Chloe Flavor Project: Week One
Ohemmmgeeee, we’re into it already!
Week One of The Chloe Flavor Project has commenced and it sure was full of deliciousness! Starting this project has not only been fun, but it’s been quite nice to have a meal prep plan for the week. It has taken all the guesswork out of dinner time and provided my husband and I plenty of leftovers for lunches. Definitely a perk!
So, what did I make?!
Sweet Corn Chowder
This chowder called to me in a special way.
During my senior year of high school, I worked in a coffee shop that served a daily soup in the fall and winter. I would hit up the shop on my lunch breaks and always hoped the Chicken Corn Chowder would be on the menu. It was so warming and made me feel cozy inside. Obviously, chicken is off the menu in my life now, but I often miss that particular meal.
I was quite excited to see how this compared! Admittedly, this recipe is different from the one I remember, but not in a negative way. Chloe’s recipe calls for puréeing the sautéed onion, garlic, potato, and a portion of the corn prior to adding bell pepper, jalapeño, and the remaining corn. This created a rich, creamy texture and depth of flavor often unexpected in a vegan soup. My only critique was the sweetness level. Personally, I would’ve reduced the called for brown sugar or omit it completely, as I prefer a spicier corn chowder.
If I were to enhance this recipe to remind me of the one I remember so fondly, I would add a cooked diced potato (post purée) and either a can of chickpeas, or a cup of vegan chicken. As is, the soup is quite hearty and can certainly be eaten as a full meal. However, I would argue that this dish is best as an appetizer or accompanied with a sandwich.
Overall, a great recipe and one I would make again for some warmth on a rainy day.
Rainbow Quinoa Salad
This salad recipe is a solid winner. You couldn’t ask for such a tasty lunch to be an easier to make! Chloe unfortunately does not provide meal prep times for the recipes in the book. However, I can tell you this salad took me around 25 minutes to make. I simply whisked up the dressing ingredients and chopped the veggies while waiting for the quinoa to cook. If you prefer your quinoa to cool prior to tossing everything together, you could easily make it a few hours beforehand and mix it in whenever you’re ready.
A few personal adjustments were made, such as omitting the called for dried cranberries. To me, that sounded like a rather odd ingredient in combination with the others flavors. They say not to knock it ’til you try it, but I know my tastebuds pretty well. However, I did add half of a chopped cucumber. I thought it would go well in this dish and I was correct! The photo featured in the book shows chopped cucumbers as well. So, it’s entirely possible that the original recipe called for them, or it was omitted in an editing mistake. An unintended adjustment was doubling the amount of tamari in the dressing [insert face palm emoji here]. Luckily, other than making the overall dish a touch saltier, it didn’t seem to have any major influence on the final outcome.
The recipe made enough for four meal sized portions. The leftovers were absolutely perfect as hearty lunches throughout the week and I would definitely make this salad again.
Chinese Eggplant with Spicy Garlic Sauce
I distinctly remember the first time I ever had a Chinese Eggplant dish. My husband and I were in our early dating days and grabbed lunch at a Chinese restaurant that sadly no longer exists. I can’t remember the name of the place, but I sure do remember how good the eggplant was! It was full of soft, almost juicy eggplant, mushrooms, peppers, and a few other veggies that I cannot recall. I loved the spicy kick along with the notable amount of garlic.
Needless to say, I was very excited to try this recipe and see how it compared and it comes pretty close! I would just note that if you’re like me and love extra sauce on your rice, I would recommend doubling it. I would enjoy making this recipe again with a few added veggies and that extra sauce!
White Shells + Cheese, Miso Creamed Kale
SO. FREAKING. GOOD.
Chloe has an amazing ability to transform vegetables into some of the best sauces you’ll ever try. Here she has you roast cauliflower and garlic, bringing out all those good roast-y flavors (Is roast-y a word? It is now. If you know what I mean, you know). Then, she has you blend it all up with water, cashews, lemon juice, salt + pepper and toss in with the cooked pasta- it doesn’t get much simpler than that!
As you can tell from my photo, I subbed fusilli pasta in place of shells as it’s what I had on hand. I also tossed in some cherry tomatoes I had leftover from make the Rainbow Quinoa Salad earlier in the week. The recipe calls for topping the pasta off with vegan parmesan and I happened to have some leftover from a recipe I had made the week prior. Overall, a great dish and a great canvas for adding additional veggies or proteins you may need to use up.
To balance the pasta, I served it with Miso Creamed Kale, which was phenomenal. My husband raved about how good it was with each bite!
How Much Did it Cost?
Grand total for all four dishes came out to $30.72!
Keep in mind this simply includes what I personally needed to purchase to make these dishes. I keep my pantry pretty well stocked and therefore didn’t need much else besides produce. The only staple I purchased was miso for the creamed kale at $5.99. Also, worth noting that I purchased two eggplants for the Chinese Eggplant dish and ended up only needing one. I had concerns about the size of the eggplant but one was sufficient for the recipe.
How Many Portions?
Chloe Flavor lists The Rainbow Quinoa Salad, Miso Creamed Kale, and Chinese Eggplant recipes at four portions each, the Chowder at six portions, and the pasta at four to six.
I would say each recipe is fairly true to the portions listed. However, I found the Chinese Eggplant to be two portions, as the meal itself is essentially eggplant and rice. If it was bulked up with more veggies or served with a side, it would easily stretch to four portions. In treating the Miso Creamed Kale as a side dish to the pasta, the pasta leaned towards the six portions side. I also ate the chowder as a meal, verses a precursor to dinner or accompanied by a sandwich for lunch. Therefore, it was consumed in four portions. I also tend to like rather large salads and divided the salad into three portions rather than four.
All in all, meals from The Chloe Flavor Project resulted in 19 portions consumed between two people. Not bad for under $40!
See you back here next week for more deliciousness
xoxo