Hello Fresh Vegetarian Box Review + Coupon #hellofreshpics – October 6

Hello Fresh is a meal kit subscription box where you’ll get the recipes and ingredients to make 3 meals for two (or 4) every week. Hello Fresh is a subscription, but you can pause your deliveries whenever you’d like. They offer both vegetarian and regular (omnivore) boxes – this is the vegetarian box!

Hello Fresh instructions have very nice illustrations, are clearly written, and even lets you know nutrition info, prep time, and which recipes are best to make first. Even a novice cook can follow them.  Hello Fresh sends all the sauces, bouillon and such in individual serving packets or in off-the-shelf brand name packaging; although it means a little more packaging, they survive shipping better than the plastic cups used by Plated. I like that the outer packaging of the box is recyclable.

Creamy Spaghetti Squash Noodles with Mushrooms, Zucchini, and Oregano. Level 1, 459 cal.

I learned another way to cook tonight thanks to the baking method for the squash. I’ve always nuked it in the microwave.  I think the roasting is best, I was able to scrape all the flesh from the shell, with the microwave method there was always some left behind.  I should confess that my squash shells actually cracked during the baking process and were leaking while I was taking pictures.  Right after the picture taking we just dumped the filling into our bowls.  It wasn’t as pretty but it still tasted good.

These flavors were very subtle and I had never used lite coconut milk before.  I was thinking that it would taste too sweet.  But it blended in well with the other flavors, very mild.

This was good and filling and we have enough left for at least one more meal.  We rated this an 8.

One-Pot Mexican Quinoa with Sweet Corn, Avocado, and Feta. 30 mins, Level 1, 817 cal.

This was a very easy meal to make. Very Easy!  On Saturday evenings we go visit with my parents and their best friend and her daughter (the best friend’s husband past quite a few years ago).  We always take appetizers as we sit around her coffee table and drink wine and eat.  The best friend is 90+ years and doesn’t care to go out to restaurants anymore, too difficult with walking, reading the menu and so on.

So I looked at the recipes for this week and decided this was the one to make and take!  We also ordered a Mexican appetizer tray and chips with queso.  What a wonderful meal we had.  Comments on tonight’s One-Pot Mexican Quinoa included:  not too spicy (my dad likes only mild).  I used the whole jalapeno and he was quite surprised as he said he couldn’t tell it was in there at all.  Another comment was:  if you like spicy you could certainly add more jalapenos.  The group was astonished that a Mexican food was topped by Feta instead of the normal cheddar.  A favorite was the avocado slices.  The daughter said she’d make this recipe again.  This fed 6 adults and I brought home leftovers!  Note that the picture is of the complete meal in a large serving bowl.

Side note:  I wish Hello Fresh sold the vegetable stock concentrate as I am loving working with it and the taste is really good.

Another side note:  I saw a new easy way to cut corn off the cob.  Take a big bowl, place a smaller bowl upside down inside big bowl.  Rest corn on small upside down bowl, cut off kernels.  I did it and it works as far as catching all the corn kernel bits.  Not one piece was outside the bowl. Normally, I have a huge mess, not tonight.

This rated an 9.5 for ease of preparing and taste.

Tomato Bisque with Grilled Cheese Croutons and Balsamic Greens. 35 mins, Level 1, 798 cal.

What to say about this one, that is the question!  The answer to this one isn’t so easy.  The bisque was easy to make but my husband commented that there wasn’t enough milk/cream to make this a bisque, it was more a fancy tomato soup.  With that said it was a very tasty tomato soup/bisque.  

The grilled cheese was just that, a grilled cheese but the directions said to cut the sandwich up and put it in the bisque.  So I did that BUT it made my bread soggy and I don’t like soggy bread but yet the flavor seemed to magnify with the two items blended.  Fortunately, I didn’t put all the sandwich in the soup, so I started dipping the rest of the sandwich in the soup and my bread wasn’t soggy and for some reason as I stated before the flavor was just better.  Weird.

I loved the very simple salad of mixed greens, EVOO, and balsamic vinegar.  It’s a wonder that there was any left for dinner as I kept nibbling it while finishing the bisque and sandwich.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s lunch because we have some leftover pasta and the bisque.  I’ll be combining those, yum.  This rates an 8.5 overall.

And here are next week’s recipes! Boxes for the next week close on Wednesday nights.

Visit Hello Fresh to select your box for next week!  Take $40 off your first box with coupon code 7UT7K8.