Cooking, Plating, Review of Plated.com SUBSCRIPTION BOX Recipes : Two dinners for two people plus a yummy dessert for us two!
Plated is a subscription food box service that I am a member of, and have been enjoying. Each week they offer a menu with a choice of recipes that you can select to cook, then you are sent a big box filled with the ingredients you need to prepare your chosen recipes. The box is well packed with packing material and ice packs to keep your food cold, fresh, and safe. With your food, you receive a glossy recipe card with photo and instructions for each of your selected recipes. It is easy to skip a week when you don’t want a Plated box or aren’t interested in any of the menu recipes offered for that week. I think this is a lot of fun and the recipes they offer are quite interesting and gourmet in style. Okay, now that you know a little about Plated, here is my review:
What We Cooked – PLATED BOX REPORT with honest opinions for the meals we made, the last week in April, 2016:
Ratings: 4 stars = Super Yummy; 3 stars = Yummy; 2 stars = Meh; 1 star = Yucky
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GREEK YOGURT POUND CAKES with LAVENDER GLAZE
— Okay, let’s start with dessert first (you know you want to!). With all the ingredients pre-measured, this was scratch baking at its absolute easiest. This recipe made two little pound cakes, they even sent two individual serving-sized aluminum tins to bake them in! I consider baking one of my specialties and found this very, very easy to make and bake. This only took about 50 minutes total time to prep, bake, and complete with the glaze topping (and that is including the 25 minutes baking time). I decided to melt the butter called for in this recipe because the instructions said to soften the butter to room temperature but, after sitting out for 3 hours (that was all the time I had as I made this the day the box arrived), the butter was still way too hard to “whisk” with the sugar. The tins provided were just a wee bit too small, I believe, causing the dough to overflow a little during baking – though I guess it could be possible that the melting of the butter made for a difference in the raw dough (I do think, though, that baking soda amount is key – and that didn’t change!). I ate this cake for dessert right out of the tin (still couldn’t get it out, even after the cake was cool) and it was very yummy. This tasted and had the texture of a muffin more than pound cake, I must say. Not overly sweet, this actually tasted pretty healthy – I would enjoy this as a breakfast treat. (The lavender flavor is very, very subtle in this, by the way – just a hint of it.) – ***
Here’s our glazed Greek Yogurt Pound Cake in tin – not so beautiful, but definitely a tasty treat! -
BEEF MOUSSAKA with GREEK YOGURT SAUCE
– This took about one hour to prepare – not difficult, just lots of steps including prep and putting things aside (quite a few bowls and spoons needed). This recipe made for a very tasty dish that was filling and satisfying. I couldn’t quite finish my plate so saved a little bit for a lunch the next day and the flavor of this was still very good (if not even a little better!) reheated the next day. Yes, as you can see by my rating, this was super yummy. – ****
Ingredients to make the Moussaka recipe. 
Beef Moussaka dinner – plated. Yum. -
PIZZA DOUGH TOSTADAS with ITALIAN STREET CORN
– We used a little teamwork on this one, with me and Hubby working on this dish together, so the preparation went pretty quickly and easily. Here’s something interesting — I made this the day after we received the Plated box (made the Beef Moussaka and Pound Cake dessert for dinner on the day the box arrived) and the dough had risen a whole bunch inside the plastic bag it was in – and, yes, it was in the refrigerator (and yes, I did see the dough when it arrived and I placed it into the fridge). It worked out great, as the dough was easy to roll and use. This was a vegetarian meal and, proof that you don’t need meat to have a good meal, this was super good – I loved both the pizza and the corn. I am giving this a 4/4 stars, Hubby (always more critical than me) gives this a 3.5/4 stars – so I am giving this 3.75. Real good, would like to have this again. – *** ¾
Pizza Dough Tostadas with Italian Street Corn for dinner. Oh so good.
I really enjoy cooking the Plated meals and I have found the recipes to be mostly great tasting and enjoyable to prepare and eat. It’s nice sometimes to have a box of ingredients delivered to your front door and not have to meal plan and go grocery shopping!
For your information, the cost of a Plated meal is $12 a plate — the most inexpensive plan available is 2 dinners (recipe + ingredients) for 2 people (which is $48). They have add-on desserts that are $8 and shipping is free for orders over $50 (so a good idea to save on shipping costs is to be sure to order a dessert to bring your cost above $50). The plan with 3 dinners for 2 people costs $72 and includes free shipping. Each week Plated offers a choice of seven recipes, some with meat, a seafood dish, and a few Vegetarian choices. They also offer two additional “Chef’s Table by Plated” recipes which cost more, but feature specialty cuts of meats and market priced seafood. There are also two weekly desserts to choose from (optional). You get a choice of delivery date (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday) and can hit the “SKIP WEEK” tab (you can skip as often as you like) via your online Plated account.
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Happy cooking to all, happy eating even more! #platedpics
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