Recap: Goodfood #2

Guess what? (or maybe I told you in the last recap HERE) We went for another Goodfood box right after that trial first week because the menu looks fantastic.

The second box came as expected. What is really nice is that I had wanted to skip it and couldn’t figure out how to get it done and the customer service was very prompt in answering my questions and had detailed answers to help me navigate through it. Good customer service is another great point of this company.

The box came right on time. This time the weather was great however, the box did have a little broken part at the bottom. Perhaps something about their delivery service system should be improved. There should be more care especially when handling a box designed to insulate for a certain amount of time and has meats inside especially in the summer. Luckily, the week before the temperature did happen to drop a little so we were okay for the most part.

Regardless of that, the menu for that week was great and to be honest, most of it turned it pretty awesome as well. Here’s the recap!

Korean Vegetable Bibimbap
with Shitakes, Kale and Quick-pickled Veggies

This was a ton of work to put together from the pickling to the chopping. However, it was also really worth the effort because it was delicious. Not to mention a recipe that I’ve kept thinking of redoing once I get a chance to buy the spice that it uses in the rice. However, they did give us a lot more kale than we needed. As my husband made a valid point, more is better than less. So we had a generous portion of kale that was used for just a veggie side for the next day. This was the main reason why I wanted this week’s menu and I’m glad that it lived up to my expectations.

North African Spiced Chicken
with Grilled Vegetable Tabbouleh and Fresh Chickpeas

Possibly my husband’s favorite meal in this box. The North african spices were very flavorful and paired up with the fresh tabbouleh with grilled veggies and some crispy fresh onions/shallots (can’t remember which as I’m writing this up) and cucumbers, it worked great together.

Maple Pork Burger
with Oven Roasted French Fries and Bacon Dipping Sauce

Sorry for the not perfect picture here. We actually made this one morning and then went down to watch TV and just kind of ate the two separately. I had the fries first and it went super well with the dipping sauce. That sauce was actually to die for. Then we had the burger. Mine is without the uncooked veggies so its pretty bare-bones. However, my husband ate his and didn’t take a picture so well, this is what I’m left with. However, this burger was good. I actually like pork burgers more and more now because we are growing some odd thing towards beef, maybe because its harder to digest so it makes us bloated. Personal problems. However, this was tasty also. Its a burger and it was a nice twist on the traditional beef patty.

BBQ Rubbed Steaks
with Summery Sweet Potato and Zucchini Hash

Yummy! This one was so awesome! The zucchini and sweet potato had a nice crispiness to them even thought it was cooked and then the spices and the steak were fantastic. It wasn’t a huge portion of meat but just enough to make this have a nice healthy balance. Its definitely one that I plan on doing again or maybe using the same vegetable portion and match with chicken or pork chops or something like that.

Overall…

This Goodfood box was great. There were some amazing meals. However, all of these had relatively longer prep times. That is one that I do suggest to add to the meals is the prep time. I’m not sure if their time right now includes both prep and cook because some of the things with more to cut do become quite lengthy. I always budget out an hour or more to do these recipes with more chopping to do because honestly that is where the slow part is for myself. Of course, if you are a chopping master in the kitchen, this should go by quickly. However, these recipes to incorporate some level of multitask so it helps shrink the cooking time by a little also. My fave of the bibimbap, my husband’s was the north-african chicken and we both like the rubbed steak and the pork burger was decent also. This box was a definite winner.

We are taking a little break from meal subscription boxes to get back to cooking normally but I’ll report back next month probably with more if the meals match our tastes.

Recap: Miss Fresh #9

As I’ve been talking about recently, its been a busy time so what better week than to order another Miss Fresh box. The last one was just two weeks ago. However, this menu fit what we liked so why not, right?

Let’s get cooking! 🙂

Miss Fresh #9

Shrimp Rolls with Peanut Sauce

Shrimp Rolls with Peanut Sauce

This box was quite the adventure since I found my cooking motivation early in the morning as I scrambled to get this together and prepare for heading out to work. Particularly the first two recipes were made in the early hours however, they did turn out pretty good. The first was this shrimp rolls. I used to my shrimp rolls with my best friend however, she always took point and I just had to put it together so learning how to make this felt great because I’m a huge fan of this plus Miss Fresh’s recipe avocado which is a really nice twist since I don’t eat raw veggies so my husband made them with the cabbage while I had a simple one with vermicelli, shrimps and avocado along with the peanut sauce. The peanut sauce was really awesome and really made this dish delicious.

Asian Tofu Stir-Fry

 The first two meals are very easy to make. In fact, they are delicious as well. I’m a huge fan of stir-fry and its not only because I’m Chinese and grew up with it. The idea of tossing a bunch of stuff together in a wok and it turning into a meal is efficient. Of course, it is never as simple as tossing it together but how to cook what and when. We don’t get a lot of tofu and my husband’s not a huge fan of mushroom although he does tolerate shitake mushrooms. This dish made the house smell so nice and it is incredibly easy to do. Maybe one of my faves Miss Fresh recipe.

Shepherd’s Pie with Cauliflower Topping

Shepherd’s Pie

My husband loves Shepherd’s Pie. I just never make it because its a bit of a hassle. I hate meals where I need to cook and then bake. As you see, I’m all about efficiency. Shepherd’s Pie also has that mashed potato aspect which only is good with a decent amount of milk or butter. While I digest butter, I know my husband prefers milk and then there’s the whole corn issue. My health is ridiculous, I know. The price for not taking better care when I was studying in university. Now I’m getting preachy, so I’ll stop and get back on track. However, this one does a nice twist with a mix of mashed potatoes and cauliflowers. I do like the texture of it even though it only uses butter. The minced meat is seasoned well and its all very tasty. Definitely one worth giving a go a second time.

Pork Tenderloin with Apples, Brussel Sprouts and Rice

After the searing part…

Pork Tenderloin with Apples & Brussel Sprouts

The pork tenderloin is pretty easy to put together and it does taste good with just coating with coriander and a spices blend (cinnamon and something else). The searing part after 10 minutes each side gets about that look up in the top picture. Sorry for the blur. However, we’re not much for seared foods so I decided to cook it through instead in making the veggies portion. It turned out for the better and I really liked this one a lot as well. The apples add a little acidity to it that works well with the dish. I’m not huge on the apple cider vinegar part. I’ve tried it out a few times in some other Miss Fresh recipes and it adds a weird taste to it that takes time to like. Overall though, this one is good. I’d redo it but maybe change out the apples or maybe use something else than vinegar.

Overall…

Miss Fresh doesn’t fail us. I’d venture to say that this is one of the better boxes because all the meals were winners even if I would have tweaked it to match our tastes a little better. Shrimp Rolls definitely take the win for this one. That peanut sauce is to die for and the rolls are good even in its simplest form. I’m actually craving it as I write this up (not only because it is during my lunch break).

Recap: Miss Fresh #8

Another Miss Fresh is here! Having a box arrive after a trip is usually a great way except I forgot how busy I was going to be. Thankfully, my husband helped out to with making a good few of these dishes so excuse the pictures for not being plated exactly as I would however the star of the meals are all there, except for one. We didn’t get a picture of the first meal we made. The next box is coming soon since April is a somewhat busy month and I’ve caught up with a lot of things.

Let’s check out the meals!

Miss Fresh #8

Tandoori Vegetable Naan-Wich

Let’s start with the first meal that was made quite out of place of how I’d make these meals since I usually put the vegetable ones as the later ones. However, its all good since due to the ingredients, my husband was the only one that could eat this one. He made it and had it. I can’t say he’s a fan because I believe a portion of it is still sitting in the fridge. However, he did add his own twist to it by adding some protein in the form of scrambled eggs.

Citrusy Herbed Chicken Legs

The star of this box has to be this meal! Perhaps, I’m a little biased since I soon came to realize there was a lot of adaptation with the other two meals to work around my intolerance so my husband ate most of it. Funny enough, he cooked this one up. Now, I love chicken so this was a winner already. The best part of this meal had to go to learning a new way of making sweet potatoes for dinner using lemon. It had this fantastic sweet and sour sort of element and just tasted so awesome.

Sausage and Vegetable Stuffed Mushrooms

Look at these cute little stuffed mushrooms. Miss Fresh boxes was the first to introduce how to make these stuffed mushrooms and I was excited about it being a part of this box. Of course, I have been so busy and tired that I ended up garnishing all four of the mushrooms with cheese so means, its down to my husband, the mushroom-hating person to take care of it. To my surprise, he liked it a lot. Guess this is how we’re introducing more veggies into our meals from now on. This is paired up with pesto pasta which was made separately afterwards but was not photographed. Sorry about that. A huge thank you to Miss Fresh this time for adding an extra little plastic bag for the pesto so avoid the spillage mess that I had in a previous box. I’m glad to see improvements and thoughts made every single time. 🙂

Coconut Beef Curry

Finally, the last meal is the Coconut Beef Curry with a side of Jasmine Rice. This smelled so good while it was cooking and other than the simmering time being longer and maybe preparation, it was relatively easy to make. Although, we did do this one as a collaborated effort since I’m not too good with cooking beef so my husband took over the duties. Although in the end, because I decided to keep in the Thai chili and it would be spicy that it is also my husband’s dinner.

Overall…probably a lack of judgement on my part for this box but its always nice to still get some good meals out of the box. The meals themselves were pretty good even if I couldn’t taste them. They surprisingly expanded my husband’s liking for certain vegetables which is always a good thing. With the help of this box, we can now make mushrooms for everyone. That’s pretty awesome since I have portobello mushroom cravings every little while.

What meals appeal to you from this box? What do you think?

Unboxing & Recap: Miss Fresh #7

Two months has gone by since I’ve ordered a Miss Fresh box! Wow!

We are working on cooking meals more and totally enjoying it. There’s also the factor of having meals that appealed to us. This box really worked for that. Let’s take a look!

Kung Pao Shrimps
with Calrose Rice

Kung Pao Shrimps

Kung Pao Shrimps was good. I’m not exactly sure about using Calrose Rice. Its okay, not my favorite. However, it is a simple and balanced meal even if it lacked a bit of spice. There is quite a bit of preparation for this one with a lot of cooking. Anything with a lot of chopping usually takes more time for myself just because I’m incredibly clumsy so take much more time to do it.

Chicken Marbella
served with couscous and spinach

Chicken Marbella 

Chicken Marbella is an interesting recipe. I mean this in the best way. While I’m not a huge fan of the couscous and I cooked the spinach which was supposed to be a salad, the highlight is the chicken itself being paired with dried prunes and green olives. I’m not exactly a fan of olives but this combination worked together really well. It takes a little longer, and was listed as more than 30 minutes to make and that is because the chicken needs to go into the oven for thirty minutes or something. I can’t remember as I don’t have the recipe in front of me.

Ginger Turkey Meatballs
on a bed of Sesame Noodles

Ginger Turkey Meatballs 

I love sesame noodles. The sauce they make here is very delicious. The meatballs have turmeric and curry spices so it has a spicy taste to it, along with some veggies, this ginger turkey meatballs is really good and quite easy to make. It has sparked a desire to stock up on sesame noodles. Beware for smelling like curry and onions though. I cooked this one morning and I had to change afterwards.

Zucchini and Corn Quesadillas
with Pesto

Zucchini and Corn Quesadillas 

The meal in the box that only my husband could eat, however was quite the blast to make except its crazy with all the chopping. Its chopping up jalapeno and green peppers and then there is an ear of corn to strip off the kernels. Aside from the chopping, its easy to put together and a vegetarian meal solution. Even with that, my husband enjoyed it.

Overall…Ginger Turkey Meatballs and Chicken Marbella are the stars of this box. I loved those two recipes a lot. I’m hoping to see more sesame noodles added into the meals eventually. There’s not much to say because everything was fresh and the box was delivered safely and securely as usual.

Unboxing & Recap: Miss Fresh #5

*Technically, it should be #4 but I did get a box in October but was so busy that I didn’t end up putting up a post or taking pictures of any of the meals.*

 Its been a while since I’ve posted a Miss Fresh recap. I usually do about one of these per month. Mostly when it has a meal that appeals to us. The experience so far is pretty good. I’ve had a few little things but then I’m adjusting myself to the experience and making better choices. Box #5 (aka this one) has to be one of my favorites. One of the best parts about Miss Fresh is learning all the different recipes and a lot of them are pretty multicultural. This box in particular has that perk and its probably why I loved it so much. Meals are shown in the order that I prepared them.

Miss Fresh
(Week of November 14)

Recipes

RUN DOWN CODFISH
poached in a spicy coconut sauce with orzo salad

Run Down Codfish, Spicy Cocnonut Sauce, Orzo Salad

Run Down Codfish is a Jamaican dish. I’ve never made any Jamaican and I’ve only ever eaten Jamaican food once before. I have no idea what this is supposed to taste like but this meal was so good. I personally can’t spicy food but that time that they gave was so good for the codfish that it was perfectly cooked and the spicy coconut sauce had just the right amount of heat and delicious blend with tomatoes and jalapenos and coconut milk that I just loved it. It was burning my  mouth but I just kept eating. I try to avoid gluten and raw foods but I did eat a bit of the orzo salad which they have the recipe to make the dressing as well. The coolness of the salad contrasts well with the heat from the codfish. I liked this one a lot.

CHICKEN KORMA CURRY
with Basmati Rice

Chicken Korma Curry, Basmati Rice, Green Beans

Indian food! Personally, I don’t go to eat indian food for the sheer fact that curry usually is made with yogourt and being lactose-intolerant that kind of makes it hard to enjoy an actual meal at an Indian restaurant. With that said, my husband had this entire meal to himself. He isn’t a fan of tomatos but he liked it alright. The curry definitely has a good kick and was a tiny bit spicy. I didn’t eat it but my kitchen was smelling like curry for at least twelve hours later.

MAMA YU’S WONTON NOODLE SOUP
with Broccolinis

Mama Yu’s Wonton Noodle Soup

Possibly the quickest Miss Fresh meal I’ve put together. Generally, the meals take about an hour to put together but I guess seeing as this is a Chinese dish, I was already a tad more familiar with it and had a lot more confidence with it so it took less than an hour. I love wonton noodles. Sadly, I never have time to make it anymore and I don’t eat at Montreal restaurants that serve this in fear of MSG since I’m a tad sensitive to it. This one gives you the broth and the veggies and the egg noodles and the recipe for making the wonton from scratch. They give you the wrappers. It makes 12 wontons so six per portion. Yet again, I liked it a lot. Its easy to make something like this more on the salty side but this one worked really well. It gave us the liberty of seasoning the shrimp and minced pork mixture for the wontons with pepper and I might have put just a dash too much, but it tasted really good. On top of that, the portions are really generous. One portion wontons and with the egg noodles and the broccolini was a filling meal.

CAULIFLOWER TACOS
with lime crema

Cauliflower Tacos

The last recipe was put together by my husband. He left me the pieces to compile to show. He did add in some tuna to have some protein in his version and had the lima crema. Unfortunately, no photo of that. This is the version with the lima crema but generally the same. The bottom portion is something of a makeshift coleslaw which was pretty good. The cauliflower uses indian spices which I think is what made me not like it so much. It had a weird flavor that I’m not accustomed to and didn’t quite acquire the taste of. However, it does seem to be a relatively quick recipe to put together.

Overall…one of my favorite ones to put together. The meals here are delicious, especially the first three caught our attention. What is really nice is that in the last month, it feels like they have changed the food packing style and I like it better especially placing the ice pack and cardboard at the bottom to separate the meat ingredients to the fresh ingredients. The recipe sheets always were improved and I like the design of it more. Its been rather multicultural which also is something I enjoy to try new flavors and also experiment with new spices and new ingredients that I personally wouldn’t use in my cooking. A great experience!

November is a pretty busy month so we’ll be having another box coming in soon to ease on the dinner cooking duties, plus, it looked like a nice meals for the next one as well. Probably will be up in two weeks or so!