Simply Cook – Simply Wonderful

I don’t know about you but one of my least favourite jobs each week is planning meals for the week ahead. I am usually so low on inspiration, tending to stick to the same old meals week in week out.  This pattern makes it not only boring to eat but just as boring to cook.  I am not the best cook in the world, I can produce some decent meals but I often dread coming home and having to rustle up an interesting dinner that puts a smile on everyone’s face.  I don’t know how many times I hear ‘Oh no, not meatballs again!’ or ‘Do we have to have that, isn’t there something else?’.  It can be pretty disheartening!  So when Simply Cook offered to send me one of their recipe boxes I jumped at the chance! Anything to have a bit of inspiration and be able to cook something different!

Simply Cook deliver recipe boxes to your door filled with authentic flavour ingredients, hand picked and blended by their expert chefs!  I was excited to receive my box and see what goodies I was going to be cooking!

The box I received had a selection of 4 Asian inspired recipes.  BBQ Tandoori Chicken, Bokkeumbap, Thai Red Prawn Curry and Malay Laksa.  We’re not particularly adventurous when it comes to cooking so these were all recipes that I would never normally cook which is great as it encouraged us to try something different.  I also liked the fact that you are just delivered the spices and the recipe which enables you to adapt the meals if there are options that don’t suit your family’s tastes.  We’re not big shellfish eaters, in fact I’m the only one that will even consider eating shellfish so the Thai Red Prawn Curry wouldn’t be something that we could eat, however, if I substituted the prawns for chicken…voila! Happy family!

For the purpose of this post we chose two Simply Cook meals to prepare – the BBQ Tandoori Chicken and the Bokkeumbap.  Each recipe comes with a card with all the ingredients required and the instructions on how to make the dish.  They even have a little tear off shopping list to make it really easy for you!

The spice blends come boxed like this and it’s quite clear which one is which.  This was for the BBQ Tandoori Chicken and we were particularly excited about this one due to the sweet potato seasoning for the sweet potato fries!  Sweet potato fries are a big favourite at the moment and I have tried multiple ways of getting my fries to be crispy and not soggy!  The best tip I’ve found so far is to soak the fries in water and then thoroughly drying them before cooking.  You can also toss them in a little cornflower which helps to dry them out giving lovely crispy fries!

The recipe was so easy to follow and the ingredients were minimal which helped keep the cost down.  The end result was so tasty and filling and one of the best meals we’ve had in a long time!  We thoroughly enjoyed it and will definitely make this one again!

Our second meal was the Bokkeumbap and I must admit I had never heard of this dish before. I had to google it to see what it was! It turns out it is a very popular Korean style rice dish and is fab for using leftovers.  I love the idea of this as I hate throwing out food but we rarely use up leftovers and I’m always in the need of different ways to use them up.

It felt odd having a meal on my weekly plan that didn’t really have any ingredients to buy! I used left over veggies from previous nights meals, some left over bacon and we always have eggs in the fridge and rice in the cupboard so that was pretty much it!  The end result was rich and tasty and incredibly filling! I couldn’t believe such a small plate of food would fill me up so much! I think when I make this dish next time I would probably use chicken as the bacon did make it very rich and a bit salty and with the egg on top it was a bit more like breakfast than an evening meal!  I would definitely make this again though – it was yummy!

So the delivery of my Simply Cook Recipe Box definitely spiced up our meals and helped with some more great ideas for recipes in the future.  Simply Cook offer a wide range of recipe boxes including lighter meals and gluten free.  All recipes are adaptable for your taste and are a great way to get the family to try new things!

Simply Cook have been kind enough to offer my readers a special Trial Box offer for just £3.  This is a great offer and gives you an opportunity to give their recipe box a go and introduce your family to some different and more adventurous meals.  It certainly took the stress out of meal planning for me and I thoroughly recommend trying it out!

Simply Cook sent me a free recipe box to try – the opinions here, however, are 100% my own.

Let me know if you have tried a Simply Cook box and what you thought!

Nicx