This post is sponsored by Blue Apron
One of my goals through my partnership with Blue Apron is to showcase the many ways you can use the subscription to your advantage, whether that’s a date night in, entertaining at home, hosting a girls cook night, or efficiently getting dinner on the table for your family. Just like I would if I planned out three of my own recipes and did my own shopping on the weekend, I find that doing some prep work and batch cooking of the Blue Apron recipes all at once saves me so much time when I’m ready to put the final dishes together. This strategy gives me the most flexibility when hunger calls – or when I’m in the mood for a picnic dinner!
The first 50 readers to sign up with from this link will get $50 off their first two weeks Blue Apron.
The three recipes that came in this week’s box were as follows. We love the three-recipe Family Plan because it always makes enough for some leftovers for lunch or dinner the next night, but of course if you need less food you can choose less recipes and/or the Two-Person Plan. I purposefully chose recipes that I thought would be easy to cook together.
Cheesy Pesto Chicken Calzones with Tomatoes Sauce + Marinated Goat Cheese Zucchini
Sweet & Spicy Chicken Lettuce Cups with Mushrooms, Peppers, and Jasmine Rice
Orange Soy Barramundi & Fried Rice with Snow Peas & Bok Choy
And here was our meal plan:
Monday: Make calzones with Thomas. Eat two, save two. While calzones bake, prep and cook everything for lettuce cups. Make double batch of rice and save half for barramundi.
Tuesday: Lettuce cups picnic dinner.
Wednesday: Cook barramundi and veggies.
Thursday: Leftovers.
Most of the cooking was done on Monday, when I had a clear schedule and Mazen was with his dad. This was one hard working pan!! Bonus: I only cleaned it once! My rice cooker was also hard at work on two of the three recipes, which both called for rice, and I was able to get all prep work complete and only wash my cutting board once. Efficiency FTW! (Note any raw meat was handled in a separate area.)
The calzones were incredible!!! One of our favorite Blue Apron recipes to date. (I recall us loving another calzone recipe from last winter).
The lettuce cups were such a great food to pack for a picnic, and we made everything extra special with the addition of fruit and cheese and calzones for the kids.
Rose for the drinking adults and raspberry lemonade (aka pretend rose!) for the pregnant mama : )
Meals enjoyed with fresh air taste so much better.
Thanks to Blue Apron for sponsoring this post. The first 50 readers to sign up with from this link will get $50 off their first two weeks Blue Apron!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
July 17, 2018 at 7:13 amSo fun, I always love a good meal outdoors! Unfortunately, it’s been raining and thunderstorming every day here, hopefully the weather clears up soon for a picnic! 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Linda @ the Fitty says
July 17, 2018 at 10:36 amAny ants wanted to join your picnic!?
KathEats says
July 17, 2018 at 10:40 amA giant spider did!
Linda @ the Fitty says
July 17, 2018 at 10:46 amOh my gosh, YIKES! Good thing you caught it before it went onto the food and into your mouth…
Pat Kilmain says
July 17, 2018 at 1:12 pmI love these recipes, especially the calzone and lettuce cups. Unfortunately Blue Apron is not available in Alaska both my sister-in-law and a niece use it. I lke to cook ahead for days that are busy.
yasmara says
July 17, 2018 at 1:57 pmI was told from Blue Apron not to make the chicken lettuce cups because there were reports of bone fragments in the ground chicken! They told me to throw it out and gave me a credit.
I have been using Blue Apron for 2 years next month and I go back and forth with it – the convenience for 2 working parents (with a tween & a teen) of having the meals delivered is EXCELLENT. Am I saving money? No. Are we eating better? Definitely yes.
Unfortunately, I have had many problems with my shipments – last week’s arrived with a ruptured steak package, leaking blood everywhere. 2 weeks ago the rice package had exploded, with rice grains over EVERYTHING inside my box.
The customer service used to be superb – I feel like it’s less so now. Every time I want to cancel, I get a really spectacular meal and think…maybe just a few more weeks. I have gotten better with skipping weeks when it won’t fit into our schedule or when none of the choices appeal to us – I do like it that there are more choices now than there used to be for each week.
KathEats says
July 17, 2018 at 2:30 pmI got the same message about the cups – I thought that was very proactive of them to email and credit so quickly. I really haven’t had a bad experience yet. I think once or twice my produce might have been a little dented from travel, but I’ve never had meat leak or anything ruin a whole box, thankfully. I do think they are very responsive.
Ali says
July 17, 2018 at 4:36 pmI have had similar experiences. I’ve had packages delivered several days late, with the produce and meat spoiled. I’ve had it delivered to the wrong address (probably more to do with the delivery service than the company itself). They’ve missed ingredients numerous times. Tomatoes and fruit have squished and exploded, chicken and pork have leaked (onto produce that is supposed to be eaten raw), the ice packs have leaked. I loved the boxes I got when things worked how they were supposed to, but I would only estimate that it only happened 2/10 times. I got tired of calling or emailing to get my money back and complain so I just cancelled. It was always such a pain and disappointment when I planned for these meals (one box would last just me 6 dinners so I didn’t shop that week for supper ingredients) and it made it difficult and frustrating when I got a box that cost so much money and I didn’t even have supper that night.
Courtney says
July 17, 2018 at 2:38 pmWhat is that cucumber dish? Looks delish!
KathEats says
July 17, 2018 at 3:05 pmIt’s actually goat cheese, marinated zucchini with toasted almonds! It was so good we made it again this week.
Flo says
July 17, 2018 at 11:23 pmI like the idea of Blur Apron, but I ordered a box to be delivered for Christmas Eve in 2016. It never arrived. Blue Apron did credit my account and offered an apology. I spoke with the shipping company who said they never received the package. The lady I spoke to was very nice. She told me the box was not coming. I thanked her for letting me know I had last minute holiday meal to plan and serve. Not fun. I have not used them since. I liked them in the beginning a lot more.
Ellen says
July 20, 2018 at 1:02 pmI love Blue Apron! This lettuce cup recipe was possibly my favorite I’ve ever made. It was so fresh and delicious and I had no issues with the chicken or freshness of the veggies at all. Just like yours, my finished dish looked magazine-worthy, and you know cooking is not my strength. 🙂
Amanda says
July 24, 2018 at 11:39 amI love your friend’s green dress! can you ask her where it’s from?
KathEats says
July 24, 2018 at 12:36 pmShe says it’s from this boutique: https://www.fedoraboutique.com/pages/locations