Feb 26

Arrival Review

We rented the movie Arrival the other night. I was super excited to watch it.  It looked exciting – kind of reminiscent of the movie Contact with Jodie Foster years ago.  At least that was the impression from the previews I had gotten.  I usually really like these type of movies and couldn’t wait.  The movie started out great!  It moved on though to become confusing as it swapped back and forth between what appeared to be scenes from the main characters past and the present. The time frame of the movie was all taking place in one location, that didn’t involve many scene changes – so I wondered if the flashes were to add some additional scenery.  The movie though ended up having a very surprising twist which to me made all the hopping around all the more confusing in the end.

In the end I was disappointed in the movie and wouldn’t recommend anyone pay to see it.  It’s definitely one I would wait for on Netflix!

Feb 25

Mushroom covered Chicken

Our first meal from Terra’s Kitchen was a mushroom covered chicken.  To me it was a little bland.  The first part was to cook up the chicken which was simply seasoned with salt and pepper.   I cooked it up and then made the mistake of leaving a little too much chicken ‘juice’ in the pan.  I was then to fry scallions in the pan.  My scallions came out mushy though – because of the ‘juice’.  That didn’t make a huge difference, but I think it was a little bit of a snafu.

I then cooked up the mushrooms and other items that were to cover the chicken.  It was mostly mushrooms and didn’t have a lot of other things in with it.  After cooking it up until it was softened, I added the chicken back and the meal was done.  My husband isn’t big on mushrooms, so it didn’t go over hugely well.  I usually do like them though.  I was expecting a little more flavor though…. but didn’t get it.  So this was definitely not a meal I would recommend.  I could see making it with a few changes to the recipe…. but not the way it is.

 

 

Feb 22

Terra’s Kitchen – Gonna Give it a Try

Our Terra’s Kitchen box showed up last Saturday. The tag said to pull off the label and put the box back on the porch for the next business day. We put it right back out after unloading and it was gone on Monday. I loved the container! It was a large, sturdy container with hard plastic freezer packs. The freezer packs were still partly frozen and were randomly  placed around inside the box.  Each item was in an individually wrapped container and labeled.  (The only thing we did notice wrong was while making one item there was one ingredient – the cabbage and carrots shredded that had the wrong amount in the container)

I had ordered the snack of edamame, so I opened them first.  I don’t think I had tried them before – though I had soybeans growing up – direct from the field.  These were listed as just soybeans, but they looked different from the ones I remember growing up.  – Though we never tried them green, before they were ready to harvest.

I did like them!  What I found was that they cause me to itch, so those are going on the to never order again list.  I can recommend them as a snack though.  A friend suggested some different ways to eat them. – I’m probably passing them on to her.  I had included four meals besides the snack and we’ve made them all now… more on those later!  So far though the packaging is good!

It  

Feb 18

Blue Apron Potatos and More!

We’ve decided to give Blue Apron a rest and try something new.  This was one of our last meals with Blue Apron….  It included a meat also…. but the potato’s and green salsa type stuff came out well.  The steak that was with had a little bit too much fat on it…. we did eat it, but it wasn’t the best cut of meat.  All in all with Blue Apron we found that most of the meals used a lot of things like Vinegar.  Many used Kale or some green like it as the vegetable.  We never seemed to have an option for an Italian meal or a regular casserole, the most popular choices were Mexican or Asian. The meals were about $17 per meal with no other option and arrived in a box with ice on the chosen day.   Each meal’s ingredients showed up with whole ingredients that then need sliced, diced, minced or whatever.

This meal included potatoes to be diced up with a little oil and baked in the oven.  I’ve been using a mister to put the oil on the potatoes.  They come out a lot better pouring the oil over them.

We’ve decided though to move on and try another service next though.  We tried Blue Apron for about 8 months – that included the summer and stretching the meals over three people while my middle son was here.  After trying for so long though we have seen a pattern in the meals.

We are moving on to Terra’s Kitchen.  It will be arriving on Saturday.  The container in the picture looks completely different and the description says that the ingredients come pre-prepped, cutting down on a large part of the time needed to cook the meal. I’m also excited about the container that it shows is recycled by being picked back up for reuse.  I can’t wait to give it a try!

 

 

Feb 09

Mint Swirl Shake: What was in that?

I was childless driving home the other day and decided instead of McDonald’s I could stop and get something I really enjoy.  I would have loved to get stop and get Chinese or some of rare treat – but I decided Arby’s would be a great choice.  I decided to get one of the new Mint Shakes!  It was great, but I couldn’t finish the whole thing and left the rest in my car.  We’ve had 50 to 60 degree weather every day since, definitely above freezing!  and I found it looking like it still has ice cream and whipped topping in the cup?  Finding this I had to question what I drank?  I’m thinking I won’t be drinking a mint shake from Arby’s anymore.

Looking at the ingredients listed for the whipped topping: Whipped Topping: Grade A Cream, Sucrose, Corn Syrup, Nonfat Milk Solids, Monoglycerides, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Salt, Nitrous Oxide Gas.  CONTAINS: MILK.  I’m not completely sure which things are still solid, but there is definitely a lot it could be and a lot I didn’t expect. 

The ingredients for the Mint Chocolate Swirl Shake: Vanilla Shake Mix (whole milk, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, nonfat milk, grade A sweet whey, cream, natural & artificial vanilla flavor, mono and diglycerides, cellulose gum, guar gum, carrageenan, dipotassium phosphate, sodium citrate, sodium chloride, sodium carbonate, annatto, caramel color), Mint Chocolate Syrup (high fructose corn syrup, water, corn syrup, natural and artificial flavors, citric acid, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate [preservatives], polysorbate 80, vanilla extract, yellow 5, blue 1), Andes® Mints (sugar, partially hydrogentated vegetable oils [palm kernel & palm], cocoa [processed with alkali], nonfat milk, lactose, milk protein concentrate, soy lecithin [emulsifier], natural and artificial flavors, peppermint oil, yellow 5, blue 1), Chocolate Swirl (sugar, water, sweetened condensed skim milk [skim milk, sugar], palm oil, high fructose corn syrup, nonfat dry milk, cocoa [processed with alkali], corn syrup, natural and artificial flavor, salt, disodium phosphate, artificial flavor [vanillin], potassium sorbate [preservative]), Whipped Topping (grade A cream, sucrose, corn syrup, nonfat milk solids, monoglycerides, natural & artificial flavors, salt, nitrous oxide gas). CONTAINS: MILK, SOY.

What a lot of things that I don’t recognize and a lot of things I would never think to put in a shake!  I’m also amazed that they all have high fructose corn syrup…. I’m guessing they are using that in place of sugar?  But seriously I don’t recognize most of the rest of that…. So I guess this was my last mint swirl shake! 

Note: ingredients taken from Arby’s website http://cds.arbys.com/pdfs/nutrition/USMenuItems_Ingrdnts.pdf  –  shake purchased from Arby’s at Henderson KY and photo taken one week after purchase and shake was left in car in 50 to 60 weather.