Goodfood Recap #37

It sure feels like a while since the last Goodfood recap. We’re back to monthly instalments of these. To be fair, we only get the ones that we think we have time to cook and also the meals work to our liking. This week has two repeats and two new ones so it’ll be interesting to see. However, we took this box mostly because it was the week after some crazy work schedule and just needed time to not think about groceries and the like.

Let’s check it out!

Seared Steaks
with Lemon-Oregano Potatoes & Roasted Zucchini

A word of the wise to fellow cooks, at least for myself, I’ve learned that any meal with zucchini (or other leafy vegetables) should be the first to go in regardless of when the meat expires. I’ve experienced too many times of bad zucchinis due to my not getting to it quick enough. With that said, its why the random time that steaks got put forward. This meal is actually pretty good. The roasted zucchini is nice and I’d definitely try to do that again. The potatoes were a nice blend. We don’t like eating seared anything and like this cooked completely so the husband, who is almost always responsible for cooking meat, made sure to have it well done. That’s our personal preference, of course.

Chicken Yakitori
with Roasted Carrots, Chinese Broccoli & Miso Butter

The first repeat meal is Chicken Yakitori. I’m going to say right now that starting from this meal, the husband took care of most of 90% of the cooking and I only helped with small prep work and stuff due to work and whatnot. His first attempt at Chicken Yakitori and it still tastes fantastic. I love all the elements of this meal from the sauce to the chicken and the spices and the miso butter on the roasted veggies. I would redo this one on the grill any day in the summer. Works well because its one I’ll consider for the next Battle which is coming up in just a few weeks.

Fried Eggplant Sabich
with Mango Chopped Salad & Red Cabbage

Every box has a meal that we just add in to try out and this time its the eggplant sabich. The husband isn’t a big fan of eggplant to start and I’m not a big fan of this type of eggplant but I’m hoping to find an eggplant recipe which I can like and eat more of because eggplant is a healthy addition to our diet. This is supposed to be put into the pita as a pouch sort of meal but the pitas turned out to be too crispy so we just put everything on top of it. I think the meal still works because its like pita chips with hummus and then the freshness of the mango chopped salad meshes well with the flavorful fried eggplant slices. This was definitely a pleasant surprise.

Pork Chops
with Honey-Glazed Cipollini Onions & Shaved Asparagus Salad

Last meal of the box is also a repeat, one that I was a bit more than lukewarm towards and the reason why it made it in. Under the helm of the husband, I actually think it tastes better than the first time. It could be the potatoes are seasoned really well and finally not burnt as it usually turned out for me when I put it in the oven. The sauce is done really well and I liked it so much that I ended up making some toast to eat the rest up. It all goes well with the pork chops.

That’s it for this Goodfood recap!

Recap: Goodfood #27

Welcome to the next recap of Goodfood for last week’s box! One repeat and a few that sounded pretty good. Bowls usually are surprisimg winners, burgers always have a nice twist and well, sometimes meatballs and couscous are the simple combo that we need.

Grilled Tofu Dragon Bowls
with multicolored carrots, snow peas & red rice

Tofu isn’t our cooking specialty so a lot of it is either at my mom’s or when we get a Goodfood box. My husband isn’t a huge fan of it either. We ended up getting this because we have loves past meals in bowls. Granted, usually it is something I have generally tried before and this one, I haven’t. However, the tofu and the red rice is super nice. The sauce here is amazing. My only issue was the raw veggies which I went ahead to cook because I had a part of it raw and honestly didn’t enjoy it at all. I’ve always liked my vegetables cooked so that is honestly a personal preference.

Chicken Yakitori
with roasted carrots, chinese broccoli & miso butter

The repeat here is this chicken yakitori which still remains as delicious as what I remember. On top of that, I always forget to do it for the Battle of Ingredients but the recipe calls for roasting chinese broccoli in the oven and the leaves turns out like making kale chips. It comes out some delicious flavors and its mostly seasons with salt and pepper which is all very awesome. Plus, Jasmine rice is my favorite variety of rice so everything here really justifies why I like this meal a lot and enjoy making it also.

Paprika-Garlic Chicken Sandwiches on Pretzel Buns
with horseradish mayonnaise & green salad

The husband took care of this meal and the next. Its been a crazy week for us so these meals had a lot of it just being myself eating it and him only tasting it. I’m not going to lie that I ended up skipping most of the salad because of the horseradish. They gave a warning of the spiciness of it and washing hands afterwards. Luckily, my husband put together only a little bit of horseradish so it worked really well without burning my mouth. The chicken spicing with the paprika and garlic is really delicious. I’m adding this recipe to my chicken burgers ideas whenever we ever think about it and want to change up from beef.

Pork Meatballs & Roasted Vegetables
with wild jungle peanuts & lemon balm couscous

Finally, we wrap up with the pork meatballs and roasted vegetables on couscous. I have to say that the entire meal here is pretty well balanced. The tomatoes add a more acidic taste as tomatoes usually do with their more sour flavor but it works to give a lot of balance with the other vegetables added in here. The highlight here is the wild jungle peanuts which are specially picked from some region (Amazon, maybe? I can’t remember…) but taste pretty much like a peanut. The couscous is my issue as I had to pick out  the lemon balm because it was just too much in it and was so strong. Other than that, this was a pretty decent meal. I just need to remember to cut the onions into smaller pieces so the meatballs don’t have such coarse onions, making it stand out a ton. However, the spices are quite delish.

Overall, this was a pretty decent box. I liked everything fairly well. There were some issues here and there that makes me say that I love it with the obvious exception of the Chicken Yakitori. One more box next week and then we made the decision to drop the meal boxes to monthly basis for a while so we clear up some of our frozen meats in the freezer and eat some garden veggies from our garden and my mom’s garden, which she’s been sharing with us.

Recap: Goodfood #20

20 boxes into this Goodfood journey! There really isn’t much to say anymore other than the fact that I love doing these recaps.

Although, this box was kind of sounding really good but also very experimental? Who knows, right? If Goodfood has taught me anything, its to be adventurous in my foodie and cooking adventures!

Chicken Yakitori
with Roasted Carrots, Chinese Broccoli & Miso Butter

A lot of firsts here. I’ve never actually made yakitori before and rarely have attempted the kabobs things either. That turned out to be fairly simple. I never had thought about roasting Yu Choy in the oven but I guess that also does work. It just works a lot like kale and I think the recipe is still a little borderline on how long it keeps it there so mine turned out a little burnt. However, Chicken Yakitori did turn out to be really delicious. They had some lovely spices and other than the prep work for the kabobs taking a little longer, this recipe was pretty tasty and well worth the work.

Vegetarian Paella
with Marinated Artichokes & Toasted Almonds

Vegetarian Paella sounds a little odd but we’ve been exploring these vegetarian takes on food with these boxes and most of the time they don’t disappoint. Unfortunately, we weren’t a huge fan of this one. The zesty taste was a little too abundant for my taste. It was the first time I tasted marinated artichoke and that was also really acidic. I didn’t have an issue with the artichoke but more the fact that it was so acidic. Then there was tomatoes also which were also really acidic. This dish was just a whole plate of off balance. Can’t say I’m a particular fan but my husband was a mega champ and helped take care of what I didn’t want to eat. A rarity in our home because I usually manage to finish everything and am not a picky eater.

Gourmet Bacon & Cheddar Stuffed Hot Dogs
with Homemade Ketchup & Grilled Romaine Salad

modified version

I should have looked at the ingredients more carefully when I chose this one. I never thought that the cheddar and bacon was actually a cheddar and bacon sausage. So my husband had the real deal, except the pictures turned out bad so I’m using the modified version. He was the master chef before this meal and he didn’t buy into the stuffing it overly and making the bun soggy and mine is a sausage with bacon so pretty much we modified this recipe to our own liking or at least in presentation. The homemade ketchup was pretty good. I can’t say it delivered quite as well as the awesome looking picture in the recipe looked like it would taste. Still, I love hot dogs so any excuse to have one is fantastic.

Ground Beef Tacos
with Homemade Salsa Verde, Cabbage Slaw & Panela Cheese

Finally, the beef tacos! I actually put together 75% of the meal but then my husband wrapped it up and also I ended up just telling him to eat it because it would have too many modifications. According to my husband, the beef tacos were quite good. He’s into one word responses when it comes to food so honestly, it did smell really good as I was cooking it. The spices were great and the beef smelled good. The slaw was easy to put together. There was a decent amount of prep work for this since its a lot of cutting. It also uses tomatillos as the salsa verde and we have to roast it a little in the pan which was a pretty neat cooking experience.

Overall, this box was a little lackluster. My fave went to the Chicken Yakitori.
One of those weeks that we picked recipes and well, I just had to modify a lot to my allergies.