Oh boy…where do I even start with this month! I’m posting my February Blue Apron favorites a little late because, well, like everyone else in the world, I’ve been pretty distracted with the goings on with the Coronavirus epidemic. However, I’m grateful for meal kit delivery services and am thankful to all the workers at Blue Apron (and beyond) for working through this mess to ensure we all get our food. I’m also just really thankful not to have to think about planning for three meals a week, which significantly reduces our stress levels!
Anywho, getting back on track here – February 2020 was a month with a collection of some of my all-time favorites from Blue Apron! Everything was bursting with flavor, and there were not a lot of modifications made to any of the dishes other than to add a little kick of spice here and there (and we may have thrown away a pack or two of raisins).
Moroccan-Style Vegetable Chili
I’m just going to kick this off with my favorite recipe for the month – Moroccan-Style Vegetable Chili served on top couscous with garlic labneh! This dish is vegetarian and Mediterranean diet-friendly, with beans, carrots, and poblano peppers making up the “meaty” portion of the dish (the chili). We chopped up and mixed in green Castelvetrano olives in the couscous, which provided a nice element of tang, and the garlic labneh (a very creamy cheese – almost like sour cream or mascarpone) was the perfect cool element to balance out all the flavors. Hearty and flavorful!
Our Variations
This recipe comes with golden raisins, which I threw away immediately because we both hate them. However, I’m second-guessing that decision after making another dish with them wherein we barely noticed them, save for a slight hint of sweetness.
Mexican-Style Chicken & Rice
Bold Mexican spices; crunchy shishito peppers; wild rice! What’s not to love!? This Mexican-Style chicken dish utilizes chicken breasts, which is a point of contention in our household – I prefer breast meat, while my husband likes thighs as they retain more moisture when cooking. Luckily, he’s pretty good at cooking up the chicken so that it comes out perfect almost every time! I would also suggest blackening the chicken a little to get a crispy crust (be careful not to overcook/dry out the chicken breast though).
The Mexican chicken was served over wild rice, with crunchy shishito peppers tossed in mascarpone cream, and a pop of cherry tomatoes (for both color and a fresh element). We topped it off with my favorite salty cheese – Cotija! This was a top contender for my husband’s favorite for the month.
Our Variations
Again…a dish with golden raisins. Those went in the trash too! Lol. I don’t think that I would have enjoyed them in this dish though as I think the flavors were balanced perfectly by keeping them all savory.
Tamarind Pork Stir Fry
Tamarind = tangy! If you’ve never had anything with tamarind flavor, you are missing out! Granted, I normally have it with sweeter Mexican dessert dishes, but it worked beautifully in this stir-fry dish.
This dish was made with ground pork, which I love using versus the cuts of meat – it soaks up the sauce and is super easy to eat. No knives involved! Along with the ground pork, we also fried up some purple cabbage, mushrooms, and carrots for a great mix of texture. I also love it when they include aromatic packets in our dishes (generally for the Asian stir fry dishes), which they did here. There was so much flavor packed into this dish!
Italian Chicken & Tomato Skillet
This Italian Chicken and Yellow Tomato Skillet was my husband’s favorite of the month! In this one-pan dish, you’ve got chicken with Italian seasoning, canned yellow tomatoes, zucchini, onion, and green olives, all topped with melted fontina cheese! On the side, we had toasted artisan bread brushed with fresh garlic cloves and topped with ricotta.
This was definitely a comforting meal and if you want to make it low carb, you could just omit the bread (but I don’t recommend that…hehe).
Mexican Shrimp & Tomatillo Sour Cream
Next up is the Mexican Shrimp with Tomatillo Sour Cream, which was extremely light and very carb conscious! Along with the shrimp, we had roasted zucchini and onions, and a few bright citrus bites from the fresh orange. The tangy tomatillo sour cream sauce on top cooled down the spice from the Mexican shrimp. Very tasty, and I felt great after eating it!
Romesco Chicken & Poblano Pepper
Lastly, we had this Mediterranean Romesco Chicken & Poblano pepper dish, served over currant cous cous with garlic labneh. Hooray for more couscous dishes! This dish had similar ingredients to my favorite at the outset of this post (the Moroccan chili): couscous, poblano peppers, and garlic infused labneh. It was definitely one of my top favorites, and I’d love to recreate it!
That’s it for February! Have you cooked with Blue Apron before? Any favs match up to yours?
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