Plated

The latest trend in home cooking is ordering boxed meals and have them shipped right to your front door.  I have seen a few companies adds and pictures of plated food on Instagram and most bloggers I follow have tried either Plated or Blue Apron. And it looked fun and intriguing.  For months it has had me really curious if it is something I would like.

I decided to go ahead and order a box through Plated.  The reason why I chose Plated is because their food is described as Farm to Front Door.  Their website states that their ingredients come from local sources whenever possible, and that their beef is antibiotic and hormone free. They also use carbon-neutral packaging, and their boxes are made from 100% recycled material.

Now that I found a company to use...my trouble was finding a meal that was somewhat adventurous and out of the norm for me to make.  To make this a true learning experience. But the meals also had to be appetizing for my family of three...well two and half...and that posed an issue that they only will deliver plates for four servings or more.  This to me was too much food, or so I thought... The food quantities was actually not a whole lot.

My choice for my first box was Indonesian Beef Randang...which is basically a beef cooked in lime and coconut curry.  (I love curry!!)

My box arrived on the date it was promised.  (a great start)
And the packaging was just as promised.

Organized, clean, and refrigerated with dry ice.

Here is the layout of what was inside the package:

I found the ingredients to be all very fresh and high quality with the exception of the beef.  I was not impressed with the cut of beef they included in the meal.  It was an inside round??  Whatever the beef cut was, I found it to be tough and not full of flavor.  And this dish is meant to cook for a while...so when I googled this cut of meat the first thing I noticed is that it states to NOT overcook that cut of beef.

The recipe and steps were all included and very easy to follow.

I am a girl who likes picture cookbooks.   So I love that they gave you a picture of what it should look like when its done.  As well as on the back of this card there was all steps broken out and pictures above each step.

The meal itself smelled glorious in the home when cooking.
However the cooking time which was posted was not accurate.  It took me longer than what was anticipated.  (which could have resulted in the tough meat).

Here is my end results...photos of what I made:

And the plating:

Sorry for the messy plating...but I actually sat down and started to eat and forgot to make a pretty plate up...so here is a rushed one I took after a few bites in.

I walked away feeling like it was a fun thing to try.  But the pre-made box meals are not for me.  I did not like being able to choose the cut of meat and the food outcome was just ok.  I was not blown away by the actual end result.   (would have been cheaper to order takeout!)

On a positive note...I will say I am making turmeric rice more often!!! This was a simple one step of adding turmeric to my jasmine rice to give my rice more flavor.  Who knew?!

Happy Cooking and Love,

Stylish Mama

Most Innovative City in the World in 2013

Pack your bags! We're going to South America!

My family comes from the coast of Colombia, the city is called Barranquilla.  Most kids would go to Disney World for vacation but that wasn't my case. Most of my school vacations were spent back home with my family. Those are my fondest childhood memories.  Colombia has a lot to offer, besides the coffee that its known for and ahem...other things. Unfortunately I haven't visited all its cities but they are on my bucket list.  Therefore when I was given the opportunity to fly and visit the 2nd largest city in Colombia, I didn't hesitate to say YES. 

Welcome to Medellin, Colombia!

Since I was very little, visiting Medellin was a dream of mine.  I already loved it without even seeing it with my own eyes.  When I arrived and I saw the city for the first time, my eyes teared up and I felt a knot in my throat.  I was fulfilling one of my long time dreams, it was all coming true. I was finally there! I could breathe its air, see its beauty, listen to their music, touch its soil and eat all the delicious foods.  It felt like home and that's what mattered to me.  

If you wish to learn about this beautiful city, I recommend you click on the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medellín to read more and find out why this city won Most Innovative City of the World in 2013.

(Excuse the quality of my pictures, I didn't have the best camera with me.  My only regret!)

Food!! Yum! Yum!!

I love food. I can't stress that enough and I eat tons! Ask any of my friends.  Let me share with you how many times we eat in Colombia: we have a good breakfast, snack between lunch, a huge lunch, a snack before dinner and then a huge dinner.  Oh, and lets not forget the snack before bed.  Cafesito con arepita (coffee with cornmeal cakes).  Is that enough of food for you? 

Are you hungry yet? Just putting this collage together of just some of the foods I ate is making me hungry! 

A quick tour of the city!

Take a look at this mall! 

Lastly I will show you a couple of the things I did in the Antioguia region.  I rode the Metro Cable, very scary at times because of the altitude.  I rode a horse for the first time, that hurt! I rode the Metro, had dinner on Colombia's Luxury Yacht, climbed all 740 steps of "La Piedra de Guatape" and visited their town.  

I hope you enjoyed traveling with me through my pictures.  I had a wonderful time! 

I welcome you all to visit Colombia, you will not regret it.  

Feliz dia!!

Organized Chica - xox 

Welcome to our new adventure

Welcome and Bienvenidos!   

We are so excited to finally start blogging!!

Let us begin by telling you our names – Stylish Mama is Kim and Organized Chica is Marilyn.

We are both 30 something Latinas in the  New England region.  We have a passion and love for many girly things!  In our blog you will find topics on fashion, organization, food, shopping, make-up, home decorating and much more. 

As you start to read our blog, you will notice we will be featuring different topics that we have strengths in or enjoy just talking about.  These entries will either be individual or a joint entry if we worked on something together.  Whoever wrote it - you will see our names posted after the entry– in hoping you will get a sense of our individual style and personality!

We would like to state that we are not being sponsored by any brand or company that we will be featuring in our blog, unless specified otherwise.  We will not stand behind a product or service that we do not believe in. Therefore as we feature them, we will always give our honest opinion, making sure that you as a reader will gain a non-biased review.   

In saying that, please visit our ABOUT US page so you can get a background in who we are and what we are all about. 

We would love for you to give us feedback on our blog entries, but please keep in mind that this is a family-oriented and positive forum and we will not tolerate bullying or foul language.   With your help we will find out what you enjoy reading and learning about.  Please remember we are amateur bloggers starting out on a journey of the unknown.   Our blog will be growing as we keep learning so please stay tuned as new pages and features appear.  We know we cannot be successful without having all of you as our support system.  So thank you to all who wish to be part of this.  We are feeling so blessed and thrilled for what is to come! 

Stay tuned as we take a leap into the unknown together!

Lots of Love, Stylish Mama and Organized Chica xox