Want to know what Terra’s Kitchen is all about? I partnered with Terra’s Kitchen on this post and you can try it with $30 off using the code SPLENDID30
Have you tried a meal delivery service? I have lots of friends who have and say they are basically expensive grocery shopping services because you’re left with huge amounts of prep work. No thanks. I want to be involved in the meal so I know what’s actually going into it, but also don’t want to buy a ton of ingredients in portions we won’t realistically eat only to spend hours prepping and cooking. Yes, I want it both ways.
I’m a modern woman. Can you blame me? What I want is a prep chef who shows up with exactly what I need and starts prepping. The last thing I want to do at 5:30 with a toddler clinging to my leg and screaming to be held is slice matchstick carrots. But I’d still love to eat a nice meal with my husband without having to get a babysitter to do so.
Enter Terra’s Kitchen. A box shows up at your door, well it’s sort of a box – it’s a climate controlled vessel. Which is a refrigerated reusable container filled with pre-prepped food to help you make healthy meals in 30 minutes or less. You simply unload it, remove your recipe cards, peel off the label that was originally used to send it to you which exposes your return label and leave it outside your front door before 8 the following morning to be picked up. Doable, right?
If you’ve been following me for a while then you know I openly admit my lack of cooking skills or patience when it comes to the culinary arts.
But for Friday and Saturday night last week, I enlisted Craig in child distraction duty while I created two delicious meals for us to enjoy together. First I made Pan Seared Chicken & Crisp Haricot Verts in a Sweet & Sour Bacon Sauce. Fancy, right? Terra’s Kitchen gave me pre portioned ingredients and a well thought out recipe card that didn’t ask me to do ridiculous things.
I seared the heck out of that chicken! Then used the drippings plus some delicious ones created by nothing other than bacon to sauté these haricot verts like a boss.
And much to my surprise at no point during this experience did I want to throw the recipe at the wall or give up. In fact, it was a confidence building experience.
I made a dinner that looked like this and tasted delicious. Craig and I both cleared our plates happily. In the end I traded him my last bit of chicken for his remaining beans since he’s the innate carnivore and I will almost always go for well seasoned veggies. Attracted opposites we are.
While we ate he peppered me with questions about this Terra and her kitchen that was clearly benefitting him on this lovely evening. How did it arrive? What did I think? Does it make sense for us? I told him that I had an unexpected experience. I thought I was hiring a higher end meal service to make it easier for me to get a decent dinner on the table. Which was true. However, what I didn’t realize was that I was actually paying to go to a very inexpensive cooking school.
You read that correctly. Terra’s Kitchen doesn’t advertise themselves as a cooking school, but that’s what it was to me. You see, the first night it was chicken. Something I’ve cooked before but with a new twist. However, the second night I made lamb. Or more specifically, I made Grilled Lamb with Pan Roasted Asparagus, Olives and Tomatoes. I have no idea how to choose lamb or which cut would be appropriate. Which is precisely why for the next 5 years I probably wouldn’t have attempted it.
But when a very pretty looking lamb loin and everything I needed to cook it showed up, the fear of the unknown melted away. And with approachable step by step instructions and a fair amount of color photos to guide me, I cooked that lamb loin. I pan roasted those veggies. Then we ate this. Think Terra’s Kitchen might be for you? Get $30 off your first order here using the code SPLENDID30
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Terra’s Kitchen. The opinions and text are all mine.
