Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Another Happy Customer!

It's not easy to find the time in our busy days to even get our own to-do lists done let alone take the time to give us such positive feedback. Thank you Judy Powell for your very kind words and for allowing me to share them on our blog!


Dear Dinner Afare,

Last month was the first time that I tried Dinner Afare and I LOVE IT!!!!! As someone that loves to chop their own veggies and prepare food I hesitated to try it but with a new job and dealing with family illness I am so tired that dinner was going to be a bowl of cereal.

THANK YOU for providing this service!!! Now I can come home from work and easily prepare a delicious meal for my family. No more take-out for us! Last night was our first restaurant meal since I brought home Dinner Afare and I was not only disappointed with the food, the loud atmosphere but the price alone was reason to stay home and enjoy another one of our lovely Dinner Afare meals.

My only suggestion would be to list the side dishes with the on-line menu so that I could shop ahead and have everything ready.

THANK YOU for taking the stress out of dinner at this most stressful time in my life. I have recommended Dinner Afare to all my friends and everyone in my office and am looking forward to my next order this coming week.

Sincerely,

Judy Powell

Kids Meals - What are we feeding our kids???

The following article is certainly not surprising but seeing the nutritional nightmare of fast food kids meals in the following article makes me feel more accountable for what I'm actually feeding my children! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080804/ap_on_re_us/kids_meals

Monday, July 21, 2008

The Family Meal - TDA Can Make It Happen!

Since opening the Smyrna, Georgia store 2 years ago, I've come across many different articles related to the benefits of eating dinner at home with your family. One of the many reasons why I love The Dinner A'Fare so much is how we offer a way to immediately remove the stress of what to cook for dinner and actually make the "family meal" a reality again.

That said, I felt that the following article was worthwhile to share....

http://www.slate.com/id/2195143/?GT1=38001


Enjoy!!
Jackie

p.s. Have you TRIED the mjoito pork kabobs with cherry barbecue sauce this month? I was a total hero in my house last night once my husband and 2 kids tasted this new recipe. Chef Lasch has again outdone herself....

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Supporting School Science Labs and Libraries!

The Dinner A'Fare Murfreesboro Supports Taste of Rutherford

"Main Street Murfreesboro/Rutherford County outdid itself with the annual Taste of Rutherford. Oakland’s Historic House Museum was the perfect backdrop for Friday (5/20/08) night’s event that’s sponsored by this non-profit organization committed to maintaining, promoting and enhancing our community’s historic district." http://www.wgnsradio.com/rutherford-was-tastythanks-main-street/925/

The Dinner A'Fare Featured on Atlanta Occasions

"A new twist on this concept might be making meal preparation the focus of the baby shower itself. The Dinner A'Fare offers a private party incentive where the host receives their package for free, so a group may schedule a private party at The Dinner A'Fare, and the expectant mother could receive the free package." http://www.atlantaoccasions.com/parties.aspx?section=4&id=346121ed-0f86-42a6-b56d-661004475ce7

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The Dinner A'Fare South Park Sponsors Mental Health Benefit

JUNE 24 -- Lift Your Spirits. This summer event will benefit the Mental Health Association of Central Carolinas, Inc. Good eats will be provided from Charlotte restaurants, including Brixx Wood Fired Pizza, Mac's Speed Shop, The Dinner A'Fare, Bear Rock Café and Picasso's Sports Café. Read More

Details about the Lift Your Spirits Event. Click Here

The Dinner A'Fare Buckead Featured on My Fox Atlanta's Hot List

"It is gourmet meal assembly where you make your own meals from the freshest ingredients. They use all natural chicken, and their meats are very lean. The menu selection is excellent and the atmosphere is great!" http://myfoxatlanta.cityvoter.com/the-dinner-a-fare/biz/48035

Friday, June 13, 2008

Island Flare


So you always see those pictures of food sitting on a plate with a glass of wine and a loaf of bread and you think, I could never get my plate to look so good, well yes you can. All you need is a wonderful meal option! This is a real picture of our Calypso Chicken with Black Bean Mango Salsa cooked in my own kitchen with out a food stylist in sight. This beautiful meal took me less than 20 minutes and that was only because I had to bring water to a boil for the corn. I sautéed our Calypso chicken from the April Dinner A'Fare menu to a light golden brown as you can see in the picture, the spice coverage also helped yield that great color.

It then took me only a moment to sauté the brussels sprouts with a little chicken stock. I like to slice my brussels sprouts thin like slaw so that they cook quickly and don't begin to develop that metallic flavor. They are so good this way and much easier to eat. I still continued to boil my corn while I finished up my chicken by letting it rest off of the heat for a few minutes, this allows the juices to filter back through the chicken and not run out when you slice it.

As I placed my food in order around the plate, I placed the vegetables down first. I sliced the chicken and I then use the vegetables to lean the chicken up against, this gives height to the plate and adds to the beauty. (A little secret...the protein also helps keep the veggie warm be transferring its heat.) I topped it with the salsa and added a little micro-green sprouts I had and TaDa! My husband comes to sit at the table and looks at his dinner and once again he proclaims, "it's better than eating out".

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Eat In Tonight and Save Money!

Leafing through today's paper I came across a full page advertisement for a national grocery chain that outlined the price savings possible by preparing a meal at home rather than dining out at a neighborhood restaurant. In the comparison, cheese burgers, drinks, and desserts made up the meal, and the cost for a family of 4 was $80.83 at the restaurant vs. $22.09 for a meal from the grocery store.

At The Dinner A'Fare for the same price or less than the grocery store meal, customers can enjoy California Turkey Burgers with Cilantro Salsa, Roasted Red Pepper Steak Kabobs, Chili Lime Crab Cakes, Asian Lettuce Wraps, or any of the other healthy, gourmet, family friendly dinners on the menu every month!

For me, the advertisement was a great reminder that The Dinner A'Fare is the perfect way to save money and save time while enjoying a wide variety of meals that are easy to prepare at home! With the ever-increasing cost of food, it is nice to know that The Dinner A'Fare continues to offer an affordable solution to feed your family.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Local News Story in North Carolina

This is a great story about how some friends use The Dinner A'Fare in Apex, NC for some fun social time, and as a way to help out their neighbors in need. Link to story

Friday, June 6, 2008

Family Night

It seems like the older my family gets the busier we get. My children are now adults with full time jobs, school and are each in a relationship. It’s hard to find time where we can sit down as a family and have dinner. Determined as I am to have this time together I set aside every Sunday evening for family night. We take a vote on Saturday about which Dinner A’Fare meal we’re going to have. This gives me time to thaw the meal and determine what sides we’re going to have.

Dinnertime has arrived and everyone is talking about how good everything is then they ask. “So, Mom what is our question tonight?” I always have an interesting question from the Table Talk section of The Dinner A’Fare newsletter. Questions such as “If you could go back and repeat one year of your life what year would it be?” “What would you do differently?” “What would you do the same?” That’s all it takes to get everyone at the table going. We will sit there around the dinner table and talk and laugh for over an hour. We have so much fun and we still learn little things about each other. I cherish that time I have with my children.

Trip to the beach!

Being the chef here at the Dinner A'Fare, it prides me to be able to take advantage of our own product. I recently visited the beautiful sandy beaches of Florida with several extended family members. We had planned a group trip to visit the family condo and have a good time just relaxing and feeling the gentle waves tickle our toes.

When I began discussing the trip with my husband one of the main concerns was money. Gas being as high as it is and prices to eat out, he just though it may not be feasible. I began calculating a budget to determine what was affordable and realized I not only had a solution to save, but a solution for convenience as well.

I made an agreement with the other family members that they would pay for the gas and that I would bring the food!! I purchased a half package at the local Dinner A'Fare for $105, which gave me 6 meals that feed up to three each meal. I then packed it along with some of the great side dishes we offer. Because of the way they are wrapped and frozen I was able to fit them all into a small cooler, added a little ice and off to the beach we went.

We were at the beach four nights, with the first actually being our arrival night, which was late, but we were able to enjoy three additional, very relaxing evenings. Each day in the afternoon when we came up from the beach to let my five year old get out of the sun and take a nap, I would pull two of the meals out and go ahead and prepare them. My family couldn't believe how easy it was! We were even able to head back out to the beach in the evening, when most families are having to run around getting dressed to go out to eat for the evening and wait for a table for an hour, but we were able to just head back to our condo.

The first day we had Argentinean Grilled Flank Steak and Shrimp Cocktail Vincente, it was our own little Surf-n-Turf. My aunt loved it; she couldn't believe we had put this wonderful dinner together in 15 minutes. And the best thing was we were able to sit on our porch and watch the sunset at the beach as we ate our dinner, which is something you always miss sitting in the local restaurant.

Another day we made the Creole Shrimp with Bowtie Pasta and the Penne alla Carbonara, added salad in a bag and had ourselves the best pasta buffet around. I also cooked off the Asian Pork Tenderloin, sliced it thin and served it with sandwich rolls to make some awesome pork sandwiches for lunch.

All in all, six of us ate WELL the entire trip on only $105 dollars, plus a few items I packed from home. We were able to have a stress free vacation, and guess what, I didn't even have to calculate a tip in my head!

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Life with a 6 month old

As I look back on the last six months since November I realize that Stephanie and I would not have made it without Dinner A'Fare stand-in chef meals. Previous to having Geneva, we ate out quite often, trying to find new ideas for the business and just grabbing a bite to eat after a long day at work.

That has all changed. We were good Dinner A'Fare customers before, but now we are at a whole new level. We are raving fans, not because we own the business, but because it has given us a great deal of consistency with our new daughter, dramatically lowered our grocery costs, and pretty much eliminated our "on a whim" eating out bills.

Stephanie orders 15 half size dinners each month and we buy every single side dish for the month, along with one Dinner Trio Package to cover over 1/2 of the dinners at home for the month. We eat out with friends once per week and usually spend one night a week at a friend or family member's house. It is great. Our grocery bill is very small yet we aren't compromising.

In a tight economy, with food prices going up daily, gas prices increasing twice daily it seems, it is nice to know we can count on The Dinner A'Fare meals and eating dinner with our daughter on a daily basis.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

July Menu

Our new July menu has been posted to the website. We're featuring premium New York Strip Steaks, Tuna Steaks, and our famous Homemade Calzones. Visit The Dinner A'Fare online for more details.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Sunday Dinner

Yesterday my parents came over to help me with some landscaping. I had promised them dinner, knowing that I had some stock from The Dinner A'Fare ready to go. For a hearty dinner after some tiring work around the house, I decided to prepare the Aged Angus Flank Steak with Pepercorn Butter. I pre-heated my cast iron pan under the broiler and cooked the steak for about 3 minutes per side, then added the butter mixture and let it sizzle for one or two more minutes. The steak came out cooked to a beautiful medium with a warm, pink, juicy center, and tons of flavor from the seasoning, and from the compound butter.

When I pulled the steak off of the pan to rest, I added a blend of diced sweet potato, peppers and onions to cook right in the seasoned butter on the stove top. To finish off the meal, I had steamed some locally grown Russian Kale, which was topped with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and some sea salt. I am working on learning more about Italian wines this year, so I thought I would pair the meal with a Ripasso, which is an Italian wine that blends the characteristics of Valpolicella and Amarone creating a full bodied wine with an intense fruit bouquet, and a soft balanced finish.

All that was left to do was slice the steak and pour the wine. Dinner was a hit and I only used two pans. The complete meal was ready in under 15 minutes, so we could spend our time enjoying the food rather than preparing it.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Welcome to The Dinner A'Fare

"The Fresh Approach" is the official web log of The Dinner A'Fare. We look forward to using this as a way to keep our customers informed about the latest ideas and innovations coming out of our kitchens across the country on a daily and weekly basis. We welcome feedback about The Dinner A'Fare from customers, owners, and anyone else who has something to share.

We hope that through this blog, our people will get the most out of their meal assembly experience, and use it as a forum for sharing great ideas about how The Dinner A'Fare can help you save time and money while enjoying a variety of wholesome meals that are delicious and simple to prepare.