Food

Every Plate Review

Published on April 20, 2019April 20, 2019 by meganaperezLeave a comment

**I am not being paid to write this post at all. This is a service that we have been using for the past few weeks. I have had a couple people ask me to give my honest opinion about it because they were interested in using this service, so that’s what this is.**

I used to love cooking. I used to love coming up with these different ideas for meals and I took the time to really try and create some great dishes. But once I got married, that all changed. When you’re working full-time and now have a husband and house to care for, that passion for me has really died down. Don’t get me wrong, I still love to cook but the creativity just isn’t’ there anymore. And it’s not anyone’s fault, I’m just tired. We work in ministry, which means this isn’t your typical 9-5 Monday through Friday job. Sometimes it can be a 24/7 thing. Granted, we really love what we do, but it does take a lot out of me, especially now that I’m pregnant.

After my first trimester, I told my husband that we would need to try a meal service again. We’ve used Hello Fresh in the past and loved it, but it does get expensive. While searching one day, I came across Every Plate. What drew me to Every Plate, honestly, was the price. For a family of 2 getting 3 meals per week, we spend $29.95. To me, that’s a great deal. Especially considering that is now 3 days a week that I do no have to think about what to make for dinner.

We’ve been receiving weekly boxes from Every Plate for 3 weeks now. We’re currently on our 4th week. So far, we have loved the recipes that they offer. Everything has been super easy to make. The instruction cards go over everything you will need for that particular recipe as well as any extra stuff you may need, like butter or olive oil. We’ve really loved having this delivered to us every week because we know 1. We don’t have to worry about meals for 3 days and 2. We know the recipes are going to be good.

Obtaining a meal service is different for everyone. For us, with our crazy busy schedule it’s been a life saver. But price is always something that I’m conscious of. We have tried Hello Fresh in the past and have also loved that service. But financially, it didn’t work for us to continue. Every Plate is a great budget friendly option for those who want to try a meal service but don’t want to spend a ton of money every week on one. Because the cost is lower, you don’t get as many meal choices per week than say with Hello Fresh. But for me, it’s not a big deal. I can always mix up our meals on the other 4 days a week that I still have to cook. If you’re interested in trying this meal service, I would definitely suggest it!

If you’ve tried a meal service in the past, let me know which one below! I’d love to hear about all the other options out there!

– m

My Healthy Journey Has Begun!!

Published on August 28, 2017February 9, 2019 by meganaperez2 Comments

Okay the first of the month I decided it was time to make a change. My husband and I had been talking about changing our lifestyle and I just decided it was time do it. The more we talked about it and didn’t do anything about it, the sadder I got. I decided to start by watching that documentary on Netflix called What The Health. My brother recommended that I watch it because he enjoyed it and thought it was very insightful. Now, knowing my brother, he doesn’t say that about much, so I figured it had to be good. So one day while I was working I figured I would put it on and listen while I typed up emails. To be honest, I found it to be very interesting. But I’m not one to believe everything I hear from just one source, I like to do my research.

One thing that really intrigued me about this documentary was the testimonials they incorporated of real life people going through real life health issues. While I was watching it I couldn’t help but think, “I wonder if I try this if this will help my energy levels and help me lose some stubborn weight that I’ve had since I finished chemotherapy 17 years ago.” (For those who are currently thinking, “17 years ago! And you still have weight?!” the answer would be yes. Chemotherapy jacks you up to no end.) So I decided to try a more plant based diet. I can’t say that I am completely a vegan or completely a vegetarian. But what I can say is that I have started to consciously make better decisions about what I am putting into my body and right now, I’ve cut out meat.

It’s been about 3 weeks with no meat and to be honest it hasn’t been tough at all! I wanted to start documenting this journey and sharing some recipes! The first one that I wanted to share was one that I got from my aunt. I did tweek it a bit to my personal taste but the first recipe to share with you is an Acai Bowl!

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There are so many different Acai bowl recipes out there you can try, and I encourage you to, but this recipe is one I got from my aunt and made it my own.

I blend one packet of frozen Acai with:

Whole banana

Scoop of vegan vanilla protein powder

Scoop of superfoods powder

About 1/2 cup of ripple milk (this is a great dairy free milk for those who cannot have milk) (more depending on the consistency you prefer)

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About 1/4 cup of blueberries and blended!

Once I blend everything together, I pour it into my bowl while I prep my fruit. I normally have mango, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, kiwi, coconut flakes, granola, chia seeds and hemp seeds. But you can add whatever toppings you prefer. My husband doesn’t like everything I put on top so I customize his for his preferences.

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There you have it! Super easy to make for breakfast or a snack. And so healthy for you! Enjoy! Let me know if you tried this recipe or a different Acai bowl recipe that you love in the comments below!

nyc fun

Published on March 14, 2017February 9, 2019 by meganaperezLeave a comment

hello everyone! this past weekend i spent some time in nyc with my hubby and two of our really close friends. i wanted to share some of the places that we visited cause they were pretty awesome!

cookie dough confections: normally this isn’t a place that i would ever go to. i’m not a huge cookie dough fan but because of who i was with, i made the exception. when we got there we soon realized that the line to get in started across the street. that’s right, across the street. now mind you it was like freezing cold this day so that didn’t add to our excitement. but we all decided to just stand in line and wait because we made the trip out there anyways. we waited about an hour in line before we got inside the place. than waiting another 15ish minutes before we got served. side note: one of the servers told us that the line was about 4 hours long earlier in the day so our wait wasn’t bad. 4 hours!! craziness! anywho, once we got in and defrosted, it was actually a really cool experience.

i was able to take some pictures of the inside so you guys can see what it looks like. they give you a menu while you wait and on that menu is a ton of different cookie dough options that you can choose from. you can basically order your cookie dough like you would ice cream. cup or cone. 1 scoop or 2. so crazy. i never would have thought to create something like this, but hey, people love sugar so i guess it works! i got the heavenly mix which consisted of sugar cookie, chocolate chips, nutella, caramel bits and sea salt. plus it was gluten free! they also have some vegan options too which i thought was pretty cool.

as much as i’m not really a cookie dough person, i thoroughly enjoyed this experience. the waiting in line was a little crazy, but it was something different for me so i’m glad i did it. plus the cookie dough tasted really good. not even gonna lie on that one. granted i couldn’t finish it all because it was a lot of sugar for me and i hardly ever eat anything sweet. but the taste was amazing. the customer service was just as equally amazing. everyone that worked there was extremely friendly and helpful. some of us had some questions and they were very gracious with us. they even had the back section of their store walled off with glass so that you can see them mixing the different flavors. that part was super cool too. pricing wasn’t bad either. i got 1 scoop in a cup and my husband got 1 scoop in a cone and that came out to a little less than $10. which for nyc, is not bad at all! personally, i don’t think i can say that it would be worth the wait if it was more than 1 hour. because i’m not into it that much. but if you love cookie dough and won’t mind waiting, then go right ahead! also, i would suggest waiting closer to spring time and not winter. its too cold to wait outside like that. but if you’re in nyc, definitely try to add it during your visit. the décor on the inside is super cute you’ll really enjoy it!

chelsea market: okay so the chelsea market is beyond cute. it’s an indoor market with tons of cute restaurants and shops. its perfect during the winter because it’s indoors so you can escape the frigid cold air. it was so fun just to walk around and see the different restaurants and shops. they had this super cute flea market style area with at least 12 different pop-up shops. it was really fun to see the creativity that is out there and what kinds of fashion or jewelry items people create. how cute is this wall of lights?!?! can i please have this in my house?…

los tacos: within chelsea market, we decided to eat at los tacos. of course there was a line which told me it was going to be great. so they sell tacos individually, so you can get like one chicken and one steak, or whatever you want. we decided to share 4 steak tacos and chips with guacamole. the steak was amazing. i would go back just to eat those tacos again. the guac was pretty good too. the flavor was really good but it wasn’t as dense as i like my guac. for me personally it was a little runny, but it was still good flavor wise. this is definitely a place i would go back to again.

hampton inn seaport-financial district: since i spent the weekend, i thought i should speak about our hotel experience. we decided to stay at the hampton inn. it really wasn’t anything special it was just a quick booking through booking.com. the customer service was amazing. the room was great. the only issue we had was the first room we had, the hvac was not working properly, but they worked extremely quickly to move us to a different room and they actually upgraded us in the process. i would definitely go back to this location to stay again.

there you have it guys! just a few of the stops i made this past weekend. make sure you subscribe to my email list so that you can stay up to date with my posts and other travel tips! do you have some favorite places in nyc?? leave a comment and let me know so i can check it out! xoxo