Perfectly Imperfect Produce: Box #18
Perfectly Imperfect Produce: Box #18
Another week of the produce box and yummy recipes! Let's just say... it was a good food week! The biggest surprise was the Lemon Lentil Soup featuring the baby carrots from the box. You will definitely want to try that recipe ASAP! Recipes below!
What's in the box?
Cucumber, Onion, & Sweet Potato: Buddha Bowls
If you are looking for something healthy, fast, and "on-trend," this Buddha bowl is for you! Packed with fresh spinach, roasted sweet potato, cool cucumber, diced red bell pepper, creamy avocado, rotisserie chicken, and quinoa (my favorite), this bowl has something for everyone. Plus, it is topped with the yummiest peanut butter lime dressing. The cucumber and sweet potato were definitely put to good use this week! Recipe below!
Recipe: Here
*Tweaks: I used rotisserie chicken, and so I put the ginger/garlic on the sweet potatoes while they roasted (instead of on the chicken).
Lettuce & Tomatoes: Chicken Caesar Wraps
The tomatoes and lettuce went perfectly in these Chicken Casesear Wraps. I used Tortillaland raw tortillas (where you cook your own tortillas on the stove,) and let me just say... they made these wraps ten times better than if I would have used a normal flour tortilla! Something about the warm, soft tortilla will giant air bubbles just tastes delicious.
The other star of this wrap is the dressing. I never knew homemade Caesar salad dressing was so easy and flavorful! The dressing packs a punch in a very good way. Plus, it doesn't have anchovies in it (which can be overpowering), and it still tastes amazing! I highly recommend the dressing!
Recipe: Here
*Tweaks: I used Tortillaland tortillas and added tomatoes.
Cauliflower: Cauliflower "Mac & Cheese"
Cheese is the perfect pairing for cauliflower, and this roasted Cauliflower "Mac & Cheese" highlights the delicious combo. Cheesy sauce, roasted cauliflower, topped with crispy breadcrumbs all taste amazing. Plus, I added a poblano pepper to give the dish another dimension! Yum! My recipe below!
Recipe: Here
Baby Carrots, Onion: Lemon Lentil Soup
This soup was the surprise of the week! Easy, cheap, healthy, and flavorful, I will be making this soup again and again. When I read the recipe, I couldn't quite predict the flavor profile. After eating it, the soup reminded me of something I could get at an Indian restaurant. So delicious! All I needed was some naan to soak up the delicious broth!
I cooked the soup on the stove. The lentils kept their integrity, the lemon brightened it up, and the coconut milk made it so creamy. I would definitely recommend this soup!
Recipe: Here
*Tweaks: I added the carrots when there were five minutes left on the lentils. I do not like my carrots mushy, so I waited to add them.
Red Bell Pepper: Foil Packet Hawaiian Chicken
Fresh pineapple, bell pepper, and chicken smothered in a spicy sauce screams summer. I loved this foil packet meal! So easy and flavorful. The base of the sauce is BBQ sauce, but surprisingly the end result tastes nothing like BBQ sauce. Instead, the sauce thins out, a hint of spice soaks into the pineapple, and the chicken stays juicy. I had mine over white rice...yum! Recipe below!
Recipe: Here
*Tweaks: I used chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts as that is what I had on hand. I also had to add an extra 15 minutes to the cooking time in the oven to get the internal temperature of the thighs to 165 F.
Apples: Scallops with Bacon Apple Risotto
This was a trip down memory lane recipe! When I was in junior high, my dad took me to The Grand America for lunch in Salt Lake City. I remember having the fanciest meal: bacon-wrapped scallops with apple risotto. And boy, was it yummy. For some reason, I couldn't stop thinking about that meal, and so it was time to recreate it. Well, at least recreate a meal similar to it; and yes, I was successful! My seared scallops with bacon apple risotto were delicious. While I might still be mastering my skills in searing scallops (half my sear stuck to my cast iron), they still tasted amazing.
Before making my apple risotto, I always thought risotto was this 'super-complicated' recipe. Competitors on Food Network made cooking risotto look hard, and the judges always seemed to have problems with the execution. So, I was a bit intimidated going in. But I bought the arborio rice, did some research, and went for it. Surprisingly, risotto is not a hard recipe to make. Time-consuming? Yes. But not hard at all! It was actually quite fun to ladle in spoons of hot chicken broth into the rice and stir. The rice becomes creamy, which paired perfectly with the sweet apple. I stirred in some crispy bacon at the end, and it all tasted great. I highly recommend it! Recipes I kind of followed below!
Recipes:
Sear Scallops: Here
Apple Risotto: Here
*Tweaks: I used a quart of chicken broth, 1 cup of arborio rice, 2 apples, a couple Tbs. frozen peas, and lemon zest.
Oranges & Black Plums: Snacks!
This week the fruit went fast! We love snacking on fresh fruit. Yum!
How did I do with this week's produce? What would you have made? Let me know your ideas and if you recreate any of the recipes above!
 |
| Perfectly Imperfect Produce Small Mixed Box |
Another week of the produce box and yummy recipes! Let's just say... it was a good food week! The biggest surprise was the Lemon Lentil Soup featuring the baby carrots from the box. You will definitely want to try that recipe ASAP! Recipes below!
- See my past 17 boxes: Here
- My Perfectly Imperfect Produce Referral Link: Here
- Check out my page on Instagram: @lemonandbutterlove
What's in the box?
Cauliflower
Lettuce
Red Bell Pepper
Black Plums
Sweet Potato
Baby Carrots
Yellow Onion
Cucumber
Tomatoes
Oranges
Apples
Cucumber, Onion, & Sweet Potato: Buddha Bowls
If you are looking for something healthy, fast, and "on-trend," this Buddha bowl is for you! Packed with fresh spinach, roasted sweet potato, cool cucumber, diced red bell pepper, creamy avocado, rotisserie chicken, and quinoa (my favorite), this bowl has something for everyone. Plus, it is topped with the yummiest peanut butter lime dressing. The cucumber and sweet potato were definitely put to good use this week! Recipe below!
Recipe: Here
*Tweaks: I used rotisserie chicken, and so I put the ginger/garlic on the sweet potatoes while they roasted (instead of on the chicken).
 |
| Buddha Bowls |
Lettuce & Tomatoes: Chicken Caesar Wraps
The tomatoes and lettuce went perfectly in these Chicken Casesear Wraps. I used Tortillaland raw tortillas (where you cook your own tortillas on the stove,) and let me just say... they made these wraps ten times better than if I would have used a normal flour tortilla! Something about the warm, soft tortilla will giant air bubbles just tastes delicious.
The other star of this wrap is the dressing. I never knew homemade Caesar salad dressing was so easy and flavorful! The dressing packs a punch in a very good way. Plus, it doesn't have anchovies in it (which can be overpowering), and it still tastes amazing! I highly recommend the dressing!
Recipe: Here
*Tweaks: I used Tortillaland tortillas and added tomatoes.
 |
| Chicken Caesar Salad Wraps |
Cheese is the perfect pairing for cauliflower, and this roasted Cauliflower "Mac & Cheese" highlights the delicious combo. Cheesy sauce, roasted cauliflower, topped with crispy breadcrumbs all taste amazing. Plus, I added a poblano pepper to give the dish another dimension! Yum! My recipe below!
Recipe: Here
 |
| Cauliflower Mac & Cheese |
Baby Carrots, Onion: Lemon Lentil Soup
This soup was the surprise of the week! Easy, cheap, healthy, and flavorful, I will be making this soup again and again. When I read the recipe, I couldn't quite predict the flavor profile. After eating it, the soup reminded me of something I could get at an Indian restaurant. So delicious! All I needed was some naan to soak up the delicious broth!
I cooked the soup on the stove. The lentils kept their integrity, the lemon brightened it up, and the coconut milk made it so creamy. I would definitely recommend this soup!
Recipe: Here
*Tweaks: I added the carrots when there were five minutes left on the lentils. I do not like my carrots mushy, so I waited to add them.
 |
| Lemon Lentil Soup |
Fresh pineapple, bell pepper, and chicken smothered in a spicy sauce screams summer. I loved this foil packet meal! So easy and flavorful. The base of the sauce is BBQ sauce, but surprisingly the end result tastes nothing like BBQ sauce. Instead, the sauce thins out, a hint of spice soaks into the pineapple, and the chicken stays juicy. I had mine over white rice...yum! Recipe below!
Recipe: Here
*Tweaks: I used chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts as that is what I had on hand. I also had to add an extra 15 minutes to the cooking time in the oven to get the internal temperature of the thighs to 165 F.
 |
| Foil Packet Hawaiian Chicken |
This was a trip down memory lane recipe! When I was in junior high, my dad took me to The Grand America for lunch in Salt Lake City. I remember having the fanciest meal: bacon-wrapped scallops with apple risotto. And boy, was it yummy. For some reason, I couldn't stop thinking about that meal, and so it was time to recreate it. Well, at least recreate a meal similar to it; and yes, I was successful! My seared scallops with bacon apple risotto were delicious. While I might still be mastering my skills in searing scallops (half my sear stuck to my cast iron), they still tasted amazing.
Before making my apple risotto, I always thought risotto was this 'super-complicated' recipe. Competitors on Food Network made cooking risotto look hard, and the judges always seemed to have problems with the execution. So, I was a bit intimidated going in. But I bought the arborio rice, did some research, and went for it. Surprisingly, risotto is not a hard recipe to make. Time-consuming? Yes. But not hard at all! It was actually quite fun to ladle in spoons of hot chicken broth into the rice and stir. The rice becomes creamy, which paired perfectly with the sweet apple. I stirred in some crispy bacon at the end, and it all tasted great. I highly recommend it! Recipes I kind of followed below!
Recipes:
Sear Scallops: Here
Apple Risotto: Here
*Tweaks: I used a quart of chicken broth, 1 cup of arborio rice, 2 apples, a couple Tbs. frozen peas, and lemon zest.
 |
| Seared Scallops with Apple Bacon Risotto |
Oranges & Black Plums: Snacks!
This week the fruit went fast! We love snacking on fresh fruit. Yum!
How did I do with this week's produce? What would you have made? Let me know your ideas and if you recreate any of the recipes above!
More links:
- My Perfectly Imperfect Produce Referral Link: Here
- Morgan's Boxes 1-17: Check out what I did with my Boxes 1-17!
- Follow me on Instagram: @lemonandbutterlove
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