Tag: subscription box

Splendiferous

Many great stories begin with soup. Soup can soothe the soul, fortify the infirm, nourish the hungry, and uplift the cast down. It can be just about anything ladled into a bowl and eaten with a spoon; hot or cold, thick or thin, based on vegetables, fruits, nuts, noodles, or just straight cheese.

Splendid Spoon also begins, and ends, with soup. Founded on the healing principle of the bottomless bowl, it’s a plant‑based meal program that delivers ready-to‑eat brews, blends, and even bowls. Smoothies and grain bowls have joined the menu, but as the name would imply, soup is the main event here.

The menu rotates weekly, drawing seasonal inspiration to appeal to contemporary cravings. Warming chilis, congees, and stews through fall and winter, and lighter, cooler broths and blends become available in spring and summer. Many recipes appear in founder and CEO Nicole Centeno‘s book, Soup Cleanse Cookbook. For those of limited energy, patience, or ingredients, the full service affair is a godsend.

Kabocha Congee is the kind of a bowl you can curl up with, swaddled in your softest blanket and fuzzy slippers, to feel like all is right with the world. Brilliant sweetness that come as a surprise, all courtesy of the natural sugars inherent in both the squash and coconut milk. Creamy, deeply soothing, rich yet not heavy, it’s a remarkable study in balance. Subtle hints of cinnamon perfume the bowl, marrying beautifully with notes of pepper and a touch of nutmeg. Even better than the average rice stew, toothsome pumpkin seeds are scattered throughout, lending a hearty bite that fully satisfies all the senses.

Not to get hyperbolic, but the Green Split Pea Soup is nothing short of a revelation. Rather than the murky morass of over-boiled legumes, there are full, whole peas in here! Like oversized caviar, they burst in juicy bites, lending an air of luxury to this once humble stew. Easily the best rendition of the concept I’ve encountered to date, it’s fantastic enjoyed cold on a hot summer’s day, too.

Take your taste buds globe trotting with a stop in Italy and France for a bowlful of Garden Minestrone and Butternut Squash Ratatouille. Leaning into a tomato base with savory herb seasoning, the minestrone focuses in on zucchini and white beans, whereas the ratatouille, true to the name, is all about that orange autumn gourd. Happily, neither one taste out of season, appealing to the senses all year round.

Billed as one of the “light” brews, Fennel Consommé presents a zesty citrus-infused broth with softly simmered pieces of licorice-y fennel. An excellent appetizer or palate cleanser between courses, it sings of sunny spring days. You can practically taste the morning dew still clinging to those leafy fronds.

New to the lineup, the Mint Chip Smoothie is everything you want and need out of a creamy summertime treat. Part decadent dessert, part wholesome meal replacement, each verdant sip is loaded with fresh greens and cool peppermint flavor. Trust me, I’m very serious about my mint chocolate chip milkshakes, so it’s really saying something to rank this one so highly on the hit list.

The spice is right in the Carrot Ginger Chia Smoothie. Think “liquid carrot cake” and you wouldn’t be too far off. Bright ginger blends with the tropical notes of mango and banana to recreate a more fruit-forward rendition of the old-fashioned staple. Stay in the bakery department for a moment to drink deeply from the Pumpkin Spice Smoothie while you’re at it. Enriched with almond butter and defined by a heavy dose of cinnamon, each bottle contains all the taste of America’s favorite crusted wonder, without the stodgy pastry.

For a souped up menu or smooth moves to power you through the day, you can do no better than the convenience and comfort of Splendid Spoon. With nationwide delivery and free shipping, there’s never a bad time to drink it all in. Use the code “SAVE25NOW” to get $25 off your next order.

Hannah (BitterSweet)3 Comments

Green Chef Gets the Green Light

There is truly nothing more satisfying than a home-cooked meal but sometimes we fall into a rut, making the same easy, go-to meals for lack of time or energy. There’s always trusty takeout and the thrill of trying new eateries but having local restaurants cater for dinner every day isn’t exactly feasible. There’s a ton of hype now about meal kits, but still few promising options for those with alternative diets, and vegans especially. Green Chef’s plant-powered meal plan strives to switch that script. I recently tried a week of this approach to home cooking, and I’m glad I did.

Green Chef is a meal kit delivery service that caters to specialty diets, including vegan and vegetarian. They send organic, pre-portioned ingredients and easy to follow recipe cards that take the stress out of the typical dinner rush. Every week, they have a number of different recipes to choose from, so you can cherry pick exactly the flavors you’re craving. All the ingredients are pre-measured, so there’s less food waste. No more forgotten heads of kale left to rot in the vegetable crisper, or full bottles of obscure spices you’ll only want to use once.

My first experience using Green Chef was actually with a friend of mine who, shall we say, isn’t exactly a skilled chef! She was able to follow the recipe and make the meals without too much trouble, and more importantly, was excited to take away some fundamental skills she had never previously attempted. Simple things like how to roast vegetables or cook quinoa; I take these things for granted, but if you have less experience in the kitchen, this is the next best thing to a personal cooking lesson from a chef.

The first meal from my box was an Israeli Salad. This was a favorite of mine- All of the herbs and spices included were so fresh, so bold, so vibrant! It had a crisp tomato and cucumber salad, creamy tahini sauce, and aromatically spiced chickpeas. The dish was filling without being too much, and all of the flavors and textures complimented each other perfectly. Green Chef is a USDA certified organic company, and sends produce sourced from local farms. A big plus for me was that each recipe was enough for 2 meals. My life can be a little hectic, so knowing I have some tasty leftovers in the fridge for lunch really makes my day a lot easier.

Next up were the Jackfruit Sloppy Joes and Carrot Fries. This was not something I would ever order off a menu or attempt to make from scratch, but I was very happily surprised by the results. The plant-based take on the classic sloppy joe was delicious, and I put my own spin on the carrot fries by cooking them in my air fryer to prevent heating up the oven to roast them as originally instructed. This made them extra crunchy on the outside and even sped up the cooking time.

I love middle eastern-flavors, so I also enjoyed the Green Pea Falafel. It was paired with roasted red pepper couscous and kale cucumber salad, all drizzled in a spiced tahini sauce. Like most of the recipes, there were quite a few components to cook, but worth the extra effort for the ultimate flavor payoff.

I made the same tweak for the Grilled Zucchini and Orzo salad. The zucchini went into the air-fryer for an effortless touch of char-grilled goodness, but I still wasn’t overly impressed with this recipe. The only suggestion for the side of chard was to toss with salt and olive oil (not included), so I had to add a lot of my own seasoning. Definitely not my favorite, this meal felt a bit haphazard and really didn’t come together in a compelling way.

My biggest complaint with Green Chef is that the recipes are a little lengthy. They all took around 40 minutes to make, which is a considerable chunk of time for someone accustomed to whipping up 10 minute meals, thanks to my most recent cookbook. The other major drawback was that each preparation called for a lot of pots and pans to cook all of the components, which meant a lot of washing up afterwards.

Green Chef is a particularly promising option if you’re new to veganism or new to cooking in general. It takes the fear and frustration out of meal planning, if you’re trying to eat healthier but struggle to set yourself up for success. I especially love that most of the packaging is recyclable or reusable. On top of that, all the produce was very high quality, and I love having the recipe cards, so I can recreate the recipes at a later date. Green Chef got me out of my dinner rut, all while stoking the flames of inspiration for new dishes to come!

If you’d like to give Green Chef a try for yourself, you can follow this link to get $80 off and free shipping for a limited time.

Hannah (BitterSweet)5 Comments

Cococlectic Tastes

Lined up neatly on the mantel in one carefully manicured row, the thick card stock shimmered with foil appliques, glitter, glossy photos, puffy stickers. Printed or handwritten, each holiday card is a gift of the highest order. The thoughtful messages, updates on life events and bright wishes for the future, come straight from the heart. When I would simply ask to exchange greeting cards if prompted for a holiday wish list, it wasn’t to be rebellious nor frugal, but a genuine love of that time-honored practice. Over the years though, like so much of the pure glee this season holds during childhood, life tends to get in the way, making it a torturous mad dash to stuff that stack of envelopes into the mailbox before time runs out. That’s why I’ve slowly start shifting to the fledgling movement of sending New Year’s cards instead, and that’s why I’m also advocating New Year’s shopping and gifting, when Santa doesn’t quite deliver.

Amidst the subscription box boom, there are some real treasure chests to be found, and Cococlectic is one of them. Chocolate is never a hard sell so in case the presents don’t all make it under the tree in time, the promise of a monthly cocoa bonus is a foolproof, and quite cunning, way to buy a bit more time. Four full-size, single origin bars are bundled in each package and sealed with a stately wax impression, almost like an built-in stamp of approval.

Each assortment is guaranteed to delight with exclusive artisan treats. No matter the feature, the highlighted dark chocolates are always vegan, fair trade, soy-free, gluten-free, and tree-nut free. That also means extraneous ingredients are kept to a minimum, leaving your attention entirely focused to the quality of the cacao. Those notes of caramel, coffee, fruits, flowers, wine, earth, and more that you’re tasting come solely from the bean; a bold new world of nuanced flavors awaits you in each burnished square.

Cococlectic only ships during the cooler winter months to avoid a potentially disastrous meltdown in transit, so when you take that into consideration, you’re actually right on time to take advantage of of such a gift. Get $10 off any Cococlectic Membership subscription when you use the coupon Code SWEETVEGAN at checkout. Finish off the year on a sweet note to share with others or savor all by yourself.

Hannah (BitterSweet)2 Comments