Oftentimes, moms take on the roles of doctor, chef, maid, and parent all in a day’s work for their kids. For someone who is a professional chef for a living, like Food Network‘s Molly Yeh, motherhood required a little readjusting to her longtime rules of the kitchen to make things more time efficient and practical for her little ones! “I have a whole new appreciation for convenience, for meal kits like Blue Apron,” the Girl Meets Farm star admitted, while chatting about her new partnership with the meal delivery service in an EXCLUSIVE interview with HollywoodLife. “Truthfully, before having kids, I was a snob about pre-grated cheese and what else was I snobby about? Pre-made salad dressings or things like that, and now I get it!”
Molly continued, “Before kids, I was like, ‘I’m going to make homemade mac and cheese from scratch, I’m never going to make box mac and cheese.’ If you look at my pantry right now, we have box mac and cheese…I’ve even found a way to screw up box mac and cheese! So, anytime there’s a way that is easy to get really delicious, actual homemade food onto the table, I am going to take that opportunity.” The James Beard nominated chef shares daughter Bernie, 3, and daughter Ira, 1, with her farmer husband Nick Hagan.
She went on to recall cookie demos she would do before welcoming Bernie in 2019, and using ‘sprinkle tweezers’ to decorate. “People would laugh at me, and they’d be like, ‘That is a sign you don’t have kids because you’re using sprinkle tweezers!” Molly laughed. “In retrospect, I understand why everybody laughed at me about that now!”
The Bernies restaurant owner partnered with Blue Apron as a part of their chef collaboration series. As with her Food Network series, Molly brought her Asian and Jewish backgrounds to the recipes she created for the brand. “All of the flavors and the recipes are inspired by flavors that I grew up with and recipes that are near and dear to my heart,” she gushed. “I’ve been a longtime fan of Blue Apron, it was the first meal kit I ever tried and I was, I instantly sold… so truthfully, it’s always been a secret dream of mine to do this and to curate a meal for Blue Apron!”
Molly’s recipes for the meal delivery service include Ginger-Scallion Burgers with Fried Eggs, Pickled Cucumbers & Hoisin Sauce, Peanut Noodles with Bok Choy, Crunchy Cabbage Slaw with Sweet Chili Mayo & Sesame Seeds and Miso Apple Pie with Pistachio-Coconut Crumble. The box serves four and is family-friendly and beyond easy to put together with each ingredient pre-measured out. “Anybody can do it! Truthfully, I can do most of these steps while holding a child in my arms! Everything is measured out for you so it just takes out so much of the guesswork,” she explained. “I love that, number one, from a prep perspective, also from a food waste perspective! You’re not going to screw up any of these dishes, and it’s so delicious.”
This limited-edition kit is available for purchase now for delivery between May 8th and June 19th or while supplies last.