Pin a Day: Skinny Funfetti Cupcakes

This weekend we had some friends over to play, so obviously, I had to bake a little bit.  I like to try new recipes and I am working on training my friends to be brutally honest so I know if the recipe is a keeper or not.  I was definitely intrigued by this recipe for Skinny Funfetti Cupcakes.   It was an easy recipe with only 4 ingredients total!  I started by preheating the oven and lining 24 muffin cups with muffin liners (I ended up only having enough batter for 22 cupcakes).  I mixed together Funfetti cake mix and a can of sprite until it was fluffy.  I used portion scoops to fill the muffin liners and baked them about 20-22 minutes.  I allowed the cupcakes to cool completely before mixing the frosting.  To make the frosting, I mixed together a box of vanilla pudding mix and a container of fat free Cool Whip.  I didn’t love the consistency of the frosting so I added some skim milk to thin it out a little bit.  I frosted the cupcakes and the frosting still seemed a bit runny so I put them in the fridge overnight.  We tried them the next day and they were a hit.  The cupcakes were fluffy and moist with the delicious Funfetti flavor. The frosting was very vanilla and was almost more of a thick glaze, but it worked well with the fluffy cupcakes.  Mike is not typically a frosting guy and he liked it.  This was a quick, easy, and slightly healthier version of a Funfetti cupcake, so it was an overall win in my book.  Obviously, this could be altered depending on the flavor of cake and pudding that you might decide to use.

Dream Dinners: Turkey Florentine Burgers on Pretzel Buns with Beer Battered Sidewinders

The Olympics are one of my favorite sporting events to watch on tv, so I am really excited that they’ve finally started.  We are often busy so dinner doesn’t get started until later most nights.  Fortunately, many of my Dream Dinners meals cook pretty quickly so I can go straight from evening walk to cooking and eating to Olympic Prime Time.  On Friday, I was eager to watch the Opening Ceremonies and try the turkey burgers with sidewinders.  I started by preheating the oven and preparing my pan.  I cooked the sidewinders for 30 minutes to start and then an additional 10 minutes to really get crispy.  While the sidewinders were  cooking, I got started on the burgers.  I decided to pan fry my burgers so I heated up a skillet while I mixed together the turkey and seasoning mix.  I shaped the mixture into 3 patties and cooked them for 6 minutes on each side.  I put the mozzarella cheese on the burgers and let it melt while I lightly toasted the buns in the oven.  Everything was ready to go at the same time.  I put a little bit of the garlic chive mayo on the buns, added burgers, grabbed some sidewinders and dinner was served.  We really liked this meal.  The sidewinders were crispy and well seasoned.  They tasted great dipped in ranch or bbq sauce.  The burgers had great flavors melded together and topped on toasty, tasty pretzel buns.  The leftover burger was great for lunch the next day and I definitely had plenty of time to eat before the Olympics started.  

Dream Dinners: Cheese Lovers Manicotti

Dream Dinners makes hectic nights much easier for our family.  Mike has been going to the office more frequently lately and by the time we get home after sitting in traffic, I am not always inspired to start a meal from scratch.  While I love to eat out, there are only so many nights a week I can do that.  We have gotten into a bit of a routine lately, where Mike and Lola will go for a walk while I get dinner going.  On Tuesday, our dinner was the Cheese Lovers Manicotti.  I preheated the oven and prepared the pan.  It cooked for 40 minutes with foil covering it.  Then, it cooked another 10 minutes without the foil.  I got ingredients ready for a side salad and decided to make an “after-tizer” of toasted raviolis.  This was a yummy meal.  It definitely would have taken longer for me to make this from scratch.  It was very simple, but tasty.  The pan meals are also nice because they can cook from frozen if needed.  This would also be a great meal to have a husband or older kiddo throw in the oven with great ease.  We are looking forward to finishing up our January meals this next week or so and finally getting to try out the February meals.

Dream Dinners: Crunchy Oven Fried Chicken Tenders with Sweet Potato Puffs

After a weekend of eating out, its good to get back on track Mondays with Dream Dinners meals.  I’m still working my way through my January meals.  This month and February, I’ve finally started having some duplicate meals, which means less blogging, but more familiarity with the meals.  The last time I made the sweet potato puffs, I felt like they weren’t crispy enough, so I opted to cook at a higher temperature.  I preheated the oven to 425 and prepared a pan for the puffs and a separate pan for the tenders.  I also sprayed the tops of the puffs with cooking spray to try to help crisp them up a bit.  To make the tenders, I started by slicing the chicken breasts in thirds.  Next, I put the tenders into the crumb mixture bag and shook them up, coating them with the crumbs.  I placed tenders on the baking sheet and sprinkled them with some of the leftover crumbs.  I cooked the tenders and puffs for 20 minutes.  I plated them, grabbed some ranch, bbq sauce, and some fresh strawberries and dinner was served.  The chicken tenders were good-I really liked the crumb mixture and they tasted great with ranch or bbq sauce.  The puffs were better than the last time we had them, but still not as great as traditional tater tots.  They probably could have cooked even longer to get extra crispy.  I would definitely order the chicken tenders again and I plan on enjoying the leftovers for lunch.  However, I wouldn’t go out of my way for the puffs.  They definitely need different cooking instructions to get the crisp that I prefer.

Dream Dinners: Meatball Marinara Stuffed French Bread

If you were to ask me my favorite food, I’d have 2 answers, one sweet and the other savory.  My two favorite foods are ice cream and sandwiches.  Each month, when I make my Dream Dinners selections, there is always 1-2 meals that I haven’t tried yet that I am really excited about.  This month that meal was the Meatball Marinara Stuffed French Bread.  Last night, I made the sandwich and it lived up to my high expectations.  Upon assembly day, I realized that it did take a bit longer to make in store.  But as I spread the cream cheese mixture, meatballs, marinara, and cheese on the bread, I knew that I should be looking forward to a delicious meal.  It was super easy to make at home.  I preheated the oven to 350 and put my foil wrapped sandwich on a baking sheet.  I cooked it for 35 minutes and opened the foil to let it brown a bit for 10 minutes.  We pulled out stuff to make a side salad and dinner was ready.   Our meal was so yummy!  The bread was perfectly browned and crusty with the well seasoned marinara sauce and meatballs.  The cream cheese and mozzarella rounded out the flavors.  We had to show some restraint and save the 3rd portion for leftovers for lunch today and Mike won the rights to those.  We loved this meal and can’t wait for it to show up on the menu for another month.

Instant Pot: Tuscan Chicken Stew

Last night, I used my Instant Pot for the second time.  This recipe promised to only take about 40 minutes and I knew what I was doing, so I had high hopes for the meal.  Also, making a a stew in 40 minutes sounded like a great goal.  Unfortunately, the time it takes to chop was not included in that time.  First, I gathered all my ingredients and then cut the onion, celery, carrots, and potatoes.  I prepared the garlic and beans.  I preheated the Instant Pot by selecting Sauté.  I added the oil, onions, carrots, and celery, cooking for about 5 minutes.  Next, I added the garlic and cooked it for about 1 more minute.  I added in the potatoes, crushed tomatoes, beans, chicken broth, chicken legs, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.  I mixed these together and set my cooker to cook on the high pressure setting.  It takes a little bit of time for the cooker to get started.  I set it to cook for about 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, I allowed it to naturally release steam for about 10-15 minutes, then I did the quick release method.  I removed the chicken legs from the stew and pulled the meat from the bones.  Finally, I added the chicken meat, parsley, and balsamic vinegar back into the pot.  I gave it a quick stir and dinner was ready to go.  Everything was perfectly cooked and was a great consistency.  However, I felt like it was a little bit bland.  If I were to make this again, I would consider adding more spice and I plan on adding more spices to the leftovers as well.  This recipe turned out great, but could use some alterations to be a perfect meal for us. 

The Fresh Prince of Cedar Park

After a few days of indulgent eating and drinking, I decided we needed to go for a healthier option on Saturday evening for dinner.  Someone posted that there was a new fast healthy eatery by the Grove, Freshii, so we thought we’d give it a try.   The concept was fresh, fast, and healthy with the idea of making healthy food convenient and affordable.  We went in and were the only customers, despite a full parking lot, which were likely headed to the Grove.  The staff was super friendly and eager to help us, giving recommendations along the way.  We were advised that salads and wraps were a little bit lighter, while bowls and burritos were heavier.  It took me a while to decide and I finally selected a buffalo chicken wrap.  Mike had prescreened the menu and knew immediately that he wanted to try the Buddha Satay Bowl with Chicken.  Unfortunately, their frozen yogurt machine was broken, so I was unable to try a smoothie this time.  

Buffalo Chicken Wrap

It took the team a little bit to make our food, but it was worth the wait.  My wrap was full of flavors with chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, buffalo sauce, blue cheese, ranch Greek yogurt, and carrots.  It was tasty and yet healthy.  It was also the perfect portion for me.  Mike’s bowl had a lot of great ingredients, including: chicken, noodles, broccoli, carrots, onions, and a peanut sauce.  His dish needed a bit more flavor, so he kicked it up a notch with sriracha.  We both agreed that my dinner was a little bit tastier than Mike’s.  I had a better meal and a better outlook of Freshii.  Mike felt like it tasted like healthy food.  I have a feeling that we will return, but I am not sure that it will be a place that we frequent too often.  

Buddha Satay Bowl with Chicken

Dream Dinners: Lucky Dragon Pork Tenderloin

Last night was another delicious Dream Dinners night.  We made Lucky Dragon Pork Tenderloin.  I have been very impressed by all the pork dishes and this was no different.    I got started by preheating the oven and preparing a dish.  I removed the pork from the marinade and placed it in the baking dish.  I put half of the Lucky Dragon sauce on the pork tenderloin and baked it for 15 minutes.  I flipped the tenderloin in the dish, covered it with the remainder of the sauce, and baked it for 20 minutes.  While the pork was cooking, I made rice and broccoli. We let the pork rest for a few minutes before slicing it.  We plated the pork with the rice and broccoli and dinner was ready.  Once again, the food was tasty.  The pork was cooked to perfection and was quite flavorful.  I loved the sweet and garlicky flavor of the sauce on the pork.  I was a bit sad that there was a misunderstanding and I threw out the honey garlic green beans.  I am sure they were delightful, too, and I hope to try them at some point.  I was definitely glad that I had a meal defrosted and ready to cook after a long day of work and running around.  I can’t wait to try the rest of my January meals. 

Dream Dinners: Maple Bourbon BBQ Chicken with Bacon

This week, I finally started cooking my January meals.  I have several meals this month that I’ve tried and loved before, which is a nice change.  The meal I made this Monday was the Maple Bourbon BBQ Chicken with Bacon.  I was really excited about that because the flavors sounded great and I almost always love chicken.  I decided to pair my chicken with rice, so I started on that before working on the chicken.  I also cut up some strawberries and added a salad.  To make the chicken, I started by cooking the bacon in a skillet about 2-3 minutes until crisp.  I set the bacon aside and heated up some olive oil.  I added the chicken and browned it for 3 minutes on each side.  I lowered the heat on the skillet, added the sauce, and simmered the covered skillet for about 10 minutes.  When the chicken was done, I served it on a bed of rice with plenty of sauce and topped with bacon.  This meal was so tasty.  The chicken was tender and had so much flavor.  The sauce was a perfect blend of smoky and sweet.  You can’t go wrong with bacon, so this dish was a winner on many levels.    January meals got to a great start and I can’t wait to try the rest of the meals. 

Instapot: Sunday Pot Roast

Like many people, I received an Instapot for Christmas.  I was excited to get this new device, but a little unsure of how to use it.  Fortunately, I also was gifted The Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook by Laurel Randolph, which has a ton of delightful sounding recipes developed for my new toy.  We headed to the grocery Saturday night to buy all the ingredients we needed to make Sunday Pot Roast on Sunday.  We were having a lazy Sunday, so I got started on this endeavor later than I should have, as the recipe said it would take about 2 hours to cook.  I started by reading the directions of the device, washing it and doing a test run with water.   

As with any new toy or kitchen experience, Lola was definitely interested in the various noises that the Instapot made.  I started by sautéing the seasoned roast in the instant pot for 4 minutes on each side.  I liked that all the cooking was done in one pot, saving Mike some time when it came to dishes.  After I cooked the meat, I sautéed the onions.  I added in garlic, thyme, a bay leaf, and beef broth, deglazing the pot.  I put the roast back in and cooked it for 1 hour at high pressure.  During that hour, Mike chopped up potatoes, carrots, and parsnips to add to the pot.  After the roast cooked, we did a quick release and added in the vegetables.  The vegetables cooked at high heat for 10 minutes.   

We did a 10 minute natural release of steam followed by a quick release while we heated up some bread in the oven.  Finally, dinner was ready.  It was amazing!  The meat was so tender and had so much flavor.  It tasted like it had cooked for hours.  The vegetables were fork tender and had picked up the flavors in just a few minutes.  This meal took a bit longer than some of the other recipes seem to take, but it was definitely worth the wait.  It made plenty of leftovers and now I feel more confident in my abilities to work with this new device.  I look forward to trying it again soon and testing out some of the various functions. 

Black Sugar, How Come You Taste So Good?

On Saturday, we ate a late lunch after I got done at work.  We were over on Cypress Creek and drove by Black Sugar Caffe.  It sounded like a great place to stop by for coffee, so we gave it a shot.  In additon to a variety of coffee drinks, they had a lunch menu and many pastries.  We were so full from lunch, so we just ordered coffee.  Mike picked an iced mocha and I got the iced Sea Salt Caramel Cream coffee.   Both of our drinks were super tasty and it was a really cute little coffee shop.  There will definitely be a return trip in the future where we can enjoy more of the menu.

Dream Dinners: Rio Grande Chicken Fajitas

Now that we are more than midway through January, I finally finished cooking the last of my December meals.  I’ll have about 1-2 weeks to get my freezer ready for the influx of February meals soon.  I look forward to being able to share how much I love the January meals with everyone.  Last night we were headed out to hang out with some friends at Whitestone, but first we needed to eat some dinner.  We had a long day and were glad that we had a meal we could make quickly.  I decided to make some rice to go with our fajitas so I got that started first.  Once the rice was cooking, I heated up a skillet over medium high heat and added the chicken and marinade when it was hot.  I sautéed the chicken for 5 minutes and set it aside.  Next, I added the vegetables to the pan and cooked them for 5 minutes until the liquid reduced.  I added the chicken to the vegetables and cooked for another 2 minutes.  Meanwhile, I heated up the tortillas in the microwave for a fast and oven free fix.  We served the fajitas in the tortillas with rice and sour cream.  I loved the flavors of this meal.  The fajitas had a bit of a sweet taste to them which was a little different.  The rice helped stretch the meat a little further, which was nice because we love fajitas.  We were able cook, eat dinner, and clean up quickly to go meet our friends.  We loved this meal and can’t wait to get started on our next set of meals on Monday.

Dream Dinners: Italian Pomodoro Beef Sliders and Rosemary Garlic Potato Wedges

After heading to the doctor yesterday, Mike and I were so tired.  Thankfully, I had pulled out a Dream Dinners meal to defrost, so I didn’t have to worry about making something from scratch or leaving the house to pick up something.  I started with the potato wedges.  I preheated the oven to 400 degrees and prepared my pan.  I put the wedges in a single layer and sprayed the tops.  I put them in the oven for 20 minutes.  Once I got the wedges in the oven, I started working on the sliders.  I heated up a skillet to medium high heat while I mixed together the beef and seasoning mix.  I separated the beef mixture into six small patties and cooked them for 5 minutes on each side.  I put the patties on the bottom of my slider rolls, added some pomodoro sauce, added a slice of fresh mozzarella, put the tops on and stuck them under the broiler for 2 minutes.  We each grabbed a slider, some potato wedges, and a bit of salad, and dinner was served.  The sliders were really tasty, but I slightly over cooked the buns.  The flavors were great, but I have a few suggestions for making everything just a little bit better. The sauce was both runny and chunky so maybe a slightly different consistency would have worked better and I also need to really watch rolls under the broiler.  The wedges had great flavor, but I would probably cook them at a higher temperature and or for a longer period of time.  Overall, this was a great meal and I look forward to the leftovers.

Dream Dinners: Asian Pork Satay with Jasmine Rice

Mike and I seem to have some sort of nasty upper respiratory infection that we’ve been fighting a bit.  Normally, this would leave me very uninspired when it comes to cooking.  Fortunately, with Dream Dinners, I don’t really have to think about it.  I just defrost my meal and cook it.  The biggest thing I need to remember is to defrost the meals!  Last night, I made the Asian Pork Satay with Jasmine Rice and added a side of broccoli from the freezer.  First, I added water to my bag of skewers and let them soak for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, I added rice and water to a pot, brining it to a boil, and cooking the rice for 20 minutes.  Next, I removed the pork from the marinade and cut each pork chop into 3 strips.  I thread each strip on a skewer, placing them on a prepared pan.  I cooked the pork under the broiler for 4 minutes on each side.  While the pork was cooking, I put the marinade in a sauce pan, bringing it to boil and allowing it to simmer.  After the pork and rice finished cooking, we were ready to go.  I plated the rice, topped with the pork skewers, drizzled sauce over the top, added a side of broccoli, and dinner was served.  I really liked this meal, especially the sauce, which had delicious flavor.  Mike was not as impressed, but still liked it okay.  I thought that the skewers might be a pain to make, but they turned out just fine.  Once again, Dream Dinners came to my rescue and I’m glad I have a freezer full of meals to make my life easier. 

Dream Dinners: Central Park Garlic Chicken

The  weather has been extra wacky lately in Austin, which continued today with a high of 63 leading to an ice storm tomorrow.  It’s nice to have meals that work no matter the weather.  Last night’s meal was a perfect example of that.  I made the Central Park Garlic Chicken with a side of pasta and salad.  It was a very simple meal and the thing that took the longest was boiling the water for the pasta.  Once the pasta was cooking, I got to work on the chicken.  I toasted the parmesan mixture in a skillet for about 2-3 minutes and then set it aside.  Next, I cooked the chicken breasts over medium heat for 6 minutes on each side.  I plated the chicken with pasta and sprinkled it with the parmesan mix.  I liked that it was such a simple meal.  However, it may have been a little too simple.  The chicken was tender and cooked to perfection, but wasn’t as flavorful as many of the other Dream Dinners meals.  I think that I will probably cut up the leftover chicken for a salad.  This meal was good, but definitely not my favorite Dream Dinners meal.

Dream Dinners: Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwich on French Rolls

Due to the holidays, poor planning, and a little bit of illness, I am still playing catch up with my December meals.  However, I should finish them up this week and finally get to start on my January meals.  One such December meal was the pulled pork sandwich.  Mike and I really love the Dream Dinners pulled pork, so I knew this would be a great meal.  I started by preheating the oven for tater tots, which I served as a side.  Once the tots were midway through the cooking process, I started working on the pork.  I cooked the pork in a skillet for about 12 minutes on medium heat.  Towards the end of the cook time, I put the rolls in the oven to toast a bit.  We scooped 1/2 cup of the pork on each roll, plated with tots, and dinner was ready.  This was another tasty meal that cooked super fast.  Once again, the pork was delicious and the mustard in the sauce gave it a really great flavor.  It’s always nice to have meals that can be made in under 30 minutes and this meal fit that category well.  I look forward to eating the rest of my December meals and finally getting started on January meals this week! 

Dream Dinners: Pesto Chicken Gnocchi

Tuesday was another busy day for Lola and me.  We started off the day with a visit to a new vet.  He and his staff passed my various tests, so it was a success.  After the vet, I had more cleaning to do at home and Mike and Lola were both feeling a little poorly.  Not only was I able to clean the kitchen, but I cleaned out the pantry and fridge as well.  By the time dinner rolled around, I was tired.  I could have easily eaten ice cream for dinner, but not everyone thinks that’s a good idea.  Thankfully, I had a super easy dish from Dream Dinners to pop in the oven.  I preheated the oven to 375, put my pan on a baking sheet, covered with foil, and baked for 30 minutes.  I took the foil off and put it back in for another 10 minutes to let the cheese get to its melty perfection.  I got out plates and salad ingredients and dinner was served.  I loved the flavors of this meal.  Anything with chicken, cheese and pesto is a winner in my book.  This meal was perfect for a busy day and I love that it can cook from frozen if you forget to defrost ahead of time.  I also love that I’m getting to try so many great meals and know which ones to make double in the future. 

Dream Dinners: Cashew Chicken with Noodles

Yesterday was another busy day.  I am trying to get the house back into order after the holidays and illness and I had a few errands to run.  Mike is now feeling a little under the weather, so Lola has needed lots of “mom” attention.  Fortunately, I had a few Dream Dinners meals defrosting in the fridge to make my life a little bit easier.  Last night, I made Cashew Chicken with Noodles and a side of carrots inspired by the Dream Dinners Sweet Gingered Carrots.  I brought water to boil in a large pot on the stove and boiled my noodles for 7 minutes, draining when finished.  In a skillet, I browned my chicken pieces for 7 minutes.  Next, I added in the cashews and cooked them for about 3 minutes.  Finally, I added in the sauce and let it simmer for 2 minutes.  While the sauce was simmering, I made my carrots.  I took some baby carrots and added butter, honey, and ground ginger.  I popped them in the microwave for a few minutes.  After the sauce had cooked, I stirred in the noodles to coat.  We plated the food and were ready to serve.  I went to college in Springfield, Missouri, which claimed  to invent Cashew chicken.  I may have had pretty high expectations for this meal.  We liked the meal, but felt like it needed a little more sauce.  The noodle to sauce ratio was a little off for my taste.  The flavors were great and we enjoyed it.  We simply wished there were more sauce.  The carrots also turned out pretty great and complimented the meal nicely.  I’m glad I got to try another delicious meal that made my life a little bit easier.   

Dream Dinners: Slow Cooked Lasagna Soup with Parmesan Mini Breadsticks

Friday was another busy day for us.  We were working hard to get back into the swing of things after we lost our regularl schedule to the holiday crazies.  I was having a productive day-Mike went to the office, Lola went to play, I made my January Dream Dinners meals, went to the grocery store, and did some work around the house.  Normally, that would leave me little time for cooking.  Fortunately, I had defrosted the perfect Dream Dinners meal.  I was excited to try the Lasagna Soup, even though Mike thought it sounded weird. I really loved that it gave me slow cooker directions, so I didn’t have to guess on my own.  I pulled out my trusty slow cooker and added the chicken and sausage mix, the tomato sauce mix, and 2 1/2 cups of water.  I stirred those ingredients and let it cook on low.  In the meantime, I did more work around the house, picked up Lola and took her on a walk.  Mike was out with friends, so I decided to finish up dinner for myself.  I preheated the oven to 400 and prepped my baking sheet.  I brushed the breadsticks with the parmesan oil and sprinkled them with parmesan cheese.  Next, I broke up the lasagna noodles and boiled them about 7 minutes.  While the noodles were cooking, I cooked the breadsticks.  I drained the noodles and stirred them into the soup.  I pulled the breadsticks out of the oven, made a quick salad, sprinkled my soup with the cheese mixture and dinner was served.  This soup was as tasty as I wanted it to be.  I lved the combination of flavors-it really tasted like lasagna in bowl!  The breadstick was amazing as well and I must admit, I could give or take most bread.  Adding a salad rounded out the meal and I did not have to worry about being hungry later.  After I finished dinner, I went to pick up Mike and felt bad he missed out on dinner.  He tried the soup when we got home and he raved about how great it was despite his preconceived ideas.  I also enjoyed this soup yesterday for lunch and there is still another serving!  I probably could have stretched it even further with more water or chicken broth.  Dream Dinners helped me out again to have an easy, yet delicious meal on a busy day.

Dream Dinners: Southwest Chicken with Ancho Hummus and Pita

Today was our first official day back to our “regular” non holiday schedule.  Mike and I both needed to go to work and Lola stayed home to hold down the fort.  I had a few errands and chores to get done, a walk for Lola while it was warmer and sunny, and then fighting traffic to pickup Mike.  After all this, the temptation to grab a meal out was strong.  Thankfully, I planned ahead and had a Dream Dinners meal defrosted in the fridge.  When we got home, Mike and Lola played while I made dinner quickly.  Tonight’s meal was the Southwest Chicken with Ancho Hummus and Pita, which I paired with some steamed broccoli.  I started by preheating the oven to 350 degrees.  I wrapped the pitas in foil and let them warm up in the oven.  Meanwhile, I dried off the chicken and coated it with the rub.  Next, I cooked the chicken about 7 minutes per side in a skillet over medium high heat.  After everything had cooked, I cut the pitas into wedges pairing them with hummus, chicken, and broccoli.  Dinner was served in about 25 minutes of prep time.  Our meal was simple, but very tasty.  The rub gave the chicken a nice zing along with the little kick of ancho in the hummus.  We gave this meal 5 stars and would be happy to eat this again in the future.