Dinner Contem-Plated!

Discovering the weekly gourmet meal kits from Plated.com is one of the best things that ever happened to me. Not only am I discovering new recipes and techniques, but my family is finally getting a real variety of dinner foods and dishes each week! Most of their recipes only take 30-40 minutes from chop to finish, and the directions are so concise and easy to follow! Plus the recipe cards have step-by-step full-color photos as well. So simple!

You can get your first four plates for only $20 shipping with code member4plates, or 30% off your first order (which might be a better deal if you're ordering a bunch more) with code fb30! Plated sends you all the fresh ingredients you need to make easy gourmet meals!

Check out my first month of Plated meals, and then the meals from weeks 5-7. Here are weeks 8-10!

[This post contains affiliate links.]

Roasted Vegetable Tostadas with Mexican Street Corn

 

This meal was naturally gluten-free, and I subbed vegan mayonnaise for the queso fresco in the chipotle crema for the Mexican Street Corn and topping the tacos to make this dish dairy-free for the girls and I. I also skipped the chipotle and jalapeno entirely, and only used a tiny amount of the adobo sauce. (I roasted the jalapeno up for Hubby, and made sure it never touched anything I'd be eating - I'm very sensitive to capsicum!)

Spring Vegetable Tart

 

I had Hubby get a gluten-free crust for us at Whole Foods, since there's one near his office, but he forgot and brought home ones with butter in them. So I ended up getting a tub of gluten-free pie crust dough br Pillsbury at the grocery store! It tasted great with these savory pies, and wasn't too hard to work with!

Since I'd be using up the gluten-y crust for Hubby as well as some gluten-free crust me, I added some rutabaga and green garlic from my veggie drawer to bulk up the wild mushrooms, golden beets, leeks, shallot, green beans, and asparagus that came in my Plated kit. I had plenty of filling for Hubby's whole tart, plus a smaller one for myself.
I made a simpler more kid-friendly version for the girls, with just carrots, potatoes, green beans, peas, green garlic, and leeks.

Roasted Carrot and Chickpea Salad with Quinoa

 

This dinner was surprisingly good. Even the girls liked it, although theirs was "deconstructed" with the quinoa and roasted carrots served separately. And some mint and crumbled goat cheese on the side for them as well.

Cheesy Quinoa Stuffed Tomatoes

 

Hubby was headed out of town for almost a week, which meant that there'd be no point making anything fancy while he was gone, unless I wanted to eat it all myself! So I managed to squeak this dinner in as a lunch before we had to leave to take him to the airport. This dish was naturally gluten-free, and came with goat cheese, which I'm not intolerant to, so everything was good as-is.

Z had her packed lunch at school, but E sat down with us for some tasty stuffed tomatoes!

When quartering the romaine hearts, I had loads of little lettuce scraps that fell off, so E got those as a little salad instead of the big lettuce wedges that Hubby and I ate.

Black Bean Burgers with Lime Cabbage Slaw

 

I made smaller "slider" burgers for the girls and I to fit on these gluten-free rolls, but Hubby got big ones on the gluten buns that were sent in the kit. I also subbed gluten-free breadcrumbs in the patties, and vegan mayo for the Greek yogurt in the slaw and roasted pepper spread. Another winner! Hubby has enjoyed all the veggie and bean patties so far.

Pastaless Spring Vegetable Lasagna

I waited a tad bit too long to make this dinner after my box arrived, so the leeks were a little tough. Everything tasted great though! I made some dairy-free spinach ricotta to use instead of the cow-milk cheese they sent in the Plated kit to make this dairy-free, and the zucchini ribbons and leek strips made for naturally gluten-free noodles.

I've had to make several alterations to keep our meals gluten- and dairy-free, but if you aren't vegetarian too, it's easy to find at least two gluten- and dairy-free Plated options each week. Most weeks I can get away with very minor substitutions with ingredients I have on-hand for yummy meals without any gluten, cow dairy, or meat. They always show you every ingredient that will be included when you order online, so it's easy to plan ahead and make or buy special substitutions as well.

Keeping it Fun - Same Salad, Different Sides!

 

I usually chop up a salad mix once a week or so, and stick to pretty much the same toppings (if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?) But that can get a little boring to the psyche if not the palate. So I keep it fun by arranging some of the salad ingredients into garden arrangements, cutting carrots into shapes (when I have time,) and keeping the sides different but still yummy!

Snack Mix (GF garlic pretzel rings, Hail Merry Orange Rosemary Pecans, roasted almonds,) organic apples, PBCo Cinnamon Raisin Swirl PB, organic salad (lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, raisins, sunflower and chia seeds, hemp hearts, rosemary vinaigrette)

 

10/2/13 - I made myself a savory snack mix for this lunch, with gluten-free Ener-G garlic pretzel rings (might only be available locally; I only see the plain ones online,) Hail Merry Orange Rosemary Pecans (which are crazy-delicious, by the way!) and organic roasted almonds.

For "dessert," I packed a Mini Dipper with some sweet Cinnamon Swirl Peanut Butter from Peanut Butter Co and apple slices to dip. Yum!

Organic ground cherries, kiwi berries, Enjoy Life Cinnamon Bun Decadent Bar, Glutino Pretzel Chips, organic salad (lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, raisins, sunflower and chia seeds, hemp hearts, rosemary vinaigrette)

 

10/4/13 - Another "tomato garden" on my salad, with some fun fruit finds in the side compartment; kiwi berries, which look and taste like tiny kiwis inside, plus some ground cherries from my weekly organic farm share. Ground cherries are related to tomatillos, but are sweeter.
Some Glutino Pretzel Chips for a nice crunch, and an Enjoy Life Decadent Bar for dessert! (Cut in half to fit. Don't worry. Both halves are in there! Om nom nom!)

[This post contains affiliate links.]

Organic apples, kiwi berries, whole grain rice chips, organic salad (lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, raisins,
sunflower and chia seeds, hemp hearts, rosemary vinaigrette)

 

10/11/13 - I didn't have as many fun-shaped (and colored!) heirloom cherry tomatoes, so a simple tomato design for this salad.

Organic sweet peppers, Naturebox blueberry almonds, Naturebox Masa Crisps, organic salad (lettuce,
carrots, tomatoes, raisins, sunflower and chia seeds, hemp hearts, rosemary vinaigrette)

 

10/14/13 - Usually I just toss my seeds and dressing onto my salad either right as I make it or just before heading out the door, so this one must have been packed far enough in advance to warrant separating them!

I'm not a huge fan of sweet peppers, but I eat them because they're a great way to get in a lot of healthy colors, it sets a good example when I them in front of my kids, and I'm slowly hating them less the more I'm exposed to them. So, yay. To make up for it, I got some Masa Crisps (kind of like Fritos, but way better,) plus some yummy Naturebox blueberry almonds for dessert!

Naturebox tropical trail mix, root chips, organic salad (red lettuce, spinach, purple carrots, tomatoes,
raisins, sunflower and chia seeds, hemp hearts, rosemary vinaigrette)

10/15/13 - I had cut some purple carrot flowers out for one of Z's lunches, so chopped up most of the scraps to toss in my salad, and had a few intact cut-out carrot coins to decorate the top!

Tools of the Trade

  

Animal Palz Pirate Batz for Wendolonia's 3 Tools Challenge

I've been a creepy stalker fan of Wendolonia and her bento lunches for years now, so I was thrilled to participate in her "3 Tools, 4 Lunches" challenge! Our assignment was to use a Planetbox Rover, the CuteZCute Animal Palz cutter set, and these alphabet picks. The rest was up to us! 

  

 [This post contains affiliate links.] 

I went with a pirate theme for my oldest, since it was pirate week at Little Gym camp. I let the girls choose which animal stamp they each wanted. I was hoping for panda... "pirate pandas" has a nice ring to it... But they both chose the bat. Oookay. Pirate Batz it is!

Pirate Batz Planetbox

Organic sugar snap peas, carrots, broccoli, cherries; GF PB w/blueberry jelly, organic sugar cubes

I had wanted to use fruit leather or something to make a bandana for the First Mate, but my kids had apparently been saving up a year's worth of antics to hit me with all at once. Instead of 10-15 minutes to prep and make lunch (including going downstairs to get some bread out of the freezer and digging through my disorganized bento stash to find all the bits I was looking for,) it ended up taking almost two hours to actually finish making these lunches. You read that right. TWO HOURS.
Cut one bread shape, pop it out, go comfort the toddler who just got pushed over. Cut another shape, pop it out, help older child download new app that she'd played on Dadda's iPad the day before and needed right now. Cut a shape, pop it out, confiscate iPad because she'd thrown it when the app wouldn't load because she lost her "good" iPad and has the toddler's really old one with an old operating system that the app won't work on. Seriously. By the end of the first hour, I had the bread cut and stamped, and the PB and jelly spread on. That was it.

To make an easy pirate bat, I used a pirate hat cupcake ring on one of the sandwiches. (Had I been sending this off with Z to school or something, I would have secured it with a big glob of peanut butter or pinned it in with uncooked spaghetti noodles. But since I would be in charge of carrying her lunch, I just set the ring in place before handing it over.)

Ever one for cheap tricks, I also used some skulls and crossbones cupcake rings for some easy piratical flair.

Be sure to check out the other fun lunches using the same 3 tools (plus some incredibly creative talent!) over at Wendolonia!

Batty for Little Sis

GF Pb w/blueberry jelly; organic tomatoes, carrots, peas, broccoli, cherries;
Happy Munchies rice cakes, dye-free gummy worm 

The toddler was excited to be part of the lunch making process. Usually I set her up in front of a show or else pack lunches at night when the girls are sleeping. She initially chose the "Lamby" imprint tool for herself, and "Batty" for Big Sis. (yeah. My kids are very creative with the names...) But then when Z agreed with the bat choice, E changed her mind. 
She wanted to help make them too, and I resigned myself to messed up imprints for my "big debut" over at Wendolonia. But after her first crookedy bat imprint, E was happy to scarper off with her batty bread exclaiming "I eat it. No pik-tchuh!" Leaving me half a sandwich short with no more thawed bread! Luckily I had a broken slice of brown gluten-free bread that I had initially rejected for use, which was juuuuust big enough to get one body shape. 

I used the egg mold part of the Animal Palz set to make a fun "cup" for some HappyFamily Happy Munchies blueberry and beet rice cakes. And since she doesn't do as well with hard candy, I opted for a dye-free gummy worm instead of the unrefined sugar cubes like Big Sis got.

Even though we were eating at home, I still packed E's lunch in an EasyLunchbox. It's no harder to wash than a divided plate, but the high sides make it easier for my little one to carry to the table without spilling. And once there, it's less likely to spill when bumped. Plus they take up less surface area on the little desk when I let the kids eat at their computer. Dinner and a show! (Yes, I know it's bad to eat in front of the TV. If it makes you feel better, then assume it's a once in a while treat. That would be a lie, but if it helps you judge me less, I'm in! But I've noticed that they eat way more veggies while staring mindlessly at the telly. So.) 

Tools of the Trade