Kitty Deschanel | Food, Wine, and Travel Adventures Across the USA

Hello, my bloggy friends. I have a HelloFresh complaint and believe they are pulling a scam. Yours truly came *this close* to falling for it.  Maybe scam is too harsh of a word. Sneaky? You can decide for yourself. The fact that there are so many Hello Fresh complaints online does seem suspicious. My main complaint about Hello Fresh has to do with their promotional rate, which seems like it is set up to be intentionally misleading (more on this below). Despite so many people complaining about being charged more than they thought they'd agreed to, Hello Fresh maintains this as part of their business model and continues to mislead. So it's intentional, right? I do not recommend Hello Fresh. For starters, the service is just ingredients-by-mail with recipes, not meals. You can buy your own ingredients for much less, especially now that most grocery stores conveniently offer pickup and delivery. Excellent recipes are easy to find.  Click here for a list of top-rated, reader-favori...

My husband thinks I'm crazy for having two Instant Pots. (If you've watched my Instant Pot explosion video, you may agree.) With a large crowd for Thanksgiving this year, including a pregnant vegan (!), I've been researching the best Thanksgiving recipes that can be cooked in an Instant Pot . From turkey to pumpkin pie, it seems there is nothing the Instant Pot can't handle. So my husband is right that my growing Instant Pot collection makes me crazy - crazy like a fox. Instant Pot Recipes for Holidays You don't want to take the chance of having a Thanksgiving disaster when serving guests, so I have strict rules for a recipe to be included in this compilation: the dish must have at least a 4.5-star rating and a minimum of 30 reviews. We're going to be eating well during this year's game of Thanksgiving Bingo ! Most of these holiday recipes can be made in advance. If you don't have an Instant Pot, put one on your Black Friday shopping list ...

Three years into hosting Thanksgiving, SN and I have learned a few strategies for making the holiday meal (and the time spent before and after the meal because, let's face it, there's a lot more to a family gathering than just the meal) a success. I print elegant menus like the ones at my favorite restaurant . I print funny and interesting food-related quotes and facts, which I scatter along the table. (Julia Child has some great ones. “Always remember: If you’re alone in the kitchen and you drop the lamb, you can always just pick it up. Who’s going to know?”) My most popular Thanksgiving printable has to be Thanksgiving Bingo cards. Featuring gems such as "Was part of a prolonged awkward silence," "Played bartender," and "Forgot someone's name," it's the perfect conversation starter. The first person to complete their card wins a prize. When the table has been set, I place a Bingo card on each plate, accompanied by a little pencil. ...

Tuesday: Swing by my local Smith's for my prescription and browse the discount Halloween candy. The candy they have bothered to price is still too expensive. After standing in the pharmacy line for a few minutes, I realize I left my HSA card at home. Wednesday: I still forget my HSA card, so decide not to go to Smith's today. See in the new ad that Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup is on sale for just $0.49/can. $0.49/can!!! The real stuff, not the store brand. It is never priced that low. I make an extra trip to Smith's, wanting to hit up the special on the first day before the soup sells out. Smith's has no Cream of Chicken soup. Thursday: After double checking that the pharmacy opens at 9 am, I run in before work. They have soup in stock! I buy 30 cans. (Yes, there was still soup left for the other customers.) It's 9am and the pharmacy is still all gated up. 9:05. Still closed. I don't want to be late to work but I don...

After the sudden, unexpected loss of the best dog ever, Pica , I was lost. I'm pretty sure my boss was worried I was going to kill myself. You can't kill yourself over a dog though, right? Everyone knows dogs don't live forever. After several dark weeks, SN insisted we go look at puppies. Ridiculous! Still, they did look awfully cute online. We would only get one if it was from a shelter, so it would be like we were saving a dog's life...and isn't that what Pica would have wanted? Maybe we could even find another Jack Russell.  Funny enough, we always insisted when Pica was alive that we would never want another Jack Russell, which should really be called a Jerk Russell . She was a stubborn, jealous, destructive handful. There was no stopping her from barking. (At nothing!) She was such a greedy little piggy that we had to feed her with a jar inside her food dish, as it was the only way we could stop her from swallowing the entire bowlful in one gulp. And she s...

Happy Halloween! I'm super boring this year, with no costume, no decorations, and (gasp!) no candy. Here's a throwback Halloween post from a few years ago. Until 6th grade, I was a cat every year. I finally switched things up when I saw a picnic table costume in an American Girl magazine. That's right. For Halloween, I went trick-or-treating as a picnic table, complete with paper plates and baggies of chips hot glued on. Wanting to outdo myself, the next year I was a mama cat trying to sell her babies. Sure, it sounds horrible now, but I remember it looking so cute in that 1997 American Girl magazine. I'm pleased to declare that 2012 was the year of my Best Costume Ever ! Unbeknownst to her ahead of time, I went as my Halloween-loving coworker, Marie, complete with blond wig and her stolen name tag. It must have been meant to be, because she came in wearing the exact same pair of Halloween socks, purely by coincidence! Now I just need to figure out a wa...