A Perfect Fit Meal for a Picky Dad

Trying new foods is not at the top of my list of things to do. Honestly, it’s not even on my list. Food and me don’t always see eye to eye. I’m not allergic to anything, it’s just that I am a picky eater. Chicken strips and french fries, plain hamburgers, not very many veggies… That’s pretty much how I roll. When I turned 30 I told myself I would try new things, and it’s been over a year and there isn’t much that I have tried… Until recently.

Perfect Fit Meals contacted me asking if I would like to try out some samples of their products in exchange for a review. At first I was very hesitant as new foods definitely make me nervous, but I gave myself a pep talk and told myself I can do this, it’s only food. Yikes! I replied and said that I am up for the challenge. I was asked to pick out three meals from the Perfect Fit Meals menu of meals. I selected the Turkey Enchilada Casserole, Herb Crusted Chicken, and Chicken Carbonara.

IMG_1160So for the next three days I had lunch covered for work. The first day i started out with the Turkey Enchilada Casserole. It has white corn tortillas strips with lean ground turkey, enchilada sauce, cheddar cheese, and black bean corn salsa. I picked this one first since visually it looked okay and I have had enchiladas before. While they are not my favorite Mexican dish, enchiladas, in general, are not that bad. My biggest complaint about the enchilada casserole is the same complaint I have about regular homemade enchiladas, and that is that the tortilla shell gets too soft and mushy. According to my wife that is what is suppose to happen. So I guess there really isn’t anything technically wrong with it. As far as taste goes and whether or not this meal filled me up for lunch. I would say that it did. Out of the three it was my least favorite but it wasn’t so horrible that I had to throw it out. I ate it all with a few weird faces and while technically it’s not bad, or anything like that, I probably would not pick up this meal again. I will say that I showed my co-workers what I was eating and they thought it looked and smelled delicious (it really did). They as well as myself loved the packaging. The clear vacuumed sealed wrap is a nice touch over the standard box trays you would get from the less healthier brands. Being able to see the meal before purchasing is 100% better than deciding from a picture on a box.

IMG_1158The next day I popped the Herb Crusted Chicken into the microwave. This comes with sliced herb crusted chicken breast stuffed with a provolone uncured bacon sauce, served with rosemary roasted red potatoes and french green beans. The chicken in this meal was so delicious. So delicious in fact that it is surprising that it was even cooked in a microwave. The packaging was the same as the enchiladas where you could see what you were actually going to eat. I would say that the chicken in this meal was great, but what stole the show was that uncured bacon sauce. OMG, I need that recipe. It was so good. I’ve never had a sauce like that and it was amazing. My biggest complaint with this particular meal was the french green beans. I’ve never been a fan of green beans, but my mom and dad made me eat them when I was a kid so I can handle them. My issue more than likely was my own fault. My work microwave is old and probably not 1000 watts like the instructions suggest cooking for 1 1/2 – 2 minutes. I had to cook this meal for about 4 minutes for it to not be cold in the center. I have a feeling that this made the green beans a little more tender than I would have liked. I ate a few of them, but not all of them (sorry mom). I think having a better microwave probably would have cooked the green beans perfectly.

IMG_1159 The last Perfect Fit Meal that I had for lunch was Chicken Carbonara. Like the other meals you can actually see the food and something I didn’t mention is that the packaging on all of their meals is BPA Free. So if you are concerned about those kinds of things hopefully that can help you ease your mind. The Chicken Carbonara came with seasoned chicken breast with green peas and tomatoes, tossed with multigrain penne pasta in an uncured bacon cauliflower cream sauce. I liked this meal more so than the enchiladas but less than the herb crusted chicken. The sauce was good, it had a similar taste to the sauce in the previous meal but you could taste a little bit of the cauliflower, which was still very delicious. The peas were fine and the chicken was good. I also liked the penne pasta. This meal cooked better than the previous but I probably could’ve done without the tomatoes. They were cut really small, kinda like how you see them in a salsa, so it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be if they were cut bigger.

All in all I would say that Perfect Fit Meals are much better than the majority of other brands. I can’t recall ever seeing a fresh meal where you can actually see what’s inside instead of having to rely on a picture. That to me is worth the price of admission. Speaking of price, these meals are sigificantly more expensive than say a Banquet or Michelina’s. But don’t let that put you off. The food in these are excellent. Do not let my personal picky-ness be a factor in why you won’t try one. These meals are definitely better for you and definitely taste better than the processed meats, or even a plain old hot pocket, which is what I usually eat for lunch, but not anymore!

I want to thank Perfect Fit Meals for this opportunity to try out their fresh meals in exchange for this review. I also got a really cool t-shirt along with the meals so that is a bonus as well. I would suggest checking out the menu on their website to get a good idea of everything that they have to offer. There are a few meals on there that I do not remember seeing earlier this month. Those few I’ve got to try because they just look excellent.

So to summarize, Perfect Fit Meals are a great way to break away from the bland, over salted, processed meals. They are a few dollars more but you will know where your money went when you take your first bite. My only suggestion to make these meals better is for Perfect Fit Meals to bottle up that uncured bacon sauce and sell that by itself. It probably wouldn’t be too healthy but I can see myself pouring that stuff on just about everything!

Perfect Fit Meals provided St. Louis Dad with these products as compensation in exchange for an honest review. Please visit PerfectFitMeals.com for more information!

Get Your Fair Fix With Homemade Funnel Cake

IMG_0465Did you get a chance to go out this weekend to the many different fairs and festivals in the St. Louis and surrounding area to enjoy this beautiful weather we’ve been having? Not in St. Louis? Then what about your neck of the woods?

While I did not get to make it down to LouFest, my family was able to enjoy a lot of fun at HarvestFest. The kids did all of the fun stuff that you could do at a small little festival. The kids enjoyed pony rides, feeding baby goats, jumping around in bounce houses, playing in the bubble bus, doing crafts and games, eating candy and other junk food, taking a train ride, and more!

If you were stuck at home and couldn’t make it out then why not bring some of that delicious fair food to your own kitchen? Check out this recipe for my absolutely favorite fair food, Funnel Cake! There are many funnel cake recipes out there, so if this one doesn’t suit your needs, a quick Google search will send you thousands of results. My recipe is easy and does not require as many ingredients as others posted online. It’s deliciously simple, so I hope you’re hungry!

What you will need:

1 egg
1 1/3 cup of milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/14 cup of flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups of oil
powder sugar or other toppings

Directions:

Begin by pouring 2 cups of oil into a deep pan. We used vegetable oil in a 2 inch deep cast iron skillet. I’m sure you could use a deep fryer or something else to hold the oil. Just make sure you keep everyone safe. Funnel cake cooks fast so be sure your temperatures are set correctly and that you can pay attention to what you are doing. This is a great recipe to do with the kids but always remember that when your cooking with oil safety is very, very, important. So turn the heat up to about medium and let the oil warm up while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

IMG_0450First mix all of your dry ingredients together and mix thoroughly. The next step is to mix your egg and milk together. Once your wet mix is ready slowly add your dry mix to the egg/milk while slowly mixing together to keep a smooth creamy mixture. Once you have all of the ingredients mixed you have a few options of how you can start making your funnel cake.

One of the more popular options is to use a freezer bag and cut a small tip off of a corner so you can “pipe” the mixture into the oil. Since we love our funnel cake we actually have a funnel cake container for pour the mix (check out the picture below with the lovely Strawberry Shortcake). So go load up your container and test your oil to see if it is hot enough yet. You can do this by taking just a sprinkle of flour and dropping it into the oil. If it starts to sizzle you’re good to go.

IMG_0456Pour your mix into the oil in a spiral, zig-zag, or whatever design you want. It only takes a few minutes to cook so be sure to keep a watchful eye on the funnel cake. You will want to flip it once so both sides become a nice light golden brown. Remove and place on a paper towel or something else to drain up the excess oil and cover with your favorite topping.

We like to keep it simple and use powder sugar but there are some that like to use honey, caramel, blue berries, strawberries, and more. The directions above will make around five decently sized funnel cakes.

Did you try out my recipe? What are your favorite funnel cake toppings? Share your comments below!

P.s. I apologize for the pictures of my crazy looking kitchen. We work with what we got!

Doggy and Sea Star Sugar Cookies!

After a long day at the birthday party and after cooking up some tasty burgers and fries I thought it would be nice to cook up some cookies for the family. Abby helped me mix the dough together and then she picked out two cookie cutters for our sugar cookies. She ended up going with a sea star and a puppy doggy. They don’t look that great int he photo below but they came out pretty tasty!Doggy and Sea Star Sugar Cookies!
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Get Some Brunch at Cardinals Nation

CardinalsNation-RestaurantBarReady for spring yet? I know I am. Snow is fun for sledding and snowmen, but not much else. Looking through Twitter I just seen a great tweet that I just had to share. Cardinals Nation Restaurant & Bar located in Ballpark Village is now serving brunch! Hey it’s not brinner but brunch is just as good. Here is what Cardinals Nation had to say on their website.

“Cardinals Nation is proud to announce the newest addition to our lineup: Sunday Brunch. Every non-game Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the second floor of Cardinals Nation will offer our Homerun Brunch with a selection to please every fan. Each brunch will include soda, coffee, tea and one (1) adult beverage from the bar.

Whether you are looking for an omelet made to order or prime rib carved just for you, we have your bases covered. You can expect typical breakfast fare like eggs benedict, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, waffles and more. Lunch items to include three different salads, entrée and side items, shrimp, mussels and house made desserts to top it off.

Sunday Brunch is $30 for adults, just $12 for children ages 5 to 11 and free for children under 5. Convenient, complimentary parking available on the Ballpark Village lot. To make a reservation please call 314.345.9880.

Don’t wait. Make your reservation today!”