Cooking with Blue Apron

Note:  On behalf of Blue Apron I received a free box of meals to review on the blog.  I was not compensated for my time and all opinions and thoughts are my own.  

Hi Friends!  Happy Tuesday!  Today I want to tell you about a really neat service I got to try out, Blue Apron.

Blue Apron is a service that sends you all the ingredients to make full meals along with step by step ingredients for each recipe.  Meals can be sent enough for 2, 4, or 6 people.   You have the option to customize your meals to fit your preferences, for example you can chose to have all meals vegetarian if you want.

All the meals are developed by professional chefs and can be made in 40 minutes or less.

The convenience of not going to the store was what I was looking forward to the most when trying this service, however, I got so much more than that.  Not only did I not have to spend as much time shopping or planning meals, but I also gained new cooking skills. The first dish I made was  Fresh Tonnarelli Pasta & Zucchini.

In this dish I learned that Tonnarelli is a type of egg noodle that absorbs flavor really well.  Reserving the pasta water helped create a bold and flavorful sauce for the dish.  (This was Mr. Hungry’s favorite meal.)   It made three meals for us with the addition of chicken sausage the next day.  We decided to try the Chicken Katsu next.

As you can see, literally every ingredient needed to make the meal is there in the right portions (no waste and no leftovers).   In this meal I learned to create a crunchy bread coating by using the skillet, which I can’t believe I’ve never done before!  I also learned a new tip for making flavorful and delicious eggplant.  Following the easy instructions, I made cross marks across the eggplant, added a sauce and roasted it until  it was very tender.  The eggplant absorbs much of the flavor and comes out of the oven perfectly glazed.   Honestly, that could have been a meal in itself!

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One thing I loved about Blue Apron was we always had leftovers, and you guys know how much I dig leftovers!  Cook once eat many times is my favorite motto.  Even the Pan Roasted Hake made at least three servings.

 

The Hake was my favorite meal for many different reasons.  First because I love all types of fish, but I often fall back on justing buying salmon or tuna because that is what I am comfortable with.  I loved how juicy and flaky the Hake was and I definitely want to make this recipe again in the future (that’s another great think about Blue Apron, you get to keep the beautiful recipe cards).  I also learned how to make the most delicious and interesting sauce.  In this recipe, vegetables like tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic and onions were roasted at a very high temperature.  Once they were done they were mashed together to make a delicious and unique healthy sauce.

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Personally I loved that all the ingredients were fresh and some were even local.  All meals used minimally processed ingredients and created an overall fresh healthy dish.  Overall I was really impressed with the quality of meals, the taste of the meals, the ease of preparation, and all the new cooking skills I acquired.  I would definitely recommend them if you’re short on time, want to learn new cooking skills, or just would like fresh chef inspired meals.

The nice folks at Blue Apron are offering a special offer for Hungry Hobby readers ONLY.  If you’d like to try Blue Apron you can receive TWO free meals with your first box!

[Tweet “Want chef inspired meals at your doorstep? Get two free @blueapron meals via @hungryhobby today! #AD”]

Using this link (<— click here) the first 50 Hungry Hobby readers will receive 2 free meals with their first box!