Being awesome at the internet has gotten me some sweet loot.  Last year I was pressured into signing up for this website called klout.com to score a Spotify invite before it was available in the US.  I have been loving Spotify ever since.  Being apart of klout has given me chances to try some things that I wouldn’t have ordinarily heard of or gotten to test out.  The most recent thing I’ve tried is a product/service called Plated.

Box-a-month programs are really hot right now.  There’s Birchbox and Julep Maven for beauty, there’s Barkbox for dogs, Kiwicrate for kids, and now there is Plated for your stomach.

What is Plated?

Plated is a service that ships all the necessary items for a recipe right to your house.  They have a menu each week that you can choose “plates” from, depending upon how many people you would like to serve with that recipe.  They pack, ship and deliver this right to your house every Tuesday.  As a member in their program, you pay a $10 monthly fee, and then you pay about $12 per plate of food you order.  Without the membership, you can still order, though the price per plate will be slightly higher, about $14.  They send you all the ingredients you need, save for a few pantry staples, like olive oil or salt & pepper.

I got a sweet klout perk to try out this service for myself and see what it’s all about.  I got a free one-month membership and 4 free plates.  The first week, I didn’t like anything on the menu, so I skipped that week.  The next one, I tried out two plates of Pork Loin with Parsnips and Balsamic Fig sauce and two plates of Chicken Tacos with Mango Salsa.  Here’s what arrived at my house:

here’s the box

All the ingredients were packed up so nicely and neatly and I got two very large and durable recipe cards.  I didn’t plan on cooking those things that evening, so I unpacked my box and put it in the fridge.  Everything was exceptionally fresh.

The next day I made the Pork Loin with Parsnips and Balsamic Fig sauce.  It went great and came out so delicious.  I’d never had parsnips before.  I messed up a little bit with the recipe, but once I noticed my error it was easily fixed (I added the whole cup of chicken stock when I was only supposed to add a quarter of a cup, so I used a turkey baster and took most of it out.)  Here’s some pics from the process…

here’s what came in the box

mango salsa! i made this!

grilled chicken for the chicken tacos

setting the table, note the fancy china, it is a hello kitty plate

really super delicious chicken taco

all the pork dish ingredients

choppy choppy

really easy prep work honestly

super noms

Here’s what I liked about this:  Super easy, everything’s included, shows up right at your house.  I tried and made things that I otherwise wouldn’t have.  Like a parsnip or cooking with figs.  This week  ordered two more recipes and made one of them tonight – Grilled Flank Steak with Horseradish Crema and Potatoes with Mint Pesto