It’s so eassssy being green, if you’re a pistachio that is. Pistachios are wearing little birthday hats as it’s their big day! National Pistachio Day is Friday February 26th and pistachios are ready to be snacked upon. Other nuts … Continue reading
Looking for some Meatless Monday Inspiration but short on time, ideas, cooking skills? Switch it up with a recipe/meal delivery service, Marley Spoon! We received 2 free recipe boxes from Marley Spoon to review for all you organic peeps out there. Marley Spoon actually has a wide delivery area including the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Australia and ‘Murica (that’s layman for America).
We Galentine’s Day-ed it up a little early and decided to have a cooking date night to try two recipes: Quinoa Burgers and Broccoli Coconut Soup.
It is a subscription service but you can pause the service when you like. Your order is delivered on either a Tuesday or Friday in a cooler box so it keeps cook ready. A variety of 7 chef created recipes are available each week catering to different culinary preferences (meaty, veggie, global inspired, vegan, dino..ok no dino but we are checking how closely you are reading).
You have a choice of a 2 person box or a family box to feed a small crowd with pricing that ranges between $48 (2x meals a week) to $139 for 4 family meals per week. We actually spend more on groceries ourselves sometimes so the pricing seems pretty reasonable for the time you save.
Delivery: Delivery was on point and our boxes were waiting when we arrived. Everything is pre-packaged so no need to measure.
Recipes: Recipes come with gorgeous color photos of each step and outline exactly what you need to have on hand on your own (small staples like salt and olive oil). Portions are more than what we would expect for 2 people. For example, our Quinoa Burger recipe yielded 5 burgers and we had plenty extra couscous and soup from the Broccoli Soup recipe. Depending on your appetite, you may be able to get 2 full meals for 2 out of each recipe (hooray leftovers!).
Appearance: Both recipes looked like what was on the recipes cards when completed. We felt like fancy french chefs.
Taste: The kale chips were crunchy and addictive…possibly the easiest part of the recipe box. Our veggie burgers were hearty and filling. The soup had a bi-partisan reaction…more on that below.
Souper Spicy?: With cooking, there is always room to grow! With both of us being a level up from amateur kitchen goers, we think a few things could be improved. The broccoli soup recipe was extra spicy for some reason and didn’t have the creamy consistency that appears in the picture. We would have liked more of a coconut flavor and would have modified that spice to flavor ratio for some more depth. It was possibly the green curry with ginger that could have been baby spiced to improve the other flavors in the soup.
Time: It took us 2 hours to make everything. For a busy person, this might not serve. One suggestion would be for Marley Spoon to provide pre-chopped or diced ingredients but we aren’t sure how this would affect the freshness of produce.
Taste your dishes throughout the cooking process and modify them if you like! We added paprika and chili powder to our kale chips and were pleased with the results. Don’t be afraid to be a kitchen rebel if you know how to cook to season items to your liking.
Bonding: We had a super fab time cooking together. We could see this as a intimate date night, girls night out or bachelorette type experience, or just a way to liven up the ho hum experience of weekly cooking.
Overall, we loved the experience of learning to cook new recipes and spending time in the kitchen together. Ingredients are local sourced and grass fed animules, making you feel a bit at ease for what you are consuming. Food waste is cut own bu the pre-packaged format as well. If you’re looking for a culinary adventure with less effort, we suggest giving Marley Spoon a try! Use the Promo Code CHIORGANIC for $35 off your first box.
Why HALOOOOOO there! We love giving away love to our readers but even better is a giveaway with pocket sized healthy treats, just in time for Valentine’s Day. So have you ever tried Wonderful Halos mandarins? At 50 calories each, these little orange fruits pack a punch of vitamin C without the seeds. We were given a bag to try but we’ve been buying these bebes in bulk since winter citrus became the rage again (or in season as the laymen say). You can just throw them in your lunch bag, peel them without ruining your manicure, and with minimal desk mess.
But let’s veer off the beaten grove path. You can also cook some sunny recipes with Halos to brighten up your day.
One gloomy Sunday, we went bananas for mandarins with our brunch.
Baked Orange French Toast from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom
We kept close to the recipe but shaved off the zest of a Halos mandarin and subbed cinnamon for nutmeg. Make sure you butter the pan or use PAM spray as our forgetfully blissful selves missed this step and our french toast had separation anxiety from the baking pan. Taste overrides appearance, however, and this orangey french toast didn’t disappoint. We tossed some mandarin pieces on top with a drizzle of pure maple syrup for pure deliciousness.
Blueberry Orange Oatmeal Muffins from Damn Delicious
This tasty and healthy recipe from home cook and blogger, Chungah An, features greek yogurt, fresh blueberries and orange zest. These little muffins were simple to make, moist, fluffy and fruity!
Looking for more Wonderful mandarin Halos ideas? Wonderful Halos has a cool creative blog with more than just recipes. Just in time for Valentine’s day, you can find sweet crafts and snacks to delight kids and adults alike.
Orange you glad we shared these recipes (hehehehe)? Now for the giveaway details so you can make your own holiday halo-ful:
Your Wonderful Halos Gift Basket giveaway includes a juicy bunch of Wonderful Halos mandarins,a Wonderful Halos branded lunch box, backpack, water bottle, chapstick (mandarin flavored), sunglasses and stress ball shaped like a mandarin.
Enter here: a Rafflecopter giveaway and happy halo-ing!
UPDATE: 8.21.14 Relished has expanded and rebranded to become Home Chef. They now offer vegan and veg friendly menus as well…all the more reason to stay home and be lazy instead of grocery shopping!
Ooo we are so sick of winter in Chiberia and we’ve had too many days of stir crazy all day pajama pants wearing. This weather sure hasn’t made it easy to get out to grocery shop, let alone put on any real semblance of clothes. Enter Relished Foods to conquer any reason to brave the cold white landscape we now call home.
Relished, is a fledgling Chicago area company that delivers fresh ingredients with clear visual instructions to cook healthy delicious meals like a pro. Each order includes three meals for one week. Recipes rotate weekly.
Now to the good food stuff!
We received 3 recipes:
We were hesitant about the Farfalle Pasta recipe which seemed too simple and possibly bland but once we noticed the fresh prepped ingredients and easy instructions our curiosity got us…. Farfalle Pasta sans Shrimp recipe included fresh baby spinach, basil, plump juicy cherry tomatoes, garlic and asiago cheese. This is how manageable the recipes are. We washed the vegetables, sliced the cherry tomatoes, basil and garlic. Lastly, we added EVOO, sea salt and grounded whole black pepper…so taxing (wink)!
Once we took a bite of this dish, we were pleasantly surprised by the flavors. Although simple, the dish was satisfying and complex.
With the arugula, we got to experience some ingredients we don’t usually utilize like fennel, and even champagne vinegar (you fancy, huh). The chicken was lean and still juicy. Relished packaging made it manageable to have one vegetarian and one omnivore eating the same meals as the meats were packaged separately from the veggies.
The naan pizza made us giggle in delight because we love artichokes, roasted red peppers and onions. All you had to do was plop the toppings on and bake. The recipe made two 8 inch pizzas.
What we learned about getting Relished pro chef meals sent to our house:
We really appreciated that all meals were veggie heavy, creative and delicious. Relished is only about 6 months in and they have also indicated that they are exploring only veggie/vegan meal options to expand their dietary offerings. Now if only they would send us some hot cocoa to warm things up for us, we be all about staying in for another week or so.
Thanks to Relished for inviting us to try such yummy and vegetastic meals!!
Chi Organic Girls 