Hello Fresh Round #2

Hello Fresh has really been a great experience for our family.  I can't really justify ordering it every single week but we enjoy it enough to order it once a month or maybe twice a month at times.  I ordered again this time because I still got a nice percentage off my order.  The food did not disappoint once again.  Hello Fresh has included free/additional items in both boxes - the first box was a bottle of Iced Tea.  The second box included a loaf of their garlic bread and a kiwi.  It's always fun to get surprises! 

Here's a look at the four recipes we tried and our over all opinion. 

Hello Fresh Meal 1 - Balsamic Tomato and Herb Chicken

I picked this one to make first because it seemed the most plain and I thought we might not love it but I was wrong.  The Balsamic Tomato Sauce was so good - it reminded me of Bruschetta which I love.  It's super easy and I plan on making it again to use with spaghetti.  The chicken, honestly, ended up being a little chewy and tough - I'm not sure if that was the chicken itself or if I slightly overcooked it because I'm always afraid of serving raw chicken!  I served the free garlic bread with this and it was also good - more like a French Bread with a garlic butter but we liked it. 

Hello Fresh Meal #2 - White Cheddar Wonderburgers and Fries

This photo is not the prettiest - partly because this meal took a lot of work so by the time we sat down, I was done!  From the prep and cook side, this was my least favorite meal that I've picked.  Trying to pan fry a burger is just not my favorite thing - I should of had Darryl grill them.  When I was toasting the buns, they got a little dark (as you can see).  When I took everything out the packages and saw/felt the buns I was sure that they would be terrible.  They are potato buns which are much sturdier and denser then what I'm used too . . .. and they were amazing.  For real.  They held up perfectly against these messy burgers. There was also a special sauce which reminded me of thousand island but so much better.  So, even though this wasn't my favorite in the kitchen, it was still amazing on the plate.  

Hello Fresh Meal 3 - Steak with Mushroom Cream Sauce

This was a true home run meal.  The steaks were tender and the mushroom cream sauce was amazing!  I did alter this recipe slightly - the steaks were supposed to be cooked in a pan on the stove but Darryl cooked them on the grill instead because, well, that is how steak should be cooked!  This is a recipe I could eat again . . .. and again!  

Hello Fresh Meal #4 - Cherry Balsamic Pork Chops

This was by far one of the easiest meals to cook which makes it a favorite!!  To keep it real, though, the green beans were not what came with the meal - since I received the box over a week ago, the fresh green beans (which would have been amazing roasted in the oven) had gone bad so I used a canned green beans instead.  The pork chops were tender and the Cherry Balsamic sauce was so good.  I don't think I've ever had Couscous before and it was pleasantly tasty. Once again Hello Fresh delivered great food. 

A couple of things I learned with this round of meals.  1) Use them within 7 days or the fresh produce will go bad.  The meat, obviously, can be thrown in the freezer but that fresh stuff doesn't last.  2)  Sometimes it gets tiresome to cook a brand new recipe which has multiple parts every single night.  That is why this pork recipe waited a week - last week I was tired of cooking things that required so much work and prep so I did a couple of super easy meals that took next to no work on my part.  3) My kitchen isn't nearly as big nor as well set up as the kitchens in the ad's for Hello Fresh HA!  A few of the meals had so many steps that I was running out of counter space to put things.  

Will I continue to use Hello Fresh?  I think so - but maybe only once a month and the next time around I might just order 2 meals instead of 4.  That's enough for some good variety but isn't overwhelming.  

Hello Fresh!

 Last week we enjoyed some meals from Hello Fresh!  I had been given a code for "free meals" and, yes, technically it would have been free if I didn't increase my order.  I wanted to get 4 meals for 3-4 people so that I knew we had enough for a basic week for all of us to eat.  I thought I'd share our recipes, our opinion, and our final review! 

Meal 1 - Hey Honey Salmon with roasted potatoes wedges and lemon green beans. 

Here's the truth, Darryl and I are not fans of Salmon but I picked this recipe for one reason.  Ever since our trip to Florida and all the seafood restaurants, Josh has been asking to try Salmon -- this seemed like the perfect opportunity.  Once of my concerns was that the portions would be small BUT there was plenty of food and even leftovers.  Darryl gave this meal an A- but he said the green beans and potatoes saved it LOL  Actually we both felt the salmon was great quality and the Honey Mustard Sauce made it taste really good over all but it's not something I would need to make again.  Josh liked it but I'm not sure he loved it.  The roasted potatoes were amazing and I might add those to our normal rotation.  Over all day one was a success (granted as I am writing this - every single one of us is eating a bowl of cereal at 8:45 pm LOL ) 

Meal 2 - Beef Flauta Surpreme

This meal was a hit!  We all loved these alot and I plan to cook tacos in the oven from now on because the shell gets nice and crispy!  This meal took more prep time then I expected and putting it all together took more "work" then I thought would be included in one of these "fast, easy meals" so I'm thankful that we all loved them so much.  I did add some things to the meal - I added regular salsa, homemade guacamole, and chips.  We did have leftover's - three of the flauta's so there really was plenty of food for us to eat for dinner.  

Josh picked his up to blow on it . .. but when he blew on the end "Smoke" came out the end and it looked like he was smoking a big cigar.  Needless to say, this got a lot of laughs at the table. 

Meal 3- Korean Pork Tenderloin, Carrots, and Lime Rice

This meal was amazing.  I think it is probably my favorite one and it is all because of the sauce that is on the pork loin.  It was amazing.  This meal had much less prep and was so much easier to put together than meal #2.  I did have to cook the pork loin longer then the recipe said - but the pieces were really thick.  I served the rice plain because Darryl doesn't care for lime rice but I added the lime and green onions to mine.  I did also cook a loaf of Pillsbury French Bread (from the tube) and I'm glad I did because we actually ate all of the pork and the bread was a nice additional filler.  None of us are big rice eaters really and the carrots were good but just, well, carrots HA!  

Meal 4 - Sweet Chili Pork and Cabbage Stir Fry

I saved this meal to the end because it was the one I was the least confident about and I was 100% wrong HA!  It was a favorite - I loved the flavor of the sauce and the cabbage was still crisp.  Yum!  Darryl and I both loved it and I'm thankful for some leftovers!  Josh tasted it and said it was ok but he isn't a fan of the veggies so much so he ate a pizza for dinner tonight.  

My overall review - Hello Fresh is high quality food and the recipes are so tasty.  Darryl and I both agree, if we didn't have kids we would order almost every week; 4 meals each week; and eat out the other three HA!  Really though, if I could do it, I would order this for 3-4 of our meals just because it was so tasty and so easy to make.  My only true negative is that I had to read each recipe carefully since they were all new and I wanted to make them right instead of going off of memory with family favorites.  This might be something we order every once in awhile just as a break from our normal eating!