Plated Dinner Subscription Box Review (The box with too many vegetables) + Coupon + New Menus

Did I say that? I totally did. My Plated box had too many vegetables. So first off, I ended up cancelling last week’s Plated order, because I was not in an eating mood. Or at least not in a cooking mood. Bummer, because it looked delicious. I’m just really off – so you’ll have to forgive me when I get whiny about too many vegetables. Because normally I love them. But in this case too many vegetables would throw off the balance of my meals, which would not be great. First, new menus are up, and you can get 2 free plates in your first Plated box with code b0c635. You can even still order for this Friday!

Next Week’s Plated Menu

• Chicken Fricassee with Gnocchi and Artichokes
• Linguine with Seared Tuna and Tapenade
• Sweet Pea Mac & Cheese with Frisee Salad
• Quinoa Tabbouleh with Spring Vegetables
• Roasted Eggplant with Pine Nuts, Raisins, and Parsley
• Spicy Soy Poached Pollock with Vermicelli Noodles
• Meatloaf with Brussels Sprouts and Potatoes

The Sweet Pea Mac & Cheese looks interesting, but I get plenty of mac & cheese. Meatloaf also looks good, but I say no to brussels!

Next-Next Week’s Plated Menu

• Pollock with Lemon Chive Fingerlings
• Baked Gnocchi with Tomatoes, Mozzarella, and Spring Salad
• Pan Roasted Salmon with Creamy Pearl Onions and Peas
• Shepherd’s Pie with Ground Beef and Vegetables
• Creamy Roasted Fennel with Garlic Toast
• Chicken Tostadas with Avocado Dressing
• Pistachio Crusted Tofu with Roasted Carrot Frisee Salad

I’m waiting to hear if the queso fresco on the chicken tostadas is raw or not (sometimes it’s actually made from pasteurized milk). I can’t do the raw, so I’m still deciding. I think the Shepherd’s pie looks great. The gnocchi looks delicious and ooey gooey, but I can take a package of gnocchi, stick it in some tomatoes, and throw some cheese on it myself! I totally recognize that everyone’s needs differ on this matter. The creamy roasted fennel looks interesting, but I’m not prepared to call that my main dish for 2 days straight 🙂

February 28, 2014 Plated Delivery Review

Everything that came in my box! Plated comes in a cardboard box with a silver bubble liner. I noticed there were 2 ice packs this week (great – because the last time I got Plated the pack wasn’t frozen solid). And also HOORAY, they are the kind that Hello Fresh uses. Which I prefer because they are easier to dispose of than the ones that Plated had been using. I love the green compost bags for those of you that get to compost.

Orange Beef with Chinese Broccoli

I got my recipe & step by step instructions ready to go.  I was a little bummed the flank steak wasn’t sliced up already. But this was the cutest soy sauce ever.

The recipe went together quickly. After I blanched the chinese broccoli, I realized it was pretty bitter. Since getting pregnant with my first child, bitter greens & I don’t get along so well.

I was like no way, I can’t do it, I like-ah my sauce. So I left all these vegetables out. And you can compared my plate and Plated‘s plate. I think putting all those in would have thinned out the taste of the sauce too much. Maybe I just got a big bunch. This was flipping delicious and I loved the stems. Just not the leaves so much 🙂

Pomegranate Lamb Kebabs with Raita and Smashed Potatoes

When I saw this recipe I had to order it. I did think the amount of potatoes in this meal was somewhat sad.  I could have used 2 extra taters.

I did not, however, need that much cucumber. Ok ok, if you follow along you already know that I don’t eat raw cucumber. This is like my one exception – I generally like raita with meatballs or kababs. I used about 1/3 of the 1/2 a cucumber given to me. But that’s one big honking cucumber. Had I QUADRUPLED the amount of cucumber in that bowl, it would have been out of whack.

I totally added the rest of the potatoes to this dish after taking a photo and ate all of them. I also put the kebabs back in the pan because they were raw in the middle after cooking to Plated‘s instructions. Not medium rare – raw. But they were freaking delicious and I was amazed at the pomegranate flavor on them! The recipe used pomegranate molasses and I thought this was a perfect subscription box recipe, because it used all sorts of ingredients I wouldn’t have on hand!

So that was Plated for this week! If you haven’t joined up you can use coupon b0c635 for 2 free plates. Let me know what you are getting and what you made!

You can see all the meal subscription services & dinner kits in the directory plus all my Plated Reviews!