Do You Blue Apron?

I've been seeing lots of home meal delivery options pop up all over the internet.  So when a girl in a Mom's group posted about trying one out for free I jumped at the opportunity!  It's no secret that I've been in a major cooking rut for a while.  I hoped this would jumpstart my desire to get in the kitchen again and even give me some new recipe ideas.

We got our box last Friday while I was out of town.  I was impressed with the way it was packaged.  The ingredients were labeled well which is important if you don't cook a lot.  Everything was still very fresh (I opened it on Sunday evening to look at it) and appeared to be good quality.

I made our first meal on Monday evening.  I had a horrible migraine and honestly on a regular night we might have ended up eating PB&J or macaroni.  But the ingredients were pre portioned so I set out to make the first dish!

The first dish was Beef Grinders with Potato Wedges.  I added a couple extra potatoes to make sure we had enough to share with the boys.  The grinders were super easy.  Chop & onion and mushrooms.  Saute with the beef.  Then make a quick cheese sauce!

The food was good.  It wasn't the best I've ever had, but I would make it again.  I do think the directions could be hard for someone who hasn't cooked before.  Occasionally it would tell you to "season" the meat or the sauce.  And if you aren't familiar with salt you could WAY overseason or under-season.

The portion sizes were large and we definitely could have had enough to make small sandwiches for each of the boys as well.

The second meal was probably our least favorite.  It was a Chicken Pot Pie.  Instead of pie crust it had buttermilk drop biscuits on top.  It had carrots, turnips, celery & chicken.  Honestly it was just ok.  I make a fabulous chicken pot pie so my expectations were high.  It didn't taste bad, but it wasn't anything I would ever make again.

Apparently the third time is a charm.  Because this Shrimp & Pineapple Jasmine Rice was to die for.  It was so easy and I could have eaten about 14 bowls.  I guess it's good that it was pre portioned or I just might have!!

The rice bowl had garlic rice, pineapple, shrimp, carrots, scallions and cashews.  It was flavored with lime, soy and an Indonesian chile sauce called sambal oelek.  I'll share this recipe because it is one that I'll definitely make again!

Shrimp & Pineapple Fried Rice

10 oz shrimp

1/2 cup Jasmine Rice

1 Carrot

4 Oz cubed pineapple

2 cloves garlic

2 scallions (chopped)

1 lime

2 T Soy Sauce

2 T Cashews

2 Tsp Sambal Oelek

Peel and mince the garlic.  I use a microplane...so easy!  Chop the pineapple, scallions and carrot.  Roughly chop the cashews.

Heat 2 tsp of oil.  Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Add the rice, a pinch of salt and a cup and a half of water.  Boil, cover and reduce the heat to low.  Simmer for 11-13 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in 2 tsps of lime zest.

Toast the cashews and remove from the pan.

Heat another 2 tsps of oil and cook the carrot and scallions.  Add the shrimp, pineapple and saute until the shrimp is pink.  Add the garlic-lime rice, soy sauce, cashews, the juice of two lime wedges and as much of the sambal oelek as you like.  I suggest adding just a small amount first and then tasting.  It's definitely a hot pepper!

Stir until thoroughly combine and heated through.  season with salt and pepper to taste.  Garnish with the green tops of scallions and lime wedges.

Devour!

The produce we received was beautiful!

We're trying one more week of Blue Apron because honestly I forgot to cancel.  I'm excited to taste a couple more recipes and I think the service ultimately is great!  I don't think it is worth ordering each week (it's $60 per week for 3 meals that serve 2 people) but I would totally use it on a week that I knew we were going to be super busy.  It would also be a great way to send meals to someone!  You can cancel meals as often as you like (like Amazon Subscribe and Save).  I didn't get a reminder email this week to update my choices so I definitely would like to see that feature.  Overall if you are busy or a budding cook, I would definitely give the service a try!

Don't forget to check out Mica's recipe of the week!!