After getting settled back in to our normal at-home routine it was time to get back to trying some new recipes. At some point during the past week we realized we never tried to cook Chicken Parmesan so we jumped at a relatively easy recipe and were off. Before we could start cooking we made a stop at Crate and Barrel and purchased some new oven safe baking dishes which we've never owned. 

We've now reached the end of our trial run with Plated. It didn't go well. Nothing we made was as good as the pictures made them look. Our biggest issue was how much prep work was involved with each meal. If we have to spend an hour prepping after working for 8-10 hours I'd much rather just order take-out. It was a good run but not necessarily what Jenn and I were hoping for. The good news though is that our final meal with Plated was also our favorite. 

Last week I posted a recap of our first of two Plated.com recipes that we were trying out for our box. That was recap was for the Sticky Japanese Wings with Zucchini Chips. We liked the meal but weren't in love with. That was alright we were far more excited for the second meal, the Creamy Zucchini Orzo. I had never had or cooked Orzo before but from what I read it was similar in taste and texture to Risotto which I love. 

Back on Valentines Day 2015 Jenn purchased a subscription to the food delivery service Plated. Basic concept is that they will send you 2 meals a week to cook. They accidentally sent us the wrong order for our first round in April and then with everything going on we didn't get to order anything until now. Crazy right? For the "trouble" we actually got two weeks free. So this is the first of four meals that we will end up cooking on plated. Before we get into the recipe here's a video I put together for unboxing our Plated box. 

One of my favorite kind of meals to make are the easy ones. Don't get me wrong I have no problem putting the time into a recipe if I know with a high degree of certainty that our dinner needs will be met. But often times these recipes don't turn out. So when I stumbled upon the growing popularity of one pan (or one pot) meals I began looking for recipes to try out. The first one we chose was a Garlic Ranch Chicken with an assortment of veggies. 

Since purchasing & selling the house all in the same year we haven't had a ton of time to try our new restaurants. Which is a shame because even more then cooking meals I love having professionals cook for me. What's even better is to go to a restaurant that makes things I'd never dream or have any desire to make like Sushi. This past weekend Jenn and I were out and about on Saturday and headed to Fashion Island (our old stomping grounds). We were thinking of hitting up Wahoos when Jenn proclaimed that she wanted Sushi for her birthday.