You know… this blogging thing is pretty fun.

Last month Adam and I wrote about what growing food has done for us past, present and future. But, writing about growing food has been pretty cool too. Giving homegrown and local food a voice in Indiana and beyond has opened doors, shown me new concepts and products, and introduced me to a lot of neat people. People who are creative and really shaking things up in the local food scene.

Just last month I was introduced to a neat and innovative concept out of Indianapolis called Fresh Artistry. Fresh Artistry delivers recipes and fresh, pre-portioned ingredients to your home. The owner, Tom Blessing, began to develop the Fresh Artistry concept in late 2012 because he knew he wanted to make cooking at home easier, fresher, and more delicious. He is finally launching his Fresh Artistry service to the Indy Metro area on Friday, December 5th.

As a member of Fresh Artistry you will receive the components of three meals of your choice each week to your door step along with step by step instructions for the cooking process.  Tom designed Fresh Artistry to help anyone prepare nutritious, restaurant quality meals in their own home while supporting local farmers.

Obviously, this sounded like something right up my alley.

I love the idea of connecting consumers with local growers but also helping them make wonderful meals for their families. Adam also thought the company sounded great. We both were very interested in learning more so I got in touch with Tom.

I was curious to know where the produce and proteins in the Fresh Artistry meals come from. Tom shared that he is sourcing meat from Moody’s Meats, a leading Indianapolis Butcher that partners with local Indiana producers and raises meat at their own family farm. Moody’s Meats is striving to create a truly local, sustainable food supply.

The meat within Fresh Artistry meals are hormone, preservative and antibiotic free. The produce is frequently organic and local when possible. In fact, Tom is working to make even more connections with local produce growers.

In addition to being responsibly sourced and full of high quality ingredients, the product is fabulous.

A couple nights after Adam and I met with Tom and talked about local food producers, we made Fresh Artistry’s Sweet Chili Beef Strips and Fresh Vegetables.

I was so impressed. The packaging was beautiful. Ingredients were well labeled and had images on them noting where they should be stored. And, I really loved that all the ingredients were portioned out to what was needed in the recipe so that I wasn’t buying a whole bunch of cilantro only to have it sit in my fridge for weeks.

Adam and I read over the recipe together before we began cooking. I have not seen a recipe that thorough in a long time. As we cooked, following the recipe step by step, Adam looked at me and smiled. “It’s dummy proof!” he exclaimed.

It was. The steps were easy to follow and the whole preparation process took us maybe twenty minutes.

Adam took pride in plating the meal “just like the picture.”

Rarely is our plating anything to take pride in and it’s mainly because I just don’t take the effort to do it. The large photo of the dish showing us what went where made it a piece of cake art.

The meal tasted great and the portions were right on. We both had another serving for lunch the following day.

I enjoy cooking, especially with local ingreidents, so I make an effort to try new recipes, seek out local producers and cook at home. But, because of my career, books I have read and people I have talked with, I know that there are plenty of people who really don’t like cooking.

Maybe it’s because they feel like they are bad at it.

Or planning a meal takes too much time.

Maybe shopping is hard because they don’t know where to get the best ingredients for their families.

Maybe they feel like they just don’t know where to begin.

Fresh Artistry is a great solution.

It takes the time spent meal planning and shopping completely out of the equation. The Fresh Artistry website is incredibly easy to use and it’s there that you do your “shopping.” You are able to select which meals you would like delivered and they change each week.

Even I found myself thinking, “Wow. This is nice,” the night Adam and I planned to prepare our Fresh Artistry meal as I left the gym and could just go home. Normally, I would have to swing by the grocery store to pick up “one more thing” needed for dinner that night.

And, to top it off. It’s easy. Fresh Artistry’s instructions are simple and straight forward making it so anyone can cook like a master chef in their own kitchen.

Be sure to check out the Fresh Artistry website.  They are offering a one time meal box for a limited time.  Perfect to test it out or for a Christmas gift!