Nick and I have been doing such a great job at staying home and cooking lately. That was our goal once we were finished working on the new house. Everything is just about done and it’s officially livable. I can’t wait to show you all the before and afters. The only thing we have left in the kitchen is the new countertops, but I’m in love with all the new appliances and it makes me want to cook in the kitchen more! The natural lighting that shines through the windows is also great for blogging 🙂
We thought about making a tradition out of going to our favorite little town for dinner on Valentine’s Day, but it was cold out and staying home in the warmth sounded so much better. We’ve been having Blue Apron delivered a couple times a month because it’s so convenient and it’s fun to cook together. Plus, the more we don’t spend at restaurants, the more money we have to put into the house.
There are different meal plans you can choose from and we selected the two-person plan. I love all the different food choices that come and it’s nice to have the option to skip a delivery (no commitment whatsoever). I like that we don’t have to go to the grocery store, it’s so much cheaper, and the recipes are all new to me. It takes off the pressure to decide on what to make for dinner. It only comes to about $9.99 a meal for the both of us, which is so much cheaper than dining out or buying way too many ingredients at the grocery store. I can’t get over how great of a deal Blue Apron is and I’ve never had one issue with their service. They also offer free shipping, which is great! The ingredients are shipped in a refrigerated box that way everything stays fresh.
We love taste testing everything and we just got a new box in the mail today to cook up this weekend. I was introduced to Blue Apron back in May and have been hooked ever since. We have no problem spending our money on the box because it’s worth every penny. Blue Apron is also giving my first 100 readers two free meals with their first order! Get Started 🙂
So for Valentines Day we stayed in to cook, picked up a couple of movies, wine, and cannoli’s from a small little bakery in Waxhaw. If you’re looking for an amazing wine to go with your dinner, that Walt is incredible and the best Pinot Noir I’ve had yet. I didn’t get around to the bottle of white, but that’ll be tonight!
We decided to make one meal as an appetizer and another meal as the main course. Of course, we cooked way too much and had some leftovers for the next day, but it was still fun making two of the meals together. We were having so much fun we couldn’t wait to make another. I’m hoping Blue Apron starts a dessert box! Four our first meal (The appetizer) we made the Spicy Orange Chicken Wings with Shiitake Sesame rice. They make the recipes with farm fresh seasonal ingredients, which is why everything is so fresh and bold.
The recipes come with cards to make the preparing and cooking process so much easier. The meals take about 40 minutes to prepare and make.
I’m not a mushroom person, so we made it without the shiitake! Since you get to prepare everything, you can customize it however you’d like! I love seeing how my food is prepared and knowing exactly what goes into it. The sambal oelek was VERY spicy, so we only added about a teaspoon. I loved the idea of adding garlic and sesame oil to my rice.
The great thing about Blue Apron is that it teaches you how to cook a specific meal so you can prepare it whenever you’d like. We want to use Blue Apron’s spicy orange glaze on a salmon next week. The meals also look so pretty once they’re put together.
I love that Blue Apron offers a recycling program now. You can return you packaging for free to Blue Apron from the USPS store! You can also use the recycling locator to find recycling options in your town.
The Chicken wings were awesome! The orange sauce caramelized the chicken and they were perfectly seasoned. I was surprised at how easy they were to make. We was so stuffed after the meal, but we wanted to make another because it was so much fun, so we chose the Lebanese Lamb & Beef Arayes with Roasted Broccoli.
I never thought I’d ever eat lamb, but Nick got me hooked on it. We went to a local restaurant a year ago and he ordered it. I had one bite and it was one of the tastiest meats I’ve ever had. It was nothing like I expected it to be. It was moist, fell off the bone, and cooked perfectly. Lamb isn’t meat that we cook very often, but it’s definitely not feared by us.
The Lebanese lamb and beef arayes were very easy to make. You can taste all the healthy and earthy ingredients in every bite. Each meal comes to about 500-700 calories, which is great for dinner!
This gave me a great idea for lamb meatballs! I loved the seasoned and sautéed onions.
The broccoli also came out perfectly flavored and perfectly cooked! I usually steam broccoli, but this was a great way to cook it. I may start cooking my broccoli like this because the broccoli had a great texture instead of a soggy steamed broccoli stem. I love how healthy and filling broccoli is and Blue Apron definitely didn’t cut us short on our supply. I could eat this stuff by the bag!
The arayes came out so juicy, crispy, and delicious! I did not expect the little floured pitas to bloom up the way they did. They almost tasted fried!
I cut this one open so you could see the deliciously cooked filling! How amazing does that look?
We could only get about a 1/4 of the araye down because we were stuffed! That meant leftovers for Monday lunch 🙂 We baked them again to heat them up and they came out great the next day.
We will definitely be making these again. I’m so excited to make a new Blue Apron dish tonight after our run and I’ll definitely share that with you guys!
Two recipes I’d like to try from their menu…
Smoky Swiss Chard & Black Bean Tostadas with Queso Fresco & Roasted Piquillo Peppers
BBQ Chicken Wings With Smoky Sweet Potato Salad & Coleslaw
Nick and I are not big fans of catfish, so we gave the catfish meal to my parents to cook up for Valentines Day. We weren’t the only ones making Blue Apron on the special day 🙂 They cooked up the Meyer Lemon-Glazed Catfish with Ginger Collard Greens and Cracked Freekeh Salad. My parents sent me this photo of their creation and said it was to die for. They raved about the catfish for about twenty minutes. They already ordered a Blue Apron for themselves and a Blue Apron for my brother to be delivered next week. I guess we are a Blue Apron family now!
Blue Apron is giving the first 100 readers two free meals on their first order! Click here to get started 🙂
Three Questions For You
- Have you ever used Blue Apron? If so, what was your favorite meal to make?
- Do you prefer dining out or cooking meals at home?
- What recipes from the Blue Apron Recipes look good to you?
Andrea @ Blog Strength says
We don’t have Blue Apron in Canada (yet??) but these posts have inspired me to do an online search for alternatives and there are several similar services in the Toronto area that range from $10-13 per meal. We stayed in for V-day too, bought some nicer than usual groceries from Whole Food and cooked and watched movies. I think I actually preferred it to going out, which we do far to often.
Taralynn McNitt says
That’s not bad at all!:) Wish you did have Blue Apron! I love it. I like staying in now 🙂 It’s special since we went out wayyyyy tooooo much! What did you guys cook?
Ashley says
I’ve never tried Blue Apron, but now I want to! The dishes look unique and I like that they include all the fancy spices that I don’t have in hand to make the recipe.
Taralynn McNitt says
It is so much fun!
I also love all the fancy ingredients they use because it teaches me to cook outside of the box and play with ingredients I’ve never heard of!
Hilary says
I keep thinking about blue apron and you are right this would be such a fun thing to do for a date night! Might just have to talk my boyfriend into it one weekend soon!
Taralynn McNitt says
It’s such a great deal and so much fun! If you use the link, you guys can get two meals for free to try it out and see if you like it! 🙂
Trina says
Aw, what a cute idea for any occasion! My boyfriend cooked for me for Valentine’s Day too although (God love him) it didn’t turn out quite as delicious as these look 😛 Have you ever taken a cooking class at Sur La Table? Was thinking that would be fun for a date night soon.
Taralynn McNitt says
Lol it’s the thought that counts right? 😉 Maybe he needs a blue apron…hahaha I’ve never taken their cooking classes but that would be so much fun!
Aurora@Fitness is Sweet says
I’ve never tried Blue Apron, but I’ve been wanting to for a while because all the meals look so delicious! This may have convinced me!
Taralynn McNitt says
If do, give the two free meals a shot! 🙂 I think you’ll fall in love!
Jackie says
My husband and I do Blue Apron! We go through phases where we’ll do it for a couple weeks then take a break. This week started maybe a month of boxes! Tonight we’re having grilled fontina cheeses with clementine, lemon, and endive salads!
Taralynn McNitt says
That is why I love the option of skipping weeks and I like that it’s not a surprise what is going to be in the box. That grilled cheese looked goooooood! I saw it on the menu. Sometimes, we will freeze ingredients if we don’t have time to make them.
Michaela Miller says
I’ve never used Blue Apron but boy that looks good and I’d love to try it!
Also this is a tough question… I love homecooked meals and that feeling of accomplishment after making something awesome but I also love the experience of going out! Also the no dishes part is pretty great 🙂
Taralynn McNitt says
You should try it at least once! It’s a game changer. We made the steak tacos last night.
No dishes is pretty great, but you save way more money cooking at home! You could do blue apron three times a week and go out on the other nights 😉 I think cooking the blue apron is so much more fun becuase i don’t have to drive to the restaurant, wait to be seated, be waited on (i actually like getting up and grabbing my own stuff lol) and then driving home and paying a ton for tips and food…it just adds up! 🙂 BUT I do enjoy dining out.
Brooklyn says
I so wish Blue Apron delivered to Canada.
Every time I see someone mention Blue Apron it looks so great!
http://www.justbeingbrooklyn.com
Taralynn McNitt says
I think you’d love it!
lily says
awesome post
jessica says
I haven’t tried blue apron yet, but I’m trying to convince my husband to give it a shot! I think the steaks au poivre look delicious! I definitely enjoy eating out-a lot. However, it’s cheaper and healthier and more relaxing to eat at home at I immensely enjoy cooking! We eat at home way more often than we go out!
Taralynn McNitt says
That is awesome!!
Beth says
Looks great!
Taralynn McNitt says
thanks!
Heather @ Polyglot Jot says
Yum–i think i need to try this! ive been thinking about it for a while they always look so delicious! 🙂 they should absolutely do a dessert box!!
Taralynn McNitt says
It’s so good!!:)
Amanda says
I ordered my Blue Apron today and I cannot wait until it gets here!