A great gift for any occasion—and especially for a last-minute holiday gift—is a subscription to a meal delivery service.

You can send it anytime, in the sum of your choice. The recipient gets an email with instructions on how to select and order his/her meals.

We recently received a gift of a week of prepared meals from Eat Clean Bro Meal Delivery Service, which serves most areas of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

There are other meal delivery options across the country, offering everything from the mainstream to keto-friendly to dairy-free, gluten-free and meals under 400 calories.

We’d never ordered from a service before, and we were very surprised at how good everything was: flavorful meals designed to nourish with “clean” food*.

Eat Clean Bro’s menu was developed by a bodybuilder, based on the guidelines that he and other athletes follow.

In fact, our meals tasted like our Mom was back in the kitchen, turning out her fine home cooking.

We got to choose the menu for the forthcoming week’s meals, and selected;

 
Everything is delivered fully cooked and ready to heat. When reheated, the meals were as delicious as they would have been right off the stove.
 
 
WHO WILL ENJOY THIS MOST?

It’s a great idea for people who don’t like to cook, or don’t have the time.

It’s a great way to get a diet off to an easy start for the new year.

Giftees can order during their busy season (example: the upcoming tax season for accountants, final exams), or the time crunches we all have.

[1] Six days of clean eating (all photos © Eat Clean Bro).

[2] Pineapple-glazed salmon with diced vegetables, chickpeas and beans.

[3] Carolina half chicken with vegetables.

A meal delivery service may be an eye-opener for a friend or family member who’s never tried meal delivery before. It’s a luxury that we think is well worth it.

To find a service in the giftee’s area, check online and check the menus.

While most services have excellent choices of meat, poultry and seafood, some services have an equally large selection of vegan and vegetarian options; some have organic and low-salt options, etc.

To our friends who are reading this: Yes, we’d like another gift of meal delivery.

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*Clean eating is a dietary concept that avoids refined and processed foods, and those that have artificial ingredients, including certain preservatives and additives. The goal is to eat whole, natural foods.

A few weeks ago we wrote about Bailey’s Red Velvet Irish Cream Liqueur in a product review.

We’ve grown so very fond of it that we’ve elevated it to a Top Pick Of The Week.

A special edition for Holiday 2019, chocolate lovers should not miss this one (photo #1).

Baileys Red Velvet Irish Cream liqueur has rich cocoa flavor that classic red velvet cake should have, but most rarely do (that’s our humble opinion).

It smells like cocoa, tastes like cocoa made with heavy cream, and for eye appeal, it’s a dusty rose color.
 
 
USES FOR BAILEYS RED VELVET IRISH CREAM LIQUEUR

Sip it straight! This stuff is just too good to mix into cocktails, to bake into brownies or red velvet cake, or to swirl into cheesecake.

But you can:

 
We bought ourselves a few bottles to last through the year, and a few more bottles as holiday gifts.

We hope you love it as much as we do!

[1] Sip the pink elixir from a liqueur glass, or turn it into a mini ice cream float, shown here with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream (photo © Diageo).

[2] Have some as a chaser after a piece of red velvet cake. Here’s the recipe from McCormick (photo © McCormick).

[1] Jingle Belle: 7-Up and bitters with a raspberry-mint garnish (photo © Beatnik | Chicago).

More and more people don’t drink alcohol, and seek club soda or soft drinks at parties.

If some of your guests fall into that category, why not create a “Mocktail Menu?”

It’s quite easy, and it will bring them some extra holiday cheer.

Some suggestions:

 
Even guests who do drink alcohol may turn to the Mocktail Menu for their third drinks, and beyond.

This is the same mixture used for a regular Bloody Mary, just without the vodka.

Our recipe makes a spicy drink with lots of flavor and just 41 calories per 8-ounce glass. Plus, it has 74% of the daily requirement of vitamin C and 22% of vitamin A.

As an alternative to horseradish you can use 6 drops of hot sauce, but the horseradish adds much better flavor.

If you don’t want any heat, use more Worcestershire and lemon juice; then experiment with a drop or two of hot sauce to round out the flavors.

Ingredients For Four 8-Ounce Drinks

 
Preparation

Combine the ingredients and chill. Before serving, stir or shake the mix.

If it’s well chilled, there’s no need for ice, that dilutes the drink.