Taking the Guess Work out of Dinner

Dining out these days has its challenges, but cooking at home can be difficult to do, night after night. Finding the time, the motivation and everything you might need at the grocery store involves a lot of work, and let us not forget that many of us do not enjoy cooking as much as we enjoy eating. Concetta’s Italian Kitchen in Prosper has a unique concept where their business model is based around ready-to-go meals you eat at home. While they made some adjustments to adhere to social distancing guidelines, the plan is to pick up an amazing meal, heat it up and enjoy the incredible flavors without having to do all the work. The menu changes each week so the customers can enjoy a variety of Italian dishes (other cuisines, too!) and keep coming back for more.

First, despite it being located in Prosper, it was an easy drive to pick up my order. I spent 30 minutes round trip, including pick up time, during peak afternoon Frisco traffic. I drove into the parking lot, called to let them know I had arrived and within a couple minutes my order was brought to my car by a masked and gloved woman who was extremely polite. She let me know the instructions for heating up each dish was in the bag and everything was packaged for a stress-free drive home, not worried that something might spill in the car.

The cooking instructions were simple – nothing on the menu for the week took more than 45 minutes in the oven, and my particular dishes only took 20 minutes and 30 minutes, respectively, at the same temperature. The vegetables cooked in the microwave for two minutes and everything was ready to serve at the same time with very little effort. Those 30 minutes the food spent in the oven smelled absolutely incredible. The aroma of garlic, lemon, butter, capers and broccolini made my mouth water. I wanted to stay in the kitchen to smell everything as it warmed up.

We ordered the chicken piccata. We decided on the “couple’s size” and I was impressed with the generous portions. There was enough to feed both my husband and myself, with enough left over for one of us to have it for lunch the next day. The buttery, white wine lemon sauce was not only delicious but kept the chicken tender while it was being re-heated in the oven. We cut into our dinner and it was just as juicy as it would have been had it been served straight from the kitchen in a restaurant. Portion size was perfect – I felt satisfied without feeing like I had eaten too much. The packaging was oven safe – all I needed to do was remove the lid – which made clean up incredibly simple.

As a side, we ordered the roasted broccolini with lemon, garlic and pecorino and it paired wonderfully with the chicken. It was the perfect texture between crunchy and soft, seasoned just right and could have fed three people. The pecorino cheese melted beautifully over the broccolini and each bite had that extra hint of flavor along with the lemon and garlic.

I regret not ordering any pasta because I am certain it would have been amazing with the chicken piccata sauce. It is one of two things I would change about the entire experience. If you order, throw caution to the wind and do not waste time counting calories. This food is worth the extra workout.

Because I have picky eaters for children, we also tried the pepperoni pizza balls. They come 12 to an order and not only were they a hit with my pizza-loving son the adults enjoyed them as well. These were not your everyday pizza rolls – they looked like soft-baked rolls with a happy surprise of cheese and pepperoni in the middle. The dipping sauce was some of the best red sauce I have had. Hints of fresh tomatoes, basil and garlic – it smelled as good as it tasted. These are especially great because they freeze well and it’s easy to pop a couple in the microwave for a quick but tasty snack later on. A total of six disappeared during dinner and I am quite certain the remaining six will not last more than two more days.

What Italian meal is not complete without a little dessert? We chose the cannoli with chocolate chips. My second regret is ordering only two instead of four. We shared the two we ordered and each of us easily could have devoured an entire cannoli and been completely happy about it. The shell was crispy with a hint of cinnamon and the filling was thick and creamy with a bit of sweetness that paired so well with the sweet chocolate chips on the outside.

After dinner, clean up was so easy for a meal that was so delicious. We put away the remaining pizza balls and the remaining packaging went into the trash. We only had our dinner plates, silverware and glasses to put in the dishwasher, which freed up another 30 minutes of our evening. Even better, the aromas remained in the kitchen the rest of the night so that we could be reminded of the meal each time we walked through the space.

Overall, I would guess that if I was to make that meal myself, it would have taken me at least two hours and then I still would have had to clean up who knows how many dishes. The time I did spend preparing everything was mostly waiting for the timer to alert me to dinner being ready. The amount of time and effort I saved was well worth the price of the meal.

Ordering was also convenient. Once on the Concetta website, it is only a matter of going to the menu tab and selecting which dishes you want to bring home. The weekly choices compliment each other, so no matter what you choose, it will taste great together. The tough part is narrowing down your choices because everything looks tasty. During checkout, you choose the day you want to pick up your food – Tuesday through Thursday between 3:00 and 6:00 pm. Payment is simple and they accept a wide variety of payment options accommodating just about anyone’s preference.

Concetta’s Italian Kitchen is a family-owned establishment with family recipes, showing Prosper, Frisco and other neighboring areas their heritage is not only special but delicious. They take the guess work out of trying to meal plan or attempting to cook a special dinner that wows everyone at the table. If you are short on time but need to make sure dinner is amazing, Concetta’s can save the day. If you are tired of making the same rotation of meals week-after-week, Concetta’s will give you a delicious break from the usual. Sometimes we all need a little extra help and Concetta’s is a great choice to be the one to do the heavy lifting for dinner.

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