Get Ready – Get Set – Get Diced

“Smells like a restaurant in here!”

That’s the best compliment I could get after a long day of work. Wait…what does that mean it smells like all of the other times?!?

A little background here…I used to LOVE to cook. When my kids were little, we would go over to the Saturday farmer’s market or local co-op and stock up on all the fruits and veggies I could get, homemade breads still warm from the oven, hand-crafted desserts that were too pretty to eat. We would bring everything home and come up with things together, turn up the music and dance through the kitchen while we cooked. But when the three of us moved from our small-town Vermont life to New Jersey, it was becoming harder to keep that part of our routine going with the changes ahead.

Mind you, I am a solo parent of two, now a teen and a pre-teen, I own my own design business, and I flip the mom-hat on and off throughout the day more times than I can count. So having “chef” on the list of duties dropped pretty quickly, and, honestly, dinners mostly comprised of quick pasta, a simple rice and veggies dish, taco Tuesdays, and pizza when I’m too tired to think. The joke in our home is when someone asks, “What’s for dinner?” the only answer they will get from me is, “Food,” and then we laugh, because I have no name for whatever it is that is being thrown together from what is in the fridge.

But I do really love to cook, and since moving, I have become friends with some truly talented people that live in the area that not only do I adore but follow their recipes and cookbooks before anyone else’s. And if I have any questions on how to make something fit my now necessary gluten-free need, they have the perfect solution right away to keep their creations as delicious as they are made to be. So when I was asked if I would be interested in trying Diced, a 100% gluten-free meal kit delivery service with vegetarian and vegan options, I couldn’t say yes fast enough!

Everything came the next day. YES, you read that right. Right now, they are only servicing selected areas in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, but are in the process of expanding into more regions which is a fantastic thing. So you can imagine my giddiness as I turned into the driveway after a morning workout and the delivery van pulled up behind me. Out came a very sweet driver with a big brown box that had the purple Diced logo across it. I was so excited with each step closer he got, which the driver thought was beyond entertaining. I couldn’t WAIT until dinner.  T minus 6 hours…

Everything came all pre-packaged. Tinsley, the owner, sent us two meals to try, Vegan Eggplant Polenta Bake and Vegan Quinoa Chili with Cornbread Drop Biscuits. I pulled out two separate boxes; each clearly labeled which a cute sticker noting what meal I would be making from what was inside. And when you open the box, everything is perfectly packaged into adorable containers, and EVERYTHING is labeled so there is no confusion whatsoever of what you are about to work with. To make it even better, each item is perfectly measured out for you so all you need to do is follow the recipe sheet steps and pour in the next ingredient on the list. I kept thinking how great this is for people on the go, or just starting to cook, or people like me who are getting back into it and have specific diets they follow. I have been a vegetarian for 23 years, I needed to eliminate gluten 3 years ago, and I am carefully moving into eating a vegan diet while keeping dietary needs in check. So having Tinsley, who was diagnosed with Celiac, create a business that takes a great deal of the concern out for me while giving me the tools to make a healthy vegan meal without too much thought, is fantastic.

So I pulled out the pots and pans and jumped in, and as the sounds and aroma from the kitchen reached my kids’ rooms, I heard things like, “Oh WOW!”… “Smells GOOD”… and my personal favorite, “This is reminding me of Mrs. Doubtfire” (ok, to clear the air, there was no fire danger happening. My son just happened to see me pouring the tomato puree from one container into the pan while empty containers were off to the side of the stove and got a good chuckle. He was probably also a bit of shock that I was actually cooking again). Let me just say this, I was having so much fun that I completely forgot to keep an eye on the time to see if I was in check with the cooking time range the cards gave. But it didn’t matter to me one bit. Every room was filled with incredible smells, my kids and I smiled with every bite, and even our puppy got in on the action with a little bit of the quinoa that I topped with some of the shredded carrot “cheese”.

Diced is amazing. Easy to follow instructions, photos with each step so you know if you are on track, and the added touch of the recipe cards being printed on thick enough, coated paper, made it that much better for any spills or drips that might occur. They are also extremely eco-friendly: (1) the boxes are all 100% recyclable, (2) the gel packs are non-toxic, and if you prefer to throw them away rather than reuse them you can cut them open, pour out the water-soluble, non-hazardous material and put the plastic liner in your recycling bin if they take #4, and (3) the insulation is made from recycled coffee and cocoa bags and is completely compostable because it is made from the jute plant.

I can’t say enough great things about this company and my experience with it. I loved it. My kids loved it. And they wanted to know before the last bite went in, when we would be doing this again…and how often. Table for three!

For more information about Diced and to get started yourself, visit www.mydiced.com Use the special code DICED<3CHIC for 25% off your next Diced order.