Plated Review & Free Plates Coupon! #platedpics – April 18 & 22

Plated has been SO good lately! Sometimes I don’t feel like ordering them, and then other weeks (like this one) we order 4 meals. Plated sends weekly dinner kits with high quality ingredients. They say they’re subscription only now – not true. We turn off automatic shipments and order the meals we like.

The recipe card is new and fresh for 2015, though I wish it would indicate the ease of the meal.

When you sign up for Plated with this link or use code b0c635, you’ll get 2 free plates with your first order. Sometimes we order and sometimes Hello Fresh. It just depends on what meals we’re interested in. [Hello Fresh: Take $40 off your first box with coupon code 7UT7K8]

Roast Beef-Spiced Steak Salad with Horseradish Dressing: This was so similar to a Hello Fresh meal we’d had the week before that I actually mixed up the photos at first! (BTW the Plated one was better)

I didn’t think the tomatoes were roasted enough, the steak was really delicious though and extremely high quality. I would prefer a lettuce and arugula mix, especially with the horseradish dressing. There was quite a bit of bite to this recipe.

Mustard-Roasted Pork with Spring Pea Salad and Crispy Shallots: I always enjoy the Plated pork dishes – they’re really quite good.

This was a pea “salad”, which means they were barely warmed. I ended up eating all the 3 peas (snap peas, fava beans, and peas) but I had wished they were cooked.  The tomatoes were bright and lemony and really amazing. It’s touches like the crispy shallot that keep the meals restaurant quality.

Chicken Paillard with Roasted Parmesan-Crusted Asparagus and Smashed Potatoes: this was really good but we have noticed something lately – Plated doesn’t know how to make mashed potatoes. These had oil – no butter. The other week had skim milk no butter and were too watery. Let’s step up that potato game!

I loved the Chicken though – it was so flavorful and to me the texture is great when it’s pounded out like this.

Trout Teriyaki with Salad and Carrot-Ginger Dressing: Well, this one wasn’t to my taste in the slightest. We had trout a few weeks prior in a Plated box, and I enjoyed it, so I went for this one. It was much too fishy for me. I let my husband gorge on it. The dressing for the salad was delicious and so was the marinade. I would order something similar with different fish.

So that’s what we made with our box this week!  You can use code b0c635 to sign up for Plated and get 2 free plates with your first order!

Each meal includes easy-to-follow directions, and almost everything you need is included:  from the often organic meats to the fresh herbs.  You need only contribute the most basic of culinary skills, and Plated will walk you through the rest.  Have on hand basic kitchen utensils and you can transform the contents of your Plated box into a photo-worthy culinary masterpiece in under forty-five minutes (usually less).  I love the way each meal incorporates only a couple key herbs or spices; the flavors shine through, and the recipes remain easy to follow.

If you haven’t joined up, visit Plated to find or more or to subscribe. You can see all the meal subscription services & dinner kits in the directory plus all our Plated Reviews!