Chanda ranga: August 2012

Friday 10 August 2012

Dinner My Way

Why, yes, I want to stake claim to books...oooh, before this post gets any longer and I intimidate you with my uber coolness, I'll get into my recent Good Reads...

*Gold by Chris Cleave. Now before you roll your eyes at the fact I'm bringing up the Olympics YET AGAIN (but, really, I can talk about my dream floor routine for hours), this book's plot is rooted in rivalry, pain, and the struggle of true friendship. And the 2012 Olympics in London. This is Cleave's newest book and after reading Little Bee, I'm pretty sure I'll read anything he writes. Including his grocery list. I adore the way he tells stories, colors my imagination, and forces me to think about my friendships in relation to truth. And competition. I really liked this book!

*The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty. I picked up this book on a recommendation and it was supposed to resemble the tonality and voice of The Paris Wife (which I loved and can read about here). It was an enjoyable read and something that's perfect for the beach, traveling, or a night to escape. I enjoyed the story, its progression, and transported me to a time when alcohol was established and knee-length skirts were considered improper. I love historical fiction, so this book was right up my alley, though it wasn't quite as strong as The Paris Wife.

**I read another book, but I really don't have anything nice to say about it...so I'll refrain from criticizing it. My mama said if I don't have anything nice to say, it's best to but my tongue. So that's what I'm doing.

*Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed. Oh, where do I begin with this book? Probably with a disclaimer: this book isn't for everyone and while I don't share the same sentiments as Strayed in many aspects, her writing and advice brought me to tears. Real, hot, streaming tears. This book is a compilation of Strayed's advice column Dear Sugar and seeing how I love advice columns, this was a gem. Beyond the beautiful writing and words that reach down in your gut and make you feel simultaneously free and weighted, I love that she made me see the world differently. From a new perspective, even if I may not agree. For this, I'm a stronger--and more thankful--person. Loved it. Truly.

Dinner My Way

Prepared Dinners

Duties: A Prepared Meals Program Manager organizes food preparation and delivery to housebound people; gets funding for programs and food purchases; coordinates staffing of paid and volunteer workers; develops menus with balanced diets; runs a food production facility that meets local health standards; coordinates cooking, packaging, and delivery of meals to those in need; and often feeds volunteer or hired staff and drivers. Advance preparation for food distribution during disasters should also be part of the job.
Salary Range: Volunteer ($0) to $50,000
Education and Training — Culinary programs that include management at a community or junior college would be helpful, but passion for helping others will go a long way
Experience — Experience cooking for large groups, mathematical skills to enlarge recipes, fund-raising capabilities, and organizational experience, particularly with nonprofits, are all advised
Special Skills and Personality Traits — Passion for helping people, tolerance of different kinds of people, possibly a second language pertinent to the community; a talent for talking grocery stores and other contributors into donating food, and for talking local farmers into growing extra vegetables for the program’s meals will take an applicant a long way.

Position Description
Meals on wheels and county and church programs deliver food to people who cannot leave their homes because of age or medical conditions. Either paid staff or volunteers or a combination of the two get donated food or purchase the food, prepare it, package it in hot trays or bags, and deliver it to housebound clients.

A new role for Prepared Meals Program Manager should include advance planning and preparation for food distribution during disasters, whether natural or created.

The manager of a prepared meals distribution program organizes or coordinates the entire operation, including raising money, setting and complying with the budget, establishing relationships with farmers, bakers, and grocers to get good deals or donations of food or money, or works with county officials in their food distribution efforts. He or she must also make sure health practices are always up to date and performed well enough to pass unannounced government inspections. There must be one person on site at all times who is versed and certified in safe food practices.

The program needs a home, and the manager has to find a certified kitchen, either in a county building, church, senior center, part time restaurant, or other facility where workers can prepare and assemble the meals to be distributed. He or she has to attract paid staff or volunteers and coordinate their schedules, and develop and comply with a budget, whether it comes from a government agency, grants, or from community donations.

Rent, food costs, refrigerators and freezers, disposable hot tray inserts, paper bags, liability insurance, and any salaries all must be figured into the budget. In some cases, and if the manager has good relations with local farmers and bakers, those people will occasionally grow and bake extra food for the distribution program.

Recipes must be tested, tried, and modified to stretch ingredients for a large volume of clients, occasionally with sensitivity for special diets.

Prepared Dinners

Thursday 9 August 2012

Healthy Dinners Delivered

Say goodbye to dieting and say hello to delicious, everyday gourmet meals for today's health conscious consumer.

Let our chefs pamper you with a guilt-free nutritionally balanced menu starting as low as $69.50/per Week!

Enjoy fine dining restaurant quality meals at half the cost!

Freshly prepared weekly menus from the Mediterranean to the Pacific Rim. Made from all natural ingredients with no preservatives or additives. 100% trans fat free.

Always fresh, never frozen, entrees are rush shipped nationwide via Fed-Ex to your doorstep in oven and microwave safe containers that lock in flavor and guarantee freshness for an entire week!

It's like having your own personal chef and dietician at a fraction of the cost.

Just how affordable is our service?. Click below to read what financial expert Farnoosh Torabi had to say about Personal Chef To Go on the Early Show.

Healthy Dinners Delivered

Pre Made Dinners Delivered

How long has NutriFit™ been in business?
NutriFit™ was founded in 1987 by Jackie Keller, nutrition and wellness coach, educator and culinary expert, best-selling author of Body After Baby, A Simple, Healthy Plan to Lose Your Baby Weight Fast (Avery/Penguin Group; May 2007), and Cooking, Eating & Living Well, a cookbook and guide to nutrition-related lifestyle change. (click for full bio)

How does the NutriFit™ meal service work?
NutriFit™ selects your personalized meals based on your food preferences by using our database of over 2,000 recipes and delivers them to you up to three times per week.

Why is the NutriFit™ meal delivery service different from other meal delivery services?
It is our mission to help people achieve their personal health goals through fully customized fresh meals, tailored to everyone's individual preferences and lifestyle.

You have the ability to rate all the meals you receive, which will contribute to your future menus, and all clients are appointed their own plan advisor to assist with your meal program and answer questions.

NutriFit™ offers additional services to help you succeed, including metabolic testing, body composition analysis, cooking classes, virtual coaching, wellness coaching and nutrition guidance, as well as an array of fitness products, health manuals, books, our own salt and sugar-free spice blends, energy bars and options for family style ordering.

Additionally, we have a vast network of health professionals (fitness and medical experts) who are ready to join your health enhancement team.

Pre Made Dinners Delivered

Cooked Dinners Delivered

Snag $60 worth of delicious, home-cooked meals delivered right to your door from Magickitchen.com for only $30! No cooking, no cleanup - just quality, fresh, gourmet meals for the whole family like Eggplant Parmagiana, Cheese Ravioli, Shrimp Fettucini Alfredo and many more mouthwatering options. Leave the hassle of cooking and cleaning up to the pros and enjoy delicious home-cooked meals (and a sparkling kitchen) with today's deal and save 50%.

The folks at Magickitchen.com believe busy lifestyles shouldn't mean compromising family meal time. Magickitchen.com creates healthful, prepared meals for a wide range of dietary considerations using only top-quality fresh produce, cheeses and spices to ensure you receive delicious, nutritious meals that are quick to serve. When the meals arrive on your doorstep frozen, all you need to do for a 5-star gourmet dinner is defrost, heat and serve!
Business Bio

Life happens. And, sometimes, that gets in the way of preparing a well-rounded meal for yourself. Whether you were running late leaving work or just could not find the time to whip something up for the guests who are about to arrive, you need something in your back pocket (or fridge) that you can pull out last-minute. Magickitchen.com aims to do just that. Their prepared meals arrive within a few days, ready to either stick in your freezer for the right time or to simply heat and serve right then. Magickitchen.com has come up with a bunch of "bundles" to cater to taste preferences, like the Italian Lover's (featuring choices like Eggplant Parmigiana and Chicken Marsala), Comfort Food, and Kid-Friendly.

Cooked Dinners Delivered

Diet Dinners Delivered

We always tell it straight, albeit in a round-about way, because we have nothing to hide, unless we're not comfortable answering certain questions.

Small Print: All answers are 100% truthful, 80% of the time.

Do the meals come frozen?
Eat fresh is fresh! The meals are cooked then blasted cold to retain the flavour and freshness. These are then served out into individual meals, the oxygen is removed by the vac and sealed providing freshness for up to 14 days from cook date in your fridge... by the time you get it ,... shelf life is about 10days!
Eatlite is 100% FROZEN goodness - The meals are cooked then blasted cold to retain the flavour and freshness. Plated up, blast frozen then sealed... We did a lot of testing to find the best way to maintain the quality of the dish from fresh through to frozen. The testing paid off and we have managed to produce an amazing quality on re-heat. This is how France and the rest of Europe do it.. Germany is about quality and precision (look at their cars) and the French have fabulous food... so it works for us!
Note: 5+5 deal is fresh meals and fresh soup (unless its eatlite - then its ALL frozen), frozen meal deals... are (you guessed it) frozen.
What is in the Frozen meal deal:
Great value that's what! Seriously.. it's a random selection from menus gone by.. but they are not a whole lot of rubbish meals that no one wanted... It's just that when we planned the cook our eyes were bigger than our stomachs... there are roasts, chicken dishes, pork dishes, beef dishes... etc.. It's a real mixture. We promise you that it's not a box of pasta!

Diet Dinners Delivered

Dinner Delivery

Ferran Adria has been called the world's greatest chef. He is certainly one of the most creative. Gourmet magazine referred to Adria as "the Salvador Dali of the kitchen". His restaurant, El Bulli, was recently named best restaurant in the world by the prestigious Restaurant magazine. Without a doubt, Ferran Adria will hold a prominent place in culinary history.

Ferran Adria was born May 14, 1962 in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (a suburb of Barcelona), Spain. Adria's early schooling took place in Barcelona and at the age of 14 he enrolled at the Instituto Verge de la Merci¨ to study business administration. In 1980, at the age of 18, he left school out of boredom.

Culinary Beginnings:

Adria began his culinary career in 1980 as a dishwasher. In need of money to vacation on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza, Adria took a job as dishwasher at a French restaurant in the Hotel Playafels in Castelldefels, Spain.

It was here that he learned the classic culinary techniques as the chef there introduced Adrià to El Practico, the Spanish equivalent of Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire. Adria eventually made it to Ibiza, working at the Club Cala Lena for four months in 1981-1982.

Dinner Delivery