I'm learning!

Not sure what I did but I somehow figured out how to add photos and a link to my Etsy shop!  Did this with 2 kids running around me and screaming!

Anyway, here's something helpful:  Dream Dinner meal critique.  But here's a little background.  I've been a Dream Dinner customer for almost a year now and for the most part, the food is pretty good.  But lately, some of the dishes are just PLAIN awful.  I went to cooking school and actually worked with food afterwards so I do know what I'm talking about here (Ok, maybe you're asking if I studied as a chef, what the heck are you doing fixing Dream Dinner meals?  There are two answers:  1) a 7 year old 2) a 4 year old).

Here are some meals you DON'T want to include on your next Dream Dinner order:

THE BAD

Mediterranean Walnut Chicken - something went absolutely wrong with this meal.  It came with a bag of sauce that I put together along with some green onions and mushrooms but I believe the majority of the sauce was water.  Hmmmmm.  After cooking the chicken and adding the sauce, you're supposed to slather this sourcream on it.  Scream!!  Now it looked like throw up!  But we were brave and willing to taste.  What a huge disappointment!  It was so bland!  I couldn't even taste the few mushrooms in there and the green stuff was green onions and those didn't add any taste either.  Steer clear of this one - it's a waste of your money for this dish!

Chicken Parmesan & Garlic Bread - this one went completely opposite of the above dish.  There was way too much dried herbs and way too much bread crumbs.  So much so that the breading never really cooked and ended up steaming the chicken underneath it.  Eeeuw!  My kids loved the huge layer of cheese on top though and they didn't seem to mind the soggy breadcrumbs but the adults were left scraping anything green off the the chicken.  We ordered a large serving so there were several chicken breasts left in the tray.  I ended up scraping off the cheese, herbs, bread crumbs and tomato sauce off the chicken and slicing them up and sauteing them in a pan with some red pesto and a little splash of balsamic vinegar to make them palatable.  Don't order this one -  you'll be very disappointed!  However, have to say that the garlic bread was pretty good.

THE GOOD

Creamy Risotto & Chicken -  One pot meal!  Everyone loved this one, yes even the little ones.  Though my daughter said that the only vegetable she won't eat are "perl onun" (pearl onion) that she had on a Dream Dinner meal.  When you fix this at Dream Dinners, you can "customize" this according to taste.  Both the "filling" and cheese sauce have generous amounts of Alfredo Sauce so what is not to like?  I was told that the Alfredo Sauce is low fat but don't believe everything you're told.  I've tried low-fat Alfredo sauce and they are absolutely tasteless.  Anyway, a medium serving can feed 6 so if you order a large, you'll be eating it for days.  This meal has mushrooms, bacon, pearl onions, cheese, chicken chunks, peas, rice and that wonderful Alfredo Sauce.  It cooks up quickly and no stirring involved like traditional risottos.

Canadian Bacon Stuffed French Bread - order many of these!  These are great to have in your freezer as a quick lunch option or a lazy dinner option.  The combination of cream cheese, poppy seeds and dried onion flakes give the sandwich great flavor (it also helps that it has layers of swiss cheese, Canadian Bacon and sausage crumbles).  I order the large loaf and have them cut it in half at the shop before taking it home.  Why?  Unless you have a walk-in freezer, you're not going to be able to fit it in your at-home freezer.  This is obviously not low-fat!

Ok, that's it for now!  I hope to add craft-related things on here the next few days so please stay tuned.