At Home Gourmet with Relished Foods {A Review}

Imagine having everything you needed to create three delicious meals in your kitchen, meals that would both taste great, and help you to improve your cooking skills, delivered right to your front door. Think it sounds too good to be true? Well, thanks to Home Chef it is now a reality! 

So, how exactly does this work? It's quite simple actually. Relished Foods delivers a portioned ingredient kit filled with all of the fresh, local ingredients, to cook three delicious meals every week.

A weekly subscription gets you 3 new meals with 2, 4 or 6 servings for only $9.95 per serving. Each week you preview the menu available online, and if you want it, you sign up for delivery by Friday. If you don't, you can easily skip weeks. Plus, you can cancel at anytime. 

Once your menu is ordered, they shop fresh, local ingredients and deliver your kit every Wednesday, saving you time and curating quality food from top suppliers, perfectly portioned for each dish. Their executive chef creates each recipe, and provides you step by step instructions for cooking them in your kitchen too, having you cooking like a professional chef in no time! 

I was so excited when the folks at Relished ask me to try a week's menu for myself; and I can honestly say when my box arrived, I was like a kid on Christmas morning going through it. When they say they include everything you need to make the three meals, they mean everything. From the proteins and fresh veggies, to the seasonings, garnishes, and everything in between! The only 2 things I had to add from my own pantry were salt and oil. That's it. Everything else was included in my kit. And they even take the time to individually label each ingredient; and then bag each meal separately, and labeled too. So there is no guess work which ingredients go to which dish.

I have to say, as excited as I was to see all the beautiful fresh ingredients included in my kit, my absolute favorite part of the package were the step-by-step photo recipe instruction cards. They took all the guess work out of preparation. They were simple to understand, with clear directions and photos that any novice cook would appreciate.

So, what did I have the chance to cook? My menu included:

Peppercorn Crusted Flat Iron Steak 

With Tangy Bell Pepper Relish and Roasted Green Beans

Vegetable Ramen

With Udon Noodles, Radish Sprouts, Oyster Mushrooms, and Sambal

Blood Orange Topped Mahi-Mahi

With Saffron Rice, Cilantro and Radish Salad

Yep, I had to create this beautiful dishes in my little kitchen. We definitely ate like kings that night! Since there are 3 of us, and each dish had 2 servings, I decided to make it a tasting party and I prepared all three in one sitting and each of us got to sample them. 

Oh my word! Each bite was more delicious than the next. I really appreciate the fact that Sambal sauce (a spicy condiment) was included on the side so we could each add what we could handle. For me, that meant none, since I don't do spice at all; and for my husband, as much as he could eat! We love blood oranges, and having them included in our kit was a real treat. And the flavor only enhanced the freshness and delicate mahi-mahi. The vegetables included for the ramen noodles were so fresh, so crisp, and really brightened the dish. And the steak. Oh, the steak. To be honest, I'm usually only a fan of steak from the outdoor grill, but these were tender, juicy and absolutely delicious. 

The only thing I would change, or suggest, if I had the chance, would be to add a note to the cooking instructions about the garlic. There were 3 cloves included in a couple of our dishes. The instructions simply stated to mince and add them. I think a note about "If you like a little garlic flavor, add  ____ amount but if you love garlic add all of it", might be helpful. We love garlic, but it was sometimes a little over powering. Still yummy, but had I known how strong it was going to be, I would have added a smaller amount. So, maybe an extra tip on the recipe cards so people are aware the flavor can vary. 

If you would love to learn to cook new dishes, using fresh local ingredients, and be a rock star in your own kitchen, check out Home Chef today. Be sure to take a look at this week's menu. I think this would make a great gift for the foodie in your life too; and they have electronic gift cards just for that. To stay up on all the latest menus and information, be sure to check them out on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

**If you decide you would like to order, the fine folks at Relished are offering EMM readers an exclusive discount of 30% off your first order with coupon code "relished30.