It was a bit of no-brainer when we were asked by Mindful Chef if the SN team would like to trial one of their boxes.  So after a knock-out game of ‘rock, paper, scissors’, three extremely willing volunteers eagerly rushed home armed with a range of different types of recipes ready to take on the Mindful Chef taste test.  Here are the results:

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Peanut satay pork with black rice – The Protein One

(Tested by Clare, Business Club Account Manager)

 

I think like many people, I really struggle trying to think of what to cook each night for the family and so was quite excited about trying something new and just a little bit different.  All the ingredients were packaged together apart from the meat which arrived in a cooler bag, and so it was really easy to get everything ready.  My 13 year old decided he’d like to have a go at the cooking and really enjoyed following the recipe card provided.

The combination of flavours were delicious – Thai food without being smothered in the dreaded coriander (which is a no-no in our household).  Also, we so rarely cook with pork, well apart from a Sunday roast, so it made a great change from the usual chicken and prawns.  We also tried black rice for the first time, with only our 10 year old not 100% convinced.  But overall a resounding success with a big thumbs up all round!

I would definitely order it again.  It was so quick, so tasty and with the added bonus of being cooked for by my eldest, the easiest mid-week meal you could imagine.

Verdict: 9.5/10

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Aubergine and Pesto bake with roasted Kalettes – The Vegan One

(Tested by Milly, Head of Account Management)

 

Probably the toughest of the recipes to sell to a family of carnivores, especially to the 8-year old who only eats raw carrots and chocolate ‘sprouts’ at Christmas, I was quite excited at the prospect of a filling family mid-week meal which didn’t involve cooking meat.  Very excited to unpack my brown bag of ingredients and delicious-looking they were too.  Very fresh aubergines, ripe tomatoes packed in little recyclable boxes to stop them bruising and the dinkiest carton of passata which seemed almost a shame to open.  It was great to see minimal packaging too. The recipe card was really easy to follow, a step-by-step guide on what you should do and by when, so there wasn’t room for error.

As smells started emanating from the kitchen, the kids wandered in, deeply suspicious of what was in the ‘bake surprise’ and did it involve pasta?  I reasoned that aubergine is sort of the same texture-‘ish’ and it was smothered in pesto so the answer was ‘absolutely’.  After an easy assembly and slightly longer than the allotted cooking time it was time to sample.  It tasted like a very virtuous melanzane parmigiana.  Really fresh flavours, a delicious rich tomato sauce, soft aubergine with basil and a crunchy topping of blended almonds – yum!  The husband went for seconds, the 12-year old declared she could easily eat a plate of the roasted kalettes – a kale sprout hybrid in case you’re wondering. And the 8-year old, well, apparently aubergines don’t taste like pasta at all – but 3 out of 4 ain’t bad!

The great thing about it, is it’s adaptable for all tastes. You can add pasta to the tomato sauce for those non-aubergine eaters, roast a chicken and have the bake as a side for those unwavering carnivores or just eat as is, a delicious healthy nutritious vegan meal.

Verdict: 8.5/10

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San Chow Bow Beef – The 15-minute One

(Tested by Tracy, Head of Business Development)

 

Our family have tried lots of food boxes in the past and love the idea of sitting down each week to choose the recipes on the computer and then wait for the big box to arrive – so we were all looking forward to trying Mindful Chef.  We loved the fact that each whole recipe was put into an individual bag – so we knew that everything in the bag was just for that recipe – very quick and easy and saved lots of sorting!

We had the San Chow Bow beef – as my 11 year old got to chopping the vegetables, I fried the beef and added the sauces.  It really did take 15 minutes from start to finish and was absolutely delicious – everything tasted really fresh and very healthy and it was all polished off in seconds.    My husband and I had the recipe just as it was with the rice – however my two boys also added some soft tortillas for a little bit more substance – definitely not needed in the end as it was very filling.

What’s brilliant is that it’s a fantastic way of incorporating lots of vegetables into a meal without the kids noticing and it also made a nice change from fajitas and the normal tray bakes!

A great family recipe that will be easy to continue to cook at home..

Verdict: 9/10

 

 

 

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