Freebie Friday - Toad Holding a Bomb

 Today we are sharing another graph for our Crochet Along (CAL). This time it is Toad holding the bomb! Anyone making the Ultimate Crochet A Long you will need to crochet him as well. If not you can feel free to make him into a scarf, or part of a bigger project!

SORTedFood Youtube Channel

 Today we are talking about one of our absolute favourite Youtube Channels and that is SORTEDfood. This channel really has something for everybody. It stars two chefs James and Ben and three "normals" Jamie, Berry and Mike. And they really tackle cooking from all angles. Whether you are a professional like James and Ben or just a home cook like the other boys, you can follow along with their recipes. They try to make it simple and something everyone can comfortably make at home. One of there "series" Like A Chef, really highlights this. Ben (for the most part), tries to show the average cook how to make restaurant-quality dishes and how easy it can be (Cheaper Cuts of Steak, Roasted Chicken, Easy Mac and Cheese, French Toast, Pasta, Omelettes).

They also have great videos about reviews they give for either products or devices or something food-related. They also started looking at DIY Food Kits thanks to the pandemic. They are located in London and a lot of local restaurants did that during the lockdown and they have some great episodes about that. But my favourite thing they do has to be the PASS IT ON episodes. This is where all of them take a turn at making a dish. It is hilarious to see everyone's thought process and it is interesting how a dish can start off as one thing and finish as something the original person would have never thought of.

Wednesday Review - HelloFresh (Week 15)

 This week w are back to three recipes. And you will notice that this week we have a meal that we have had before. And I want to comment on that a little. Before the pandemic hit, a lot of the meals would repeat. Granted we are a household that is very picky with what we eat so that does play a part in it. But oftentimes (again before the pandemic) we would pick meals we already had simply because nothing new was offered or there was nothing else we would have enjoyed. That being said once the pandemic hit things changed and you will get to see that soon enough.

This week we are reviewing the Teriyaki Chicken Burger, Pan-Seared Steak, and Seared Italian Sausage. (We skipped a week, again because this was before the pandemic we had the whole family up for a week so we skipped our meals one week - this is for February 10th, 2020 or around there.)

So before I even talk about this Pan-Seared Steak with Peppercorn Pan Sauce and Warm Potato Salad, I will say I messed it up! I burned the sauce, so let this be a cautionary tale, watch your sauce and keep water nearby in case you need it. Besides that everything was good, the steak was a little fatty this time but nothing too bad. Even though the sauce looks horrible in my photo it didn't taste burnt and it was okay for the most part.

Next, we had the Seared Italian Sausage with Israeli Couscous and Spinach. I had this alone, my Picky Eater (PE) doesn't eat any of this so it was just myself. What I usually do with this is divided it up into two servings and I heat one up for lunch. This is what I did here but I took a photo of the whole thing together to show what they consider two servings. It was filling enough for me, and as I said I had enough for lunch the next day, but two people may not find this enough for supper.

This dish was disappointing. It seemed like a lazy man's risotto and it kind of lost the flavours it had because of it. My recommendation is to take your time with it. As I said I think if you treat this as risotto and take things slow. Also, they tell you to cook the couscous in chicken broth but the little packages they send are not enough for the amount of water needed. They did try to redeem themselves by adding nice little crispy shallots to the top with some cheese, and that helped the flavours but not enough. And I think I love this Israeli Couscous even more than the regular couscous. I was so impressed with the way this turned out I took a number of photos at different angles to show off just what went into this dish and how beautiful it looked it is just too bad it didn't taste as good as it looked.

And finally, we have the Teriyaki Chicken Burger with Kale Slaw and Edamame. This one was very good actually. Again my Picky Eater (PE) doesn't eat certain things so he just had a plain chicken burger. But I made mine the right way. I was 100% convinced that I was not going to like this burger because of the Japanese Spice blend they sent. It smelled strong at first but I still used it. And it turned out not as strong as it started out as which is great. And actually, the whole sandwich was great, it is one of the rare recipes I didn't mess with and I have no suggestions for. It was good just the way it was. My PE doesn't eat coleslaw or picks so I had them all to myself, which is nice because I LOVE pickles. And I really fell in love with the little bags they send.