Disclosure: I received a free recipe/ingredient delivery from Fresh Canteen.
A few weeks ago I was asked if I wanted to try Fresh Canteen, a Toronto-based recipe and ingredient delivery service that helps to take the stress out of meal planning and grocery shopping. Ingredients and a recipe delivered to my home so my husband and I had dinner taken care of on a weekday night? Yes please!
Fresh Canteen’s concept is simple – choose recipes from their beautiful website, have the ingredients delivered to you and cook your own tasty meals. The folks at Fresh Canteen freely share their recipes and instructions on their website, giving customers a chance to see if they find the recipe appealing and suitable to their skill level. If you order by 11:59 pm on a Friday, you would receive your box with all ingredients and instructions from 12 pm to 8 pm the following Tuesday. When I advised the fine folks at Fresh Canteen that I was vegetarian, they suggested that I try their Ancho Chocolate Chili with Dill & Green Bean Salad. To be honest, my husband and I weren’t sure about it at first…chocolate in chili? However, we both decided to be good sports about it and give it a try.
The box was at my door when I got home on the Tuesday evening. I was excited to open it up and see what was inside. All of the ingredients were housed in an insulated package with a gel ice pack included, keeping everything fresh and cold. The first thing I pulled out was the recipe card and instructions, which came neatly packaged in a plastic sleeve for protection.
Next, I laid out all of my ingredients and was thrilled to see how well packaged and fresh everything was. In some cases, I knew that I had just the right amount for the recipe and in other cases, I knew I would have a little bit extra, so I could use it for something else (yay for extra fresh dill!).
Here we go….
Ancho Chocolate Chili with Dill & Green Bean Salad
Recipe link (courtesy of Fresh Canteen): http://www.freshcanteen.com/recipes/47-ancho-chocolate-chili
Ingredients:
1/2 can pinto or romano beans
1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp chopped garlic (2-3 cloves)
1/2 c sliced red onion
1/2 c sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup of canned corn (drained)
1/2 c zucchini
Swiss chard
1 can diced tomatoes
Green beans
Dill
Shallot
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp mayonnaise
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
Olive oil
1 cup of rice
Directions:
Step 1:
- Wash & dry all fresh produce & have a quick read of the recipe
- Put a small pot, large enough to hold your green beans, on to boil with a pinch of salt
- Thinly slice the onion & mushrooms
- Finely chop the shallot
- Chop the zucchini into 1/2 inch pieces
- Remove the stem from the Swiss chard & chop the stem in to 1/2 inch pieces, slice the leafy part in to ribbons
- Finely chop the garlic
- Grate the chocolate on a separate plate
- Trim the green beans
- Chop the dill
- Open & rinse beans and open can of tomatoes
Step 2:
- In a small bowl mix the chili powder, cumin, oregano, cinnamon & salt
Step 3:
- Rinse the rice under cold water, bring 2 c of water to a boil with a pinch of salt, add the rice return to boil cover & simmer for 15 minutes. Fluff rice when done & let sit
- Boil your green beans until crunchy, 3-5 minutes, drain, rinse under cold water to stop the cooking & set aside in the fridge
Step 4:
- In a medium to large saucepan, heat over medium heat 2 Tbsp olive oil until shimmering, sauté garlic for 1 minute, add onion, chopped swiss chard stems & cook for 3-5 minutes longer
- Add your mushrooms, corn, zucchini, swiss chard leaves & 1/4 c water
- Cook covered for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally
- Mix in your spice mixture, stir in the chocolate & tomatoes. Reduce heat & simmer, covered for 10 minutes, add the beans & cook covered for another 5
Step 5:
- Prepare your salad dressing
- In a small jar with a tight lid or a Tupperware container mix:
- 1 tsp Dijon, 1 1/2 tsp shallot, 1/2 tsp mayo, 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar, 3 Tbsp olive oil & shake to combine
Step 6:
- Dress your green beans (you may not need all the dressing) & add 2 Tbsp chopped dill (more if you like dill). Taste & season with salt & pepper
- Plate a big bowl of chili with rice on the side & green beans. Perfect.
The verdict:
The Ancho Chocolate Chili was delicious! After worrying so much about putting chocolate in the chili, my husband and I both agreed that it gave a nice flavour to the dish. There were a ton of great vegetables in the recipe, which we both loved. The bonus? We had enough for lunch the following day.
I enjoyed the Dill & Green Bean Salad as well. Since my husband isn’t a big fan of dill, I left the dill out of the salad dressing recipe and simply topped mine with chopped dill afterward.
Being East Indian, I’m a bit embarrassed to say that it took this recipe test for me to finally make rice on the stove, as I’ve been a plug-in rice cooker girl all my life! The rice was so fluffy and delicious that I might be giving up my rice cooker soon (not yet, but soon!).
After trying the service, I would definitely recommend it to the following groups:
- Busy singles, couples, families who want to have everything on hand to make a great meal, without the stress of meal planning and shopping
- People who cannot go grocery shopping for themselves but want to be able to cook tasty meals at home
- Those who want to learn how to cook in the privacy of their own home, as the instructions are fairly easy to follow
- Lastly, for those who like to throw weeknight dinner parties, this service can provide everything you need for an appetizer and main dish. The recipes and suggested plating look quite swanky too!
On a recent visit to the site, I was able to order 4 dishes for 4 people and it came to a cost of $11.25 per person, per dish (Note: this depends on what meals are chosen of course). I thought that the cost was pretty reasonable, considering that it includes all ingredients, the recipes and home delivery. Overall, we had a great time testing out the service and enjoy our meal.
Thanks Fresh Canteen for the opportunity, I can’t wait to try your services again!
For more information, please visit: http://www.freshcanteen.com/. You can also reach them at hello [at] freshcanteen [dot] com or call 1 (855) 416 FRESH
Have you tried Fresh Canteen? What did you think? If not, what are you waiting for?!?!
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