Category: Holiday Guide 2016

I’ve written about this cool service before and was excited to include them in Luv Saving Money’s holiday guide again this year.

RawSpiceBar is a subscription service that brings you fresh ground spices and recipes with a different theme each month. This is an easy way to try new spices, add new recipes to your dinner rotation, and allow you to try recipes from all over the world.

I’ll admit, I’m a little intimidated by some spices. I usually stick to the same ones for certain dishes. There are some spices I can honestly say I’ve never used or maybe only used once or twice because I really don’t know what to do with them. RawSpiceBar introduced some new spices to me in a non-intimidating way.

I received the October Flavor kit which was Germany themed, Octoberfest Flavor Kit.  This was fun for me because I do have some German heritage.

The kit included spices and recipes to make: Caraway Cheese Soft Pretzels, Horseradish & Mustard Cabbage, and German Chicken Schnitzel.

Since I’m always trying to find new ideas for dinner I decided to make the German Chicken Schnitzel and cabbage recipe for dinner.

I wasn’t as sure about the cabbage recipe but wanted to try it anyway.  The smells coming from the pot were so mouthwatering. I was to a point where I couldn’t wait to taste both the German chicken schnitzel and cabbage.

Both were absolutely delicious and flavorful. My kids really loved the chicken. I was happy they at least tried the cabbage. I honestly liked the flavor of the cabbage so much that I had two helpings.

RawSpiceBar is affordable. Depending on the length of your subscription you can save even more.  Try it just for 1 month for only $8, Subscribe for 6 months and it’s only $7/mo, Subscribe for 12 months and it’s only $6/mo. Making this a fun and affordable treat in the mail for your or a neat but inexpensive gift for the budding chef or foodie.

RawSpiceBar is giving $5 off a 6 or 12 month subscription too with code: FLAVOR6 

I received the above mentioned product in order to complete an honest review. This post also contains affiliate links and will be compensated for purchases through links. Any opinions expressed are my own.

I had been wanting to try Blue Apron for a while. I would have to get the family plan. When I looked at the price, I didn’t know if it would be worth it.  I never tried any box that might even be similar to Blue Apron so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Will I still have to go out and buy some ingredients? What are the portions sizes like? How do they deliver fresh food and still have it be fresh when I get it?  So  many questions. Well guess what, I tried Blue Apron and I can answer these questions for you.

I tried the family plan. I got notification ahead of time that my box was shipped. They even let me know what meals I could look forward to making. The day I got my first box I was so excited. The box was pretty heavy. It was stuffed to the top with fresh veggies, meats, spices, etc.

To give you a more accurate pictures, this was all the contents of my first box. Enough to make two meals for a family of 4.  You can even see it includes things like fresh greek yogurt, special oils, sauces, etc.

The box also included to recipe cards with pictures and tips. There was also a fun fact sheet on one of the ingredients, Farro.  This box I was going to be making Pastrami-Spiced Salmon with pickled beet relish and  Cauliflower-Farro salad. The other recipes was for Orange Chicken with Honeynut Squash and rice.

We decided to make the Pastrami Spiced Salmon with pickled beets and cauliflower-farro salad first.  This was all the ingredients for that recipe:

You can see all the ingredients were very fresh and healthy looking. Nice size too.  The recipe tells you how to prep your veggies which was good because, honestly, I had never used fresh beets before. I was peeling and chopping veggies. Got the cauliflower ready for roasting.

The salamon was already in 4 salmon steaks. it still had the skin on one side. It tells you exactly how to cook it and for how long. It even tells you how you can garnish and plate your food which was nice.

The cauliflower-farro salad was a mixture of the cauliflower, farro, greek yogurt and some spices. A very fresh and healthy salad.

Well after everything was done it was time to plate it up and call everyone for dinner.

My husband absolutely love this dish. Honestly it made so much food we had left overs. He went back and polished off all the left overs later too.  My 7 year old son liked the salmon and he at least tried the beats and salad. My 3 yr old ate the salad, some of the salmon and a bite of beets.

To me the beets tasted something like a coleslaw. The salmon was thick, flavorful, and tender. I’m not a big fish eater but this salmon was amazing. My favorite part was the cauliflower-farro salad. I think I’ll be making it again on my own. Which is one of the nice things about this too. When you try dishes you like, you have the recipes to keep and ingredients so you can make it again another time. Adding more dishes into your dinner ideas pot.

To answer another question I posted, the only things that weren’t included in the box that I had to use was salt pepper, and olive oil. Everything else was included in the box.  A friend of mine was interested in maybe trying it. When I told her everything I got to make the recipe and only needing salt, pepper, and olive oil, she said “wow, if I were to buy all those ingredients in the store it would probably cost more than that!”

Blue Apron would also make a great gift for the budding chef or foodie!

 

I received sample for marketing purposes. Any opinions expressed are my own. I will be compensated for sign ups through my link.