This post is sponsored by Blue Apron
Cooking alone is fun. Cooking with wine is more fun. And cooking with a group of my friends is a blast! On a recent Friday night, we tore up the kitchen and prepared two delicious Blue Apron recipes to enjoy together. Just look at the concentration here:
Blue Apron is often described as the perfect date night in, but it also makes a fantastic girls night! It’s so nice to have the kitchen to ourselves and just enjoy the cooking experience together. Because everything you need is delivered to your doorstep, including the recipes and all ingredients, you need not worry about a thing. (Blue Apron even has a wine club where you can have wines paired and delivered with your food too!)
You have the choice of the 2-Person Plan or the Family Plan when you place your order, and since the Family Plan has 8 servings between the two included recipes, it was perfect for our party of 5. We even had leftovers for lunch the next day!
I put out a cheese plate for us to snack on while we cooked too.
So we cracked open some wine and unpacked all of the ingredients in our box. Emily and I headed up the two recipes, and we somehow managed to finish them perfectly in sync and had dinner on the table in less than an hour.
Everyone chipped in to help, whether that was to peel an orange or set the table, and it was truly a fun group effort. The recipe’s checklists helped us keep track of who had completed which steps.
One of our two recipes was Pesto Shrimp and Gnocchi with Roasted Broccoli, which was fabulous! We made the pesto from scratch, and it was bursting with garlic flavor (be warned!). Very tasty.
And Cashew Chicken Stir-Fry with Tango Mandarins and Jasmine Rice. This dish was SO GOOD I want to make it again! I loved the sauce with the oranges. Luckily Blue Apron shares all the recipes online so you can make anything you love again.
The finishing touches.
Dinner is served!
We all agreed this meal tasted both gourmet and healthy, and we appreciated all the green veggies as well.
Blue Apron offers a large selection of recipes and is always adding new dishes so the menus change every week. They have a commitment to sustainably sourced ingredients, and also now offer a recycling program. There is no commitment to ordering – you can skip weeks if you’re traveling or cancel anytime.
If you’d like to give Blue Apron a try, the first 25 readers will get three free meals on their first Blue Apron order! Just click here.
Thanks to Blue Apron for sponsoring this post and keeping the girls nights extra fun!
What a fun idea! I think I’ll try the family plan next time. I’ve always done the two person, but I love having leftovers and it seems like you’d get more “bang for your buck” with cooking time.
The meals look great! I’m a big fan of services such as Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, etc, I think they allow and promote such creativity and the foods they provide always seem to be high quality and top-notch.
Looks delish! It’s hard to beat good food, good wine, and good friends. I’ve been wanting to try Blue Apron for a while, I may finally have to!
I’ve heard so, so, so much about Blue Apron. Too bad it isn’t available where I live. Your food looks delicious.
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Wow! Who knew they do wine pairings too?! #winner
Definitely heard of blue apron- they are killing it!! Looks like a fun night wih great food. As long as its easy to make, I’m on board!
Fun and cute! I like the pic of Emily’s sly smile. LOL
I love that with Blue Apron you can have SUPER fancy meals at home! Looks like a fun night!
Hi Kath,
It looks like you had a great, fun night.
I see that you have a rewined candle. Can you tell me which are your favorites? I have the wine under the tree and love it.
Thanks!!!
Chardonnay and Rose – hands down! And the Christmas tree one. I don’t love the reds as much as the whites.
Thanks, I’m going to try the Chardonnay.
Love Blue Apron! Such a great idea to order the family plan for a girls’ night. That stir fry looks so good, too!
Although your meals look great, I just can’t justify the cost! Our little family just cannot afford a meal sub service like this – after checking out the prices, I was floored. I can feed our family breakfast, lunch and dinner for less than what it costs for 4 of these meals.
You are paying a premium for the convenience, that is for sure, but it is a great solution for some people, and a source of fun and entertainment for others. If you go out to dinner and spend $125, then it’s definitely saving you money if you have your date night in instead, so I think you have to look at the service as a source of entertainment more than a regular grocery delivery.
Jenny, I agree. My 9-year old loves to cook and keeps begging to try meal services like Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, etc. I just can’t justify the cost. My husband and I went out to a nice restaurant last weekend and spent $45 total (including tax, tip, etc.). I realize we didn’t have drinks or dessert, but that wouldn’t be included in the cost of the meal service, either.
My little one is far too young to know the difference but I’d likely not buy into it even if she develops an interest for cooking. At the cost per meal with some of these meal services it just makes more sense (to me anyway) to go out to a restaurant where the cooking and cleanup is included in the cost.
I just signed up with your coupon! So excited to try Blue Apron!
Yay!
Woohoo, I’ve been thinking about trying Blue Apron, and I scored the discount! Thanks!!
I have my reservations about the packaging and the cost (cheaper than eating out but more $$ than purely cooking from scratch), but I have a couple of busy months coming up, so I bit the bullet and clicked “redeem offer,” only to see that they don’t have a vegetarian option 🙁
Hmmm, I get the vegetarian option (no vegan option though).
Not related to this post, but I discovered this song recently and thought you would like it;
“James TW – When You Love Someone” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bf3CJZ4hvg
:*)
Checking it out!
Looks like Too Many Cookes and not enough PANS! 😀
Seems like most of their meals are high in calories. O at least higher than a meal I would normally make.
They are 400-700 but you can always adjust portion size
Are Blue Apron’s meats organic?
Many of the ingredients are – here’s a page with more info.
Hi Kath! This is not on the subject of blue apron, however, I have been wanting to try a meal delivery service! But, I wanted to ask you about how you keep all of the white in your house clean? I just moved into my new house last week and so much of it is white. Doors, trim and kitchen/bathroom cabinets. I’ve always used a magic eraser on white before for marks and smudges but wondered if you have anything special you use or do? Also, I know you have mentioned doing some “home neat home” posts…..I would love to see those again.
Thanks so much 🙂
Hmmmm….I usually just spot clean the cabinets. I bleach the couch a few times a year and spot clean that as well. I also use a magic eraser on woodwork and things, and I sometimes I just get my trim paint out and touch things up!