Relish! Reviewed - Week One Night One

So even though I have kind of given up on losing weight for the moment, I thought I would take a minute to review Relish!

It has only been one night but so far it has been both a smashing success and a dismal failure.

We chose five meals from the fifteen presented. Two are beef, two are vegetarian, and one is seafood. It seemed that the chicken recipe(s) (honestly I can't remember if there was more than one) was too oriented to kids (some kind of chicken fingers with dipping sauce). We liked the sound of all the beef choices but that was too much beef for one week. Too many vegetarian options. I don't eat pork so those were out (although we substituted a beef recipe I wanted to try for one of the pork selections).

Pros -

- I loved having a discrete list for the store - no wandering around the store wondering what I could buy that wouldn't spoil if we didn't get to cook. It was quick to get through the store.

- I pulled the laptop right up to the kitchen to make dinner. Seems a print out would be warranted only if the recipe is worth going back to again.

- We have plans (as well as proteins and produce) for meals all week.

Cons -

- It did seem like I spent a ton of money at the store (even when I subtract the paper products and mustards - yes mustardS - we have some condiment issues at our house).

- The soup we made was awful.

Last night's dinner was Baked Potato Soup with Baguette and Dill Butter. I prepped everything as directed in the recipe. Cooked everything as directed in the recipe. Hubby doctored the heck out of the blandness that was the soup. Still a big YAWN. We decided that this was a case where we should have taken the concept of the menu item and figured out how to make it on our own so it would be more to our liking. The most inspired part of the meal was Hubby's decision to use the dill butter on the potato skins that otherwise would have gotten thrown away - definitely the best part of dinner!

I think the thing we will take most from Relish!, in addition to the organizational aspect, is the inspiration to try different things so dinner doesn't get too boring. We can see having some fun in the kitchen trying to make the best _______________ (fill in the blank - whatever the menu item on Relish! is) with or without the help of the recipe. We both enjoy cooking so hopefully this will inspire us to get out of our rut.

Tonight I am trying Korean-style Short Ribs (a substitution for the Relish! recipe which was some kind of Asian-style pork ribs in the crock) with Sesame Broccoli (part of the original Relish! menu for the day).

Obviously, using Relish! is a work in progress for us. Hopefully it will be a positive experience overall . . .