Goodfood Recap #37

It sure feels like a while since the last Goodfood recap. We’re back to monthly instalments of these. To be fair, we only get the ones that we think we have time to cook and also the meals work to our liking. This week has two repeats and two new ones so it’ll be interesting to see. However, we took this box mostly because it was the week after some crazy work schedule and just needed time to not think about groceries and the like.

Let’s check it out!

Seared Steaks
with Lemon-Oregano Potatoes & Roasted Zucchini

A word of the wise to fellow cooks, at least for myself, I’ve learned that any meal with zucchini (or other leafy vegetables) should be the first to go in regardless of when the meat expires. I’ve experienced too many times of bad zucchinis due to my not getting to it quick enough. With that said, its why the random time that steaks got put forward. This meal is actually pretty good. The roasted zucchini is nice and I’d definitely try to do that again. The potatoes were a nice blend. We don’t like eating seared anything and like this cooked completely so the husband, who is almost always responsible for cooking meat, made sure to have it well done. That’s our personal preference, of course.

Chicken Yakitori
with Roasted Carrots, Chinese Broccoli & Miso Butter

The first repeat meal is Chicken Yakitori. I’m going to say right now that starting from this meal, the husband took care of most of 90% of the cooking and I only helped with small prep work and stuff due to work and whatnot. His first attempt at Chicken Yakitori and it still tastes fantastic. I love all the elements of this meal from the sauce to the chicken and the spices and the miso butter on the roasted veggies. I would redo this one on the grill any day in the summer. Works well because its one I’ll consider for the next Battle which is coming up in just a few weeks.

Fried Eggplant Sabich
with Mango Chopped Salad & Red Cabbage

Every box has a meal that we just add in to try out and this time its the eggplant sabich. The husband isn’t a big fan of eggplant to start and I’m not a big fan of this type of eggplant but I’m hoping to find an eggplant recipe which I can like and eat more of because eggplant is a healthy addition to our diet. This is supposed to be put into the pita as a pouch sort of meal but the pitas turned out to be too crispy so we just put everything on top of it. I think the meal still works because its like pita chips with hummus and then the freshness of the mango chopped salad meshes well with the flavorful fried eggplant slices. This was definitely a pleasant surprise.

Pork Chops
with Honey-Glazed Cipollini Onions & Shaved Asparagus Salad

Last meal of the box is also a repeat, one that I was a bit more than lukewarm towards and the reason why it made it in. Under the helm of the husband, I actually think it tastes better than the first time. It could be the potatoes are seasoned really well and finally not burnt as it usually turned out for me when I put it in the oven. The sauce is done really well and I liked it so much that I ended up making some toast to eat the rest up. It all goes well with the pork chops.

That’s it for this Goodfood recap!

Goodfood Recap #35

We took a little break from the normal cooking so managed to order in 2 boxes this month for Goodfood. We’re definitely enjoying it while it lasts because if I remember correctly, we will be skip for the next month or so. This box has been some really interesting meals and to be honest, I saw most of them as being fairly successful.

Mushroom Dan Dan Noodles
with Yu Choy

The last Dan Dan Noodles weren’t awesome. I’m going to be honest that they weren’t but this one tastes fantastic. The two types of mushrooms used and the yu choy as the veggie base with the noodles and the sauce all turned out so great. I really enjoyed this noodle bowl a lot.

Skillet-Roasted Chicken Thighs
with Meyer Lemon, Zucchini & Olives over Zesty Quinoa

We rarely cook with quinoa unless its for one of these boxes so its always refreshing to eat it. Its something that I have thought about incorporating more into our lives outside of these meal boxes. This meal was pretty good in general. Chicken thighs are always super tasty to eat but then my biggest issue with it was the olives and that is based on preference as I don’t like olives but my husband loved this because he loves them and loves everything else about it.

Coconut Chicken & Sweet Potato Stew
with Roasted Brussel Sprouts

So..this meal was considered somewhat of a fail on my part. I’m not sure if I just didn’t follow the recipe properly or the recipe didn’t quite work with my appliances but this meal took about 3 times its estimated time. Usually for me, if there’s more cooking involved, it might take almost double the estimated time. It tastes pretty good and stews are always very comforting to eat. The idea of coconut milk base and then having carrots and sweet potatoes is really nice as well. It just was an incredibly long time to cook..oddly.

Pork Chops
with Homemade Maple-Bacon Jam, Sauteed Bok Choy over Spinach Rice

Welcome the star of this box. This meal is amazing! For one, the maple bacon jam is awesome. Literally, the best thing I’ve made from these boxes. Then the pork chops turned out good and paired with the jam is delicious. I like the spice blend that was mixed with the rice and the spinach. Then there’s the bok choy which always was great. I love this meal so much.

That’s it for this recap!
It was a pretty solid batch of meals.
It should be a month or so before we get another one of these boxes.
Just because of selection and time conflicts. 

Goodfood Recap 32

Its been a month since our last box and we’re back to recap on last week’s meals. We have gotten in a relatively good routine without the Goodfood box weeks so having the boxes is a welcome change in pace to just have something already set during the week. Not to mention, this week was completely new recipes and a lot of of the recipes were meals that we’ve never had before so it was a fresh new experience.

Sheet Pan Chicken
with Maple-Cranberry Sauce, Roasted Potatoes, Brussel Sprouts & Green Beans

Just like bowl meals, one pan meals are the best. They are efficient and delicious. With that said, this one was exactly that. And also the reason why I chose it for the first meal in the box to prepare to get back into the goodfood prep routine. After all, its the prep time that takes me longer than the actual cooking process. This one turned out really good. I’m not sure I’m a huge fan of the maple-cranberry sauce but the whole sheet pan experience with the potatoes and brussel sprouts and green beans worked really well together with the spices and the chicken.

Pork Chops
with Mustard-Citrus Vinaigrette & Radicchio-Orange Salad with Farro

The husband was a big fan of this one. His words, if I remember correctly, is liking the way the flavorful hot food is mixed with the cool salad having this contrast that works really well together. I’m glad he did because he had it fresh. I ended up reheating mine the next day so my veggies were all warm. The only issue with recipes like this being reheated is the citrus (aka the orange) turns super bitter and it ruins the meal a little whenever its near where the orange is. However, the pork had lovely delicious seasoning and the radicchio and the vinaigrette was really good. The vinaigrette to myself was a pleasant surprise. I was a bit skeptical when I was making it so I’m glad it turned out better than I expected.

Mee Goreng
with Fresh Shanghai Noodles, Crunchy Vegetables & Spiced Peanuts 

I’m not sure what Mee Goreng is. I don’t think I’ve had it before. However, this one just like many noodle things are quite easy to do. The only deal with why this one was hard was that it wasn’t my night and I cut my finger and then scraped my hand on the knife within 10 minutes so I tried to work with one finger less on one hand while trying to not cut myself again until the husband came to the rescue after he was done his stuff. So thanks to my husband, this meal made it here. I like shanghai noodles so this was obviously my choice. My husband is not so much into thick noodles so he thought it was okay. I thought the meal came together well plus making Asian meals always have the perk of doing a one pan sort of cooking style and that always is welcome. Delicious and efficient!

Sumac-Spiced Pork Strips Winter Fattoush Salad
with Crispy Chickpeas and Pita

I’ve avoided Fattoush Salad for a while, mostly because I wasn’t sure what it was. I think it has to do with chickpeas since this one had chickpeas and I remember other recipes have it also. If you know what it is, do correct me. This one was really good. However, since we did have a recall on lettuce the past few weeks, we decided to cook the lettuce and all the veggies just to be on the safe side. However, I’m not sure it made such a big difference because this one still turned out pretty good. They have the bite from the chickpeas and then the pita. The veggies had a lot of crunch and the pork strips were seasoned really well.

Overall, I can’t say anything meal last week that I loved.
But, they all had their pros more than cons and worked out to be pretty flavorful and tasted good.

Goodfood Recap #25

Time for the next Goodfood recap! Its been a while that we’re doing something non-movie related. I’m sorry for it all. Fantasia Festival and work combined simply ended up ruling my life despite wanting to do other posts. Anyways, Fantasia is over and while I still have some little things left to wrap up, we’re back to normal programming!

This was last week’s box and it was a tough one to go through because of the fatigue and scheduling and overtime all combined together. Luckily I did two of the recipes and my husband helped me out with the other ones and we managed to get it done.

Let’s check it out!

Togarashi Chicken
with Blistered Shishito Peppers & Crispy Rice

If you like spicy food, this Togarashi Chicken is right up your alley. Luckily, we’ve been getting in the hang of having some delicious spicy seasonings and I was really excited to try out this recipe. I’ve never had shishito peppers but it was pretty good and it had to lovely balance of textures and flavors with the crispy rice and the chicken. I have to say that we’ve had a few meals with the crispy rice and its a great way to make it. Its fairly decent to make also so that helps. Although to be honest, I would get some normal bell pepper pieces or some sweet peppers instead since it can get a little overwhelming.

Grilled Steaks & Sherry-Mustard Sauce
with Fresh English Peas, Baby Kale & Barley

We don’t eat steak a whole lot so this is a treat. We did end up replacing the baby kale with our own homegrown kale because it wasn’t looking too nice. We don’t usually have a lot of issues with the freshness and the weather has been really hot so even our garden isn’t doing great so it was nice that we had some backup. It was kind of our fault to have waited 2 days before using it, which usually is fine. Either way, just a point and not really a complaint. However, the meal itself did turn out really well. Barley is one of those ingredients we don’t have our house so whenever we get these boxes, we learn a little more how to use it. With the flavors here and everything, it blended very well together. it was an easy meal to put together, the shortest in this box if I’m not mistaken and it worked well for the busy and crazy week that I had gone through.

General Tao Cauliflower
with Spinach Chips & Garlic Rice

Starting these next two, my husband was the one who stepped up and took over to cook because I was just swamped with everything. Lucky because especially this one, it was quite technical and I’m not great with any flour batter and fried sort of meals. However, I honestly loved this meal a lot because of the cauliflower and how it was done. Combining that with the sauce (which was the only part I made along with the spinach chips), it actually was so delicious. It worked with some delicious jasmine rice and a crispy spinach chip along with a tasty cauliflower to just have enough crunch to make it so great together. It a tie between this meal and the chicken for my fave in this box for sure.

Spice-rubbed Pork Chops
with Plum Chutney, Charred Kale & Black Rice

Last up is the spice-rubbed pork chops. Its kind of weird to think of plum chutney and I only eat black rice when my mom uses it in this special sweet congee that she makes. Suffice to say that I’m not skilled at eating it. This one was a little toss in the air to just fill up the last meal and it turned out as a pleasant surprise. I can’t say that I’d want to make it again but the plum chutney came out really great. The charred kale is good as always and keeps it healthy. Black rice has a different texture and is a bit more chewy but it also has a nice flavor. This one does come together well enough.

Overall, that is our recap of the Goodfood from 2 weeks ago!
A little behinds schedule but better late than never!
We have a new box coming in this week so things will be back on track..in probably a non-movie related way as I take a little break (after two more Fantasia reviews).

Goodfood Recap #23

It sure feels like a while since the last time I wrote a Goodfood recap. The only reason is that the recipes weren’t quite to our liking so we decided to just skip 2 weeks. Now its back generally to a schedule that we like. Without further ado, here’s the recap for last week’s meals!

Shrimp Boil
with Summer Corn, Roasted Potatoes and Green Salad

Sorry for the scattered look on this one. We kind of had this one in a scattered manner as well. This was a pretty summer themed meal and I loved the making the shrimps and corns and potatoes together. The spices were delicious. I didn’t get the salad but my husband did. I believe the dressing smelled pretty good.

Grilled Vegetable Bowls
with Ginger-Soy Sauce & Edamame Rice

I’m going to admit right now that last week was hell and we’ve had a whole lot of delays on cooking and just had a ton of leftovers and stuff. Its re-adapting to some things in life that has surfaced. It changed the routine I had and who knew that it would be delayed like this. When we got around to making the vegetable bowl, the zucchini was already done for, making this bowl slightly sad. However, the edamame rice was delicious. The veggies and the spices were really great as well. Its all very lovely along with the ginger-soy sauce also. Maybe we will remake this one day with the yellow zucchini.

Soy-Maple Chicken
with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Grilled Zucchini & Charred Scallion Salad

The soy-maple sauce was quite tasty here. The oven-roasted sweet potatoes also had a great recipe. Simple and easy. I’m not much for scallion so I didn’t go and eat a whole scallion stalk. Well, surprisingly the zucchini here didn’t go bad so the grilling it turned out great. Of course, the grilled stuff is all my husband’s hard work. This meal does come together quite well.

Herbed Pork Chops
with Pistachio-Mint Salmuera, Grilled Peppers & Roasted Baby Potatoes

The last meal of this box is the herbed pork chops. The spices for the pork chop was absolutely delicious. I’m starting to see a theme in the spice blends and how good they are while all being quite different. My husband handled this meal. The potatoes turned out quite well. The grilled peppers was also quite good. Simple stuff is always the best method in my book. While I liked the idea of the pistachio=mint salmuera, I liked the pork chops without that topping.  I didn’t mind it much but the spices already had enough balance in flavor to make it all work. But then, I refer back to the simple things for myself that always work best that I mentioned before.

Overall…

It was a pretty decent box. Anything that didn’t go well was because of my procrastination. The spice blends in the meals were very good and gave these meals their own distinction. There are some simple elements here that worked very well too.

With that said, we have a new box this week and its already having its delays with all the events happening in town. 
I’ll be back with that recap next week!

Recap: Goodfood #17

Time for last week’s Goodfood recap!

Shrimp Sushi Bowl
with Seared Edamame, Cucumber & Carrots

Shrimp Sushi Bowl was the meal I looked forward to the most in this box. Everything worked pretty well. Making the carrots was a bit of a pain but it still tasted fairly decent. However,  there’s something that just didn’t seem to be absolutely awesome. Although, my favorite part is the seared edamames. Oh boy, those were so tasty. I would definitely try to see where I can find it soon and sear some to eat.

Honey-Dijon Chicken
with Zuchinni Slaw & Orzo

Orzo and Chicken and honey-dijon are all super awesome for this meal. I didn’t try out the zucchini slaw since I don’t eat raw foods but my husband liked it quite a bit for the freshness and the crunchy taste of everything. The best part of this meal was how simple it was to make. It estimated about 20 minutes and did take about 30 minutes for myself since I’m slow at grating food. It just hows how recipes don’t need to be over complicated to taste good.

Roasted Chicken Thighs
with Root Vegetables & Fennel Slaw

Double chicken menus are always welcome in our household. When its a one pan solution, it gets even better. The only deal here was that I had put the lemon juice on the dish at the end and boy was it overpowering the dish. Maybe it was because I let it sit too long before eating it for lunch. However, it still worked well for what it was. The spices were really good and it had a nice balance between veggies and meat. I’ve realized that this is one of the few ways I do enjoy eating fennel so this one is a decent win.

Mosto Cotto-Glazed Pork Chops
with Millet, Kohlrabi & Dried Cranberry Salad

The final meal of the box was the one that we weren’t too sure about. We do love pork chops but didn’t really know what Mosto Cotto is. However, this one turned out quite tasty. The millet, kohlrabi and dried cranberry salad turned out to be pretty good as well with a nice crunch. My husband wanted more walnuts but the balance was all there. This was a good meal also.

Overall, this box was pretty good. It didn’t have anything that particularly blew our minds but a lot of the flavors were there and it was all fairly efficient meals. Ticks the boxes I like about getting these boxes. Some new ingredients that we’ve never tried out also which is also part of the experience and why we keep getting it.

Recap: Goodfood #6

Don’t worry! No slacking off on the horror marathon. Regular programming resumes later today (or at least it should since I’m writing this one before the next one).

Goodfood update again. This box is one of those boxes that really caught our eyes as it uses some great ingredients and everyday stuff and just twists on the sauce and stuff. A lot of untreaded territory here so its fun to try out. Most of it worked out really well, except for one that really might not be to our tastes so much.

Chef Garnier’s Sesame-Crusted Chicken with Sweet & Sour Veggies & Matcha Rice

First up was the Sesame-Crusted Chicken. Its pretty cool because I’ve always had an issue with breading things and this recipe let me learn how to figure that part out. This meal turned out quite good. Actually, everything here worked great for the chicken and the veggies. The sweet chili sauce for the veggies was a good balance to the meal. However, the matcha rice wasn’t doing it for us. I already had a suspicion about it since I’m not  a fan of matcha tea in general however, my husband is very picky with the teas that he likes so it was a hit and miss. However, matcha is a powder so it was used for the rice and it was okay. Can’t say that we’ll ever make the rice again but the chicken and veggies are a hit.

Tofu & Shiitake Mushroom Dumplings with Cucumber Salad

Next up is the vegetarian dumplings. This was an all around win for us. We don’t use tofu ever at home although I like it when my  mom makes it. However, I’ve never really figured out how to incorporate it into our meals and my husband isn’t a fan of the texture in general. These dumplings were really cool as it blends the mushrooms and the tofu together for the filling and the sauce is quite easy to make. I let my husband have the cucumber salad which he liked a lot as well. We are slowly trying to eat healthier and possibly seeing the potential having the occasional vegetarian meal and this one is definitely one we’ll keep on our minds especially since I love dumplings so much!

Spiced Pork Chops with Roasted Delicata Squash, Brussel Sprouts & Hazelnut Vinaigrette

Pork chops are a frequent appearance in our house. Mostly because meats are overall quite expensive and pork chops are usually the most cost efficient option. This one was so great. It had brussel sprouts and the vinaigrette was delicious especially since we’ve never used hazelnut to put together a dressing like that. There was a hint of sweetness from the maple syrup (I believe). I’m a fan of squashes in general but my husband is quite picky with them. However, he loved the delicata squash which is the first time I’ve ever made them and they are a win for us both. We loved them so much that I went ahead to the grocery store a few days ago and picked up some more.

Tourtiere-Spiced Meatballs with Mushroom Sauce & Roasted Veggies

Finally, the last choice were tourtiere-spiced meatballs. I’m usually on the fence with the meatballs meals. It always feel odd to use meatballs without spaghetti. Another thing to note here is that I replaced the green beans with brussel sprouts. I guess I could file it under a slight complaint is that when Friday night came around (which is about 5 days since we received the box), the green beans weren’t looking too good. I’m guessing if I waited another day, mold would have happened. Anyways, to be safe, I threw them out and replaced the veggies with what I had on hand. However, the meal was really great. Beef is not my first choice however the meatballs tasted good and the tourtiere flavors are definitely there. The mushroom sauce turned out a little too thick for us however the taste was also on point. The veggies were good also.

Overall…the last week’s box was pretty good. It was a win on all fronts. Sure, the matcha rice didn’t work with us quite so much but everything else was pretty awesome. My fave meal of this box (and its hard to choose) would probably be the pork chops although the dumplings are quite close behind.

Dinner: Sweet and Sour Pork Chops

Teamwork, my friends! Our dinners are starting to really bring out a nice little team going on here.  I do the whole marinating and making sauces thing and he cooks it.  I don’t even want to attempt for the fear that I’d probably get it all burnt. This past weekend, we wanted to eat pork chops. These sounded really good and we had most of the ingredients so we decided to give it a little twist in a much lazier way than the already easy recipe here.

Sweet and Sour Pork Chops

Inspired by this pin: http://damndelicious.net/2015/01/31/easy-pork-chops-with-sweet-and-sour-glaze/

• Ingredients are the same as the link, except the butter
• Instead of baking in oven, we cooked it in a pan.  Sauce was pre-mixed and marinated the pork chops in it before cooking.

I really like sweet and sour dishes.  Usually, sour means like adding pineapple to give it an extra kick or lemon.  You get what I’m saying? This recipe is a little different.  It uses balsamic vinegar.  We don’t usually cook with it.  Its available in our house but we just never know what to do with it. So, this was a nice way to experiment.  I’m not going to lie…we should’ve marinated it a little more. Like overnight.  But I’m a spontaneous cook and I just bought the pork chops that day for groceries because we had raided our house of any meat.

Enough of this rambling, this dish is great.  I don’t even think it needs to be in the oven.  Its why I changed the title from the recipe that inspired since the sauce is not a glaze.  I do recommend this.  If you do try this out in the oven, do tell me how it turns out. I just don’t like doing a whole lot of steps for cooking.  Sauce, meat, cook, done.  That works for me especially when we have to cook vegetables or whatever side dishes.  Oh yeah, we also tried out a little fries recipe that Zoe had recommended except we used it on sweet potatoes 😉 And they were so good, even if they should’ve been in the oven for a little longer to get it crispier.

What do you think? Do you like sweet and sour sauces? How do you like to make pork chops?

Dinner: Pork Chops & Potatoes in Tomato-Basil Sauce

We’re back again with another recipe.  I don’t do a whole lot of improvisation but you know, buying groceries are expensive and I’m trying to use what I have at home to work something out.  One thing my house has a lot of is potatoes.  My friend gave me a ton so now we’re working hard on finishing it all up.  We tried to mix things up a little last weekend and ended up with this little pork chops and potatoes dish.

Super uncreative name but here we go…

Pork Chops and Potatoes in Tomato-Basil Sauce

Ingredients

6-8 pork chops
(you  might want to use a bigger oven dish than this one)

5-6 medium potatoes

1-1/5 cups tomato sauce
(we used Classico Tomato-Basil and Sundried Tomato mix)

minced garlic
Italian seasoning

bay leaves, to garnish

How to make it:

1. Preheat oven at 400F.
2. Layer pork chops at the bottom.
3. Pour the sauce over the pork chops.
4. Layer sliced potatoes on the top.  Try to keep it basted in the tomato sauce.
5. Season on top with minced garlic and Italian seasoning. Put the bay leaves on top, if you choose to.
6. Place it in the oven to bake for about 45 minutes. Be sure to check whether the pork chops and potatoes are cooked through if you need to add a little more time.

I like quick dinner solutions.  Usually anything with baking is quick because preparation is about 15 minutes or something. Cutting the potatoes take the longest.  Unless you want to peel it, then it’ll take even more time.  Mine was in there for a little extra time so it ended adding a little bit of crispiness to the top of the potatoes.  It worked out pretty well. Honestly, I had my doubts especially because it didn’t look that appealing but the results worked good.  The pork chops flavored well with the tomato sauce.

For something thrown together with leftover sauces in the fridge and adding some meat and veggies, it was a really good mix. I was pleased with the results.

If I were to change it up, I suggest to use less pork chops and layer with more thinly sliced potatoes and only one single layer. Just little tips to think about when putting this together if you give it a go. Any sauce works as long as you like it.  If you change the sauce, you should go with some matching seasoning.

How do you like to make pork chops? What do you suggest to use up those potatoes?