I originally expected because my broccoli was still a little bit frozen.  Once the rice and beef/broccoli mixture were done cooking, we were ready to serve.  We plated the rice and covered it with the beef/broccoli mix.  This was another winner.  It was yummy and fairly quick to make.  

Dream Dinners: Sweet Chipotle Chicken Cavatappi

As we move into November, its time to think of things that we are thankful for.  I am definitely thankful for Dream Dinners.  It is a really fun job and I have met some awesome people-both coworkers and customers.  In addition, it has answered the question, “What’s for dinner?”  I do love to cook, but cooking for 2 every night becomes a bit of a task and the amount of leftovers often seemed a bit wasteful.  I feel like we are eating and cooking in a way that makes much more sense for our family.  Yesterday was Sunday, but it was not a lazy one for us.  We started with a walk and breakfast.  Next, we headed to the dog park, where Lola was able to safely explore and run off a bit of her “terrier” energy.  Mike and I treated ourselves to lunch and drinks (both beer and coffee) at Redhorn.  The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up on chores and just relaxing before another busy week.  I was glad I defrosted a delicious Dream Dinners meal that cooked pretty quickly after our evening walk.   

I started by boiling water for the Cavatappi.  Once the water was boiling, I added the Cavatappi and cooked it for about 10 minutes.  After the Cavatappi had cooked, I drained it and returned it to the pot.  Meanwhile, I heated up some olive oil in a skillet and cooked my chicken breasts on 4 minutes on each side.  I added the sauce to the chicken and brought it to a boil.  Then, I reduced the heat and allowed the chicken to simmer in the sauce for 10 minutes, basting along the way.  When the chicken and sauce were fully cooked, I removed the chicken and added the pasta to the sauce, stirring to coat it.  I plated the chicken and pasta and we were ready to go.  Dream Dinners saved the day again!  We had a tasty, simple meal that took no time to make.  The chicken was cooked perfectly and paired nicely with the sweet and spicy pasta.  I would definitely make this meal again and I am looking forward to finishing up the rest of my October meals. 

Dream Dinners: Texas Roadhouse Burgers with Salt and Pepper Fries

Last night, I started making the last of my October Dream Dinners meals.  I was really glad I had defrosted this meal because I had been pretty hungry for burgers.  I started by preheating the oven and putting the fries in the oven for 30 minutes.  I waited for a little bit and then started on the burgers.  I heated up the grill pan on the stovetop over high heat.  Meanwhile, I mixed the bacon mixture with the ground beef and formed 3 patties.  I put the burgers on the grill pan and set my timer for 5 minutes.  The burger was near impossible to flip and definitely made a mess of the pan.  I cooked it about 4 minutes on the other side.  After the burgers had cooked on both sides, I put the buns in the oven for a few minutes while I let the cheddar and Gorgonzola cheeses melt on the burgers.  Once everything was cooked, dinner was ready.  I put the burgers on buns and drizzled them with bbq sauce and french fried onions.  Despite being a bit messy, the burgers were really tasty and had so many different flavors.  The fries were crispy and well seasoned.  Overall, I really liked this meal and would make it again.  However, I am done trying to make burgers in my grill pan.  Next time, I will either use the broiler or a skillet.  The third burger fell apart so I made it into nachos for lunch today.  With the addition of tortilla chips, bbq sauce, and ranch, Texas Roadhouse Nachos were a great idea!

Dream Dinners: Hearty Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Breadsticks

Happy Sugar Crash Day!  Yesterday was a little bit cold and dreary here in Central Texas, so I was super glad that I had pulled my bag of Hearty Chicken and Wild Rice Soup out of the freezer for dinner.  We went on a quick walk in the rain before dinner and then we really wanted some soup.  I started by preheating the oven to 400 for the breadsticks.  Meanwhile, I heated up some olive oil in a large pot on the stovetop.  To the pot, I added the chicken, rice and veggies, stirring and cooking about 7 minutes.  Next, I added in some water and the soup base bag.  I brought it to a boil, reduced heat to low, covered and simmered about 30 minutes.  When the soup was almost done, I baked the bread sticks for about 6 minutes until they were golden.  This was an excellent dinner choice. The soup was creamy and full of delicious chicken, veggies and rice.  It definitely reminded me a bit of the chicken and wild rice soup at Bread Co(Panera).  I have a feeling this will be a leftover that we fight over in the future. 

Blue Apron: Tuscan Style Pork Chops with Roasted Potato and Salsa Verde

Last night, we made our last Blue Apron meal.  It was a long day, so I was glad to save the easiest meal for that day.  Once again, Mike prepped the veggies while I made the rest of the meal.  We roasted the potatoes on a sheet pan after we drizzled them with olive oil,  salt, and pepper.  While the potatoes were roasting, I seasoned the pork chops and cooked them for 6 minutes per side in a skillet with oil.  The salsa verde was created by mixing parsley, capers, vinegar, garlic, and olive oil.   After the pork chops were cooked, I cooked the kale in the same skillet, letting it wilt.  Next, I added garlic,  water, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper to the kale and cooked it a few more minutes.  I turned off the heat and added vinegar to the kale.  Mike sliced the pork, we plated our food and were ready to eat.  I loved the pork and potatoes which I topped with the tasty salsa verde.  I definitely plan on trying to recreate the pork, potatoes, and salsa.  However, I still don’t like kale. This time it was cooked, so I hoped that I might like it better.  I feel like it has a bitter flavor that I simply don’t enjoy.  I gave it a try and while it may be really healthy, its not for me.  I am glad we got to try some new things this week and that we got to test a few new techniques for cooking.   

Blue Apron: Korean Beef Steam Buns with Sweet Potato Tempura and Spicy Mayonnaise

Last night, I made Blue Apron Meal #2.  We could tell that this meal was going to be difficult and time consuming so we saved it for a night when we’d have plenty of time.  Mike was so helpful and took care of chopping the vegetables.  While he cut the veggies, I made the spicy mayonnaise with mayo and gochujang.  Next, I mixed together the tempura mix and cold water and coated the sweet potatoes in the mixture.  I heated up oil in a skillet and  fried the potatoes for a few minutes on each side in batches, draining the oil and seasoning as I went.  Unfortunately, my oil got really hot and I lost a few potatoes to overcooking.  In a separate pot, I steamed the buns over boiling water in small batches.  Once the potatoes were done, I started cooking the beef, which I had seasoned with salt and pepper.  After the meat cooked for a few minutes,  I added scallions, ginger, and black bean sauce.  I cooked this mixture until the beef was cooked through.  Finally, we were ready for assembly.  Each bun got a spread of spicy mayo, some radish slices, and the beef mixture.  We plated with some of the sweet potato tempura and garnished with scallions.  This meal was a pain to make, but it was also really delicious.  The tempura was crispy, salty, and one of the best ways I’ve ever tried sweet potatoes.  The beef was cooked well and paired nicely with the spicy mayo and crisp radishes on the soft buns.  It was nice to see how these were made, but I will definitely stick to ordering these in the future. 

Blue Apron: Fried Chicken and Kale Slaw with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Hot Honey

Nothing is perfect, including me.  When I started working at Dream Dinners, I quit making the Blue Apron meals.  It was a subscription and I kept skipping the meals because it wasn’t really obvious how to end your subscription.  Apparently I forgot to skip a week, I received a delivery of meals on Tuesday.  I couldn’t return them, so I decided I’d cook them as soon as I got a chance and promptly figured out how to cancel my subscription once and for all.  Other than being a conflict of interest, my biggest complaints with Blue Apron were that the meals took a long time to make and involved making a big mess in the kitchen.  I don’t have time for that.  Friday night, we made Fried Chicken and Kale Slaw.  My handy sous chef prepped the veggies while I got the pan ready and the oven preheated.  We cooked the seasoned sweet potatoes wedges at 450 for 24 minutes.  Next, I made the slaw by mixing kale, mayonnaise, vinegar, spice blend and salt and pepper.  I let that marinate while the potatoes were cooking.  The next step was to prep the chicken.  I pounded the chicken breasts until they were thin. I dipped each breast in flour, egg, and bread crumbs.  I cooked the breaded chicken in a skillet of hot oil for 6 minutes on each side.  While it was cooking, I stirred together honey and red pepper flakes.  Once everything had cooked, we were ready to serve dinner.  While I am not normally a sweet potato fan, these crispy wedges weren’t too bad.  The chicken was cooked perfectly crisp and paired well with the spicy honey.  I did not like the kale slaw at all.  I am not a fan of kale and I didn’t really like the dressing either.  Overall the meal was pretty tasty, but I am going to steer clear of kale in the future. 

Java, Java, Java

This Friday I got to have a late lunch with a dear friend.  We really needed a good catch up date and we both happened to be off Friday afternoon.  She suggested we head to one of her favorite places, Cafe Java in Round Rock.  It took us a bit to order as we did have a lot of catching up to do.  I was also overwhelmed by the menu, as everything sounded so delicious.  I finally selected the Whole Lotta Love Latte.  This delicious drink was made with espresso, honey, hazelnut syrup, half and half, whipped cream, and turbinado. It was a perfect combination on a cooler fall afternoon. 

My next choice was breakfast or lunch.  I’ve never been a huge breakfast person and I love sandwiches, so I opted for lunch.  I channeled Mike and picked a Philly cheesteak sandwich and went with a side of chicken tortilla soup.  I quickly realized that I had made another excellent choice.  The soup was warm and had great flavors without being too bland or too spicy.  A side of tortilla chips helped add a little bit of crunch or flavor to my soup.  My cheesesteak was awesome too!  The meat was cooked to perfection and combined well with the green peppers, onions, melty cheese and toasted french bread.  After a morning of work, I was hungry and cleaned my plate.  I will definitely be taking Mike to try this cheesesteak.  I had a wonderful visit with my friend and got to try a fabulous new place.  It’s not especially close to home, but it was definitely worth the drive.  I cant wait to go back and try more of what Cafe Java has to offer. 

Dream Dinners: Creamy Chicken Florentine Tortellini

This week has either been super busy or I’ve been trying to accomplish too much, either way, here’s my latest blog post on a meal I made a few days ago.  Despite some poor planning on my part, which I’ll explain later, I did manage to fit another Dream Dinners meal in this week.  We decided to try the Creamy Chicken Florentine Tortellini.  Prep wise, this was a very easy meal to make.  I simply preheated my oven and prepared my pan by removing the Saran Wrap and lid and covering the pan with foil.  I baked the dish at 375 for 45 minutes.  Next, I uncovered the dish and baked it for an additional 7 minutes.  We served the pasta with a side salad and dinner was ready.  This was a very tasty pasta dish that included chicken, tortellini, spinach and a creamy sauce.  Mike also liked it later as a leftover.  Once again, I was impressed by another simple and delicious Dream Dinners meal. 

The Pinta, the Nina and Santa Catarina

After the Taste of Cedar Park, Mike and I have been eager to head over to Santa Catarina to try some additional items off their menu.  On Saturday, we decided to head over and give it a chance.  It wasn’t too far from our house and it was super cute.  We were able to sit down immediately, which is always a treat on Saturday at dinner time.  We decided to start with drinks.  Mike picked the ever popular Mexican Martini and I opted for a Prickly Pear Margarita.  Both of the drinks were tasty and complimented the spicy salsa and chips.  The menu was quite diverse and there were lots of tempting choices.  Eventually, we selected guacamole for an appetizer, the enchiladas suizas for me, and the Cochinita Pibil for Mike.

Cocktails-Prickly Pear Margarita and Mexican Martini

Guacamole

The guacamole was thick and full of onions, tomatoes, and cilantro.  It was creamy and served with a sturdy chip.  My enchiladas suizas had shredded chicken and were served with rice and black beans.  I loved the suizas sauce that topped my enchiladas.  I also liked that the bean of choice was black beans, rather than refined or pinto beans.  The rice was mild with mixed veggies incorporated in it.  Mike’s dish was pork wrapped in a banana leaf served with rice, beans, and a creamy jalapeno sauce.  The dish was interesting, but packed full of flavor.  We were members of the clean plate club that night.  We both finished our meals, so sadly, we had no room for dessert.  We enjoyed everything we tried and look forward to coming back.   Hopefully, we have found our new go to Mexican restaurant.

Cochinita Pibil

Enchiladas Suizas

Dream Dinners: Parmesan Herb Crusted Chicken with Almond Green Beans

I am still playing a bit of blog catch up.  Thankfully tonight’s dinner is tacos, so I should have plenty of time to get caught up in the next few days before I have some more new meals.  On Friday, I made this delicious Parmesan Herb Crusted Chicken.  Each month Dream Dinners picks one meal that supports their Living the Dream charity and gives money from that meal to help people in need.  This meal was the Living the Dream meal and it was a great choice.  I’ve made the almond green beans several times before so I already knew I was in for a treat there.  This was my first time making this chicken.  I started by preheating my oven and preparing a pan.  I made three piles of the herb breading mix on the baking sheet.  I pulled the chicken out of the marinade and pressed each piece of chicken in the breading mix, making sure to coat both sides of the chicken.  I baked the chicken for 25 minutes.  During the bake time, I made my almond green beans and decided to make pasta as well.  When the oven timer rang, we were ready to serve.  This chicken was simple in design, but packed a big flavor.  It was cooked through and we loved the crispy coating.  This is definitely a meal worth repeating or trying to duplicate on our own. 

Dream Dinners: Tangy Down Home Pork Chops with Mashed Potatoes

This has been a busy week, so I’ve gotten a bit behind in blogging about the food we’ve made this week.  One day this week, we tried the Tangy Down Home Pork Chops with Mashed Potatoes.  I started by cooking the mashed potatoes in a medium pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes.  In a separate skillet, I eat up oil over medium high heat.  I browned the pork chops for 3 minutes on each side and turned down the heat.  Next, I added in the apple mix, boiled it, covered and simmered for 15 minutes.  I served the mashed potatoes and pork chops with the apples on top.  In addition, I made a side of steamed broccoli to help round out the meal.  This was a delicious meal.  The pork chops were cooked perfectly and the apples were a great topping for them and the potatoes.  I am so happy that I have another tasty Dream Dinners meal under my belt.

Tasty Tuesday

It’s finally starting to feel a bit like fall here in Central Texas.  Tuesday night was the perfect evening for Taste of Cedar Park.  Fortunately, we ordered tickets ahead of time because the event sold out, as it has in years past.  We also loved that its in our neighborhood so we walked to the event which was held in the sculpture park.  As we arrived, we were given wrist bands and stemless wine glasses to commemorate the event.  We immediately headed to the Whitestone booth to grab a pour of the Oktoberfest to enjoy with our food.  We grabbed small plates from a few places and realized quickly that we were going to run out of room in our hands and stomachs for food.  After our first plates, we decided to split food so that we were able to try a little bit of everything.  We tried food from some of our favorite places including Foxhole, Smoky Moe’s, Thundercloud Subs, Schlotskys, Easy Tiger, Blue Corn Harvest, the Grove, and Scoop and Score.  

We also got to try some new places, including Santa Catarina and Delysia Chocolatier.  The food was amazing, the weather was delightful, and the live music was entertaining.  We had a lot of fun and look forward to going to this event again in the future.  It also served as a reminder of some places that we definitely need to try and a few we need to revisit.  This was a fabulous event on a perfect evening.

Dream Dinners: Mini Chicken Pot Pies

Last night, I made a really yummy meal from Dream Dinners. We had been prewarned that this recipe might be a little bit on the frustrating side, but I had no problems and the results were delightful.  This recipe instructed me not to defrost ahead of time.  Right before cooking, I pulled the pastry squares out, separated them, and let them thaw on foil for 15 minutes.  I preheated the oven to 375 and heated up some oil in a skillet.  I added my chicken and veggies to the skillet, breaking it up and letting it thaw.  I ran the Alfredo sauce bag under hot water to loosen it and added it to the chicken, allowing it to simmer about 7 minutes, until it was completely thawed.  I sprayed the muffin tin with cooking spray and press the pastry squares into the muffin cups.  Next, I put about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture into each pastry cup, pinching together the top.  I baked the pot pies for 20 minutes and let them sit for 5 minutes after cooking.  They were beautiful looking with their golden brown pastry.  Even after waiting, they were still quite hot when we removed them from the pan.  The best part was biting into the pot pies due to  the well seasoned, warm chicken, veggies, and sauce combined with the tender flaky pastry square.  Served with a side salad, this was an excellent meal.  I can’t wait until this shows up on the menu again, it was really good and not nearly as frustrating as I thought.

Dream Dinners: Sweet Potato Puffs

While I have been very happy with all my Dream Dinners meals, I have had mixed feelings on the sides.  On Friday, we tried the Sweet Potato Puffs.  Admittedly, we do not really love sweet potatoes or sweet potato fries, but we thought we’d give these a try.  Also, I didn’t exactly follow the directions, so some of our dislike could be blamed on my direction following fails.  I was baking something else in the oven at the same time and decided to cook the puffs at a lower temperature, but for a longer amount of time.  Unfortunately, the puffs just weren’t as crispy as we might like.  The lack of crispness combined with the sweet potato flavor was not an overall win for this side.  I feel like this side had strikes against it from the beginning and I didn’t help by not cooking them according to directions.  In the future, I will try to follow directions on items a little bit closer, hopefully yielding in better results. 

Dream Dinners: Chicken with Honey, Garlic, and Orange with Asian Vegetable Quinoa

We are still really enjoying the various Dream Dinners meals and its always exciting to try new foods without having to buy tons of groceries to make them.  One of the meals we ate this week was the Chicken with Honey, Garlic, and Orange.  I had some Asian Vegetable Quinoa that I’ve been saving that I decided to pair with the chicken.   It was a good combination and I was super excited to eat the leftovers the next day, too.  I put some olive oil in a skillet and heated it up.  I added the chicken and cooked it for 5 minutes on each side.  I then poured the sauce over the chicken and simmered it for about 3 minutes or so.  While the chicken was cooking, I cooked the Asian Vegetable Quinoa in a separate skillet.  Dinner was so tasty!  The chicken was cooked perfectly and we loved the flavor.  I really liked the chicken with the quinoa and had a recommendation from a customer to serve the chicken over a spinach salad, which also sounded excellent.  So far, we have been really happy with our meals and love being able to try new foods without spending a ton of time or money doing it.

Dream Dinners: Santa Fe Shredded Pork Burritos

Our October Dream Dinners meals started with a bang last night.  We tried the Santa Fe Shredded Pork Burritos.  We’ve really enjoyed any of the pulled pork from Dream Dinners and this meal did not disappoint.  I started by preheating the oven and preparing my baking dish.   Next, I made sure the pork mixture was well mixed.  I heated up the tortillas so that they would be easy to roll.  To each tortilla, I added about a cup of the pork mixture.  I placed them rolled side down in the baking dish and baked them uncovered for 25 minutes. Then, I poured enchilada sauce on top of the burritos and baked them for 10 minutes.  The burritos were super yummy!  There was lots of flavor with the pork, bbq sauce, corn, beans, and chilies in each burrito.  The tortillas cooked until just crispy and the enchilada sauce had a nice smoky flavor.  This dish was relatively simple and I plan on trying to recreate it so that I can eat it again before its offered by the company.   

Dream Dinners: Simmered Chinese Chicken with Jasmine Rice

Last night, I made my last meal from September’s menu.  I was looking forward to it because I love most Asian style dishes.  I decided to add a little bit of steamed broccoli to round out the meal, but I loved this meal because it was delicious and cooked pretty quickly.  It was a perfect way to end a lazy Sunday!  I added my rice and water to a saucepan and brought it to a boil.  I cooked it for about 20 minutes.  While the rice was cooking, I heated up some oil in a large skillet.  I cooked the chicken breasts for about 4 minutes on each side until it had browned.  Next, I added the sauce and cooked it for 10 minutes with the lid on the skillet.  When the rice was done and the sauce had thickened, it was time for dinner.  We plated rice, broccoli and chicken, topping with sauce and sesame seeds.  The results were amazing!  The chicken was cooked perfectly and the sauce was a great flavor and consistency.  We may consider adding a little bit of red pepper flakes in the future to kick it up a notch.  I really liked this meal and I am definitely looking forward to eating the leftovers for lunch!