Nibbles of Tidbits, a Food Blog

Blue Apron Box Report No. 2 — We love them even more now.

It’s Blue Apron’s unique and enticing recipes that I appreciate most — The meals are exciting to eat.

We received 3 new recipe cards and the ingredients to prepare them all — Our final dishes are pictured on the right of its respective recipe card and our first Blue Apron report is linked here.

Each meal was completely different than the one before it and all had exceptional flavor.

We’re already looking forward to the next box from Blue Apron.  Originally I was just going to try them, but their weekly menus and quality of ingredients are keeping me interested.  I had also planned to try and compare similar companies, but after a little research it looks like Blue Apron may be offering the best deal.  If that continues to be true, I may not want to try nor like another. Each looks similarly impressive, but I must have a good price too.

Similar companies are listed below and prices may change — Check them out yourself.

Plated.com – Eating Well Made Easy ($12/Serving – $72/Week – 6 meals total for 2)

Hello Fresh – Restaurant Quality Meals At Home ($11.50/Serving – $69/Week – 6 meals total for 2)

Green Chef – Deliciously Simple ($14.99/Serving – $89.94/Week – 6 meals total for 2)

Forage – Recipes from Notable Restaurants ($7.50 – $15/Serving – $60/Week – 4 meals total, which may serve 2. It’s unclear)

Chef’d – The Easiest Way to Cook Like a Pro ($19 – $38/Serving for 2 – Each meal has its own cost)

We’ve tried Pieology Pizzeria, Blaze Pizza, Pizza Studio and now Pizza Rev — All craft your own Pizza places.  Our new favorite is… Pizza Rev for its ultra-thin crust, though most others are good too.

Although Pizza Rev’s crust is thin, it stands up to too many Pizza toppings — It stayed crunchy, not soggy.  When able to add unlimited toppings at no extra charge, we tend to add too many, but still want the Crust to hold it all together.  Our Pizza Studio Pizza was good, but its Crust supported toppings the least, thus we didn’t post about it at the time.  It may have been a bad day for them.

We like Pizza Rev, short for Pizza Revolution, a better name, but perhaps it’s taken by another.

The Pizza Rev in La Habra has a small bar area, where we enjoyed Beer and Wine with our Pizzas.

Pizza Rev’s prices aren’t bad — I appreciate a whole Pizza with unlimited toppings for around $8.

I like the craft your own Pizza movement — I can finally have all the Pizza toppings I want without worrying about the extra cost.  All will suffice, especially Pizza Rev and Blaze Pizza at this time.

If we learn of others, we shall try and compare them too.

Where is Wings Cafe?  I thought it was supposed to be open at Fullerton Municipal Airport by now?

Wings Cafe will someday occupy the space above, but it looks like it’s going to take longer than we hoped, as much still needs to be done to the lobby of the airport below, let alone Wings Cafe.

Above is the airport lobby as it looks today, and below is Wings Cafe, yikes.

For those who live nearby, it’s disappointing how long it’s taking.  What’s the hold up?  I hope government isn’t impeding progress, as it too often does — It’s not good for business nor the people.

Airport Day happens here in three weeks, May 9, 2015 and I’ll be happily shocked if all is complete.

We hope for that and wish Wings Cafe much success, once it’s able to open — We’ll be two of its first customers, since we can walk to it.  And we’ll be at Airport Day to check for expedited progress.

Wings Cafe expects to open this spring, but Fullerton Municipal Airport’s website states “Opening Summer 2015,” thus it’s still unclear when it’ll be landing.  We’ll let you know when we know.  At a minimum, we hope the airport lobby construction is done in time for Airport Day.  It doesn’t make sense to host Airport Day in its current condition, the way it has looked for too long.  We’re coming for inspection that day.  Looking ahead optimistically, Wings Cafe menu may look like this one.

Have you heard of Blue Apron?  It’s a weekly food delivery service.  Blue Apron delivers recipes and ingredients to your doorstep for YOU to prepare.  Blue Apron takes meal planning and grocery shopping off your To-Do List.  They do that for you then deliver all to you.  We tested them out.

Our delivery included 3 Recipe Cards and all the ingredients to make them.

All was wrapped in bubble foil insulation with sealed frozen ice blocks.

After review of its contents, let’s just say that I hope every box is as fresh as this one.

All produce was fresh — Kale, Spinach, Bibb Lettuce, Fava Leaves, Sugar Snap Peas, and the meat appeared fresh too.  The box of ingredients even smelled fresh.  The quality of all made me happy.

Each recipe comes with a “Knick Knacks” bag, which holds small and measured ingredients.

Knick Knacks bags may include Butter, Cream, Spice mixtures, etc.  I love organization.

I had fun exploring my first Blue Apron food box and couldn’t wait to make and taste everything.

Shrimp, Flank Steak and Ground Turkey were included in this delivery for Lemon & Black Pepper Shrimp with Fresh Linguine Di Cavolo & Fava Leaves, Pan-Seared Steaks with Green Peppercorn Sauce & Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, and Spiced Turkey Meatball Pitas with Sugar Snap Pea & Bibb Lettuce Salad — A good variety of recipes I wouldn’t make or try, but for Blue Apron.

I like trying new things and I like surprises, so this type of service is entertaining.

You can look ahead at upcoming recipes online or surprise yourself when the box arrives.

The step-by-step instructions on each recipe card are done well.  I’ll often change something in a recipe to make the dish better, but I didn’t need to and wasn’t going to, as I wanted to make all as instructed for this post.  Recipes are created by Blue Apron’s culinary team and renowned guest chefs.  Recipes will never be repeated in the same year and meals are 500-700 calories.

Meals take about 35 minutes to prepare and ingredients are pre-measured, so there’s no waste.

Matt liked all the meals too — Maybe I’ll get him to cook one of the recipes.

I didn’t expect to like Blue Apron as much as I now do, but I find it convenient and enjoyable — You still need to chop, mix and cook all, but it’s nice to not have to plan what to make and shop for the ingredients.  If I shopped for the quality ingredients I received here, it would probably cost more money, and more time and stress to look for and obtain all, let alone conceive the recipes.

Choose when you want your box of food delivered and how often — Once a week, every other week, once a month, etc.  I set up Blue Apron to deliver recipes and ingredients every other week for now and look forward to trying more recipes.  If everything remains fresh, I may be a customer for a long time, though I simply intended to try it.  I’ve seen advertisements for similar food delivery companies and may need to compare them to Blue Apron who sets the bar high.  Blue Apron’s prices are reasonable too, approximately $60/week for three meals for two.  Shipping is included in the price too, which helps sell me.  Check back to see how our second box of food turns out.  Posted will be a clear side by side comparison of each recipe card and meal.

It looks different than most I’ve had, but the pictured Huevos Rancheros at the Golden Ox Restaurant in Fullerton is one of my favorites for breakfast, lunch or dinner, which is served all day.

As a bonus, it comes with Bacon, Beans, Rice, Hash Browns, Tortillas on the side, and Salsa.

It’s not a fancy place as you can see, but they do a great job there.  The Huevos Rancheros is consistently good, even when had three times in a week.  I’m hooked.  And now my husband is too, which helps get me there more often, yay.  It’s off Commonwealth where North Brookhurst ends.

Dine in or drive through — Inside food is served on plastic plates.  It’s a little fancier than fast food.

The Sauce on the Huevos Rancheros is excellent.  It has a long, home cooked flavor and we love it.

Also, I’ve never been a Hash Browns fan, but I’m a big fan of theirs.  I look forward to having them almost as much as the Huevos.  And it shouldn’t go unmentioned that the Bacon is always extra crispy, and the Beans and Rice are above average too.  All make up a masterpiece at the Golden Ox.

We shall have it again soon, I’m sure.

Did you know the day after Easter is take your Easter Egg to work day? It is for cute Eggs.

Funny Easter Egg ideas by Bailee and Lexi, also known as Kids in the Kitchen here on Nibbles of Tidbits, and my talented Nieces in real life — They decorated each adorable Easter Egg pictured here.

I’m impressed — They’re all so expressive and made us laugh.

If I copy them mine probably won’t turn out as great, but next year I want to try.

The green zombie eggs in the lid of the carton show their support for The Walking Dead, yikes.

Happy Easter to everyone from Nibbles of Tidbits — We’re thankful for this day!

The kid’s inspiration and my copycat comparison shall be posted next year.