Food...yummm

I've been waiting to post about a new experience we've embarked on, but haven't had a chance! Today's post is extra special because it includes a discount that you can use to make your life easier!

We started using eMeals a few weeks ago and have really liked it so far! It's an online meal planning service. Basically you pay a small fee and have meal plans with recipes and a grocery list sent to you each week. You can choose from 13 different meal plans, ranging from your everyday Classic to more specialized like Paleo and Clean Eating. You can change your meal plan once a month, so if you want to try a few that's a great option. We started out signed up for "Low Fat", but I didn't find it a lot healthier than the way we already eat, so we changed to "Clean Eating". So far we've really enjoyed it! My favourite things:

• The grocery list makes shopping so easy! It's divided by department so going through the store is pretty quick. If you're in a rush it's as quick as printing it our or accessing from your phone and you can get all your groceries done in one trip. (We only opted into dinner plans as we usually just eat leftovers for lunch and cereal or toast for breakfast - but you can have your meals complete which would make the grocery list even more handy!)
• We've tried a lot of new meats and foods. I'm mostly a chicken and fish kind of gal, and before this had only bought red meat I think once not counting hamburgers...so it's been an interesting change eating sausage, pork, steak, etc. Definitely adding some interest to our meals. 
• I find that it makes it a lot easier to remember to take out meat to defrost, and to get started cooking right when I get home. Sometimes thinking of a plan is so hard, and then even when I make one by the time I get home I don't feel like making that particular dish. Ay ay ay. Anyway, now I get home, open my binder where I have the recipe print outs and just start following the instructions. I know that I have all of the ingredients so it's just as easy as following the step-by-step guide. 

If you think this sounds as heavenly as I do, give it a try! eMeals is offering 30% off for Cyber Monday, so hop over to their website at emeals.com and start eating delicious meals with less effort :).

Disclaimer: I wasn't paid to write this post, I'm part of their blogging network and believe in their product so I was happy to write about it and share a great service with people I know and like! I am in the process of being approved as an eMeals affiliate in which case I could make money if you visit their site through a link on my page, but as of right now this post is written with no money in mind!

Do you have trouble thinking of meal ideas too? I hope I'm not the only one who comes home starving at 5:30 to a freezer full of rock hard meat that will take way too long to defrost so I dig into some scrambled eggs...

Our Favourite Holiday Treats

Yum, we love a food poll almost as much as we love holiday food. Philip is a huge dessert guy (although maybe not as much as his brother Jonathan - they'll have to have a head-to-head sometime), and I love the different foods we get to eat at this time of year, learning a new recipe to share with family and friends is always great.

My mouth is watering as I think about it all! Only one food was not so loved in this week's poll, and that was fruit cake. I can't defend it or side with you, I've never tried it, maybe this year I'll give it a go (but probably not).

I don't even know which food to choose as my favourite, I think I might have to go with egg nog. I haven't bought any yet this year, holding out until the week of Christmas just so we don't drink too much of it as it's certainly not the healthiest of beverages.

One of our favourite foods to craft at Christmas time, a tradition we started last year was making homemade Christmas flavoured ice creams in our ice cream maker. We thought they would make nice gifts for some of the acquaintances that you'd like to give a little something to.

They are worth the judgmental looks and inner shame that I feel every time buying whole milk and heavy cream in large quantities to make these tasty treats.

Mm homemade ice cream

Last year we made egg nog, gingerbread, peppermint, reindeer (chocolate with cherry noses in it), and Bethlehem Sky (blueberry with yellow stars). They were a bit hit, my favourite probably being egg nog. This year we're in charge of dessert at our Wiebe family gathering so we're planning to make 4 or 5 kinds again to share with our relatives.

We're thinking of making:

• Egg Nog again - it's a classic for this time of year
• Salted Caramel - we tried it at Thanksgiving and it might be my favourite homemade ice cream so far (besides rhubarb ice cream which I mentioned a while back). 
• Sugar Cookie - a twist on the traditional cookie dough
• Cranberry - found this recipe that sounds incredible
• Maple Walnut Ice Cream - one of my favourite flavours to get at an ice cream shop, found this recipe when looking for a photo to put in this post

We might also need some accompanying treats, maybe these chocolate hazelnut tarts (my in-laws go crazy for anything hazelnut), or some classic Christmas cookies.

What are you planning to cook up this Christmas? Anyone taking on way more than us and hosting their family gathering this year? Tomorrow I'll tell you about our Christmas tree set-up, so answer our Christmas tree related poll!