Dream Dinners

To some folks a dream dinner might be any decent food they can get for free.  Dream Dinners is also a quickly rising food franchise business.  It involves locations where people can go to cook according to menus, then take the food home to serve throughout the month.  A lot of people ask, why didn't I think of that? 

In the modern world people maintain full schedules.  Eating well at home is becoming more and more difficult.  Sure there are many qualities frozen and ready made foods, but somehow it's never the same as a good home cooked meal.  When the schedule is packed, however, will people give up their jobs or their self made meals?  This franchise comes to the rescue. 

This is how it functions.  Patrons go in and select some or all of 14 meals from a menu.  Food is then purchased by serving.  Then the consumers cook the meals, at the store.  Cooking experts supervise in either private or public cooking sessions.  It's a little bit like a cooking show where the show gives the viewer the food then helps them prepare it along with the host. 

It sounds a lot more expensive that it really is.  Although salads and side dishes are separate, the main course is only about $3.50 per serving for all 14 meals.  This can bring the cost per serving for a complete meal up to around the $5 mark, but for a busy working family it's not bad.  For food, menu planning, and hands-on meal preparation training and supervision, that's a steal.

Remember, these are franchises.  And there's been some controversy behind the franchise.  The food and menus are fine, but the franchise owners may have a problem.  Dream Dinners was profiled in March of '08 by Forbes.  He story made the corporation look pretty bad. The new concept quickly gained popularity and attracted would be business owners.  The business plan came into question when many of the franchises went out of business after a short time.  The article detailed what was described as misrepresentations of the profit possible, and thus the overall valuation of franchises. 

Let the franchisees and the company worry about the controversy, for the diner Dream Dinners is just what the chef ordered.

Easy dinner recipes

Folks can't always cook the types of fancy meals Julia Child used to explain on her TV show.  It's a different world.  Food television has changed along with it, featuring easy dinner recipes instead of the fancy French cooking Julia made famous.  Easy doesn't have to be bland.  In fact it can be quite exciting to eat these easy to prepare foods. 

Dinner cooking ideas can be found in other places too.  The Internet is full of food.  Cooking show web sites are great, but there's a lot more.  Some web sites show healthy meals while others focus on vegetarian food.  Every type of meal and food are covered not only by one web site, but by thousands. It would take a life time to read it all. 

Simple food doesn't have to be boring food.  Simple meals don’t bad taste.  Hot dogs are simple, but maybe too mundane.  Corn dogs are another story.  Kids love them, and they're not hard to prepare.  Dip a dog in flour, corn meal, milk, salt and sugar, and then fry it.  Add a Popsicle stick to make the experience more like a corn dog at a state fair.  

Corn dogs aren't exactly health food.  Easy doesn't mean not healthy.  Broil a chicken breast, remove the skin, cut it into strips or chunks, and toss it into a salad.  Yet another easy meal.  It's also delicious and good for you.  Make it soup and salad with some chicken soup.  Salads can be made from almost anything.  Use leftover ham, diced, some hard boiled eggs, and a pre-mixed salad from the store as a supper.

Don't run away, but here's a history lesson.  Dinner and supper started out as separate meals in colonial times.  Dinner was a lighter late afternoon pick up, needed by people who worked hard at physical labor.  A larger meal at the end of the work day was supper.  Over time dinner and supper became the same meal.  However supper and dinner are still separate for some people in 2008, especially for people who perform physical work.

It's not a must to have separate dinners and suppers.  But you can try lighter, traditional dinner style meals at supper time or does your family call it dinner? Who cares?  Easy dinner recipes can make it fantastic.

Easy fast dinner recipes

When TV was young the moms depicted on the shows would wear pearls and dresses while cleaning house, then cook a complicated meal while dolling advice to the kids.  That wasn't just on TV; it was a reflection of real life.  Modern people have a lot more going on in their lives. Everyone's on the look out for easy fast dinner recipes that give TV mom results without all the work.  The Pilgrims didn't have a good source for such simplicity in food, but they didn't have the Internet either.  Easy cooking is easy to find online with search engines like Yahoo and Google. 

A steak can be a whole week of meals.  Change the sides for different meal experiences.  Change the spices to change the experience. Begin the adventure with a super large flank steak.  Monday is flank steak with roasted potatoes and a salad on the side.  On Tuesday add some spices and a little salsa for a taste from south of the border – make it steak Fajitas.  Wednesday's meal combines the steak with some Teriyaki sauce, rice, and steamed vegetables for a delicious Asian inspired meal.  Add asparagus on Thursday and smash the potatoes.  Go for Gyros on Friday with pita and Greek spices. A whole work day week of meals based on one main meat. 

Want more ideas for that steak?  Pull out the plates we're going in. Do southwestern steak with black bean wraps, or lentil and orzo salad with flank steak smothered in feta cheese.  Now add another meat, and the variety is even more endless.  Chicken makes a good soup, chicken fingers, fried chicken or even chicken salad.  The possibilities are endless.

Does the cooking on weekends then serve the food throughout the week?  Plan an entire menu for a month then buy all the necessities for some good savings too.  In fact, these menus and meals can also be a great learning experience for young people.  Let the kids do the cooking for a while.  Rotate days amongst the family. 

Easy fast dinner recipes are just that, both fast and easy.

Murder mystery dinner

You've just started a delicious meal.  Then a nearby table erupts.  Two customers appear to be arguing.  The argument turns to shoving.  One man falls to the floor.  He rises, grabs a knife and stabs the man through the heart.  But wait, things may not be what they seem, at least not according to the police detective who rushes onto the scene.  The dead man also has a gun shot wound.  Who shot off a gun?  Such is a dining experience during a murder mystery dinner. 

Murder mystery shows are an old tradition.  Sometimes they're combined with a meal and held at a small venue.  People enjoy the food as well as the chase.  They can eat their steak and like Sherlock Holmes engages their minds once the game is afoot.  A variety of types of mysteries exist.  Sometimes the audience merely watches and talks to actors, but doesn't solve the case.  A second form is one in which guests try to solve the case.  Sometimes a guest or two are even in on the secret, asked to join the cast for the performance. 

These are popular as parties, and there are even entire cruises dedicated to them.  They've leaked into popular culture.  It's been in movies and on television.  People invited to a party die one by one.  One comedic version is Murder by Death.  In other versions, a mystery dinner is taking place when someone is really murdered. Adrian Monk, a TV detective, on his show was banned from a mystery weekend for solving the case in under five minutes.

Many of these dinners take place at locations associated with death.  Many mystery dinner theaters claim spooky happenings in their theater.  It's probably faked, but still fun.  Patrons are willing to suspend disbelief enough to enjoy themselves, even if in the real world they wouldn't believe the tall tales. 

A murder mystery dinner is enjoyable.  There are even versions specially made for children, and the whole family can participate.

 

Mystery dinner theatre

Many folks enjoy mystery dinner theatre.  They enjoy an interactive mystery, as well as a good meal.  A woman may shout that her necklace is gone.  While everyone looks for it, she finds a calling card.  It reads “Thanks for the necklace – The Raven. Why did this guy steal the necklace, why leave a not, and most importantly which of the people in the room is the Raven?  The game, as Sherlock Holmes often said, is afoot.

Mystery dinner theatre is only one type of mystery theatre.  Entire weekends are dedicated to similar mysteries.  While some involve the audience watching and at most interacting with the actors, others ask the patrons to help solve the mystery, even to race to solve it with a prize for the winner. Everyone can be a detective at this show. 

Don't confuse this with bad food and people getting angry over the poor quality of the meal.  It's not really mystery theatre just because the meat is a mystery and the customer is being theatric.  If the person suddenly dies with a poison dart in their throat, that's mystery theatre. 

Kids love this too.  For very young ages the mystery might involve theft rather than murder, but the process is still the same.  It's started by actors but everyone is part of the show.  Someone in the viewing group may even be part of the mystery.  Now nobody can be trusted, someone is withholding information.  Now the plot is really getting complicated.

When the shows are put on as a birthday party everyone but the birthday boy is part of the mystery.  In effect all the family and friends become part of the cast all focused on the enjoyment of the guest of honor.  It's a secret, though, so people better not talk.  Woe to the person who spoils it, because then the mystery may become when anyone will talk to him every again.

Combining good food with a mystery is a great idea.  Folks love to dig into the plot. Mystery dinner theatre thrives on it.  That's why so many people attend and interact with the shows.  Keep an eye out at your next meal, a mystery may be about to begin.

 

 

Thanksgiving dinner recipes

Thanksgiving features food.  Hard work in a new world led to success and to this celebration.  It's a pretty standard menu.  Turkey, sometimes ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls or bread, pumpkin pie and apple pie, and a variety of other trimmings adorn the holiday table.  Families gather not only to celebrate the historic event, but just to catch up with everyone's lives.  The food may be similar, but Thanksgiving dinner recipes have as much variety as the colors of the leaves on the November trees.

Doesn't this appetizer sound delicious?  It's a pretty simple Pumpkin soup.  Butter and oil simmer over a medium heat. Add three sliced leeks (only the white) and saute until the leeks are soft. Add 15 ounces of pumpkin puree, a pinch of cloves, one tablespoon of ground cinnamon, one teaspoon of ground ginger, and a pinch of salt.  Stir that until well mixed, then pour in 32 ounces of vegetable broth. Stir in one quarter cup of brown sugar.  Bring it to a low boil then let it simmer for 10 minutes. If desired pour a tsp or so of cream or half and half into the bowl before adding soup and a dash of cinnamon.  That sounds good.

For the main course try frying the turkey instead of broiling it.  Don't worry, fried turkey isn't greasy.  The oil is so hot it doesn't flow into the meat.  For this task a big oil pot and propane burner are used.  Turkey fryers can be found in stores like Walmart.  A meat thermometer is also needed, along with a deep fry thermometer to check the oil for the correct temperature.  Make sure to fry outside in a clear area.  Heat the oil to between 325 degrees and 350 degrees F.  The turkey takes about three minutes per pound to fry to about 170 degrees F in the breast.  It's common to inject spices into the turkey during frying, but the dressing is usually not fried along with the turkey.

Pumpkin and sausage soup makes for a good appetizer too.  The list of delicious appetizers is endless.  Give cheese wrapped asparagus a try.  Use two cheeses, one spread and one sliced.  One idea is swiss cheese slices with a softer blue cheese spread.  Spread the soft cheese on the slices, wrap it around a few asparagus spears, then cook in a 230 degree C oven for about 15 minutes, or until the asparagus is soft.  Sure wrapping cheese around asparagus turns a pretty healthy food into something a little more fattening.  But Thanksgiving isn't a time for a diet.  Live a little!

The world wide web is full of many other terrific Thanksgiving dinner recipes.