For the last year or so I've heavily contemplated trying Blue Apron. My husband and I have discussed it several times. I've gone on their website many times and almost pulled the trigger but was hesitant. I absolutely loved the concept of it. My girls LOVE to cook and help in the kitchen, and I loved the idea of all the ingredients and easy to follow recipes arriving right on our doorstep making it extra easy to cook a fresh, delicious meal and I loved the idea of branching out from our routine set of meals we do. However, there were two things that made me nervous to try it. First, I am embarrassed to say all four of us are kind of picky eaters, and I worried that the food that arrived might be a bit more adventurous than we were used to and although we would of course eat it, I didn't love the idea of spending money on something if it wasn't something any of us cared for. And second, I didn't want to have to be committed to it every week as we travel a lot and have particularly unusual schedules, especially during certain times of the year.
So, when Blue Apron contacted and asked if we wanted to try it I figured this was the perfect chance to give it a shot. And we also get to offer a great discount to you guys (you can find that at the bottom of this post). The first thing I discovered was that the two things I had been concerned about were not going to be a problem at all! Once I had logged in you can see four weeks ahead of what the meal options are. There are four options to choose from and you can choose two. And the part that I didn't realize was that you can opt out of any weeks which was perfect for us. In fact you can skip meals and cancel at any point! For instance if you don't want to do a week because it doesn't fit into your schedule or you the options aren't ones you love then you just hit the "skip this delivery" button and that's it! Once I realized how easy it was I got quite excited. Blue Apron sent us a box to review and it arrived on Monday with our two meals and we made this first meal Monday night. It was a recipe for Spring Asparagus & Ricotta Calzones with Arrabbiata Dipping Sauce and Butter Lettuce Salad.
Here are the ingredients. We were wowed by how fresh everything was. It looked (and tasted) like it was fresh from the farmer's market!
I didn't get many pictures of the actual cooking process but the girls and I had so much fun. They have always enjoyed cooking and baking and felt like real chefs getting to chop up all the ingredients.
And squeezing in the lemon juice...
And best of all making each calzone. The asparagus was heavenly. A couple family members chose to leave the asparagus out of theirs so I got extra which I ate on the side - it was so delicious!
Calzones aren't exactly the prettiest food to photograph but here is a finished one. We were blown away by how delicious they were. I have never been a huge calzone fan but I was completely won over. There was literally not a crumb left on a single plate. In fact the girls begged to make them again the following night. The dough was the best I have ever eaten and I loved the mix of cheeses and asparagus. I didn't use any of the dipping sauce because I am not a tomato sauce fan but the girls and Jon loved it. The salad was so fresh and I loved the making the fresh vinaigrette dressing for it.
If you are wondering how much we loved it, let me say that as soon as we finished eating it we promptly went online and signed up for a Blue Apron subscription! It was so much fun looking through the selections and choosing our next box. We are planning on choosing one box (so two meals) each month although I think we may on some months do two boxes. It was such a fun experience and I honestly cannot rave enough about the quality of the food. We cannot wait for our next box! We went with the family plan but you can also opt for a 2-person plan as well and don't worry if you aren't home when the package arrives - it is delivered in a refrigerated box so the ingredients will stay nice and fresh.
And here's a picture of the second meal which was a Middle Eastern Chicken and Chickpea Stew with Chermoula and Pita Croutons that we made the following night. I can't wait to make the Pita Croutons again! They were delicious in the stew and I would love to add them to any stew/soup and also to a fresh salad as well.
Sponsored by Blue Apron
And guess what? The first 25 readers will get TWO free meals on their first Blue Apron Order. Just click here.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend!
