Graze Box Review

I was intrigued by the idea of getting some tasty new snacks to try in the mail each month, with the first box being free, so a while back I joined the waiting list for graze. Graze is only $6 a box shipped (with the option of 1 or 2 boxes per month) for a "nibble box," which contains four snacks. I definitely think the price is right! I've never tried NatureBox, but I know those are more expensive (I'd love to hear about your experience if you get NatureBox though!)

My graze box arrives each month in a cute little cardboard box that is designed to fit in a standard size mailbox, which I don't have, not that it matters! Inside, I find my new snacks to try, some nutrition information about each, and the web address for the ingredients.

This month, my fourth so far, my favorite treat was the summer berry flapjack. I went on a trip to England a few years ago and discovered flapjacks - the best use of oats ever. Mmm, so good! It's worth it to me to keep my Graze box just to get the flapjacks!

I also enjoyed the salsa fresca and jalapeno fiesta. The coco paradise was pretty good, but I have a hard time enjoying dried fruit, which is mostly was that snack contained. To adjust what you receive in your boxes, you simply go to the website and review the available snacks. You can click one of four options - trash, try, like, or love - to help determine future boxes. 

So, my favorite things about graze in a nutshell:

• Only $6, which equates to $1.50 per snack
• Healthy snacks in a filling portion
• Easy for grab and go

And a couple things I don't like so much

• Rarely are the snacks vegan - with my resolution it'd be really helpful if more of them were!
• Many of the snacks contain dried fruit, which I'm not a fan of (personal preference, of course!)

If you do want to try graze, please let me refer you so that your 1st and 5th box are free! That's a great deal that I didn't even get! And then let me know what you think! Are there other boxes besides graze and NatureBox? I'd love to hear from you!

Plated Review

I'm not a Birchbox gal because I know I would never use random beauty samples up, but I'm definitely intrigued by these custom curated subscription boxes that seem to popping up everywhere. I'll tell you my reviews of Graze and Conscious Box soon, but today I'm kicking it off with Plated!

Plated delivers to you the ingredients to make (at a minimum) two servings of two meals that you choose from the weekly menu. Their chefs create the dishes, and then put together the exact ingredients you need to prepare them - in 30 minutes or less (their words). Through facebook, I signed up with a free first box (just pay the shipping) deal. Since I'm a pescetarian but truly not interested in preparing my own fish, I looked at the vegetarian options. There seem to be three each week, and one was already sold out. I selected the two remaining veggie options and waited for my box to arrive. It's supposed to arrive on Tuesdays, but due to the awful weather, I got an email saying it would instead arrive Wednesday - but that my ingredients would no doubt be as fresh as ever.

Wednesday came and went and I ended up receiving my box late Thursday (like 7pm). Everything seemed to be fresh, although the Swiss chard was a little questionable. It was my first time ever using chard, but I think it was slightly past its peak. No matter, I was still really excited to try out my recipes!

After work on Friday, I started to make the goat cheese and quinoa stuffed Swiss chard, covered in marinara. The instructions were straightforward, with six steps in the process. On the recipe sheet, it said it would take between 30 and 40 minutes.

I first cooked the quinoa, and as that was cooking, chopped up my various veggies and spices to saute. The quinoa, veggies, and goat cheese was mixed together to be stuffed. I blanched (a new term for me) the Swiss chard and then all was ready to roll, literally. I felt like I didn't have a perfect Swiss chard to stuffing ratio, but the stuffing was delicious on its own, so we had the remainder on the side. While stuffing, I did feel like maybe I could have had a better bunch of Swiss chard, as many of the pieces I ended up with had holes (not ideal for holding stuffing) or were small. That is my biggest complaint with this meal.

After I made as many rolls as I could with what I was given, I placed them in a cooking dish and poured the marinara over. According to the recipe, I put them in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Andrew and I loved the result, though (a couple more complaints) - it took me a little over an hour (not 30-40 minutes), and the rolls weren't very hot, so I would have cooked longer than 15 minutes had I known. I am making my other meal - tofu, cashew, and snow pea stir fry for dinner tonight, so I imagine that will be a bit simpler.

Overall, it was fun to make a new meal without having to go to the store and buy all the ingredients individually. I think the price is probably great if you live in a bigger city, but honestly, if I had paid full price for this shipment, Andrew and I could have gone out to eat somewhere in Grand Rapids and had a pretty nice meal. I was going to order another box for next week, but all three vegetarian options were sold out! I will probably only order from Plated again if there is some sort of discount. EDIT: I ordered another box for next week because I had a $10 off code. I'm a little bit addicted, I guess! Anyway, if you want to try Plated, please use my referral code - we both get two plates if you do!

Have any of you used Plated? What was your experience?

Vegan a Week #1

One of my resolutions for 2014 is to eat a vegan diet at least one day per week. I've been wanting to incorporate more vegan meals into my life, but having a tough time actually doing it, so I think this is the perfect way ease into it. Once a week is still a bit challenging for me, but it's just enough to allow me to see how time and wallet consuming being vegan might entail. I began yesterday, so I wouldn't skip the first shortened week of the year.

For breakfast I made coffee and added a bit of coffee-mate (not the purest of choices, but it doesn't contain dairy), had a couple clementines, and cooked up some Ore Ida hash browns with red onions, garlic, and topped with Tabasco sauce. I would normally cover my potatoes with cheese and cook an egg or two for the side, but I skipped it this time. I also considered making a package of muffin mix, but it contained egg. Darn, you really have to pay attention!

Mug from The Mitten State.

For lunch I just made a salad with red leaf lettuce, cucumbers, tomato, and a simple homemade vinaigrette (dijon mustard, garlic, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil - shaken). I had Stacy's Pita Chips and spinach hummus on the side.

That didn't quite fill me up, so sure enough, my cinnamon graham crackers contained no animal products, and I covered them in peanut butter for dessert.

I wouldn't say I cheated for dinner, but I wasn't sure I had anything to make at home, so we grabbed Qdoba after running some errands. I got a naked vegetarian burrito, skipping the cheese and sour cream. (Don't you hate it when they don't give you enough guacamole)? 

So that was day/week 1 of 52! I definitely snacked way less than I would have on a normal day, especially with all our Christmas candy still laying around, and I really had to pay attention to those hidden ingredients because a lot of stuff contains a little egg or milk! 

If you have any great (preferably easy/with few ingredients) vegan recipes on your blog or somewhere else on the interwebs, please share! I want this to become so easy that I do this more than one day a week.

Foodagram

I really do enjoy remembering the great things I ate, so I take pictures and make them pretty on Instagram. Haters, they gonna hate. And I'm gonna drool.

Lunch the other day - Morningstar veggie burger topped with cheese and lots of veggies, notably avocado. Also mozzarella sticks with marinara and granny smith apples, strawberries, and blackberries.

Vegan meal from a Symphony event we volunteered for. I'm not certain of all the ingredients, but the way they cook their tofu is excellent and to die for.

One of my favorite dishes to make - avocado enchiladas. I make the sauce myself and it is so worth the effort. This would be vegan if I didn't put the cheese on top, which makes it even more rewarding! Mmmm.

Someone at work had these! I asked where they got them and they let me try one! I'm so excited because of the viral youtube video from this summer, "Hot Cheetos and Takis."

White sangria. I'm on a white wine kick these days. I think I'd like red more if it was something people drank chilled.

And the vegan banana coconut cake I shared my recipe for. It's so good I can't even

Eating My Vegetables: Kale

Ugh, I can't believe I let myself go without updating for a whole week! I think I've definitely felt uninspired because I have the winter blues, and it snows like everyday and our heating bill keeps going up and up! I just want the sun and a temperature above 30 degrees! I tried not to let it all get to me, but it's getting to me. End rant! Send your warm vibes my way: )

So, I recently decided that I want to try and incorporate some new vegetables into my diet, because there are so many that I still haven't tried! My first choice was one I've had a few times before, but never actually purchased and cooked with myself - kale! Kale seems to be everywhere right now, so I figured it's about time I jump on the bandwagon. I bought a big ole bunch for $1.49 and just figured I'd make kale chips because I've tried those before. I ended up not making kale chips, but found another recipe with an Indian influence. The primary ingredients were chickpeas and kale, and I thought it turned out great! I almost always fail when I try and make Indian dishes, so I was really excited that this one worked out - and better yet, was completely vegan! Here's a link to the recipe, from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.

{Photo from Mixed Greens Blog}

I had some kale left over, so I added it to the salad I brought to work the other day. I thought it complemented my spinach well, and tasted a bit like broccoli...? Anyone else experience that? Anyway, I'm glad I experimented with it and definitely think I'll be buying kale again.

What are your favorite kale recipes? And what other lesser used vegetables should I try next?!

Friday Foodagram!

Before I had an Instagram I heard some people complaining that they didn't like when people posted photos of food. But I love food! And Instagram makes it so attractive. Here are a few shots!

My Olive Garden "dessert"

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookie dough. Should I post the recipe?

Indian food from a box, thanks to Target. The naan came separately.

Scrambled eggs with feta and hot sauce!

Jet's Pizza. Life is short, eat better pizza. Yum!

P.S. Follow me on Instagram!

Cozy Saturday Lunch

What's better to eat for lunch on a day like today...

(Today)

than grilled cheese and tomato soup? Nothing that we could think of. I had exactly four pieces of bread, one avocado, a nice new log of goat cheese, and my new Campbell's Go soup, which is my current BzzCampaign. Of course I just found out that a blog post isn't an activity for this one, but I thought I'd show you anyway.

I love our dining room: )

I made our grilled cheeses with avocado, goat cheese, and colby jack slices. Sooo good with the extras!

Here's the soup - we tried the Creamy Red Pepper with Smoked Gouda. The only other vegetarian choice sounded better to me - Golden Lentil with Madras Curry. I can't wait to try that one! Anyway, we thought it was pretty good - I'm not a huge soup fan, so anything that can be done to make it a little more interesting helps enhance my soup experience. Plus the packaging is so fun. Have you tried Campbell's Go yet? There's a dollar off coupon on their website.

How is your Saturday going? There is so much snow here! We probably won't leave the house today.

Easy and Delicious Tabbouleh!

I'm not all that amazing in the kitchen, but I would love to share one of my favorite recipes with you. It's easy and healthy and only takes a few ingredients. (I get very discouraged when someone posts a great recipe but I am short about seven ingredients, grr)! So here it is, tabbouleh!

What you need:
1/2 cup bulgur wheat
Juice of 1 lemon (appx 6 tbsp)
1 cucumber
1 large or 2 medium tomatoes
1 bunch of parsley (I prefer curly leaf)
3 tbsp olive oil (the recipe I go off of uses a 1/2 cup! way too much!)

So you first juice your lemon and use 4 tbsp of that to mix with the bulgur wheat in a small bowl to help it soften. It's supposed to sit for 20-40 minutes.

Next, set that aside and chop up your parsley, tomatoes, and cucumber into pretty small pieces.

Put all of your veggies in a large bowl, and add to it the remaining lemon juice and your olive oil. The tabbouleh is best with some fresh chopped mint as well, but I usually don't spend the money because it's kind of expensive and you don't use much of it.

Finally, add your bulgur wheat/lemon juice mixture to the salad and mix it up. Tabbouleh is actually better if you let it sit overnight so that the flavors mix and the bulgur wheat is soft. Once it has sat for long enough, enjoy! It's great with falafel (I normally use a boxed mix) and pita bread and hummus, mmm. 

Bonus cat picture^.^ I let him watch: )

Let me know if you try it out! I could eat tabbouleh every day, it's so delicious!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 I went out last night and had one beer, saw the most important person necessary, and took an adorable picture! Andrew and Laura (Colleen's other best friend and one of the sweetest people I have ever met) were there as well, just no pictures of them!

Ellie is the most photogenic girl. I love getting to see her!

Andrew feels the same way about his dog, Heidi. Aww.

The table spread at Andrew's neighbors' house, where we had our first meal of the day. 

 Andrew's plate, not mine. I didn't eat any turkey, and good thing because it makes you tired and I'm about to go shopping! My crazy mother is at Walmart (and so is my dad, but he works there) trying to get a television. I refused to face that madness, so I am waiting until Macy's opens at midnight, then going to Target at 4am (ugh), and Kohl's tomorrow before the good sales end. Craziness!

What was the best part of your Thanksgiving? The weather here was amazing today, so besides the obvious, that was my favorite part! And are you going Black Friday shopping? It's such a shame so many stores opened on Thanksgiving this year. Hopefully next year they can just open at like 8am and then I won't have to give up sleeping! Have a good night, whatever you're doing!

Belle, It's Me!

these are some photos of one of my favorite meals - falafel and tabbouleh, yum! the tabbouleh and hummus is homemade and the falafel is from a mix. healthy and delicious.

we also made a maybe not as healthy mexican casserole that i might post the recipe for soon. it is SO YUMMY. anyway, tonight i'm thinking of that old english favorite, beans on toast. double yum. if only i had some strongbow to go with it.

i am watching beauty and the beast and i'm at the part where the beast transforms back into the handsome prince. such a great movie. and all in preparation for a day trip to disney in a week and a half. yay!

happy leap day, doing anything special for it?