Thank you to Blue Apron for sponsoring this post. The first 25 readers who click here will get $40 off their first two weeks of meals!
In January, I wrote about how Matt and I wanted to cook at home more in the new year. While we have still done some takeout and delivery each week (let’s be real – we are new parents, delivery is an absolute necessity some nights – and a nice treat on others), I’m proud of us for making it a priority to cook at home more often again!
We have made this goal happen a couple ways – one, by utilizing some of our favorite really easy throw together meals (like the 15 minute dinners on my recipe page), and two, by getting Blue Apron deliveries every week! Blue Apron sends you all the ingredients you need to make delicious, chef-designed recipes at home – no grocery store trips or meal planning required, which is perfect because time is not something we have a lot of nowadays. The recipe cards are full of photos and the accompanying text instructions are easy to follow, too, which is especially helpful when trying to read and carry them out while sleep deprived. 😉
We subscribe to the 2 person plan with Blue Apron (they also have a family plan option), and each week you choose your favorite 2 or 3 meals from 8 choices. I love that you can now choose any combination of recipes (aka a vegetarian entrée, a fish entrée, and a beef entrée all in one order), and that they continue to add new recipes each week so we don’t get bored with the selections. I also love how creative and unique their recipes are – the dinners are almost always more interesting than what we’d throw together ourselves, and Blue Apron has introduced us to a lot of cool and new to us ingredients over the years that we’ve used them. For example, the vegetarian Caribbean Chickpea Curry with Roasted Cabbage and Rice pictured above included pickled Peruvian peppers – cool, huh? (And not spicy, thankfully… although Matt would have been on board for spice!)
That curry was a big hit with both of us, which says a lot since Matt almost always says “this is good, but it would be better with meat…” when we have an all-vegetarian meal. He didn’t make that comment this time. 😉
Another unique ingredient featured in the meals we got last week was black garlic! I’d never heard of black garlic before, but according to Blue Apron, despite what its name might suggest, it’s actually a special preparation of garlic rather than a separate variety. Black garlic is made from regular garlic that is heated over a period of weeks, caramelizing the cloves; the result is has a complex, savory, almost sweet flavor. Here’s what it looked like – black and kind of sticky. Fun!
The black garlic was in a Soy Glazed Chicken Thighs with Bok Choy and Sesame Rice dish that was delicious. That sauce – YUM!
Our final Blue Apron meal from last week was Spicy Smoked Trout Sandwiches with Roasted Sweet Potatoes. Matt originally turned his nose up at this because he thought it would be aggressively fishy, but to his surprise he really liked it (and so did I). Another win! We were too full for the sweet potatoes, so we saved those and I ate them as a side with fried eggs the next morning for breakfast. Yay for leftovers!
If you haven’t given Blue Apron a shot yet, please check them out! They ship to most of the country, and there’s no commitment – you can skip or cancel at any time. Meals start at $9.99 per serving and all the ingredients are delivered in a refrigerated box so you don’t need to be home when the package arrives. Click here to get $40 off your first two weeks of orders. Enjoy!!
And if you’re curious how Blue Apron compares to similar services, check out this post for my thoughts there: Blue Apron vs. HelloFresh vs. Sunbasket.
Which of these meals would you most be interested to try? What’s the most unique ingredient you’ve cooked with lately?
