November was a great month, not only for Blue Apron favorites, but just in general! My husband and I both celebrated our birthdays; we had a mini adventure up to Apple Hill outside of Sacramento; I kicked off my Trader Joe’s Winter product buying (and tasting); we had a mini Thanksgiving celebration; and as usual, we cooked up our Blue Apron meals!
Despite it being fall, some of my favorite Blue Apron dishes in November were Asian-inspired rather than filled with squash and hearty foods. Call me a sucker for noodles, but we are always fans of the recipes that incorporate fresh noodles with bold flavors.
There were a few fall-inspired recipes that we cooked (like the Chipotle Beef and Veggie Bake I cover below), but overall, we had a great variety of options to choose from this month.
General Tso’s Chicken
Let’s start this post off with a little General Tso’s Chicken action. I don’t recall ever trying General Tso’s chicken before we made this Blue Apron recipe so I didn’t have much to compare it to at the time. However, if I were to get this from a Chinese takeaway restaurant, I would be blown away.
The chicken gets coated in cornstarch before frying, which gives it a lovely crispy texture that doesn’t get super soggy after the addition of the sauce. The sauce itself combined hoisin, gochujang, sesame oil, honey, and rice vinegar for a very nice flavor profile. The chicken was also sautéed with shishito peppers (a favorite of ours), fresh ginger and garlic, and scallions. Those ingredients are always a winning combo. I only wish I had more to eat!
Mongolian Beef & Noodles
And here’s one of those winning noodle dishes I talked about above! This is another dish where the meat gets coated in cornstarch and fried before getting all sauced up. We have really enjoyed learning that new technique!
In this dish, we had some similar elements from the General Tso’s Chicken recipe above with fresh ginger, garlic, scallions, and shishito peppers. Nope – we never get tired of those peppers! The sauce was comprised of soy sauce, chicken demi-glace (a little unpleasant looking but adds good flavor), brown sugar, red pepper flakes, and water.
Everything was tossed with the fresh wonton noodles (which were boiled for just a few minutes), and it was simply delicious.
Zesty Pork Chorizo Tacos
The Zesty Pork Chorizo taco recipe was probably my favorite of the month (tacos generally are always on my favorites list). I happened to choose this one to cook on my birthday. Even last year, I cooked a Blue Apron meal on my birthday!
The dish was pretty simple overall, with chorizo and a cabbage slaw filling the tortillas (although, we did have a few additions – see below). On the side were roasted potatoes tossed with a Mexican spice blend, garlic, and lime juice, and topped with cotija cheese. Wow, I think I need to make potatoes like this more often!
I washed down all the taco goodness with a refreshing caipirinha (my birthday drink of choice).
Our Variations
As you can probably see from the picture, there were a few additions to our tacos. It was my birthday after all, so I say go big, or go home! Unless you’re already at home – in that case, just go big.
We tossed the mayo (into the trash) and used sour cream instead to mix with the lime zest. This made a lime crema instead of lime mayo/aioli (seriously, what is the fascination with mayonnaise?!). We also added some guacamole, fresh chopped tomatoes, and some cilantro.
Cheesy Chipotle Beef & Veggie Bake
Here we have the Cheesy Chipotle Beef & Veggie Bake, filled with delicious spaghetti squash and chipotle ground beef and baked with a topping of Monterey Jack cheese. We also made a jalapeno sour cream topping to go along with freshly-chopped green onion.
This dish was very hearty, but also low carb utilizing a favorite fall ingredient of ours, spaghetti squash. You can fill up without feeling too guilty!
Chicken & Wonton Noodle Stir-Fry
My last favorite of November was this Chicken & Wonton Noodle Stir Fry. Noodle love forever! This noodle dish included a packet of my favorite aromatics (like garlic and ginger), and the sauce was a tasty combination of soy glaze, black bean sauce, sweet chili sauce, and rice vinegar. Along with the chicken, we had shishito peppers and carrots which give great elements of texture, along with crunchy chopped peanuts.
We usually never make Asian noodle dishes outside of our Blue Apron meals because I’m not sure where to find quality noodles near me; however, it’s great to know I can count on Blue Apron to get my noodle fix!
That’s it for November Blue Apron favorites. Did any of these meals sound good to you? Try Blue Apron for yourself!
Pin it!
No Comments