Thank you to Blue Apron for sponsoring this post!
So Jay and I have had this thing lately where we say that we’re going to try to have a “date night in” at least one night a week. I think we’ve been saying this for maybe the past month or so…but we have yet to really make it happen. So instead, we take selfies while we cook dinner.
This was right at the onset of my pink eye, which you can probably see!
The thing is, I love the idea of a date night in. It’s a way to make the evening special and just a little bit different from a regular week night. And since I can’t be popping bottles of wine or noshing on delectable soft cheeses at the moment, our options are delicious and easy home cooked meals.
Last week, one of our “attempts” at a date night in failed miserably, thanks to Jay being on call for work and having to be at the computer. So I took care of the food prep while he sat with me and worked.
Thankfully, we had a Blue Apron delivery that week, so the food prep was a cinch.
You guys already know by now how much we love Blue Apron, right? I mean…they deliver all of the ingredients in exactly the right proportions (no waste!) right to your doorstep. We currently have our deliveries scheduled for Wednesday and it always perks up the middle of the work week. They have a huge selection of recipes and are always adding new ones every week, plus I love how you can now see the menus well in advance so you can plan accordingly. That way, we can skip weeks when we know it won’t be convenient and/or when we don’t really see anything that jumps out at us.
But we do have our next delivery scheduled for next week because, umm…PRETZEL BURGERS.
Want to try it out? The first 50 readers will get two free meals on their first Blue Apron order! Just CLICK HERE!
But as for this last week’s menu? SO good!! The first recipe we tried (the one where our date night in failed) was the Shrimp & Pineapple Fried Rice with Toasted Cashews & Sambal Oelek. I haven’t been overly excited about fish this pregnancy, but this shrimp recipe surpassed all expectations.
For one, I love how every delivery of Blue Apron almost always has at least one ingredient that I’ve never heard of (for this recipe, it was Sambal Oelek – spicy yet delicious) and keeps things exciting.
And I also love how they’re working to develop a sustainable food system and use high quality ingredients (you can check out their mission page HERE!).
So we gave the “date night in” a bit of a spin another night and thought we’d refer to it as a “family date night in.” My plan was to get Lucas involved with the prep work, have him help me with various things like picking herb leaves from the stems, etc. Unfortunately, he’s just not really interested in any of that right now (including the eating part, too), so this is why we mostly stick with the 2-Person Plan right now, as opposed to their Family Plan.
And that’s when our “family date night in” turned in to me prepping/cooking the meal…
and Jay and Lucas playing with balloons in the living room.
But I’ll be totally honest…I love getting the opportunity to cook by myself and letting the boys play. Watching them have fun just makes me smile. <3
So while they played, I cooked up this Chicken & Sage Biscuit Pot Pie with Cremini Mushrooms & Purple Top Turnip. The Blue Apron meals come together quickly (usually in about 40 minutes or less), so that always helps with busy weeknights.
The recipe left us with tons of leftovers and had lots of delicious flavors and textures happening.
As for our last Blue Apron meal of the week? Well, we considered waiting until Lucas went to bed to cook it, but since he doesn’t go down lately until about 8pm, that’s just a mean joke making this preggo wait that long for dinner.
So Jay took care of prep and cooking while me and the little guy had some fun cutting up and playing with his pretend veggies (maybe we’re getting close…?).
And oh, what a recipe he cooked up! Italian Beef Grinders with Aged Cheddar Cheese Sauce & Crispy Potato Wedges (plus some added sugar snap peas since I wanted an extra veggie).
The entire meal was incredible and left us with some more leftovers, too!
So while we may not have gotten our “date night in” this particular week, we sure did eat well. It’s give and take, right?
So don’t forget…if you want to try it out, the first 50 readers will get two free meals on their first Blue Apron order! Just CLICK HERE! And better yet? I’ve got a few weeks of free meals in my account so…
I’m giving away (2) free weeks of Blue Apron meals to you guys!
Want to enter? Just leave a comment on this post sharing a recipe you’d be excited to try! I’ll choose the two lucky winners on Friday, February 19th.
Thank you, as always for your continued support of STSL and the products I love. I love being able to give back with them, too! <3
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