Cooking (in my NEW KITCHEN!) with Blue Apron

I first heard about Blue Apron when we lived in the city and some our friends would use the service. One of my good friends would always order a Blue Apron box when she was having house guests or if she knew it was going to be a particularly busy week at work.

We are getting the house ready for that magazine shoot, so my mom offered to take my girls up to her house in the mountains for the week so we could focus on projects. It felt like perfect timing when Blue Apron reached out to see if I would like to try a box for myself this week - the last thing I have time for right now is grocery shopping! So last weekend I got my refrigerated box full of the exact proportions of ingredients I needed to make three meals for Michael and I (though you can order the box for either two, four or six servings).

Meals are $9.99 per person - and they are DELICIOUS. These recipes are for sure keepers.

We made the Fresh Beet Pasta and it was so, so, so good! I pretty much love anything with beets, but the lemony tang and the fresh goat cheese and walnuts seriously put this recipe over the edge for me. Blue Apron uses only the freshest ingredients and they try to source local and artisan goods where possible. They were gorgeous.

I love that there's no commitments with Blue Apron. I can skip or cancel my delivery at any time for the weeks I have a little more bandwidth. But sometimes, like this week, where I feel like my brain might explode if I have to make a single more decision, it's nice to have a menu plan and all the ingredients sitting in front of me on my counter top at 5 pm.

The meals are so easy to prepare, especially with the well-designed recipe sheets. All of them take less than 40 minutes to make, though it will look like you slaved away for hours! Michael is always a good sport, but he definitely has an opinion about food (so it's a good thing he's always willing to cook), but this dish was a total home run with him. I'm excited to make it again when the girls get home! Claire loves anything with goat cheese. :)

Also, I was surprised at how generous the serving sizes were! We ended up sharing with friends who stopped over. It was fun to be like, "What? Oh, this? Yeah, I just threw it together. Just a regular old Wednesday night meal..." (as I'm quickly shoving the Blue Apron recipe sheets into a drawer) ;)

Have you tried Blue Apron? I am so excited to use it again and try some new recipes. They ship nearly everywhere in the US (there's a full map here).

And good news! Blue Apron is giving the first 250 readers two free meals with their first order! Here's where you can sign up. Happy cooking!

Kids Crafts and Cook Smarts

Summer break started for us about a week ago. It's a whole different ball game here in Arizona with 100+ degree weather and indoor activities are a absolute must with the girls! I sat down with them and made a list of crafts we could do together over the next two months. Things that are easy, inexpensive and fun. I've been wanting to paint plain canvas tote bags to use as reusable shopping bags for a while (because my old ones are just about finished, and truly, they're not the cutest), and the girls were super down. I think what they came up with was prettier than anything I could have created by myself. :)

I watered down basic acrylic craft paint with one part paint to three parts water. It goes on smoother, dries quicker, and makes for a way easier clean up. It also ended up being a fun lesson in abstract painting. We walked around the house first and pointed out the art and patterns that looked more abstract and they looked closely and the paintings and made notes about how to get the look. 

So cute, right? These new bags are making grocery trips so much more appealing lately, and I've desperately needed a bit of a kick in that department! If I have a menu for the week and a written out list, things are great. But life gets in the way and sometimes I end up at the store stocking up on the basics and come home feeling like I have nothing to make a complete meal. I came back from the store a last week and Heather pulled a jar of peanut butter out of the bag and said "Um, we have like three jars of peanut butter in the pantry already!" Oops. 

It took only a few minutes of poking around on Cook Smarts to fall in love with the concept after they reached out to me. The first thing that jumped out was the shopping lists. Cook Smarts sends you four recipes on Friday for the following week (you can use their set menu plan or customize your own) and a shopping list of everything you need for the meals. It's broken up into categories like "produce" and "spices". You can print the list or email it to yourself, which is a huge selling point for me because then I always have my list with me on my phone. Their site is super easy to use and beautifully photographed and organized- which always helps. 

I decided to jump right into the week Cook Smarts was currently on and make the Three Tomato Spaghetti with Kale and Apple Salad. I'm so, so impressed with how easy and simple the recipe was. Not only did it take exactly how long they said it would (35 minutes) to cook, but it was insanely simple and most importantly- delicious! Like really, really good. The dressing on the salad was perfection and the whole family ate it up! I can't wait to try more recipes. Two other meals this week are Batterless Chile Rellenos and Chicken Fajita Bowls- I'm so in. 

There are also the cutest little videos on every recipe with some cooking tips- like how to dice a shallot or the best way to slice cabbage. When you sign up, you can choose to try a starter account and then you can try out three meal plans for free, and starting at about $6 each month, you can have access to an absolute mountain of delicious and easy recipes.

I texted a few of my friends about Cook Smarts after discovering how customizable the meals are. Every single recipe has a gluten-free, paleo, and vegetarian option - seriously so convenient for families with food restrictions! My sister's family has gluten allergies and we cook a lot of meals together, so this feature has been coming in handy for me lately!

Cook Smarts is generously sponsoring today's give away of a $250 gift certificate to Whole Foods and an adorable reusable grocery tote. To enter, just sign up for a FREE Cook Smarts account and leave a comment here with which recipe is calling your name!

Contest ends next Friday at midnight.

PS - for 30% off your first meal plan, use the code LGNCOOKS. (Code expires on June 12)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I'm dreaming that my house looked like this today...


I am totally obsessed with peacock blue these days.


I hope today is absolutely wonderful and that you are surrounded by loved ones and delicious food!


I used this recipe for sweet potato casserole (adapted from Allrecipes.com) last Thanksgiving and it was so good. I think it will make an appearance again today.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled, chopped, boiled and mashed
  
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 
  
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 2 cups mini marshmallows
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 2 quart baking dish.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the mashed sweet potatoes, white sugar, eggs, 1/3 cup butter, milk, and vanilla extract. Spread evenly into the prepared baking dish.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the brown sugar, chopped pecans, flour, and 1/3 cup melted butter. Sprinkle over the sweet potato mixture.
   
4. Bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.
5. Sprinkle top with mini marshmallows, bake for additional 5 minutes or until marshmallows are golden brown.
   

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

See you all Monday!

Cafe Rio Chicken Salad

I think I ate at Cafe Rio something like three times a week while I was at BYU.
One of the best days of my life was when I heard that Cafe Rio was opening in Arizona (when we still lived there).

Another great day? When I finally realized I could google "Cafe Rio Chicken Salad" and that a ton of recipes would come up.
It seems like a lot of work to get this all together, but trust me - it's worth it!
Here's what I've been doing...

Creamy Tomatillo Dressing
1 Buttermilk ranch dressing packet (prepared as per package instructions)
2 large tomatillos (husks removed)
1/2 to 1 bunch of cilantro (depending on preference)
1-2 cloves garlic (depending on preference)
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeño with seeds (if you like it spicy) or a couple of splashes of green tobasco sauce if that's what you have on hand.
Blend well in a food processor. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.
Keeps up to two weeks when refridgerated.

Chicken
1 small bottle Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1 T chili powder
1 T cumin
3 cloves of garlic, minced
5 lbs chicken

Cook all together in a crock pot for 4 hours, shred meat and cook 1 additional hour.


Cilantro-Lime Rice
1 cup uncooked rice
1 teaspoon butter or margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon lime zest
1 can (15 oz) chicken broth
1 1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

In a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, lime peel, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender. Remove from heat. In a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro. Pour over hot cooked rice.

Black Beans
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained (or pinto, if preferred)
1 1/3 cup tomato juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

In a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving stir in the cilantro.

Pico de Gallo
1 medium tomato, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
2 sprigs fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 green onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

In a medium bowl, combine tomato, onion, jalapeno pepper (to taste,) cilantro and green onion. Season with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Stir until evenly distributed. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
---
I use the Tortilla Land brand of uncooked flour tortillas from Costco. These are just like Cafe Rio's homemade version. I brown each side in a pan and melt some colby jack cheese on one side.

These tortilla strips from Shaws or Market Basket (really, it seems like any grocery store carries them) make the salad taste authentic.

Here's the assembly order:

Tortilla with cheese
Rice
Beans
Chicken
Lettuce (Romaine)
Pico de gallo
Guacamole
Mexican cheese crumbles
Cilantro
Lime wedge [for the juice]
Tortilla strips
Cilantro Tomatillo Ranch dressing

Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!