Mealtime Makeover - Spicy beef and potato

Easy to make- brown the meat, add the veggies and others, boil on the stove, serve and enjoy. The soup turned out better than I expected- although it may have been partially that I was *really* in the mood for soup. I served it with various rolls. And had plenty left over for a few days, which I really enjoy. This is one that could have been frozen for later, if you don't use it all right away or want to save for leftovers.

Mealtime Makeover - Steak salad

Edible, but not a remake. I like the black beans, corn, and salsa combo, but not with the salad, and the steak seemed out of place. My husband wasn't interested in it as a salad, so he wrapped it in a burrito. It was alright for my little boy though. We cut the steak into small pieces, along with corn and black beans, with a breadstick on the side. He was pretty happy.

~Sent from my Sprint Evo~

Mealtime Makeover - Beefy black beans and rice

This meal was a surprising hit in my home. It's basically ground beef, black beans, salsa, some spices for additional flavor and rice. It didn't sound great, but the result was awesome! My husband ate it in a burrito with cheese, I fed it to my son on a spoon, and I ate it with tortilla chips. It was even yummy the next day when I took it to work for lunch. This one gets 4 stars!

posted from Bloggeroid

Mealtime Makeover - Not a very good meal

This meal was . . . okay. It could have been better, but we ate it anyway. We love oriental food and stir fry, and had high hopes for this meal. Sadly, the flavors didn't blend well (the sauce called for OJ and soy sauce and a few others). I was a little impressed with the individual items, though, and I will buy stir fry mix again. I wasn't aware it was available, so I'm glad to have this recipe enlighten me. 2 Stars for this one. We ate it, but I won't be making it again.

posted from Bloggeroid

Mealtime Makeover - Yummy!

I didn't catch a picture of this one because everyone dug in too quickly.

This meal was chicken, rolled in crushed butter crackers, with seasoning and cheese. On the side was a salad and green beans. Plus garlic bread. It turned out WONDERFUL! Probably our favorite meal so far. I'm quite sad I didn't get a picture. But there was no holding back on this tasty one.


Four stars for this meal, it will be made again.

Mealtime Makeover - Another meal

Another meal from Mealtime Makeover. It wasn't the most impressive, but it was fast, easy, and a healthy, complete meal. Plus, this was one meal my son could eat all of, if he would that is. Poor little boy hasn't developed a taste for Italian dressing or red sauce yet.

posted from Bloggeroid

Mealtime Makeover - Long time, no review

Sorry everyone! I haven't been able to keep up on my reviews. We had a lot going on these last few months- a huge, 20 person extended family trip; a death of a grandparent (on a different side of the family as the trip side); a serious illness for all three of us; and a brand new job. We have done a little cooking, and no reviews. I'll get back to it soon, now that life has started taking on some organization again.

On a good note, we have decided to continue our membership with E-mealz. For the short time we were able to take advantage of it, we were pleased with it. We will continue our membership for at least three more months, and see how it helps us now that we are both working. You can look for reviews now with a rating of one to five stars. One being the lowest- a meal we wouldn't even eat, and five being the highest- everyone loved it and we'll be talking about it for days.

More reviews soon to come!

Mealtime Makeover - Another good meal

This one wasn't the complete success other's have been. However, this one was completely new, completely different, and completely do-able. A mexican casserole served on a bed of chopped lettuce with a side of corn. And it was tasty.

posted from Bloggeroid

Mealtime Makeover - Last night's meal was a hit!

Last night we had BBQ chicken, potato salad, and cantalope with a honey/lime glaze. It was delicious! The original recipe called for pork chops instead of chicken, but we like chicken better, and macaroni salad, but I like potato salad better. Even DH enjoyed the meal, and he doesn't like cantalope. He said the glaze was the only reason he ate it. Two thumbs up for this meal!

posted from Bloggeroid

Mealtime Makeover - The leftover creations

I like leftovers. I like to take bits and pieces from previous meals and see what I can create into a new tasty dish. Not always easy with my picky family. This one turned out well. I took leftover taco meat, and made a lunchtime quesodilla. I put salsa and sour cream with it, and viola! It was yummy, simple, and surprisingly filling.

This is my son's lunch today. Chicken nuggets and strawberries. Remember the days when lunch was such a simple pleasure? (No these aren't leftovers. Just a fond memory.)

posted from Bloggeroid

Mealtime Makeover - Three meals so far

Although I love the simplicity this subscription brings to our lives, the jury is still out on the meals.

The first meal was fish tacos. As I've stated before, DH is allergic to fish so we slightly edited this meal. Instead of fish, we used ground beef. Other than that change, we enjoyed the meal just as it was suggested. Sorry, I didn't get a picture.

This next meal is a italian noodle casserole. It was good, but not as good as I expected. Thankfully, it was fairly simple, and seems to save well. Next time, I'll add a bit more flavor (probably some italian seasoning), and a bit less noodles, mix it all together instead of layering it (except the top coat of cheese and croutons), and I think it will be better.

This third meal I was very excited about . . . and ever so disappointed when it was a flop. This was a french toast bake. It sounded so good, with the blueberry drizzle over the cinnamon/sugar topping. Unfortunately, it didn't bake very well, and was completely soggy. I don't know about you, but soggy bread is not appetizing to me. The idea of it is delicious, the blueberry drizzle was very tasty and original, and the bacon on the side was a nice touch. Next time, I plan to bake this covered, and for as much as double the time, hoping it will bake away the sogginess. If it works, it will be fantastic. If it doesn't, well, the soggy bread speaks for it.
Tomorrow we're having BBQ chicken, potato salad, and lime/honey cantalope. This one shouldn't be too hard to mess up because it's a nice simple meal. Bake the chicken with the BBQ sauce, deli potato salad, and a cantalope. I'll keep the pictures and reviews of the meals coming.

posted from Bloggeroid

Mealtime Makeover - the Costco trip

This is the shopping trip from Costco. I normally like to get both the grocery store and the Costco trip the same day, but it didn't work out this time. Close enough. Anyway, I spent $168.
4 loaves of bread, 4 bags of cereal, box of 30 mini boxes of cereal, 4 gallons of milk, 6 bags of tortillas, 2 double bags of hot dogs, 2 large boxes of foil, 5 lbs of ground beef, 4 lbs of bacon, large sour cream, 5lbs I can't believe it's not butter, double size cheese slices,3lbs of premade salad, 5lbs shredded mozzarella, 5lbs shredded cheddar.

And just for fun, this is what my fridge looks like packed with all that food. About half of it is going to be frozen for future use (hamburger, cheese, tortillas), and it's a good thing because I can't get to anything that isn't in the front.

Tomorrow will be the first eMealz meal. I'm looking forward to it.

posted from Bloggeroid

Mealtime Makeover - the grocery trip

This was the shopping trip from the Grocery Store. I spent $65.
1 plunger, 1 bottle of drain opener, 1 bag of chicken nuggets, 2 pks strawberries, 16 oz potato salad, 1 pk blueberries, 1 bottle of BBQ sauce, 1 can La Choy noodles, 1 jar of mayo, 1 box rice, 4 boxes muffin mix, 2 bags croutons, 1 pk ice cream sandwiches, 1 8oz bag of Italian blend cheese, 2 4pks of yogurt, 1 pk frozen corn, 1 container cottage cheese, 3 cans tomatoes, 3 pks cupcake liners, 5 red apples, 3 green apples, 2 cucumbers, 2 limes, 1 onion, 6 bananas, 1 cantalope, 10 tomatoes, 1 head of iceburg lettuce.

posted from Bloggeroid

Mealtime Makeover - the planning stage

I love to cook, and my household loves to enjoy food. Lately, however, we've been in a food rut. Cooking seems the same, and we aren't thrilled with our meals anymore. So, we decided to give another Dave Ramsey program a shot- eMealz.

Today, I purchased a 3 month membership for $12.50, using the code Dave to get $2.50 off. (I'm all about being gazelle intent, ya know.) I selected the standard meal plan for 4-6 people. I figured that would suit our evening meal for the four of us, and give a lunch or two for the next day since 2 of those eaters have very small stomachs. I downloaded the meal plan and got ready to show DH when he got home.

DH and I discussed the meals, making appropriate changes. For example, he is allergic to fish, so we changed the Grilled Fish Tacos to beef tacos, attempting to keep all the other details and ingredients the same.

Then, I made our shopping lists. I made one list for Costco, and one for the grocery store, removing items we wouldn't need (the fish from the tacos we changed, decided on crescent rolls instead of dinner rolls since we have a bunch in the fridge already, etc). And since the shopping list provided by eMealz is for the meals they plan only, I added our breakfast and lunch items, such as adding blueberry muffin mix for breakfast and increasing the tomatoes and lettuce amounts for BLTs.

So far . . .
Pros

1. Getting the plan couldn't be easier. Log in, download, and there it is. It takes me longer to get to my email.
   
2. Simple simple simple layout for the recipes, a breakdown of the food for that meal, and the directions for creating.
3. Variety of the meals. It's not all one nationality or meat type. There is American, Italian, Breakfast for dinner, Salads, etc. This will most definitely add variety back into our meals.
   

Cons

1. I feel the writing on the shopping list is too small and cramped. I like the option of editing lists, and this doesn't give an editable (is that a word?) feel. But someone that plans to make the meals as-is won't have this problem.
   
2. I would have liked the option of altering a plan based on allergies. Each week includes one fish meal. But we will probably take that night off for sandwiches or one of our current favorite recipes.
   

I'm looking forward to my shopping trip tomorrow. I haven't decided yet if I want to start the plan tomorrow or next week, but either way I'm looking forward to it.