After almost two weeks in Florida I can home last week to a pretty empty fridge. I usually try to keep grocery shopping to a minimum before a trip and/or EAT ALL THE THINGS! So when I got home jet-lagged and hungry I ate PB out of the jar and figured I’d have to stock up asap. But, I also had a ton of work to catch up on – with deadlines hanging over my head and stressing me out.
Luckily I had arranged for a Blue Apron order to be delivered the day after I got home. It was perfect timing!! Suddenly I had all the ingredients for two delicious healthy meals delivered to my door.
I was most excited that there was a fresh vegetable in my house! I had no veggies and wanted something fresh.
Vegas was most excited that I was making fish. He isn’t a huge beggar but if I’m making fish or eating turkey he will stand there and meow until I cave and give him some. I’m usually a bad pet owner in that I don’t share ‘people food’ with my dogs but I figure Vegas has 9 lives so he’s fine.
I appreciate that Blue Apron makes an effort to create meals with sustainable seafood. When I saw that the salmon was wild caught I sent a picture to SR.
Did you know my one and only friend SR grew up in Alaska and hails from a family of fisherman?! Yes. She full on worked on a boat for several summers when we first met. I thought it was the coolest thing. Anyway, I told her to thank her dad for the salmon. It was good!
The first night I made Salmon Rolls with roasted potatoes. Salmon is one of my favorites but I don’t really know how to cook it well. I have only ever thrown it in a pan and cooked it with a few random spices I have.
This salmon roll taught me a new way to enjoy it. This dish reminded me of something I would have on vacation somewhere near the ocean. Loved it.
The potatoes came out perfectly too! This was a winner all the way.
And if you’re wondering about Vegas…
I gave him the salmon skin. After cooking the salmon the instructions were to remove it from the skin and flake into a bowl. He totally scored on the fish!
The next day I packed up dinner #2 and headed to my parents’ house. I hadn’t seen them in a while and missed my people!
My Blue Apron delivery serves 4 people so it was perfect to cook for my mom, dad and brother. Last time my little brother helped, this time he just supervised. They offer two types of plans, the 2-Person Plan and Family Plan and I am on the family plan right now (I’ve tried both).
You boil the potatoes and then cooked them in a little butter and seasonings. Ah-mazing. Like crazy good.
I was excited about this meal because I feel like I keep seeing amazing recipes for Smashed Potatoes but haven’t tried them. This meal gave me a crash course in how to make smashed taters and they were so good I’ll definitely make them again.
They were so good, I’m definitely getting on board the smashed potato wagon.
You can choose from a few options each week and I usually pick the chicken or fish recipes because I’m not a big red meat eater.
But you can check out a ton of the Blue Apron Recipes here to get an idea of how many different cuisines and the variety of dishes they offer.
I want to make ramen next time!
Blue Apron Sale for RER Readers:
Blue Apron is offering the first 25 RER readers three FREE meals on their first order. <- use that link to sign up
Question: What’s for dinner tonight??
Me: I think super easy quesadillas… which seems kind of anti-climactic after those meals.
This post is sponsored by Blue Apron. All opinions are my own.
I tried doing smashed potatoes once and I don’t think it went badly but it definitely didn’t turn out how I expected it to… I’ll have to try again and see if I can do it better because they look so good!
I didn’t realize there are two steps to it – boiling (or baking) and then crisping. I feel like the crispy skin was the best part.
The salmon rolls look amazing! I’ve been eyeing Blue Apron for awhile now. Thanks to your link, I finally signed up! Can’t wait to try it!
I just tried Blue Apron for the first time – and am totally envious of your Salmon rolls. My first meal was ginger pork burgers and wasn’t bad, but yours looks wayyyyy better! Yum!
I always skip pork – was it like hamburgers with an Asian twist? I like when they send me something kind of ‘fusion’ and I never cook with ginger unless it’s from Blue Apron 🙂
I have been wanting to try Blue Apron for so long. I also have gluten and dairy issues so I wasn’t sure if it was for me. But it seems like you can work around that. Thanks for sharing!
https://thedogtribe.com/2016/06/29/summer-beastmode-workout/
Yeah, I think if you were gluten free AND vegetarian it would be a bigger problem since their vegetarian meals are more pasta-y but your requirements might work. There are usually about 4 options to choose from and you choose 2 or 3 (depending on if you’re doing the meals for 2 or 4 people). If there’s not an option you can eat you can just skip that week.
I had salmon that was grilled on the barbecue and also grilled veggies too. The brown rice that was supposed to go with my meal ended up going to my dog who had a tummy ache. Poor little guy. I felt bad for him when it didn’t stay down. 🙁
Boo. What’s wrong with you pup?
Yum– i need to try blue apron it keeps popping up in my life! I eat dairy free and gluten free though so im not sure how friendly toward those things it is. Did you notice?
Tonight i made avocado toast, hard boiled eggs, and tomatoes on GF bread. Easy and delicious!
Yeah, you can adjust the menu if it’s something you can’t/don’t eat. I’ve done a few gluten fee meals with them, but they don’t designate them as g-free – I just pick based on the ingredients. Luckily since you’re cooking it you can tell what’s actually going into the meal. Outside of a spice blend or flour to bread the chicken everything is pretty unprocessed. If there is not something you can eat you can skip that week. (I think they don’t have a dedicated g-free kitchen but everything seems to be prepped separately. That’s my own personal call though.)
how funny- I was planning on cooking salmon tonight. I usually bake them in the oven (it’s easier that way so I can take a bath while it’s cooking) with Okinawan sweet potatoes (this past farmer’s market didn’t have our regular sweet potatoes) and miso soup (tofu and wakame (seaweed)).
quesadillas sounds yummy!
Are those the sweet potatoes that are purple on the outside?!