Thank you to Blue Apron for sponsoring this post. The first 25 readers who click the sponsor link will get $40 off their first two weeks of meals!
In January I wrote about how Matt and I wanted to cook at home more this year. We’ve still relied on takeout and delivery some nights—being new parents means convenience matters—but I’m proud we’ve made cooking at home a regular priority.
We’ve reached this goal in a couple of ways. First, by relying on simple, quick recipes (like the 15-minute dinners on my recipe page). Second, by using Blue Apron deliveries most weeks. Blue Apron provides all the ingredients you need for chef-designed recipes—no grocery runs or extensive meal planning—so it’s perfect when time is limited. The recipe cards include clear photos and step-by-step instructions, which is especially helpful when you’re short on sleep and juggling a squirmy baby.
We’re on the two-person plan (there’s also a family option). Each week you pick two or three meals from eight choices. I like that you can mix and match any combination—vegetarian, fish, beef—so every meal plan fits our tastes. Blue Apron keeps adding new recipes weekly, so we rarely get bored. Their dishes are often more creative than what we’d throw together on our own and have introduced us to ingredients we hadn’t tried before. For example, the Caribbean Chickpea Curry with Roasted Cabbage and Rice pictured above included pickled Peruvian peppers—an interesting, mild addition that added great flavor.
That curry was a hit with both of us, which is notable since Matt often says vegetarian meals would be better with meat. He didn’t this time.
Another unique ingredient we encountered recently was black garlic. It’s not a different species of garlic but a preparation: regular garlic slowly heated over weeks so the cloves caramelize into a sticky, dark bulb with a complex, slightly sweet, savory flavor. It looked strange—black and glossy—but added depth to the dish.
The black garlic was featured in Soy Glazed Chicken Thighs with Bok Choy and Sesame Rice—such a flavorful sauce. We both loved it.
Our third meal from last week was Spicy Smoked Trout Sandwiches with Roasted Sweet Potatoes. Matt was skeptical at first, thinking the trout would be overpowering, but he ended up liking it—and so did I. We were too full to finish the sweet potatoes that night, so I saved them for breakfast with fried eggs the next morning—leftovers win again.
If you haven’t tried Blue Apron, consider giving it a shot. They ship to most of the country and there’s no long-term commitment—you can skip or cancel anytime. Meals start at about $9.99 per serving and ingredients arrive in a refrigerated box, so you don’t need to be home for delivery. Click the sponsor link to get $40 off your first two weeks of orders.
If you’re wondering how Blue Apron stacks up against other services, I’ve written a comparison post with my thoughts on Blue Apron, HelloFresh, and Sunbasket.
Which of these meals would you most like to try? What’s the most unique ingredient you’ve cooked with recently?