Ah, Blue Apron! We’re back! October was a great month for cooking for us at home because we started back up with Blue Apron. It had been a couple of years since my husband and I got to cooking with BA and we felt like it was finally time to get back to it – meaning, we were stuck in a dinner idea rut and were looking for some variety in the meals that we were cooking together. So, back we went! While we enjoy most of the meals with cook with Blue Apron, I thought I would highlight some of our favorites of the month (and will see how long I can keep it up for).
But first a few notes:
- We’re on the $60/week meal plan (which equals $10 per person for each meal)
- We tend to stay away from the carb-heavy dishes like pastas and sandwiches (though sometimes we splurge)
- For proteins, we primarily stick with vegetarian, seafood, and chicken/sometimes pork (sort of more of a Mediterranean diet)
- A lot of our favorite meals are Weight Watchers Freestyle meals, which makes us feel a bit healthier even though we don’t count WW points
Now, let’s get to our favs of the month!
Spanish Shrimp & Rice
This Spanish Shrimp and Rice dish was our first meal cooking back with Blue Apron, and it was definitely a good preview of what was to come for the month! We really enjoyed the tomato flavor infused into the rice by the tomato paste, along with the veggies (which included zucchini and sweet peppers) and the savory shrimp. The addition of the salty and tangy capers topped off the dish perfectly!
Check out my plating skills! I think they are pretty on point…
Our Variations
We added cayenne pepper for a little spicy kick (as we do with most dishes), and subbed out the mayonnaise in favor of sour cream as neither my husband nor myself care for mayo much (in fact, I like to say it’s my Kryptonite).
Chipotle Chicken Chili
This Chipotle Chicken Chili was definitely a hearty meal and one that I would repeat in the winter months! I liked topping this dish off with the included cotija cheese instead of a melty cheddar like we normally do with chili as it added a salty element to the bowl that really made the rest of the flavors come together nicely.
Our Variations
This dish did need a little help in the flavor department so we added some extra chili powder (we like ancho chili powder) and some cayenne for spice. I also made a batch of jasmine rice because there is nothing I love more than to pair chili with rice!
Harissa Chickpea Shakshuka
We’ve had a shakshuka dish from Blue Apron before so I was very exited to cook up another! We had guests over one night (actually on Halloween!) so we served it up as more of an appetizer versus a full meal for us. This dish packs a such a punch with the variety of flavors that no additions or variations were needed from us! This dish came with pita wedges, but you could also use a toasted baguette or really any other bread-like vessel to get this deliciousness into your mouth.
This dish would be pretty easy to recreate – you just need to find Za’atar seasoning and some red harissa paste (Trader Joe’s sells a delicious version of this!).
Mushroom Mazemen
I always say yes to the ramen dishes from Blue Apron! And there are so many that are vegetarian (I prefer to eat vegetarian for most of my meals, even though I have been incorporating a little meat into my diet lately). I am also not a huge fan of eggs so the soft boiled eggs always go to my husband. He definitely doesn’t mind eating both!
We did not need to make any variations to this dish since the aromatics (with strong flavors of ginger and garlic) and sauce really flavored everything quite well.
Shrimp in Lemongrass Broth
The Shrimp in Lemongrass broth dish really reminded us of our favorite Thai soup – Tom Yum. It also has yellow curry as an ingredient so it’s kind of a cross between Tom Yum and Thai Yellow Curry (my absolute favorite Thai dish!). This was just so delicious and had enough broth for the rice to soak up all the flavors (definitely recommend eating this one in a bowl). This is would be a great dish to comfort you if you have a cold, especially when you add a little cayenne pepper to spice it up.
I’ve never really paid much attention in the produce sections at my local grocery stores to notice if lemongrass is an ingredient I could easily find – I’m thinking that might be one of those items you have to find at an Asian market – but if anyone has any suggestions on where to find some fresh lemongrass, I’d like to know!
Butter Chicken & Squash
I love Indian food and curries and squash! It’s fall and squash is all the rage and I’m digging it. I appreciate that Blue Apron rotates ingredients in accordance with the seasons. Not only does that ensure you get the freshest and most quality ingredients, you also get to experience a great variety of what you’re cooking with throughout the year!
I just also want to take a moment to profess my love for the green onion (aka scallions). They are small but mighty, and are the perfect finishing touch for dishes like this. I’m starting to incorporate them more and more with my other meals and shying away from raw red or yellow onions.
Variations
Definitely add some cayenne – curries should be spicy!
Vadouvan Shrimp & Sweet Chili Sauce
Last but not least, we had the Vadouvan Shrimp & Sweet Chili Sauce. But wait, what exactly is Vadouvan? I had to Google it! I found that it’s a “French-ified curry” that is typically a blend of onion, garlic, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and fenugreek (yeah, I had to do some extra Googling of that too!). And this brings me back to one of the reasons I love Blue Apron – cooking with ingredients that you normally would not think of touching and getting to learn a little bit more about food and its origins. This was a delicious sweet and savory dish and am thrilled we got to try it!
How about you?
Have you tried Blue Apron yet? And if you have, what were some of your October favorites? Drop me a comment below!
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