This week's tester's are: Jes and Jason Webb of Cincinnati, Ohio. Jes works as a Executive Assistant and Jason is an Army reservist and pediatric nurse. They both spend their time at CrossFit Cincinnatifor daily WOD's. I asked Jes what they do in their spare time, and this is what she had to say, "Ha! What do I not enjoy doing is a better question. Together we hike, camp, bike, CrossFit, travel, play board games and spend time with our dogs, Beau + Hashi, and our nieces and nephew. Individually, I'm a diehard hockey fan, love photography, planning, live music, reading and cooking" she answered.
At the top, you'll see the number "1" in bold just below each menu item. You can change this number to correspond with the number of portions that you'd like to make. Say you want to make a double batch of the Stuffed Zucchini just change the "1" to a "2" and it will increase the ingredients for this recipe. Make sense?
Click back to the tab that says "Meal Plan 17.18 Grocery List" and your quantities will be updated.
Prepare the Apple Raisin Country Style Ribs, place it into the slow cooker, set the slow cooker on a foil-lined sheet pan, and leave it on your counter or in your garage to cook for seven hours overnight.
Prepare the Citrus Cod En Papillote. Enjoy this as a meal or dinner tonight. Properly store any remaining portions in your refrigerator for up to three days.
Portion out the Apple Raisin Ribs and refrigerate for up to seven days or freeze for up to six months.
Prepare the Pineapple Chicken with Broccoli. Enjoy this meal for lunch. Portion out and properly store any leftovers in the refrigerator for up to five days.
Prepare the Shrimp and Sausage Stuffed Zucchini. Eat a portion for dinner. Store leftovers in the refrigerator and garnish it with Massie Mayo and Salsa Chipotle when eating from here on out. Eat this meal within 3-5 days.
Notes: "This recipe was easyto throw together. The meat was tender and flavorful. The onions were my favorite part," Jes commented.
"The apples ended up too mushy for my liking after being cooked for so long. I don't eat a whole lot of pork and didn't know that country style ribs were actually a different cut of meat. (I know it's discussed in the video but silly me didn't watch it first) I made these originally with spare ribs and it was awful. I'm glad I gave it another try with the right cut of meat because we ended up loving this recipe!" Jes proclaimed.
I always encourage everyone to view the videos for each recipe prior to preparing it. Seeing it done makes reading through the recipe procedure that much easier. I don't know about you, but getting a visual description of prepping, cooking and platting always inspires my culinary experience.
Jes spent ten minutes prepping this dish, seven hours slow cooking it, and yielded three portions.
Notes: "This was fun to make; looked and tasted great. I consider myself an experienced/experimental, self-taught cook but I had never tried "en papillote". It was a fun new technique to learn and I can't wait to use it again. I love that any veggies would work in this so you could change it up depending on your tastes/what you have in your fridge," Jes exclaimed.
This recipe uses the PALEO GRIND Cheechako Tako seasoning, so grab a bottle if you don't already have on in the cupboard. It works wonderfully on so many dishes.
Jes spent ten minutes prepping this recipe, fifteen minutes cooking it and yielded two portions.
Notes: "While the recipe for this dish was easy to follow, this was my least favorite of the meals I tested. I make up my own stir-fry all the time and this one was kind of disappointing in comparison. I added garlic and ginger and it totally changed this into a delicious meal that I would make again," Jes noted.
I'd have to agree with Jes on this statement. I have made this recipe myself and I am not sure if it was the way the sesame oil coated the meat and veggies or just the overall flavor that threw me off, but I haven't made it since. The addition of garlic and ginger sounds like a great option.
Jes spent fifteen minutes prepping this meal, ten minutes cooking it, and yielded three portions.
Notes: "This was, surprisingly, my favorite recipe of the four. I thought with the minimal ingredients it would lack flavor but I WAS WRONG! This was delicious! My husband is a night-shift nurse and he took this one to work with him to heat up on his lunch. I got a text at 3 am telling me "This one is a keeper. You need to make this again!" Jes shared.
"I can't handle a lot of spice so I used half the adobo and added a little honey to the Salsa Chipotle and I loved how it turned out. I made it as the recipe stated for my husband and he said it was really good. Cooking these took a little longer than the recipe suggested. I cooked it for twenty-five minutes, to cook the sausage all the way through," she noted. The second garnish option for these boats filled with goodness is the Massie Mayo. The recipe is included with this week's recipes and grocery list, so go ahead and make a batch if you don't already have it in your refrigerator. If you do, don't forget to change the amount to "0" on the menu items and ingredients list on the xcel spreadsheet version of the grocery list to remove these items.
Jes spent five minutes prepping these, twenty-five minutes cooking them, and made 2-3 portions.