Home Chef
I've signed up with Home Chef, a service that delivers meals to your door. So far I've ordered 3 meals and have prepared 2 (see below). Ingredients are packaged in pre-measured amounts and produce is fresh. The cost per serving is $9.50, which is about $2 more than I usually pay. If you order 3 or more meals, delivery is free. They have a very wide selection of tempting meals, which you can order on a weekly basis or schedule week-to-week. Preparation, nutrition, time requirements and step-by-step instructions are all provided.
Beef and Poblano Tamale Pie with cornbread-cheddar crust
It had just the right amount of (pre-measured) spices and didn't need anything more from me. The poblano pepper was fresh and crunchy. The cornbread was a little bland. Great mix of textures. I added mushrooms. I gave it five stars. 22 points.
Sweet and Sour Shrimp Noodles
The sweet-sour balance was perfect. I've never been able to do better. The recipe has you start the noodles and then cook the vegetables and beef. I would start the vegetables first, because of the time required to cook carrots to tenderness. The bok choy and shrimp were very fresh. Unfortunately, I realized that I'm not a fan of bok choy, but that's not their fault! Just the right amount for 2 servings. 8 points.
Coffee-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin
Very good. I've never cooked turnips before and was pleasantly surprised at their sweetness. Sauce was a little too salty and too thick (probably my fault). I added asparagus to the roast vegetables. Only 11 points. Pork tenderloin was great.
It's a luxury to be given a bag of spices (Cajun in this case) already blended to just the right amount of heat. I'm not a cole slaw person but even I could tell how good it was, with the slightly charred corn. Too many tortillas (6), but that's better than too few. Overall, it was a great dinner. However, it arrived a day late. Not good. 12 points.
Steak au Poivre with roasted onion mashed potatoes
This is terrific! The demi-glace sauce is delicious. (I only
wish there were more of it.) The roasted cremini mushrooms round out the pepper and the sauce perfectly. The potatoes are delicious, with sour cream and butter. A lot of steps to make it and a lot of points (28), but well worth it. This is $9.50/serving. Mary-jo pointed out that you couldn't buy the ingredients for that amount of money and you would have to buy more than you needed. And consider that they are all pre-measured with step-by-step instructions.
Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken
This is the review I wrote on their website:
"I realize that this is an intermediate level recipe, but Step 2, involving peeling prosciutto and wrapping it around chicken, inserting sage and somehow pounding the whole thing together is much too tricky, requires more dexterity than I possess and more time than I want to spend on a meal. Prosciutto is too salty and beans are bland. Not one of your better meals. Also, sage sprig was missing (I checked all bags) and meal was delivered one day late." I'm not cancelling yet, but this was a definite red flag. I gave it 2 stars out of 5. 13 points.
BBQ Ranch Steak Quesadillas
They seem to do really well with Mexican-style recipes (see Beef and Poblano Tamale Pie above). This was easy to prepare and delicious. My biggest challenge was flipping the quesadillas without losing all of the contents. 16 points.
There was a nice blend of textures and flavors of mushrooms, cream sauce and dried onions. The mushrooms also livened up the green beans. 9 points.
Mushroom Lasagna
A good, hearty cold-weather meal. Oregano, mushrooms and spinach all very fresh. Marinara sauce a little "soupy." 9 points.
It needed more marinade. Otherwise, a great success.
Parisian Bistro Bone-In Chicken
Chicken was cooked to perfection - juicy and tasty. Carrots were delicious. Not crazy about potatoes - kind of bland. Needed more gravy. 28 points.
Al Pastor Pork Flautas
Very good, but a little more spice would be nice. Also,
maybe add a tip on how to turn the flautas without spilling everything out (I used 2 tablespoons). 22 points.
Steak and Blue Cheese Flatbread
This was great! I particularly loved the combination of Naan bread and cheeses. Easy to prepare
Sirloin Steak with Blue Cheese Compound Butter
Beautiful cut of beef and super-fresh produce! I would have preferred the compound butter without the onions - they were so vibrant that they overpowered everything else. Also, it needed a sauce for the vegetables. Overall, it was very good.
Chicken with Sherry-Cranberry Sauce
Tasty and healthy but the acorn squash
is just too hard to cut (dangerous, even)! Good combination of flavors in the sauce.
Cuban Steak Burrito
Considering the ingredients, which we love, this was surprisingly not really to our taste. I only used half of the jalapeno. More might have helped. Also, very salty.
something to add flavor to the green beans - i.e. almonds, seasonings... I felt they were neglected. Mashed potatoes and sour cream were perfect with the salmon.
I gave it 4 stars but would really rate it 3.5 stars. We liked the sauce and the rice, but the meatballs were dry (maybe needed more sauce?) and the slaw was not to our taste and not as creamy and delicious as the slaw in the Huli-Huli Salmon Bowl.
Cajun Shrimp Tacos with creamy corn slaw
It's a luxury to be given a bag of spices (Cajun in this case) already blended to just the right amount of heat. I'm not a cole slaw person but even I could tell how good it was, with the slightly charred corn. Too many tortillas (6), but that's better than too few. Overall, it was a great dinner. However, it arrived a day late. Not good. 12 points.
Steak au Poivre with roasted onion mashed potatoes
This is terrific! The demi-glace sauce is delicious. (I only
Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken
"I realize that this is an intermediate level recipe, but Step 2, involving peeling prosciutto and wrapping it around chicken, inserting sage and somehow pounding the whole thing together is much too tricky, requires more dexterity than I possess and more time than I want to spend on a meal. Prosciutto is too salty and beans are bland. Not one of your better meals. Also, sage sprig was missing (I checked all bags) and meal was delivered one day late." I'm not cancelling yet, but this was a definite red flag. I gave it 2 stars out of 5. 13 points.
BBQ Ranch Steak Quesadillas
They seem to do really well with Mexican-style recipes (see Beef and Poblano Tamale Pie above). This was easy to prepare and delicious. My biggest challenge was flipping the quesadillas without losing all of the contents. 16 points.
Huli-Huli Salmon Bowl
I liked the Teriyaki Glaze and the salmon fillets were perfect. I didn't care for the strong onion taste in the slaw - it overshadowed everything. Rice needed something - glaze or soy sauce. Pineapple slices were a great addition. 10 points.
Crispy Onion Chicken
This is one of those meals that I wish I could order again!
Mushroom Lasagna
A good, hearty cold-weather meal. Oregano, mushrooms and spinach all very fresh. Marinara sauce a little "soupy." 9 points.
Hickory-Seasoned Salmon
Very clever combination of flavors!
Parisian Bistro Bone-In Chicken
Al Pastor Pork Flautas
Very good, but a little more spice would be nice. Also,
Steak and Blue Cheese Flatbread
This was great! I particularly loved the combination of Naan bread and cheeses. Easy to prepare
Sirloin Steak with Blue Cheese Compound Butter
Beautiful cut of beef and super-fresh produce! I would have preferred the compound butter without the onions - they were so vibrant that they overpowered everything else. Also, it needed a sauce for the vegetables. Overall, it was very good.
Chicken with Sherry-Cranberry Sauce
Tasty and healthy but the acorn squash
Cuban Steak Burrito
Considering the ingredients, which we love, this was surprisingly not really to our taste. I only used half of the jalapeno. More might have helped. Also, very salty.
Brown Sugar Salmon
Great sauce and beautiful salmon. However, it needed
Weeknight Italian Sausage Lasagna
Terrific! Easy to make and delicious! We loved the marinara sauce! This is one of those times that I wish we could re-order a meal.
Ranch-Crusted Pork Chop
This was great! The combination of crushed croutons, sour cream, cream cheese and ranch seasoning worked beautifully. The pork chops were first-class and (for once) they enhanced their usual unadorned green beans with tomato and garlic. I'm going to try to duplicate it.
Ranch-Crusted Pork Chop
This was great! The combination of crushed croutons, sour cream, cream cheese and ranch seasoning worked beautifully. The pork chops were first-class and (for once) they enhanced their usual unadorned green beans with tomato and garlic. I'm going to try to duplicate it.
Sweet and Sour Pork Meatballs
I gave it 4 stars but would really rate it 3.5 stars. We liked the sauce and the rice, but the meatballs were dry (maybe needed more sauce?) and the slaw was not to our taste and not as creamy and delicious as the slaw in the Huli-Huli Salmon Bowl.
Spicy Cajun Shrimp and White Cheddar Grits
Good but not great. More spice needed. (I left out red peppers but still...) Tomato sauce didn't add anything.
Pork Chop with Parsley-Garlic Butter
Really creative! They elevated a ho-hum dish (pork chops with peas and carrots) by adding honey and pepper flakes to the vegetables and compound garlic butter to the chop. As always, their produce and meat are first-rate.
Spaghetti and Ricotta Meatballs
Great comfort food! Once again, their marinara sauce was just right - spicy and not to tomato-ey. The garlic bread was a good accompaniment. Very nice.
Chicken Scampi Spaghetti
A Home Run for Home Chef.
They make tricky things like cream sauce easy and delicious. We really enjoyed this!
Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Pears
Well-planned meal - great flavor combination of pork/pears/beans. Although some recipes are short on sauce, this one had plenty! Great quality pork tenderloin.
Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Pears
Well-planned meal - great flavor combination of pork/pears/beans. Although some recipes are short on sauce, this one had plenty! Great quality pork tenderloin.
Mojito Rubbed Bone-in-Skin-on-Chicken
The seasoning was great - spicy and complex but not salty. The chicken came out juicy and flavorful and the corn mixture was really tasty and was the perfect side dish for the chicken. Also very easy to make.
Teriyaki Chicken Thighs with Smoked Almonds
Good combination of flavors and textures. Great idea to provide 2 separate Sriracha packet for seasoning to taste. I did have a problem drying the diced chicken thighs though - they stuck to the paper towel and had to be laboriously pulled off. Maybe they could provide the boneless, skinless thighs whole and let us chop them up after drying?
Comments
Post a Comment