Meal Subscription Boxes: 2015

Home Chef: BBQ Summer Salmon

3:46 PM

I'll throw this out there. I have zero experience cooking fish. I figured it would be nice to try to learn for my husband's sake. This box offered BBQ summer salon with snap pea and fennel slaw. It looked pretty yummy:

The Contents:

Ingredients: sugar snap peas, fennel bulb (I had definitely never seen one of these before), radishes, green onions, a lemon, white wine vinegar, sugar, salmon filets, BBQ sauce, and goat cheese crumbles

The Preparation:

Again, this recipe called for cutting something "on a bias." The recipe card provided an explanation this time: on an angle. Thank you!

Step one was to cut the peas and green onions on a bias, slice the fennel and radish into thin strips/circles, and slice the lemon in half

Next, the slaw was made by combining the juice of the lemon, white wine vinegar, olive oil, sugar, salt, pepper, snap peas, fennel, and the green onion. While the salmon cooked, the slaw was put into the fridge to chill:

The last step was to cook the salmon. This was the scary part for me, and I was relying heavily on the recipe card's suggested times. I put the salmon in the pan and my husband walked in about here, asking what the white goo was:

I had no idea. The recipe card didn't mention it. After some Googling, I learned that this is called albumin, and is normal. The best way to avoid it is to not overcook your fish. Weirdly though, this started forming almost instantly. I had no idea what to do, other than try to push it away. Fish is weird...

I forgot to take a picture, but during the final two minutes of cooking, the salmon is brushed with BBQ sauce.

The Final Product:

The Verdict:

0/10 - but probably not Home Chef's fault.

I did not try this dish, because I'm not a fan of fish. My husband didn't like anything about the side salad. "The peas were too tough (uncooked). I don't like radishes." He also didn't like the salmon, but was pretty sure that was our fault. He's only ever baked salmon. Neither of us had experience cooking it in a pan.

I think this was our first true Home Chef fail. For a recipe we weren't sure about, I'm not too upset.

#homechef

Home Chef: Chicken Quinoa Stir-Fry

7:30 PM

blue apron

Blue Apron: Someday...

12:11 PM

#homechef

Home Chef: Baked Double-Cheese Mac

11:18 AM

The last recipe of my second box from Home Chef was baked double-cheese mac with herb-butter crumbs and green bean tomato salad. It wasn't the healthiest dish, clocking in at 752 calories per serving, but the serving size was way too much for one sitting.

The Contents:

Ingredients: grape tomatoes, green beans, shallot, thyme sprigs, elbow macaroni, evaporated milk (canned), cheddar-jack cheese, butter, panko bread crumbs, and seasoned rice wine vinegar

Preparation:

The first step was to prep the veggies. Mince the shallot, remove thyme leaves from sprigs, and halve the tomatoes. Also, fill two saucepans with water and bring to a boil.

Next, boil the macaroni and blanch the green beans. Blanch = boiling for only a few minutes, then either dunking them in an ice bath or running under cold water:

Next, combine one half of the shallot and the can of evaporated milk in a clean saucepot. Once warm, add the cheese, the drained macaroni, salt, and pepper. I'm starting to realize that I never add enough salt to things during these kinds of steps.

In a separate bowl, the breadcrumbs were prepared combining with half of the thyme and melted butter:

Pour the macaroni mixture into a casserole dish, top with the crumbs, and bake until browned:

While that cooled, I prepared the veggie salad by combining the remaining shallots, thyme, rice wine vinegar, olive oil, green beans, and the tomatoes:

The Final Product:

The Verdict:

Like I said in the prep section, I think I need to be a little heavier handed when a recipe says to "salt and pepper" to taste. This was a little bland, but I think it was my own fault. My husband demolished the tomatoes and beans right away. The mac and cheese lasted for two whole meals. Yummy yummy!

We went ahead with another Home Chef box. It will be delivered on the 13th. I am contemplating making a YouTube review along with my blog post. Stay tuned to see how that turns out!

As always, if you would like to give Home Chef a try use this link to receive $30 off of your first box. I think you'll be happy you did! Remember, you can cancel at any time after your first purchase.

#homechef

Home Chef: Thai Coconut Curry

8:03 AM

Welcome back! We're on recipe #2 of a second box from Home Chef. Next up is Thai coconut curry with snow peas, cilantro, and jasmine rice. Neither my husband nor I had ever made curry. This was only my second time eating it.

On top of that, this dish is low calorie (391 calories for a HUGE portion), vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, and nut-free. It is labeled as "easy", quick (30 minutes), and according to the recipe card, you have up to 7 days from delivery date to cook it.

The Contents:

Ingredients: onion, garlic, roma tomatoes, red bell pepper, snow peas, cilantro sprigs, jasmine rice, coconut milk, vegetable bouillon cube, ginger, and curry powder

The thing I love most about vegetarian dishes is that I feel less like I can screw it up. No meat to burn or undercook? Yay!

Preparation:

First things first, prepare the veggies. For this dish, dice the onion, mince the garlic, chop the tomato, and julienne the pepper.

I had to Google "julienne". I guess this is a fairly common term since it wasn't explained on the recipe card. New to me though.

Make the rice, easy enough:

Saute the veggies. First saute the garlic and onion (not pictured). Then, add the pepper and peas:

Finish the curry by adding coconut milk, curry powder to taste, bouillon cube, ginger, and tomato. Stir until the cube dissolves and dish thickens.

Home Chef sent me two bouillon cubes for this recipe. Since I have no experience making curry, I wasn't sure whether the error was in packaging my box, or a typo in the recipe. I went with only one cube, but taste-wise I do wonder if I should've gone with two.

Also, the recipe said to add the curry "to taste". I wasn't sure if the amount of curry they sent was what most people would use, or if it was the extreme amount that only a few people would use. In the end, I wish I had added the whole bag. I only went with about half.

The Final Product:

The Verdict:

I mentioned in the preparation steps that I skimped a little bit on the curry and (possibly?) the bouillon. I wish I had gone all out. This dish smelled amazing and tasted pretty good, but it could've been better. My husband enjoyed it, but also agreed that it was a little bit bland.

The best thing about these companies are the recipe cards. Someday, I'll try again with this dish. I can't fault Home Chef for the taste, so 10/10 to Home Chef again!

Home Chef is my favorite company thus far. If you would like to give them a try, use this link to receive $30 off of your first box. I think you'll be happy you did! Remember, you can cancel at any time after your first purchase.