We've been travelling quite a lot recently and to counter the usual rush to the supermarket to stock our fridge on our return I've found the most fabulous discovery... Recipe boxes have been doing the rounds for a while now but I've never been that tempted, mainly because they can be quite pricey and I wasn't sure I'd like my meals each week dictated by someone else. I do like the idea of the measured out ingredients as we do have a fair amount of waste in our house, I'm sad to say, and also like the convenience of having a large insulated box of goodies waiting for me when I get home from work. Mostly of course, I try to follow a low carb lifestyle and of course the box contents are not targeted to that way of eating, though I pride myself on being able to adapt most meals, and of course I'm not the only person eating in this household.
Recently we dabbled with a HelloFresh box, being delivered the day we returned from holiday and it was such a welcome convenience to have everything ready and portioned without having to leave the house. Even more welcome was having the ingredients to make a veggie paella as we'd just returned from Spain, so it was like extending the holiday just a little longer! The recipe immediately caught my eye, as it was the lowest in carbs and was also gluten free, lactose free, vegan, low in calories (390 calories).
The full nutritional information for each recipe is included on the recipe cards and though you wouldn't expect it, the paella was actually very low in carbs, especially for a dish that's centred around a carbohydrate, there's only 14g per portion, and having made it now, I would definitely attempt it again, and might even try it using cauliflower rice for a meal that would be super low in carbs!
Everything comes perfectly portioned, even the spices, which was rather wonderful as I'm never too sure how much to put in, and always feel a bit nervous about using the spices in my cupboard as most of them are rather old!
Even though we'd been in Spain for the previous week, I hadn't actually managed to get any paella as I was the only vegetarian there and it never quite felt right to ask people to forgo the fish as that's most people's favourite parts, so it was the perfect meal to come home to. Furthermore. it was topped with samphire, which is one of my favourite vegetables, and one we've even started foraging for now we live near the coast!
Anyway, the paella was a huge hit, packed with flavour and so easy to make, and, like I said, I'm going to have a stab at an even lower carb version with cauliflower rice which I'll share if I manage to get right. Packed with lots of fresh veggies, as well as paprika, turmeric, olives, roasted tomatoes, chervil, garlic and lemon, and topped with delicious salty samphire, my paella envy from watching my friends in Spain soon disappeared!
I'll be back and posting much more regularly from now on, and have lots of new cruelty free beauty picks I've been dying to share with you, so I'll see you very soon!
In the meantime you can find HelloFresh
here, their recipes change each week and you can find out what's coming up on their site. If you want me to share the paella recipe let me know in the comments. Have you tried a recipe box?
* Contains PR samples
