patris

Absolutely - it seems that very few people understand that vegetarian eating can be really rich in variety and interest. It just takes a bit of thought!

I will reheat the halloumi - I had a similar dish a few weeks ago and I just reheated the slices for about a minute at half power. It will never be as crispy as it was right out of the pan, but it's certainly serviceable.

This week's box arrived with almost no issues, save a couscous error: the za'ataar crusted grilling cheese recipe called for Israeli couscous, and the photo on the accompanying recipe card showed Israeli couscous, but the box contained the regular variety. Bit of a disappointment, but not terrible. This dish will be my not-so-sad desk lunch tomorrow and Tuesday: Sumac-dusted roasted onion and zucchini, tiny tomatoes, chiffonade of basil, lemon zest, and onion-infused couscous with za'ataar crusted halloumi, lemon wedges on the side for squeezing. Promises to be tasty and filling, and the extra halloumi in the box was a nice snack while I prepared today's early lunch and tomorrow's dinner, Mega Mushroom burgers: Browned onions, Roma tomato, avocado, mayo, hot sauce, and a good-sized mushroom cap on butter-grilled sesame bun, with a simple oil and vinegar-dressed arugula salad and the rest of the avocado half on the side. You can't see the couple slices of Cambozola tucked in under the mushroom, which were not part of the recipe but which helped make this an utterly luscious meal even for this vegetarian who scoffs at the standard portobello sandwich on every restaurant menu. It was so good, I didn't even dig into the bag of Utz potato chips sitting just outside the frame. Washed down with a Spiked Seltzer - definitely not the norm for me before noon on a Sunday, but HelloFresh should take note: I would probably forgive a lot if a few of these were tucked into each box! I will probably stick with this service for a while, barring more quality issues, and use it to train myself to plan and shop a bit better so that my diet incorporates the increased variety and decreased food waste that makes this so appealing to me.

I was going to say that, but figured I was being too picky!!!

Damn! Wish I had known you wanted invertase - I have a couple little bottles and would gladly have given them to you when you were here. I'm sure I am just naive, but the absence of gloves on anyone at any point in the production process (thinking specifically of the nut clusters here, but also the tamping down of the peaks in the filled molds) was a little off-putting for me.

I am taking this week off from work for a little staycation and after an entire morning (like, from 9 am until just after noon) spent at the car dealership negotiating a new lease, I needed a little self-care and a lot of lunch: HelloFresh to the rescue! My last box this week was Powerhouse Eggplant Polenta: Roasted eggplant and zucchini over polenta with thyme and Parmesan, topped with a mixture of chopped walnuts, olive oil and more parm. Again, another huge portion remains. Tasty and filling, though it cries out for a little acid to cut the cheese and olive oil. Maybe a squeeze of lemon will find its way on to the leftovers. Next box is due tomorrow; hoping it's problem free or else it will be GoodbyeFresh!

How was the spaghetti?

Mini pies to to celebrate a friend's birthday: Chocolate peanut butter, mixed berry with cornmeal crust, and citrus (standard key lime pie recipe subbing in orange and lemon juices with the lime). Very happy I made enough to keep some for myself!

@Anna N it's definitely a first world problem, but it does make me question the value of this service when I am planning a week's worth of meals around it!

Holy cow, that is annoying. i think you and I share similar HelloFresh karma for some reason - my new box arrived tonight and there was no seitan included in the Seitan Tacos al Pastor box. They are crediting me for the cost of the meal, but I am growing tired of having to chat with their customer service every stinking week. Tonight's recipe was cannellini bean panzanella - white beans, cucumbers, shallot, tiny tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and baguette croutons tossed with herbs, garlicky olive oil and red wine vinegar. Not bad. Inelegantly plated and inhaled quickly after a long day:

It was UPS. I am hoping this does not happen again - for years I have ordered bulk chocolate from a company in Maryland that ships via 2-day UPS using the sort of ice packs HelloFresh uses and have never had this kind of problem, even in the hottest summer (and it can get pretty hot in summer in Buffalo, believe it or not!), so I sincerely hope today is anomalous. @Anna N - it could be that they will charge you when the shipping date is closer, so all may not be lost!

Big disappointment tonight. My box was delivered today and I had been looking forward to dinner - patatas bravas with crispy artichokes with garlic aioli and arugula salad - all day. Came home and opened the box to find that the ice pack had melted and leaked out all over everything and all the food was warm to barely cool - fine for potatoes and onions but not tender greens, cheeses, raviolis and other refrigerated items. I did an online chat with them and they credited my account for the cost of the box, framing it as "a free future box!" in a way that suggested I should be grateful for their magnanimity. No offer to replace this one, and no refund if I wished to cancel my account outright - they do not do refunds, was the party line. Definitely a first world problem, but my grocery shop last week did not include any plans for dinners as that's what I ordered HelloFresh for. Hoping the bloom is not off the rose permanently, but hanger is clouding my opinion at the moment.

Food waste is something I have done to a truly shameful degree over the years. I grocery shop weekly and often I would make grand plans involving lots of fresh fruit and veg, only to bin most of it when I failed to follow through. To address that, and at the same time work some interest and variety in my diet, I am giving Hello Fresh a try. Happily, this week my only food waste has been the woody ends of a few asparagus stalks.

@rarerollingobject, I know we live half a planet away from each other, but can we hang out? You seem to be my sort of person. We are having Taco Tuesday at work, so I made mini margarita cupcakes - cake recipe from Brown Eyed Baker, frosted with Italian meringue buttercream with lime juice, triple sec and tequila subbed in for the water in the sugar syrup and a smidge of citric acid because I like things puckery. I am considering grinding some salt and sugar together to dust over the top before serving.

Should have gone there first - you are the exception to the "when you hear hoofbeats think horses, not zebras" rule!

Black garlic?

Black licorice. ?

Dried black cherries? Black currants? Blackberries?

Thanks for the compliment, @liamsaunt - your dishes are always stunning and your photography is worlds better than mine will ever be! @Anna N, when I signed up I was assigned a delivery day, but after the first delivery I was able to change my delivery date to suit me. Not sure it would work the same for you, but It might be worth a shot. And @DesertTinker, I'm glad you gleaned some inspiration from my post! An unexpected obligation tomorrow evening meant cooking both remaining dishes tonight to clear the fridge before the next delivery on Thursday, as I will not be home for dinner Monday through Wednesday. First up, toasted brown rice and veggie bowl. This was the least appealing dish for me, mostly because it lacks dairy, my favorite food group. Carrots, green beans and corn sautéed, brown rice sizzled with ginger (which I love in sweet dishes but not so much in savory), garlic and scallions, and the whole thing cooked together with a bit of soy sauce and topped with toasted cashews, sesame seeds and scallion greens. Fried rice, basically. Not too bad, but not something I'd be likely to make for myself. Packed up for lunches, which will be quite filling - a bit shy of 380 grams per portion. Next up was Baby Portobello and Orecchiette Primavera and a reunion with my beloved sour cream and Parmesan. Sautéed onion, red pepper, Cremini mushrooms and garlic tossed with asparagus, orecchiette, sour cream, Parmesan, chives, red pepper flakes and a bit of the pasta cooking water. Upside down! I need to figure out how to rotate photos in this interface... and packed for later meals - again, huge portions, a bit bigger than the rice dish. Intellectually I know that most of the volume is coming from the cheap ingredients - rice and pasta - but it does a good job making me feel like I'm getting my money's worth. A couple observations after the first week: first, when the recipes call for things to be cooked in stages (for example sauté the carrot for 5 minutes, then add the green beans, then the corn), the food is seasoned at the end of cooking. I was taught to season and taste at every step to build flavor and improve the final dish. I am a competent cook, but a less experienced or more intimidated person might benefit from that kind of instruction in the recipes if these services aim to get people to build their skills in the kitchen. Second, I made a terrible tactical error in not pulling the asparagus out of the orecchiette box and plunking it in a little glass of water to keep it turgid for the 4 days it sat in my fridge - it got pretty limp and tired. I refreshed it in ice water, but I can see someone less experienced just chucking it out. The first dish I made had instructions on the box to remove the avocado and keep it at room temperature - maybe a gentle reminder to take care of the asparagus (which I knew was the correct thing to do, but laziness prevailed) might have gotten me to actually do it!

Then I'm stumped!

Are they legal to consume in only some states in the US?

I have been stuck in a terrible food rut for a long time - years, really - I love to cook for others but not so much for myself. As a singleton, though I am not home for dinner at least two or three nights a week, I have been wanting to inject some interest and variety into my solo meals. I confess I lurk on the dinner thread and lust after meals posted by many of you, but I guess I am just too lazy to turn lust to inspiration and ultimately to action. I thought maybe having someone else decide what I would cook might shake things up a bit. After a few weeks of looking at the various meal kit menus, I decided to try Hello Fresh, taking advantage of the half off discount on the first box. I am lacto-ovo vegetarian and their veggie recipes are quite appealing to me - they have menus for three or four weeks out and there was not a dish that didn't sound good. My first box arrived last evening and I cooked the first meal, Grilled Cheese and Veggie Jumble, tonight. i can't add too much to the packaging discussion, but I did like the way each individual meal was packed: it appeals greatly to my sense of order. All of the produce was of good quality, including the perfectly ripe, unblemished avocado: (Apologies for the orientation - I cannot figure out how to rotate it!) The recipe calls for for the sweet potatoes and onion to be roasted, tomatoes and avocado to be chopped and tossed with a bit of the cilantro and chili, half of the cheese to be sliced and crisped in a hot oiled pan, and all of that mixed together and dressed with a chimichurri using cilantro, garlic, chili, lemon and olive oil. It made two decent portions, one of which I packed up to take to work for tomorrow's lunch. Total time from opening the box to sitting down to eat was 40 minutes - just a bit longer than their estimate of 35 minutes. In all, quite a satisfying meal, despite a strong presence of flavors I usually avoid (both cilantro and chilis). The thing that appealed to me most about the recipe was the cheese - they had me at halloumi. Looking forward to the next one, scheduled for Sunday evening.

Those are some of my most treasured possessions - made by a fellow potter friend who calls them Salt and Pepper Stones. Painstaking process with an exquisite result.

The only missing ingredient was you, @Anna N! I do have to say that your posts on the bread thread were what got me to make that loaf - yours always looks so delicious. @Shelby - Kat left with a load of mugs and bowls - she won the pottery lottery and got her pick from the bins languishing in my closet. Come to Buffalo and you can too!

It is indeed.