Tag: food

Taco Tuesday is Great and All, But…

This post is sponsored by Blue Apron. If you’d like to give it a try, you can get your own first box with 3 free meals when you sign up here!

Brandon does the cooking for us just about every night. He also does the grocery shopping. And he’s great at it!

Alas, I am no help at all when it comes to meal planning.

I wish I was someone who knew how to take some garlic, tomatoes, and whatever else and turn it into something new and inventive, but I’m not. Neither of us are. It’s easy to put things on autopilot when we’re busy and we cook the same meals over and over.

We love Blue Apron because it gets us out of our dinner rut, especially during busy times like the holiday season. Everything can be made in 40 minutes or less, each menu is between 500-800 calories per person, and you get all the fresh ingredients you need in exactly the right proportions. If you don’t need a week, skip it. (You can skip or cancel at any time.)

And ahem… New Year’s resolutions, anyone? More cooking at home. Healthier meals. Check and check.

Sometimes the recipes are for meals that are completely new to us, and sometimes they’re reminders to make something we’ve had before that sort of fell out of the rotation. Like a couple of weeks ago, one of our dinners was pork chops and yellow tomato sauce, with roasted potatoes and broccoli.

Broccoli is one of my favorites, but we had gotten into the habit of either eating it raw with a dip or steaming it. Why had we not been roasting our broccoli lately? It’s so easy to make, but so good!

The broccoli and potatoes were both supporting players to the main dish, the pork chops. Tasty! I think the tomatoes that went on top would be equally good on chicken (look at me, sort of experimenting). It was a new dish for our family, but nothing so out there that the kids would balk.

Speaking of the kids… We’re a family of 5, and we’ve gone with both types of plans (2-Person or Family Plan). I’m sure my kids’ appetites will increase as they get bigger, but for now we can get away with the 2-Person plan if Brandon and I each share a little of our portions, or the Family Plan which usually leaves us with leftovers.

You can see what’s coming up weeks in advance. Blue Apron is always adding new dishes to the menu every week, and you can choose any combination of recipes for each delivery. Instead of the old standby ‘Taco Tuesday’ (great but predictable), we might look forward to ‘spicy honey-lime chicken tostadas‘ or ‘mushroom & potato tacos with avocado & cara cara orange salad.’

See? We wouldn’t think to plan those dinners, but we would all sure want to eat them! Yum. The variety of recipes is what I love about Blue Apron the most.

p.s. Yes, the first 50 readers to take advantage of this offer will get 3 meals free in their first Blue Apron order! Just click here to visit Blue Apron.

December 5, 2017
Getting the Kids to Eat Well
Brought to you by the Brita Bottle For Kids: Help teach your kids to learn to love water. Learn more.

Brandon used to eat buttered noodles as a separate dinner from the rest of his family. I was of course a darling, perfect child who ate the same thing as the rest of my family: pizza/burgers/hot dogs. So yeah, when I became a mom, I wanted to do better. We’re not perfect at all, but Brandon and I have done a pretty good job when it comes to getting our kids to eat well. Here’s what worked for us.
1. They eat the same foods we eat. Sometimes they don’t want to eat much of what they’ve been given (even when it’s something we already know they like) and that’s fine, but they don’t get a separate meal.
2. The kids drink a lot of water. They like their milk and juice too, but I offer water more often than not. I even gave up soda a couple of years ago so I’d be a better role model, and Eleanor likes to “cheers!” with me and we clink our water glasses.
3. We do insist that they at least try everything. If they don’t like it, they don’t have to eat it, but they have to give it a fair shot. And we gladly enlist the help of Yo Gabba Gabba tunes on this one. (“Try it. You’ll like it!”)
And yeah, we still do the pizza/burgers/hot dogs thing sometimes too. But hey, I get some water in there for the girl at least!
August 30, 2012
Cooped Up
I spent a good portion of yesterday researching chickens. I’m fascinated by the idea of keeping chickens in the backyard for eggs! I don’t know if it’s right for us, but I had a lot of fun looking at chicken coops and imagining having one out back.
Design*Sponge recently wrote about keeping chickens, and Apartment Therapy wrote about the subject a couple of years ago. As people are becoming more aware of their food sources and sustainable living (both things I’m working on), it seems chicken keeping is making a big comeback. I haven’t met anyone keeping them in an urban (or suburban) setting, though it seems they’re out there! Do you or any of your neighbors have chickens?
April 27, 2010
Thinking About Food

I want to be healthier for myself and for my family. No junk food! Healthy and fresh! Seasonal produce! Organic! Free-range!

Whew. Sounds good, right? Except I was a little lost.

I don’t really know how to cook. Actually, it’s more like I don’t know what to cook. I had a vague idea of what’s good to eat, but I could only come up with a few options for each meal. Isn’t that sad? Well, help has come in the form of my two new favorite books: In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, and Jamie’s Food Revolution by Jamie Oliver.

Inspired by Pollan’s book, I’m trying to stay away from processed foods with unfamiliar and unpronounceable ingredients. He has three guiding principles: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Pretty genius in its simplicity. And Jamie has given me the tools and inspiration to cook simple, healthy meals — I feel like it’s the missing companion cookbook. Jamie also likes the idea of passing it on, growing a radical new food movement person by person, which is what I’m doing here. Passing it on.

March 24, 2010