Psssst.. warning: extreme long post. But hey I’ve got a delicious HelloFresh Christmas Box to show you!
HELLO HELLOFRESH
There is a first for everything, also when it comes to the concept of food boxes! Not so long ago I had a conversation with my boyfriend about the ease of investing in food boxes, like HelloFresh. Perfect if you aren’t the most creative and innovative cook like me. Or if you do like to cook, but simply haven’t got the time to plan things out and get the groceries in next to your job and busy schedule. Luckily, I am blessed with a boyfriend like mine, who also happens to (love to) cook the most delicious meals. But.. how about Christmas eve? I tried out the HelloFresh Christmas Box Deluxe and happy to share my experience and results with you!
THE HORROR CALLED ‘COOKING FOR CHRISTMAS’
Yes.. I’ve experienced some Christmas-dinner trial and errors, failed recipes and mostly: clumsiness! Involving recipes that are way out of my league, ingredients I’ve never worked with before and too many difficult steps to be taken. And it’s even more annoying because it’s not a weekday menu, right? But a special dinner you don’t want to fail – especially in front of your family (in law). Luckily for you -and me- there are concepts to help you through the night!
HELLOFRESH CHRISTMAS BOX DELUXE
HelloFresh to the rescue! If I wanted to try out the HelloFresh Christmasbox Deluxe? Yes please! The perfect way to see if the concept of food boxes works for me and see if I can manage to prepare a Christmas dinner by myself. Without the help and advice of my love, but with a lottle (yes a little lot) help from HelloFresh. I really liked the fullness and luxurious feel the box gave me when opening it. Fresh herbs, fruit, neatly packed protein and a cute bottle of Italian olive oil.
Each course has it’s own preparation sheet with steps to follow, ingredients to add, tips and (bonus) the nutritive values. You’ll find information about ingredients which may contain gluten, lactose and other important information.
PRE-CHRISTMAS DINNER BITES
The first nice surprise of the Deluxe box are the pre(or after)-dinner bites. Some olives, salted almonds, anchovies and delicious handpicked Italian olive oil. Nothing more relaxing than having some pre-christmas dinner bites, to get the party started right?
STARTER: RICH ITALIAN MUSHROOM SOUP
The dinner starts off with a rich and creamy soup of mixed muchrooms. Really into that! I have to say the box inspired me to use more fresh herbs in the future. The rosemary, marjoram and parsly really added strong delicate flavors. The Italian Mascarpone cheese really give the richness and fullness to the soup!
ENTREMETS: CODFISH WITH TOMATO CARPACCIO
The next dish is a light in-between-course, also called entremets. The fresh and pure ingredients make it a pure and uncomplicated dish. Perfect, because you don’t want to spend more time in the kitchen than sitting at the table with your guests! And: it’s a super healthy dish with a lot of protein and healthy unsaturated fats. Because who said Christmas is all about creamy, carb-packed and processed foods? This HelloFresh Christmas Box proves it!
MAIN DISH: WITH ALMONDS AND APRICOT STUFFED TURKEY ROULADE
Ok, this was really really good! To be honest: it frightened me at first. A roulade – something I’ve never prepared before. The easy part: it was already stuffed and had a coat of bacon. As my boyfriend said: what could possibly go wrong? Well.. a lot! But it didn’t! Because it’s a Christmas Box, the step-by-step guide consists of preparations you can do a day or few hours before serving. Next to that you have a step-by-step guide before serving the dish on the evening itself. The sauce made of fresh oranges, honey and onion went so well together with the apricot and nuts stuffed roulade!
DESSERT: VANILLA PANNACOTTA WITH AMARENA CHERRIES
High-light of the evening, right? Kidding, but not kidding, because I LOVE desserts. I always did and always will. But to make yourself and your guests a restaurant-like dessert, looking as good as this: love it! The vanilla panna cotta is a perfect, not too heavy, light dessert which is easily made yet looks super delicate. Panna cotta is Italian for cooked-cream, which is exactly what the main step of preparing this course is. Cooking the cream with a vanilla bean and the perfect toppings does the trick! The only hard thing (I thought) was getting the panna cotta out of the glasses. But luckily the guide had a how-to-tip for that “problem”. Case closed!
OVERALL EXPERIENCE
I am really positive surprised trying out the HelloFresh Christmas Box Deluxe! Like said before, it was the first time receiving a food box so I was completely blanco and non opinionated. The delivery was right on time, ingredients were properly packed and exactly everything you need is in there. Even the information on the box is functional, yet fun: a tip how not to cry when cutting onions, love it. The step-by-step guide makes it easy to prepare and I really felt no stress at all while cooking. Of course, I did the cooking at once, so I didn’t need some hours in advance to prepare and finish them off while having guests. But I think this will be no struggle, as the guide is divided in pre-preparations and before-serving preparations.
Anyone can cook, even you, even when it’s Christmas! You can order the HelloFresh Christmas Deluxe Box until 19/12 here! Also if you don’t have a subscription to HelloFresh, because you can order the Christmas Box seperately! Tip: You can also order an additional Wine Box, with selected wines, or Cheese Platter if you want to upgrade your X-mas dinner even more!
This was a sponsored post. All opinions and content are my sincere and genuine feelings about the subject.
Wauw, hallooo die foto’s! Wat zijn ze waanzinnig mooi. En goed gekookt natuurlijk. Ik heb zelf ook nog nooit gebruik gemaakt van die food boxen, maar ziet er wel super gemakkelijk en handig uit!