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Blue Apron Meal #3: Spicy Spaghetti w/ Cabbage and Toasted Breadcrumbs

March 28, 2016

Today it was time to prepare my last Blue Apron meal. This one involved shrimp, panko breadcrumbs, and cabbage.

Out of all the meals I got, this was the quickest to prepare. Between toasting the breadcrumbs, slicing and sautéing the cabbage, cooking the shrimp, and boiling the pasta, I was in and out of the kitchen in under a half an hour. Minus the time I spent washing dishes, taking pictures, and wiping down countertops (let’s be real).

Blue Apron Blue Apron

I would never have thought to cook cabbage in butter or to put it in spaghetti for that matter, but it was delicious. Now I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t make a small tweak to the recipe. In addition to seasoning the cabbage with salt, I also used an Olive Garden garlic and herb seasoning that I got from Walmart (see it pictured below).

Blue ApronIt took the cabbage over the edge. I will be making this combo again and you should make it too. No, seriously.

Blue Apron

Blue Apron

Blue Apron

After all was said and done, the spaghetti was delicious. The cabbage proved to be a great complement to the dish adding a distinct texture from the toasted breadcrumbs and shrimp. I wouldn’t call it spicy per se, but I have high standards when it comes to the use of that word.

Blue Apron

Unlike my other Blue Apron meals, this one was spot on about the two person serving. I guess you can’t win em all. I’ll be enjoying the second serving tomorrow for lunch. Nothing brightens up my day like having a good meal to look forward to.

Thoughts?
Overall, my Blue Apron experience was great. I feel inspired to create healthier versions of some of these meals (think curry baked chicken with a coconut lime cauliflower puree). I’ve also added some new dishes to my repertoire (garlic and herb seasoned sautéed cabbage), and revisited some old cooking techniques (stovetop chicken).

Repeat customer?
Probably. If the right meals came along.

The Pros
You may be able to get more than 2 servings out of the 2 serving meals.
Interesting dishes with step by step instructions.
Perfectly portioned ingredients so there’s no waste.

The Cons
You can’t always get the specific meal combos you like.

I hope everyone had a fabulous Easter! Here’s to an equally fabulous week.

Food

Blue Apron Meal #2: Acorn Squash Risotto with Radicchio Salad

March 15, 2016

It’s my spring break! I want to start it off by thanking whoever decided to put it up against Daylight Savings Time. Losing that hour sucks but it sucks a little bit less when you don’t have to go to classes for the week. I kicked the “break” off by making my second meal from Blue Apron – the Acorn Squash Risotto with Radicchio salad.
Blue Apron Acorn Squash RisottoGenerally, I’m a fan of risotto but I only eat it when I order it at restaurants. This was my first time making it for myself. I had also never tried acorn squash before so this meal promised to be full of firsts. Eager to taste the final result I quickly got to work.

I discarded the rough ends of the acorn squash and then sliced it into fours. I put that in the oven at 450 degrees for about a half an hour.

Blue Apron Acorn Squash Risotto

Next, I fried the fresh sage using a tablespoon of olive oil.

Blue Apron Acorn Squash RisottoBlue Apron Acorn Squash RisottoOnce the sage was done, I sautéed the diced onions in the left over olive oil adding their spice blend.

After that I added the risotto, toasting it before adding the water and bringing it all to a boil.Blue Apron Acorn Squash RisottoOnce the water started boiling, I reduced the stove temp to a medium simmer and let the risotto finish cooking for about 14 minutes.

While that was going, I took out my roasted acorn squash from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes before finely chopping it.

I made sure to keep an eye on my risotto so it didn’t overcook. Once it was done I mixed in the squash, the butter, and shavings of the Piave cheese.

Blue Apron Acorn Squash RisottoBlue Apron Acorn Squash RisottoMy last step was to quickly prepare the radicchio salad and dressing, before plating it all.

Blue Apron Acorn Squash Risotto

Blue Apron Acorn Squash Risotto

Similar to the first meal, I was easily able to get more than two servings out of this one. It’s more like four.  While the recipe card said it should take about the same amount of time as the first meal, I found this one faster to make since there were less moving parts.

As far as taste goes it was good, but not amazing. It definitely doesn’t compare to some of the restaurant risottos I’ve had. For my first attempt at risotto though I was quite pleased.
Blue Apron Acorn Squash Risotto
My final Blue Apron meal will be the spicy spaghetti with cabbage and toasted bread crumbs. Stay tuned!

Food

Blue Apron Meal #1: Trinidadian Chicken Curry with Coconut Grits and Collard Greens

March 6, 2016

This past week I made my first Blue Apron meal. I set out all of the ingredients I would need, rolled up my sleeves, and got to slicing and dicing.

The recipe card that they send with the ingredients is really helpful because it includes a picture of the final product, as well as pictures of the process. I started by cooking the grits in light coconut milk.

Next, I toasted the coconut flakes.

Blue ApronAfter that I sautéed the collard greens in olive oil with minced fresh garlic, some sea salt and black pepper.Blue Apron

Finally, I cooked the chicken using their Trinidadian curry spice blend (which was amazing!) and a tablespoon of butter.

The chicken was unreal. I haven’t cooked chicken stovetop in a while but I think I may need to go back to that.Blue Apron

Blue ApronNow while they say that this serves two, I got three generously sized portions out of it (bonus!). And quite honestly, I could have easily gotten four. I told my sister and a couple of friends about it and they all want the recipe!

Blue Apron

The meal was delicious! The chicken was incredible – a nice crisp on the outside, juicy on the inside, and incredibly flavorful. The coconut grits were a nice blend of savory and tropical with the sea salt, black pepper, coconut milk, and fresh lime zest added. This is a meal I will definitely be making again.

Next, up the acorn squash risotto (yumm!):)
Food

My Blue Apron Experience

March 1, 2016

As a Christmas gift my sister got me a week of Blue Apron meals. I had heard about Blue Apron before so I was really excited to give their meals a try. I patiently stalked their website waiting for a weekly menu that appealed to me. That menu finally came on the week of February 22nd. The way it works is that every week they have six dishes to chose from, which you’ll get three meals based on your dietary preferences (e.g. if you’re vegetarian, don’t eat pork, or don’t consume shellfish). Early this past Friday my meals were delivered, and they were packed with dry ice to keep all of the ingredients fresh.

Blue Apron Blue Apron

They send all of the ingredients in the exact amounts you’ll need to make the dishes so you don’t have to worry about leftover ingredients.

Blue Apron

Along with the food comes detailed step by step recipe instructions with pictures of each step, along with a picture of the finished product.

Blue Apron

One thing that I didn’t like is that as I was selecting which of the three meals I wanted for that week, there were restrictions on certain combinations. For example, if I chose one particular meal then I wouldn’t be able to select other specific meals. This was disappointing because they had a moo shu vegetable pancake meal that I wanted to try. Since I had already selected two other meals, however, I had to go for something else. A part from that it was a pretty straightforward process. For my meals I ended up getting the Trinidadian chicken curry with coconut grits and collard greens (sounds amazing, right?!), the acorn squash risotto with a radicchio salad, and spicy spaghetti with cabbage and toasted breadcrumbs. I’ve decided to start by making the Trinidadian chicken curry first and I can’t wait to report back on how it comes out. My mouth is already watering. Stay tuned!

Food

Culinary Pursuits: Jalapeño Sweet Potato Turkey Burgers

February 22, 2016

I spend a lot of my free time thinking about how many of my favorite foods can I  incorporate into a single dish. Enter my jalapeño sweet potato turkey burgers. My new faves. Full disclosure: the first time I made these burgers I made a rookie mistake. I didn’t cook the sweet potatoes before making the patties. The problem was that since ground turkey cooks much faster in the oven than sweet potatoes, the sweet potatoes weren’t fully cooked once the burgers were done. The burgers still came out okay just not as amazing as I knew they could be. The second time I fully cooked the sweet potato and let them cool before mixing them in the patties. This time they came out perfectly. I mean super delicious and juicy!

Ingredients:
For the patties:
1 1/4 lbs. of Lean ground turkey (I used 97% lean)
2 1/2 cups of diced sweet potatoes
1/2 cup of diced yellow onions (white onions would be fine also)
1 tbsp of ground jalapeño (can be found at Walmart)
1 tsp of curry powder
1/2 tsp of chili powder
1/2 tsp of sea salt + extra for the sweet potatoes
1/4 tsp of black pepper
1/4 tsp of Tony Chachere’s creole Seasoning
For the wrap:
Romaine heart
Ketchup (I used sriracha)
Hot sauce (optional)
Goat cheese (optional)

 

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and spray some non-stick cooking spray.
  2. Peel the skin off of your sweet potato and dice it into one inch cubes.
  3. Lay the cubes flat on a cooking sheet and spray them with non-stick spray. Sprinkle some sea salt on the top.
  4. Cook your sweet potatoes until soft (30-40 minutes depending on your oven and how small you dice your sweet potato. If you dice it more finely they’ll cook faster)
  5. Once your sweet potato is done cooking. Take them out and let them sit in the fridge for 5-10 minutes.
  6. Dice a medium sized yellow onion and measure out a healthy 1/2 cup serving.
  7. In a large bowl, take your ground turkey and add in the spices.
  8. Next, add the onions and the sweet potato cubes and mix until everything is evenly distributed.
  9. Divide the ground turkey mix into five patties.
  10. Lay down wax paper or aluminum foil on a baking sheet. Spray it with non-stick cooking spray and then place your patties down.
  11. Switch the oven from 350 degrees to a low broil.
  12. Broil the patties on low for 15 minutes.
  13. Check to make sure the patties are cooked all the way through. You can use a thermometer or take a table knife and cut in the center. If they are not fully cooked, give it 2-3 minutes and check again (you don’t want to let them overcook because they won’t be as juicy).
  14. Let your patty cool for a few minutes before placing it on the lettuce bib.
  15. Top with ketchup, goat cheese, and hot sauce.
  16. Enjoy!

I highly recommend this spice combo. The flavors all came together beautifully.

Sidenote: I guess instead of Meatless Monday I should call it Meaty Monday. Or insanely delicious turkey burger Monday. But I don’t know if the latter will catch on. Here’s to a great week!

Food

Heart Healthy Spread

February 13, 2016

Three cheers for another Friday!!! Usually my weeks are so busy where it feels like time just flies by. Not so much this week. I did things on Monday and now that it’s Friday it feels like the stuff I did on Monday happened in a completely different week. Weird. Anyways, my week was pretty awesome. I came off of an incredibly productive weekend which always leaves me feeling like super woman:) I managed to get some big ticket/major dread factor items done, so I entered the new week feeling much lighter.

This week also gave me a chance to do some baking which I really enjoy. For my Persuasion seminar yesterday, I led discussion and we have a tradition where whoever leads discussion brings in snacks. With Valentine’s day right around the corner I decided to do a “heart healthy spread” with nutritious and yummy treats for all to enjoy.

Sidenote: Can I just say these are the types of things that make me happy. I even went to World Market to pick up a heart shaped cutter.

I baked some chocolate cranberry muffins with dark chocolate chunks and they were a huge hit! Everyone was surprised they were healthier. I also brought in a trail mix with blueberries, walnuts, almonds, and pecans, some chocolate rice cakes, harvest wheat crackers, a fruit and almond butter spread with dark chocolate and coconut, and some red velvet tea. As an extra touch I thought it would be cute to share some interesting heart facts and heart healthy tips on heart shaped post its. One of the facts was that a woman’s heart beats eight times more in a minute on average than a man’s. Who knew?!
Healthy Valentines DayHealthy Valentines Day

Now let’s talk about this spread! When I first tried it I thought it was okay, but it’s really grown on me. I had some this morning smeared on a banana with some caramel corn rice cakes and a little cinnamon and it was really good! I picked it up from Fresh Market on a whim so if you go to one consider picking up a jar.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

 

Food

Chicken & Apple Pita Wrap

January 14, 2016

Now that the spring semester has officially begun, time is at an ultimate premium. I need as many quick and healthy meal ideas in my arsenal as possible because my schedule is going to be packed. Fortunately, I can add this chicken and apple pita wrap to the mix! It only involves four ingredients, is super easy to assemble, and totally customizable depending on my preferences. Bonus points for the pita pocket making it perfectly portable as well.
Ingredients:
3 oz chicken
1/4 of a medium sized green apple
1/4 cup low fat cottage cheese
1 whole wheat pita pocket

Directions:

  1. Slice your green apple into fourths, taking one of the fourths and dicing it into smaller one inch chunks.
  2. Take your chicken, cottage cheese, and green apples and mix them all together.
  3. Carefully place the mixture into your pita pocket and enjoy.

I’ll usually have this with some yogurt, crackers, or a piece of fruit (like the remaining 3/4 of my green apple). A note about the chicken: I usually nuke it in the microwave for about 20 seconds but you can also have it cold like a deli wrap. And if you’re wondering where to find pita pockets, they’re usually hanging out with the breads and soft taco wraps.

Hope you’re having a wonderful week!

xo,
Chi