Hello Blog World!
I want to start off this post by apologizing for my absence last week.My friends and family know my reason and I hope you understand.
This post is going to be a little different this time. I cooked.
Be afraid. Be very afraid!
I have a bad track record and the scars to prove that I am a horrible cook...Ok maybe not horrible just...bad. I know with my last name being Cook you would think something would have rubbed off...but nope.
I stick with meals that are very basic. Microwaves are my friend. And as long as it doesn't involve oil I am usually good.
But let me tell you that isn't very healthy. We have been trying to be healthier, but its hard!!!
Really hard.
I also hate trying different things, not so much because I am afraid I am not going to like them more along the lines of,
1. I hate trying to find different things in the store. No one is helpful and when you don't know what the ingredient is its a little difficult to search for.
2. I hate meal planning! I am currently searching for a website that does that for me. Surprisingly they are out there. It's just a matter of finding one that has food that I know I will be willing to try.
3. I hate wasting food I don't like or don't use for other things. For example: Green onions. I do not use these often so when they are in a recipe I avoid them.
4. I hate going to the store after work to deal with the crazy people and do all these things in my brain.
The solution?
Blue Apron.
How many of you have heard of Blue Apron? Don't worry this isn't a sponsorship...(Although I wouldn't deny it if it was!)
The boyfriend heard of it off Life Hacker and was bugging me about it. Its a service that sends you fresh food for three meals that is already pre measured and planned out. All you have to do is open the box and cook it.
At first I was against this. Why? Because I hate cooking. Now you are going to throw weird food at me that I have no idea what to do with. no. I wont do it.
I did it.
Only The Boyfriend helped me cook... This is the part you go WHATT? He doesn't cook. He cooked me two meals when I moved in with him. 1. Chicken picata (Amazing.) 2. What he normally made: Chicken with beef ramen. (Gross)
I am pretty sure that was his clever way to get me to cook. And suddenly he forgot how to feed himself. (I think that is a guy thing...NO OFFENSE...sorta)
So when he offered to help me cook I was floored!
We set up the subscription (And they do have a discount for new members)
Then we had to wait for a meal we would like. See that's the great thing about Blue Apron. It shows you in advance what you are going to get if you accept that menu for the week. So if they have anything that you just can't stand like in my case one night they had catfish and I wasn't so sure about that so we just passed on that week. The next week was the week we decided to try. Now these were all meals that were completely new to us.
Taiwanese Three Cup Chicken
Southern- style Shrimp and grits
Tomato Basil Burgers
The unboxing was really cool
In side the box is a cooler bag and freezer packs. They come with a recipe for each meal, full of pictures and helpful tips.
Each meals comes with what they call "knick knacks" which basically covers any seasonings or dressings.
You will use everything they give you in the box. None really goes to waste.
The one I took pictures of the whole process was the Taiwanese three cup chicken.
A few concerns when sorting out the ingredients for this recipe were:
How is this amount of chicken going to serve two?
And how do you mince garlic.
Let me explain...I don't cook with garlic too often because I am part vampire and it makes me sick. So I usually stick with garlic powders or the already minced garlic.
I never once peeled a garlic clove and minced it...Neither did the boyfriend. So we had to google it.
Once we figured out that you peel the outer layer first then separate the clove you have to smoosh it with a knife then you can chop/mince whatever you want.
Any of the oily parts The boyfriend dealt with...
I am not allowed.
I didn't do step by step pictures because well honestly that would be boring to you I think and the cook time for this recipe was 35 minutes. with 10 minute prep time...For normal people.
For us it took almost over two hours.
No I am not kidding.
Anyways.... So I did however get pictures of the end product and let me tell you what for two cooking rookies such as ourselves I was really impressed with how these meals turned out. They were awesome! And yes the portion sizes are a little smaller than what the boyfriend is use to but it was perfect for me. No left overs :(
Above is the Taiwanese chicken which was my favorite.
My thoughts: I wasn't too thrilled with the additional thai basil as a garnish..in fact I don't think I like garnish at all. I picked off that right away. I am now a fan of Jasmine rice...I know how boring of me but when all you have had is minute rice and you taste this stuff... Its pretty amazing. The choy sum (The other green stuff) Was also interesting, it had a spinach taste to it but not in a bad way.
The boyfriends thoughts:
Liked the basil, and the sesame oil sauce, Didn't like the portion size though.
The Tomato Basil Burgers. By far superior to any other burger I have had.
This had an interesting mayo sauce with kalamata olives. Nope, had no idea what a Kalamata Olive was until this but I know I like it! (also had to google how to pit an olive.)
My thoughts: The burger was great, the mixture that went into the burger...Awesome I picked the additional basil off and didn't eat most of my tomatoes. The Olive Aioli and green bean salad was interesting. Like I said picked out most of the tomatoes. BUT I DID TRY.
Boyfriend: Olive sauce was awesome, The basil instead of lettuce was a great change. The dijon mustard mixed in the burger was amazing, would have never thought to do that. Will be making this again!
This was an interesting one:Southern-Style Shrimp and grits.
I knew I would like it ok because I actually like grits, I just never thought to put shrimp on top.
But let me tell you this was pretty awesome.
My thoughts: Too much Grits not enough shrimp. The garnish was easy enough to mix in with the meal so I didn't taste it separately. This one was a simple meal to make.
Boyfriend:
Take it or leave it. First time having grits, wasn't a fan. It was filling but not as tasty as the other meals. Would not make again.
Overall this experience was great! We were able to do the first box at a discounted price of about $20.00 Normally its about 60.00. Which if you really think about it isn't a bad price! When you think of all the fresh ingredients that go into these meals its a bargain! And if you are still not convinced next time you go out for dinner look at your bill. If you eat out for three nights, you will probably end up spending more than sixty dollars. (for two people)
This was a way for the Boyfriend and I to try something new, and the team work made it fun as well. We don't normally cook together so this was a nice change of pace.
Also you may notice that we had boring blue plates to begin with but have since upgraded to awesome square plates... We are that cool.
I would love to do Blue apron again, or even try some of the other services that are similar. Because I will warn you now, going back to your regular meals after this...is hard.
After all this I made shake and bake pork chops...So not the same!
ha-ha.
I hope I inspired you to try this as well!
And even if you don't want to have the food sent to you they do share their recipes online so you can at least try new things!
But seriously, having them send you all the stuff just takes the nonsense out of grocery shopping.
Now if only I can get a cook to cook these for me I would love it so much more...But I guess they had a problem putting a person in these boxes.
Until next time Blog world! I hope you enjoyed this DIY. I know its not a craft... But it is a DIY project! I will keep you posted if I come across any other awesome food services such as this one.
By the way this is...
See you next time!
