Hello Friends!
Yay it's Friday! I hope you all have some lovely plans for the weekend. I know one thing on the agenda of my lovely Annie girl and myself is seeing the new Beauty and the Beast movie! It looks so good! ;)
However, for my 5 things today I'm going to share about the new food service my Hubby and I decided to receive recently. I know there are many kinds out there, but after doing some research we decided we wanted to try Blue Apron. They have ingredients prepped and sent with recipe cards with how to prepare the dishes. Here is some info off of their page:
So once you sign up you can set up your menu for each week. We are doing the 2 person plan (there's also a family plan) - as our kiddos can be less adventurous so we thought it wouldn't pay for that many ingredients. For a little less than $60 a week we receive the food and recipes for 3 healthy, balanced, but flavorful (gourment-like) meals. You can read up more all about it for yourself here.
So once I signed up I looked ahead at several weeks worth of meals and chose my menu. I specified in my account what kinds of meals I'd be okay with them sending (ex. fish, pork, beef, chicken, vegetarian, seafood) I thought this would be a great way to introduce my family to some different kinds of foods too. I had fish on my list initially, but have since changed it - as I thought my Hubby and son would be more adventurous about trying it, but it's clear that's a not going to happen. I'm the only fish eater. So I changed it as it's too much food for those meals for just me. But we've found out we like the flavor of sweet miso, we've tried freekah, and had other flavor adventures that have been a lot of fun so far! There are many "common" kinds of foods too - just with some different fun ingredients at times. Like coming up there is a white cheddar and kale quesadilla with fried egg on top. Or a shiitake mushroom burger with miso mayo and roasted sweet potatoes. And a spinach and fresh mozzarella pizza. So I'll share what the box was like when it came and then I'll share some of the meals we've received so far.
These are photos of the panels on the box, then I pulled all of the ingredients out (it's a refrigerated box):
In the box was a lot of fresh produce, packs of meat/fish, and these "knick knack" bags labeled according to what meal you were making. It held all the extras like pickled jalapenos, little bottles of vinegar etc.
And then of course the step-by-step recipe cards for each meal. I found them very easy to follow. So here are some of the meals we've enjoyed so far:
ONE
One of the first meals I made were these pork tacos with jalapeno pineapple salsa. They were really yummy! I marinated and seasoned some cabbage first and made a jalapeno (I did ours pretty mild) pineapple salsa for on top of the flavorful pork mixture. I warmed up the tortillas in the oven as directed as well. The above photo was of my own plate of tacos that night.
Cotija Mexican cheese was perfect on these.
Here's a photo of the salsa after I made it.
And the pork mixture.
I didn't take too many photos of the other meals when I made them. But I will say that they all turned out like the photos and they have all been very tasty.
TWO
This meal was sweet miso butter chicken and carrots with kale and a side of freekah.
Here's the photo I took of my plate after I'd eaten some. My son enjoyed this meal with us and we thought it was very tasty. Sweet miso paste is put in with butter (they provide wonderful European style butter packs) to make a yummy pan sauce. The freekah was a lot like quinoa or brown rice - which I like, but my boys were less impressed. I also had cut up some cantaloupe we had so that's why you see that on my plate.
THREE
This meal was seared smoky cod with roasted potatoes in an arugula salad. I'm the only one that ate this one. I forgot to take a photo but it turned out so pretty on my plate. And it was probably my favorite meal I've had so far. It was SO tasty!! I even had pink lemon squeezed on my fish. I've never had pink lemon before. Lol
FOUR
This one was fontina and beet grilled cheese with mixed citrus salad. Also very tasty - although my son said he didn't care for the beets.
FIVE
These are the meals next up on my fridge right now that we haven't made yet. A pesto pasta with a butter lettuce salad with creamy lemon dressing. And catfish with black garlic mayo and jasmine rice.
**I would say that overall we have had a very positive experience so far. I love the variety. I love that we're trying different flavors and types of food. We're eating healthier. And I love that it comes right to my door. I love the quality of their fresh food. They provide everything other than the oil (like olive oil) that I'm cooking things in and salt and pepper. I also like that if you're using a fresh herb they send just the right amount- so I don't have a big bunch of parsley going bad & getting wasted in my fridge. The 2 person meals seems to work out well for us. If my son is interested in trying it too (our daughter not so much yet), my Hubby and I just share some of our portions.
I am receiving nothing for saying this. This is purely me sharing what's up in our home recently and how we're liking it. However, Blue Apron sends all customers "free meals" they can email to others. I'm not sure how it works - it doesn't say other than to say that we can share free meals with a friend and we just need to provide an email. If you are interested in this let me know or email me and I can get your info and have it Blue Apron email you. I happened to have received a promotional flyer in the mail and that got our first 3 meals for only like $25 (I don't remember the amount exactly).
I'm sharing this with Carly and Tricky of FAST for Five on Friday. Thanks for taking over guys!
