So we had both been working late for some time--he had motions and briefs and complaints coming at him at work left and right, and I had just started a new job and was working long hours to let osmosis do its thing and learn more about my new responsibilities. When I would leave work, I only had the energy to face one of two things: either a workout at the gym or a home-cooked meal for dinner. The gym would win out because it doesn't involve washing dishes. That meant dinner would be takeout. Or chips and salsa. Or cheese and crackers. #realtalk
Blue Apron's Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Kale Caesar Salad
Enter Blue Apron. I had heard about Blue Apron a while back on some food blog I read: it's a service that curates recipes and delivers the fresh, pre-portioned ingredients you need to make those recipes to your doorstep once a week. At the time, it seemed expensive and they weren't operating in our area yet. Then, a few months ago, Maddie from A Practical Wedding wrote about her time cooking with Blue Apron. They were offering two free meals if you signed up right then. We looked at each other and said, "Why not?" Maybe it'll help curb our takeout and delivery spending. At the very least, I figured it would make it a bit easier to hit the gym and try and get some real food down the hatch.
Turns out that yeah, it did help control our takeout spending. Yeah, it did make it easier to make two healthy decisions after work, not one or the other. But what I didn't expect was that I'd end up looking forward to the Blue Apron deliveries. I didn't expect the food to taste SO GOOD. I didn't expect that it would help execute a routine that we'd been trying to implement for ages: one cooks, the other cleans up.
Blue Apron's Eggplant Parmesan
I didn't expect to get pushed out of my cooking comfort zone. Wasn't even really aware that I had a cooking comfort zone. But I do: I tend to cook recipes that are long, intricate affairs with dips and dabs of many different ingredients, which means I end up with lots of leftovers. I don't mess around with ingredients I hate, like eggplant, or fish I've never tried before, like hake. I don't prep all my ingredients before I start cooking. Who's got that many prep bowls? Just get down to it!
But you saw that up there, right? That Eggplant Parmesan? Yeah, I made that. Yeah, I even ate some of it. I still think eggplant is weird, though. The recipes are fast--I can go from prepping to cooking to eating in an hour and a half, which makes everything seem less daunting. And everything's pre-measured and -portioned for you, so you don't end up with half a bunch of cilantro wilting away in your fridge.
Look, I know you're saying, "Geez, why doesn't she just marry Blue Apron?" To which I would say, (1) already married, sorry sucker, and (2) it changed the way I eat. Cooking dinner on a weeknight is not the same as cooking French toast on a Saturday morning with your whole weekend stretching out before you. Blue Apron helps bring a little of that Saturday-morning feeling to your Tuesday-night dinner. Who wouldn't want to marry that?
More: Here's what else you can do with your Saturday morning.
Blue Apron's Seared Salmon with Tomato Chutney
If you're interested in giving Blue Apron a try, I've got four free meals I can pass out to the first four people that ask for them. Get at me in the comments.