We are enjoying the Sun Basket recipes so far. This post is about week two’s recipes.
A reader commented on my last post about the waste of these meal services. I wanted to comment on that. With Blue Apron I remember feeling like the waste was pretty bad (and kind of a turn off for me). But so far with Sun Basket they seem pretty good about limiting waste. The box arrives and each of the three meals are packed in a paper bag (so we recycle it). There are a few plastic bags for certain items but overall there is not a lot of packaging or waste. I’m pretty happy with that.
Week 2
Lettuce-wrapped lamb sliders with sweet potato “fries”
610 calories, Paleo, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free
This meal was by far my favorite of the boxes we’ve had so far. I absolutely LOVED the flavors. The tahini/paleo mayo sauce was super flavorful and delicious, too. I loved the lettuce cups. I’ve seen a lot of those types of recipes but it never worked well when I tried it because the lettuce always ripped so it didn’t work well as a cup (or bun substitute). But the recipe described how to do it: basically cut the base off the head of lettuce and then carefully peel the leaves off. It worked a lot better and they didn’t rip.
This recipe was a home run and we will definitely be making again in the future. I’ve seen ground lamb at Trader Joe’s on occasion so I will try and look again next time to see if I can find it.
Hungarian pork meatballs with cauliflower “rice”
630 calories, Paleo, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free
The second recipe was the Hungarian meatballs. I’ve made cauliflower rice a bunch of times and I’m a fan. So far the meals have been pretty good overall and the portions were right. In this one there seemed to be a lot of cauliflower rice so we ended up making it 3 servings and I had some of the leftovers for lunch the next day.
I’ve never worked with watercress before and honestly, I don’t know what it really added to the dish. It didn’t really taste like anything to me. Maybe I’m wrong?
Everything worked with this recipe but it felt a little dry and it needed some kind of sauce. I ended up adding some Goddess Dressing to the meatballs and that helped.
Steak with bagna càuda anchovy sauce, broccoli, and radishes
690 calories, Paleo, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free
This was a very interesting recipe. Sure it was steak and veggies, which we do often on our own, but sauteing the broccoli was a new technique for us and radishes are not something we eat–like ever. I’ve pickled radishes a few times before and that was good but I can count on one hand the times I’ve eaten radishes. It was nice to try something new!
The steak was tender and delicious and I absolutely loved the anchovy sauce! I wasn’t sure I would but it was really flavorful and went great with the steak and vegetables.
I have a discount code, if you want to use it!
Lori Kimble
Those look good, especially the meatballs! That is one thing that bothers me about the meal services – the packaging. I’m glad they send things that can be recycled. I was reading about Dinnerly and they have a page that explained what can be recycled and how to do it.
Lisa Eirene
I totally get that. So far I’m impressed with the package with Sun Basket. The only plastic bags used are for produce (like the meal we did tonight the green beans were in a plastic bag) but that’s no different than the plastic bags I use at the grocery store. Everything else is paper/recyclable.