Blue Apron: A Review

I was introduced to Blue Apron by a colleague and after receiving a discounted offer (thanks Zulily!), thought I'd give it a try.  As you know from one of my recent posts, I am all about making life easier through online shopping. And my parents were in town this weekend so I had a captive audience.  I got home Thursday after work and a cute Blue Apron box was waiting at the door. I unpacked immediately and all food was still cold (impressive).

I tried two recipes over the course of the weekend and here are my take aways in a quick pro/con list:

Pros

Super easy to order online 

All ingredients are measured out 

Meals took less than 30 mins to prep

Instructions were super easy to follow (with pictures!) 

They were delicious

Different (or variation) of meals we would normally eat

Not having to answer question "what's for dinner?" 

Gave me confidence in preparing a meal (I hate to cook!)

You can skip weeks or sub out meal choices

Cons

I found it to be a bit pricey

We only had a few or no leftovers (which might be a pro for some)

I ended up preparing a few additional sides to have enough food (but easy things like fruit or extra veggie)

If you have a picky eater, this is not the meal plan service for you

One of the meals we got was BBQ chicken (which is something I already make) 

I spent more time in the kitchen than I thought I would prepping and then cooking 

While the cons list was smaller the pricing and picky eater issue outweighed the pros. I might consider doing it again if we had guests or a crazy busy week. 

My advice would be to give it a try (especially if you have a promo code. On their website you can get two free meals with your first order!) and let me know what thou think.

I have to share my proudest moment...salmon with noodles and long green beans. So pretty and so good!

July 4th and Peach Cobbler

After my last doom and gloom post, the sun finally broke through yesterday. Answered prayers!

Randy and I both had yesterday off and decided to check out the Gilbert Peach Festival parade. Gilbert is a little town not too far from us and I've always heard about the parade but never been. We woke up yesterday morning (overslept a bit so we got ready and flew out of the house in less than 1 hour) and drove over to Gilbert. We made it JUST before they blocked the road off for the parade. A few minutes later, and we might have been in the parade.

Emily had a great time checking out all the sights. She saw a few dogs, clapped her hands at everything and only got scared once when an ambulance went by.

Afterwards, we made our way through the thousands (I swear) of hot, sweaty people to the vendor area. I got the one thing I came for: peach ice cream. And it was amazing! We also got some fresh peaches which I came home and made THIS:

Yes, you are looking at fresh, homemade peach cobbler right of the oven! I know you are amazed. Thanks to Southern Living, it's pretty much the easiest, most delicious recipe ever:

You'll need:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar, divided
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 cup milk 
• 4 cups fresh peach slices
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Ground cinnamon or nutmeg (optional)

1. Melt butter in a 13- x 9-inch baking dish.
2. Combine flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt; add milk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter over butter (do not stir).
3. Bring remaining 1 cup sugar, peach slices, and lemon juice to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly; pour over batter (do not stir). Sprinkle with cinnamon, if desired (and I did).
4. Bake at 375° for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Three things: I didn't have lemon juice so I used lime and that worked fine. I was a little worried that the peaches were too juicy when I poured them over the batter but it firmed up nicely (so don't freak if yours looks the same). I think next time I will only use 1/2 cup of sugar in the peaches. The whole thing is very sweet (but very delicious)!


I wasn't sure how Emily would do with the loud noises and she can barely stay up past 8:30 (but then again, neither can I , so we opted to just do sparklers this year. They were always my favorites when I was little and I can't wait for a little bit bigger Emily to try them out. But for now, she enjoyed watching her Daddy with them.

I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July. My deepest thanks to those who serve to keep our country the land of the free and the home of the brave!

*M

Super Duper Easy Quiche

Truth be told, I got a bit derailed on the Paleo thing. Ok, big time derailed. I'm not even on the train anymore! But I'm working on getting back. I really liked the food, I felt better, and I looked better. The problem was my busy work schedule (finding Paleo when I'm out of the office and have a few minutes to eat lunch is tough) and making dinner (preparing 3 different meals for each of us was becoming a bit time consuming). I'm easing back into it and cutting back on the snacking and processed carbs and eating more fruits and veggies.

On Saturday, I woke up a bit early and decided to cook breafast. I love some Jennie-O turkey bacon and fried up a few pieces. I started to scramble some eggs and thought to myself "quiche would be really good" which was interesting because 1) I don't remember the last time I had it and 2) I've never made it before. So I did a quick Google search, made some modifications of my own and was extremely pleased with the end result!

If you are up for a bit of experimenting with your weekend breafkast routine, gives this a whirl:

Super Duper Easy Quiche

1 cup of milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup (rounded) Bisquick
1/4 cup shredded cheese (I used the last of  a Mexican blend)
2 tbsp soften butter
2 pieces cooked turkey bacon torn into smaller pieces
dash of chopped dried onion, salt and pepper

I just threw in what I had in the fridge, so you could add whatever you want. I added a bit more Bisquick because it looked kind of runny at one point and I don't think I used a complete 1/4 cup of cheese. It will look kind of lumpy so don't be alarmed.

I also didn't have a quiche dish but I saw online I could use a muffin tin! I sprayed a 6 muffin tin with Pam and poured in the mix. The muffin tin was the perfect size for a single serving.

Set the oven to 375 and cook for 20-30 minutes. I kept checking on it until it had firmed up and would lift out of pan and was brown and crispy on top.

I also juiced a whole pineapple and about 6-7 tangelos.  All around delish!

Bon appetite!
*M

Meatloaf Recipe

I love this time of year. The weather is finally starting to cool down. Crisp, cool days always inspires me to cook and bake and I'm constantly looking for the best version of a particular recipe. I recently dusted off some of my cookbooks and tried two new recipes (the other to be highlighted in a later post). Both are super easy, yummy and filling...perfect for a chilly fall dinner.

Meatloaf

My husband is a meat and potatoes (and nothing else) all the way kind of a guy. I've made meatloaf before with (what I thought were yummy things) chunks of onions and green peppers and horseradish sauce. Randy was not so much a fan. So this time, I opted for a very paired down version.

What you need:
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup crush Ritz crackers
1 3/4 lbs ground beef
1/4 cup finely chopped onion (I use dried)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tbl A1

How to prepare:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Combine eggs and milk
• Stir in all ingredients, ground beef last
• Mix well (I always used my hands)
• Put in loaf pan and bake for about 1 hr 20 mins.
• When it looks nice and brown, drain off liquid and let meatloaf cool in pan for 5 mins.
• Use a knife or spatula to make sure edges and bottom are free from pan. Flip upside down onto platter then use another plate to flip it right side up.
• Cut and enjoy!

Note-you can use the liquid you drained off for gravy. But I’m not a huge fan of brown gravy, so I didn’t. Next time I think I will mix up some ketchup and little bit of A1 and use as sauce on top.   

Goes great with mashed potatoes and green beans. Enjoy!

*M

Summer Grill'n Time

Although it's been insanely hot recently, I really do enjoy summer. Beach days, time spent by the pool, baseball, drive-in movies, and grilling are just a few of my favorite ways to spend the long days of June, July and August.

Over the weekend, I got the urge to try a recipe we haven’t had in a while. It takes a little bit of prep work, but it's super simple and so yummy. It's great as a meal (with corn on the cob or grilled veggies) or as an appetizer.

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp

What you will need:
1lb large, deveined shrimp (I suggest going fresh, not frozen)
1lb of bacon
teriyaki sauce (I prefer Kikkoman brand teriyaki marinade and sauce)
soy sauce (I prefer Kikkoman brand)
skewers (I like the metal instead of wooden because you can reuse. If you do wooden-don't forget to soak in water before using!)

1. Peel the shrimp and set aside.

2. Cut the bacon in half. One piece of bacon is WAY too much to wrap a tiny shrimp in!

3. Place bacon slices on a plate, cover with a paper towel and microwave for about 45 seconds-1 minute. (This just helps the bacon and shrimp cook at the same speed when you put it on the grill).

4. Wrap one piece of bacon around one piece of shrimp and skewer.

5. Repeat until you have about 5-6 pieces of shrimp on one skewer.

6. Place skewers in shallow baking pan (this helps to keep them from rolling off and also keeps the sauces from spilling out. Trust me on this one, I learned the hard way!)

7. Splash teriyaki sauce on each piece of shrimp. Repeat with soy sauce. I did this two times with each piece of shrimp. Just enough until shrimp and bacon have a slight brown tint.

8. Cover and place in fridge for a few hours. I would also recommend turning once or twice during this time. This allows the shrimp to absorb sauce that's at the bottom of the pan.

9. When you are ready for dinner-fire up the grill, spray it down and set the skewers on it. It takes about 10 minutes for the shrimp to cook and the bacon to get brown and crispy. Keep an eye on it and turn periodically or else the bacon will burn!

This is the final product:

If you have company over for dinner, you can easily double or triple this recipe. For every pound of shrimp, you will need about a pound of bacon.

Happy eating!

*M