J. Belinda Yandell's Blog - J. Belinda Yandell

What the heck is that, anyway? Are you sure I'm supposed to eat it?

7/7/2016

When I pulled this out of the box from Home Chef, I thought it was some kind of particularly ugly ginger, but turns out that it's something they called a "sunchoke." Googling it, I found they are more commonly known as Jerusalem artichokes. If a potato and a raw almond had a baby, it would probably taste like this. Supposedly they are very good for diabetics because of something about fructose. They are also reported to be very gas producing, which is such a relief because I haven't been farting nearly enough lately. I won't be able to confirm this until later, but I can already attest that these babies are a pain in the butt to clean and dice.

But here you see the finished meal: Pecan and brown sugar crusted pork medallions with carrots and Jerusalem artichokes, roasted with sun dried tomatoes and red pepper flakes.

I still can't make my plates look as spectacular as the recipe cards, but then again, I'm not a professional photographer using glue and varnish to stage the perfect plate. I did, however, cook a pretty damn fine plate of pork tenderloin medallions. I take that as a big step forward in my culinary development, because I've never cooked any kind of pork tenderloin, in any way, form or fashion, before. Following the times in the recipe precisely, they were perfectly done.

Verdict: the Jerusalem artichokes and carrots were okay for something different, but probably not something I'll try again. Combining the sun dried tomatoes with roasted veg, though, is a definite keeper for my own repertoire.

The pork however... man, oh, man that was delicious! The sauce made from the pan drippings with the brown sugar/egg mixture from the top of the medallions, with a 1/4 cup or so of sherry and then a veal demi-glace -- made my eyes roll back in my head. I must have made a little moan of some kind because Doolittle, my cat, looked at me funny.

I licked the plate, seriously. I've been told that I can buy that demi all by itself either online or at Whole Paycheck… I mean, Whole Foods. But if you've read my writing for a while you know what I think about Whole Foods. Any store with a $7 loaf of whole wheat bread scares the crap out of me.

P.S. Reports of the flatulency potential for the Jerusalem artichokes were not exaggerated. At the risk of sharing too much information, I will just say that, at one point, Doolittle left the room.

It may be fresh, but is it edible?

7/6/2016

May 17, 2016. I tried one week of Freshly, a service that sends -- supposedly -- high quality, healthy gourmet meals already prepared, all you do is heat them up!

What is it they say? If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is? Well, Freshly gets less appealing with every meal... It tastes okay enough to swallow but it is not particularly enjoyable. Sigh. I had such high hopes for never cooking again. And I have four more of these to eat.

The entree is supposed to be roasted turkey, but I swear it had a weird texture, like some faux fowl. And the side veg? I don't even know what the hell that is. I think it was supposed to be kale and squash and… something.

I mean, look at this. Would you want to eat it? I gave up, and stopped at Sonic on the way home. I needed a chili dog, onion rings and an lavender milkshake to get the taste of this mush out of my mouth.

Quiche me, you fool!

7/6/2016

May 1, 2016. Today's luncheon (and tomorrow's) from Blue Apron: zucchini and spinach quiche. I think the crust got a little over done. I need a decent oven.

I think I may have goofed up the recipe. They sent a big cluster of garlic, and I was enthusiastically dicing it all up, tossing it into the pot, and then I glanced at the recipe card again and realized: OMG I WAS ONLY SUPPOSED TO USE TWO CLOVES, NOT THE WHOLE DAMNED THING!

I tried to get most of it out, but in the end, it was just too garlicky. Not bad, but probably not as good as it should have been.

Still one of the prettiest things I've ever cooked!

Pan-seared Chicken Breasts with Purple Potato & Kale

7/6/2016

April 29, 2016. My first meal from Blue Apron, one of those new food services that sends you a certain number of meals in a big box. They send you everything except salt, pepper and olive oil. I mean, they even sent me a tablespoon of butter! It's cute how everything comes in little packages.

I really like the lack of waste. I had kale in this but I didn't have to buy a huge bundle of it, just to have most of it rot in the fridge before I got around to eating it. I didn't have to buy a whole jar of Dijon mustard grain just to get two tablespoons for this recipe. It's hard cooking for one person, even with the occasional dinner guest.

This serving had about 700 calories. True, skin was on the chicken -- but my serving was kept to one chicken breast. And you only make enough for two meals at a time, so overeating would be limited if you actually had two people eating together. Me, I suppose I could have eaten both servings, but one made me really full.

One tablespoon of butter in whole thing, 4 teaspoons of olive oil. Everything was fresh, not frozen, not processed. And that's a huge difference for me, because I so often fall back on quick convenience foods.

The "intro special" for Blue Apron cost $30, for six individual meals. $5 a meal isn't bad at all, not when it's fresh and mostly healthy -- certainly healthier than I normally eat. The normal price is $50 for the package; that's a little over $8 a meal, which wouldn't be too bad if i could do it maybe once a month, instead of this every week deal.

While cooking, though, I had my doubts. How do you know when a purple potato is done, anyway? The veggie medley was certainly not a combination of things I'd ever tried: purple potatoes, onion, kale, one Granny Smith apple, almond slivers and Dijon mustard grain. It doesn't look good here, but it was surprisingly tasty. And it was an adventure, because I would never have come up with this on my own. (I could have done without the apple in it; for me, it was just one flavor too many.)

I'm not sure how the leftovers will reheat, though. This was really yummy because of the crispy seared skin. I'm so proud it came out well because I have this slight, uh, phobia about cooking chicken. I'm always afraid it's not done, and I'm sure it's due to a past brush with death brought on by bad chicken salad. Which actually came from a respectable restaurant in town, not something I'd cooked. But still, you only have to spend 24 hours puking your guts out and praying for death to be marked for life.

I just don't know if I can afford to stay with the program. This is probably very cost effective for people who are used to cooking. But I'm not. I'm cheap and lazy when I shop for groceries, and I fall into that trap that so many of us po' folk do, which is choosing cheap but filling crap instead of healthy. It's expensive to eat fresh and healthy. Corporate American wants us fat, depressed and dying.

Sigh. I hate money. Probably because I don't have it, but it just gets in the way of doing what you'd really like.

Grains of Paradise Crusted Steak

7/6/2016

April 30, 2016. Tonight's dinner from Blue Apron: Grains of Paradise Crusted Steak with mashed plantain, collard greens and ginger peanuts.

I was really impressed with the collards -- i may be cooking them like this again - though I'll end up with a huge mess of greens that I can't possibly eat. Anybody want to split a mess of collards with me? The ginger peanuts, well, I had my doubts, but they were really good! The steak was a little fatty -- excellent flavor, but I've not eaten any kind of steak except for filet mignon in over a year -- I just got tired of crappy cuts of meat, and would rather go for three months without steak at all, so that when I did splurge, I could go for something that I really liked.

The "sauce" of olive oil, lime juice and parsley was a waste, though. Really had no use for it.

Smothered Flat Iron Steak, Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans

7/6/2016

May 14, 2016. My first Home Chef meal. Onion and mushroom smothered flat iron steak with mashed sweet potatoes and salt crusted green beans. Tasty but nothing mind-blowing or different for me. We'll see about tomorrow's dinner.

Parisian Bistro Chicken with Dauphinoise Potatoes and Vichy Carrots.

7/6/2016

Home Chef, May 15, 2016. The potatoes are fab! The chicken came out a little dry but the sauce of Demi glacé with shallots and butter is really good. I'm talking, drinkable. The potatoes are cream, shallots and Parmesan. OMG.

Food Box Services and Culinary Exploration for the Domestically Challenged: A New Frontier

7/6/2016

If you have noticed my postings recently on Facebook, you are aware of my current love affair with the plethora of food box services. They ship you fresh ingredients for meal recipes, you cook it. (And then you clean it up. Sigh.)

You may have noticed, too, that I’m promiscuous, spreading my affections around. I started just checking out different programs to see how they worked, if i liked them, if I could afford them. And taking advantage of first order discounts. I like discounts. Discounts are good. Discounts are my friend and Free is my soul-mate.

On the first few boxes, the estimate for “time to prepare” was a big fat lie. The first meal took me almost two hours -- but that’s because I almost never cook, and I had crappy tools, and I was really slow. Probably took me half an hour to peel and dice an onion. All that endless veggie washing and peeling and chopping. The prep is what takes the time, not the cooking. The first two recipes made me a little nervous, because for the first time in my life I had to “zest” a lemon, and then a lime. (I had to buy a zesting tool, of course; I could have used my grater, I suppose, but I was worried about ruining the whole thing by not zesting correctly.)

In the beginning, I spent a lot of time staring at the recipe, almost afraid to start for fear of mucking it up. But it's been a lot easier than I thought it would be, and with practice, I've gotten faster. The most recent meal took about an hour from prep to plate, and was ridiculously easy.

I've been impressed with how clear the instructions have been, because this has always been a stumbling block for me: recipes that assume everybody knows what “zesting” or “blanching” is, or how to make “creme fraiche.” If I, as a charter member of the Society for the Domestically Challenged, can say a recipe was simple, you can believe it really is.

I'm also finding that having the right tools helps enormously. I did not actually own a decent knife or frying pan when I started. Now I do, and the difference is amazing. Of course, I spent $200 at a kitchen store in Opry Mills, but that’s beside the point. I was suddenly compelled to buy a bunch of little prep bowls. And a salad spinner. And special kitchen scissors. A $60 ceramic frying pan. Two new knives that will take my fingers off. And a Keurig coffee maker. Which had nothing to do with my cooking projects, but it was there, you know? I wanted it for my desk at work.

I will overlook the $10 bucks I spent on a really crappy slap chopper. I’ll go old school and chop by hand. It’s just that possibly of losing a fingertip that has me concerned.

The benefits to this experiment are even more numerous that I anticipated:

Fresh, not packaged and processed. I mean, now I am cooking meals without Campbell’s soup, canned sauces or box mixes full of sodium and additives! I’m eating less fast food. That’s healthier. I really need healthier.
Limited portions. I only cook two servings, so there’s no chance for overeating. Like, you know, eating the whole skillet of Hamburger Helper by myself. I suppose I could eat both servings, but so far haven’t felt the need. And just in case, I immediately make a plate of the leftovers for the next day and put it in the fridge.
Limited leftovers. Before, if I made a pan of lasagna, I had to eat lasagna all week. Unless I ate half of it in one sitting. (And don’t tell me to freeze portions. I hate the way it tastes once it’s been frozen.)
More balanced meals. I’m terrible about skipping the vegetables just because I don’t know how to cook them well, or don’t want to take the time. This makes me include vegetables and they tell me how to cook them some way other than just opening a can.
Less waste. I also skipped a lot of the veg because when you are buying for one person, you end up throwing out at least half of what the store forces you to buy. You have no idea how many carrots I have thrown out, how many moldy onions I have found in the back of the refrigerator. Hell, I have to fight to get Kroger to sell me just one steak. (Not two. Not ten. Just one. Why can they not grasp this concept? And no, I don’t want to freeze the others. See above.) These boxes send me exactly what I need, no more and no less.
An easy antidote to boredom. I would often say to myself, “Self, we should find a recipe for something different.” But then I’d go looking online, and get overwhelmed by all the choices, and not knowing if the recipe was actually any good, or being hesitant to try something too far outside my comfort zone. Usually I just gave up went to Sonic for a chili cheese Coney.
New recipes almost always call for some ingredient you don’t have, and will probably never use again. I still have a 90% of a bottle of Marsala wine I bought two years ago to get one cup for a recipe. And that recipe turned out to suck.
I hate grocery shopping. Now I shop a little less, without stalking the aisles for unfamiliar ingredients.
I’m cooking things I never tried to cook before, like chicken thighs and pork tenderloin. Now I know how to cook a cut of meat besides a chicken breast, steak and a pork chop. (Unless you count hot dogs.) Advice from the meat guys at the grocery store is annoyingly vague about cooking times and seasoning, and usually boils down to: “Just throw it on the grill! It’s easy!”
Spice girl. I’m learning about spices I never even heard of before. Smoked paprika. Amazing....
I’m getting past my terrible phobia about under-cooked chicken. If I follow the times in the recipe exactly, with a timer, my chicken comes out perfectly done and not dried out. IT’S A MIRACLE!
When I cook for Da Boyfriend or some other esteemed personage, they are really impressed.
I love to post pictures online of my finished, “plated” dinners.
I’m cooking for someone I love. Damn it, I deserve to sit down to a lovely meal, at a table with a table cloth and a glass of wine.

Yes, cleanup is not my favorite thing, but it’s not so bad if I don’t do it every night. I am running out of room for new kitchen doo-dads.

Because people have asked about my culinary adventures, here is a breakdown of the ones I’ve tried so far:
Overall: the delivery, instructions, food freshness and recipes have all been very good.

BLUE APRON

Instruction clarity: Excellent.
Menu: Used some unusual (for me) things like plantains, purple potatoes/apples/kale (together).
Special Features: They also have a wine program, and the recipe cards have suggestions. They also have a “market” to order pots, tools, utensils, and even the blue apron.
Allergy/dietary: vegetarian box available, but aside from that, watch recipe flags for nuts/gluten/dairy, etc. They do say: all meals come from the same facility, so they don’t recommend you use their program if you have “serious” food allergies.
Cost: $59.95 for three meals for two people. You can skip weeks.
Discounts: After so many deliveries, you get three free boxes to send to friends. I can’t find a mention of any other discounts for me.
Sample menus for my next shipment: Enchiladas Suiza, Cavatappi pasta, fried green tomato sandwiches
Downside: I don’t usually want to cook three meals a week, and their website is not the most user friendly.

HELLO FRESH

Instruction clarity: Had an issue with one meal, but otherwise good.
Menu: Some unusual combinations, such as a mango/red onion/lime slaw that was surprisingly good.
Special Features: some recipes from Jamie Oliver
Allergy/dietary: vegetarian box; flags for gluten, nuts, dairy
Cost: $69 for three meals for two people. You can skip weeks.
Discounts: Refer friends and you both get a discount; four free boxes to send (though I don’t know how many shipments you have to take before you can do that.)
Downside: I don’t usually want to cook three meals a week

HOME CHEF

Instruction clarity: Excellent.
Menu: Seems to be more "down-to-earth" recipes, not quite as exotic. Been especially impressed with the quality of the meats.
Special Features: They also offer breakfast and fruit options at lower cost ($4.95 per serving)
Allergy/dietary: No specific program but very detailed recipe notations for: vegetarian, vegan, gluten, nuts, dairy, soy, no-carb and low calorie.
Cost: $49 for two people for two meals. You can skip weeks.
Discounts: Send friends an invitation with a discount of $30, and if they sign up, you get a $30 discount as well. After a certain number of deliveries, you can send free boxes.
Pluses: I really like being able to do only two meals at a time.
Delivery issues: one box arrived leaking a little, one of the cold packs had busted, caused the foam packing to disintegrate on a corner. A little messy, but not a deal breaker.

MARLEY SPOON (MARTHA STEWART)

Instruction clarity: so far so good. (Only cooked one meal so far)
Menu: Looks good, seen some recipes I haven’t seen in the other programs, such as crepes, and the spicy pork pizza I cooked last night, which really surprised me with how good it was.
Special Features: it’s Martha.
Allergy/dietary: Extremely detailed on recipe cards – sulphur dioxide? I don’t even know what that is, let alone if I’m allergic to it. But they also have this caveat: “may contain traces of other allergens” which I suppose may mean the same as Blue Apron’s caution that all meals come from the same facility.
Cost: $48 for two people for two meals. You can skip weeks.
Discounts: after my third order I can send a free box. But they had a dirt cheap intro price of two meals for two people for $13. Can’t beat that with a stick.
Pluses: I can decide what day of the week I want my shipment to arrive.
Downside: looking at recipes, Martha leaves a little more for you to provide. Things like sugar and an egg, so far. (Home Chef literally sent me a liquid egg in bottle!)
Delivery issues: Most of these services send everything in a bag of some kind grouping the meals together. But this first box had two the two bags, but there was a single lonely garlic bulb loose in the box. None of the recipes called for garlic. So I suppose it was a gift? And I almost threw away a block of cheese, because it was loose with the meats inside the cold packs at the bottom. Just wasn’t expecting it to be there, because generally other cheeses have not been shipped that way. Lesson: double check your box before throwing it out.

FRESHLY
Absolutely AVOID. They do pre-prepared fresh food that you just microwave. I so wanted this to be good, because it sounded perfect for a single person who didn’t like to cook. But the food was barely edible, some downright nasty in taste and appearance. Really disappointing.

I will be following with postings of my dishes and critiques of their worthiness. Stay tuned.