Fresh Prep: Delicious convenience in a box!

I apologize in advance, since I totally forgot to publish this post a year ago, but here it is nonetheless! I was contacted by a member of Fresh Prep to try out their meals and provide some feedback! My first time doing something like this, so please bear with me!

The website has evolved over time, so it's a little different than when I first ordered from them-- it's much cleaner and prettier. They have the option for you to look at their weekly menu, pricing, and explains how it works. You create an account and the current deal is getting two free meals with your first order. I ordered for a one-time delivery meal for two.

It comes in a convenient little box, delivered right to your door (if you're within their delivery range, they can also deliver to work if you want to pick up there, which is what we did). I ordered the Lemon Rosemary Salmon with Arugula and Ancient Grain Risotto ($14.00/portion).

Inside are the ingredients, nicely packaged with a cooking instructions sheet. The ingredients are labeled, so you won't need a lot of effort trying to figure out what each ingredient is, if you're unfamiliar with them! In the box, we got Wild Sockeye Salmon Filet, Ancient Grains, Lemon, Vegetable Stock, Rosemary Sprigs, Ground Rosemary, Arugula, Carrot, Himalayan Salt, Parmesan Cheese, and Garlic.

The herbs and seasoning ingredients, along with the salmon, all neatly packaged.

Fresh ingredients in each bag!

We followed the instructions on how to cook them, first was the salmon! Beautiful color and cut of salmon!

Next we put the risotto into a pot with water and the bouillon cube to boil.

Stir stir stir!

Now add the carrots!

The lemon was half cut into slices, for the convenience of placing half on the salmon and the other half for extra lemon juices if needed. They also provide dried and fresh rosemary for seasoning and plating!

Done baking in the oven now!

Onto plating, now this is where it gets personal on how you want to plate the dish, but the kitchen smelled amazing!

The salmon was nicely cooked according to their instructions, and we didn't end up using the Himalayan rock salt, since it was flavorful enough on its own.

Overall I quite enjoyed making this meal, it was straight-forward and easy to follow. Only extra we needed was water and basic kitchen utensils/tools (like a stove, oven, pot, tray, plates, etc). We were quite satisfied with the portion size, taste, and quality of ingredients-- we even had leftovers of the risotto! This was made on our anniversary night, and let's say thanks to Fresh Prep, we had a most memorable evening =) Continue being amazing!

Recipe: Cream Puffs

It's been a while since I've put up a recipe! Here's a simple cream puffs recipe =)

Ingredients:
25mL margarine/ butter
50mL water
50mL flour
1        egg

Some useful utensils:

• non-stick saucepan/ pot
• wooden spatula
• measuring spoons
• measuring cup
• electric mixer
• large bowl (which can hold minimum of 1L of fluids to be safe)
• two small spoons (for scooping the batter onto the baking sheet)
• baking sheet
• (optional) parchment paper

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Combine margarine and water in a small saucepan (I like to use my non-stick pot).

3. Stir over heat just until margarine has melted and mixture boils (slightly, not strongly)

4. Add flour all at once, stir vigorously over heat until mixture leaves sides of saucepan.

You can see how it left easily! I roll it around for fun =P

5. Transfer mixture to a bowl and add egg.

6. Beat with electric mixer until fluffy.

It shouldn't be watery, and should be well mixed by now.

7. Drop heaping 5mL portions about 5 cm apart on ungreased cookie sheet. 
**You can choose to line this with parchment paper first =)**

8. Bake for 10 minutes at 400°F, then reduce heat to 350°F and bake another 10 minutes
or until crispy and slightly browned.
**DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DURING BAKING**

Voila~ Cool shells before filling with whipping cream or custard, then finish by
drizzling with melted chocolate.

Recipe: Banana Bread

I did mention I would post recipes, eh? Never really got around to it, so I thought I'd start with an easy one :) Super simple, doesn't require a lot of stuff (materials/utensils) and turns out good almost every time :D To make it easier on yourself, I like to use three bowls for this. Hope you'll all enjoy making and eating this :3

**If you don't have buttermilk, just substitute with ¹/₂ tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar plus enough milk to make ¹/₂ cup then let it stand for 5 minutes.**

Ingredients:
In bowl 1:
- 1 cup sugar (can decrease amount if you find this is too sweet, I usually only put in 3/4 or less-- very flexible)
- ¹/₂ cup softened butter (salted or unsalted is fine) or margarine (can sub with olive oil)
- 2 eggs (better at room temperature, but cold is fine)


In bowl 2 (largest bowl, since this one will hold everything in the end):
- 1 ¹/₂ cups mashed bananas (about 3-4 medium bananas, the riper the better and easier to mash!)
- ¹/₂ cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla


In bowl 3:
- 2 ¹/₂ cup of flour-- leave 1/2 cup as spare (might not need it)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt


I tried to take a picture of everything I used, but I couldn't get in the other two bowls...The largest bowl is shown :)







Directions:
2 choices when baking: line baking pan with parchment paper (what I usually do) or grease it so it doesn't stick-- take your pick, doesn't really affect the results ^^

I kinda messed up here, should've melted the butter more and
mixed it with sugar first, but luckily it turned out ok after xD

1. In bowl 1, mix the sugar and butter together.
Add the eggs and stir well. 

I used 4 bananas this time because they weren't overly ripe
(so drier than if they were really ripe)

2. In bowl 2, mash the bananas (if you haven't done
so already).

3. Pour in the buttermilk and vanilla. Mix well.  

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda 

4. In bowl 3, mix 2 cups of flour with the baking soda and salt. 

5. Combine bowl 1 and 2 together first, then bowl 3. 

Stir until batter appears moist, but not watery.

6. Pour batter into pans evenly.

7. Preheat oven to 350^oF (so the batter has some time
to settle) 

8. Bake for about 30-40 minutes-- until toothpick
comes out clean!!-- and its golden-brown ^^
This is an example of what NOT clean means :)

A little tip for a straighter crack on the top, is to lightly cut it after about 15 minutes of baking (when the top starts to look dry)

Good luck everyone!! Hope it turns out great and you like it :D