I am genuinely in love! Before you get too excited let me explain. Planning and preparing mealtime is not always my expertise. I am not a bad cook, and I love trying new recipes, but I am not the best planner. I will sometimes run to the grocery store multiple times in a week, to get last minute ingredients for an impromptu recipe. Then there are times where I will skip over preparing an elaborate meal because of all of the prep involved. I recently discovered Blue Apron, which helps with both of my problems. Just wait until you hear how this site works, and you will begin to understand my love for them.
Blue Apron is dedicated to bringing healthy, delicious cooking to aspiring home chefs across America. They do so by delivering fresh food, in pre-measured amounts, along with 3 recipes, right to your doorstep. Each box has 3 meals, each with 2 servings. You can always expect the following when ordering from Blue Apron:
- Complete meals with 500-700 calories per serving
- 35 minutes to prepare on average
- Pre-portioned ingredients to save time and reduce waste
- Easy-to-follow, beautifully printed recipe cards
- Premium seasonal ingredients from artisanal purveyors
- Emphasis on sustainable practices
- Fresher than the supermarket
- Specialty ingredients you can’t find on your own
- Meals recommended each week based on your dietary preferences
- All plans have no commitment
- Skip any week if you don’t have the time – just let us know by the weekly deadline
- Starting at $9.99 per person per meal
- Free and convenient delivery to most of the country.
- Carefully packaged and in a refrigerated box, so our food stays fresh even if you’re not home when we deliver
- Choose from one of our many delivery days
My first box came with three recipes: Braised Pork Chops & Roasted Leeks, Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps and Roasted Poblano & Quinoa Sopes. I made the latter first, and I was pleasantly surprised with the ease and taste of everything. There was a little chopping involved, but absolutely no measuring. Each ingredient came in it’s own labeled bag. Finding what I needed was so easy. Instructions are easy to follow, and you can’t beat the freshness and taste. I had never tried sopes, let alone made with quinoa. The roasted poblano added a nice flavor and kick to the sopes, but the salad on top of the sopes really made the dish. Everything paired so nicely together, and made for a truly delicious and healthy meal.
If you are planning a nice date night, or a busy week where you want to eat healthy, but don’t have a lot of time, then check out Blue Apron. Yummy!
- 1/4 cup white quinoa
- 1 poblano pepper
- 2 oz queso fresco
- 1 avocado
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1 lime
- 1/4 lb multicolored cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup masa harina
- 3 oz arugula
- Preheat the oven to 500°F. Wash and dry the fresh produce. Heat a small pot of salted water to boiling on high. Add the quinoa to the boiling water and cook 14 to 16 minutes, or until tender. Drain thoroughly and set aside as you continue cooking.
- While the quinoa cooks, place the poblano pepper on a sheet pan. Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven 9 to 11 minutes, or until the skin of the pepper is browned and blistered. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 400°F. When the poblano is cool enough to handle, carefully remove and discard the skin and seeds; finely chop the poblano. Set aside as you continue cooking.
- While the pepper roasts, crumble the queso fresco. Using a peeler, remove the green rind of the lime, avoiding the white pith; mince the rind to get 2 teaspoons of zest. Quarter the lime. Peel, pit and medium dice the avocado; toss with the juice of 1 lime wedge to prevent browning. Pick the cilantro leaves off the stems; discard the stems. Quarter the cherry tomatoes lengthwise.
- In a medium bowl, combine the chopped poblano, masa harina, cooked quinoa, lime zest, 2 teaspoons of olive oil and 1 cup of water to create a batter; season with salt and pepper. Using wet hands, divide the batter into four ¼-inch-thick patties (or sopes).
- n a large pan (nonstick and oven-safe, if you have one), heat a thin layer of olive oil on medium until hot. Once the oil is hot enough that a pinch of batter sizzles immediately when added to the pan, add the sopes and cook, 6 to 8 minutes per side, or until browned, carefully flipping with a spatula. Transfer the pan of sopes to the oven (if you don’t have an oven-safe pan, transfer the sopes to an oiled sheet pan) and bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until the sopes are cooked through and firm in the center.
- While the sopes bake, in a medium bowl, combine the arugula, avocado, tomatoes, cilantro and half the queso fresco. Just before serving, add the juice of 1 lime wedge and a drizzle of olive oil; season with salt and pepper to taste and toss to thoroughly coat. To plate your dish, divide the baked sopes and salad between 2 plates. Garnish with the remaining queso fresco and lime wedges. Enjoy!
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