Exploring Brazil with Eat2Explore

I've seen ads for several different food/cooking subscription boxes and most of them are the same, they send you some food and a recipe to try out which can get a little repetitive if you are looking for something a little more. I always try to look for fun activities to do with my family as a whole and Eat2Explore covers that along with being a food based subscription box. A one month subscription is $24.95, however you can save a little money if you opt for a six to twelve month subscription that will drop your cost a bit. If you have someone in your family that is allergic to Gluten they offer gluten free boxes.

Eat2Explore is a wonderful way to explore the world through food while connecting with your family, it allows you to experience what they call the three C's - Country, Culture & Cuisine. Each box features a different country each month and comes with three recipes (each makes 4 servings), the essential spices/sauce mixes you'll need, a shopping list for the fresh ingredients needed, educational activity/information sheets for the featured country, fun cooking tools, plus a pin/sticker/passport. Does someone from your family have a dietary restriction? They have you covered "We understand that each family has it's own unique food preferences, so we've ensured that our explorer boxes can accommodate different dietary needs. We leave the shopping for fresh ingredients up to you, allowing you to customize your eat2explore experience."

The box we received was for Brazil, all of the recipes we received looked pretty delicious and made us excited to try them out. One recipe was pork chops with sides, another was for meat filled pastries served with a watermelon/tomato salad and the last was for a shrimp dish. Thus far we've only tried out one recipe which you'll see below, the other two I am waiting on until we can get together with my mom/step-dad and make it during a family night.

I love that they provided a separate paper with all of the ingredients you need to pick up at the store, looking at the recipes online it looks like they provide a version of some of the recipes you'll receive in their boxes. For example the shrimp dish recipe we received is called "Moqueca" Online it states that it is a Brazilian recipe based on a salt water stew made various fresh fish caught off the coast however it is altered to be a "Shrimp Moqueca" which includes just shrimp to make it easier to shop for. For the Moqueca I purchased shrimp, spinach, rice, a lemon, a red bell pepper, and onion and a can of diced tomatoes. Eat2explore included the coconut milk and spices we needed.

My family got together at my mothers house to cook this with her and my step-dad so we could all try it out. The recipe states it makes four servings, however we added an extra cup of rice and it ended up feeding five adults and two children leaving us quite full. The dish was fun and easy to make! Like Eat2Explore stated all families have their own preferences when it comes to how they cook, I cooked almost everything as directed however I did make a few small changes instead of making it stew like I removed some of the liquids then mixed in the rice to make it more of a hearty dish. I also took a small portion of the dish and cooked it separate without shrimp because my daughter and mother do not like sea food.

We are big bread lovers so we served this with a roll on the side. Everyone really seemed to enjoy the dish and everyone finished their serving feeling full and satisfied after dinner. I was glad I added the extra rice because there are a ton of shrimp in this recipe and I think they would have over taken the dish a bit without the extra rice. The kids also had a lot of fun learning new facts about Brazil, and my daughter made sure to track everyone's rating/opinion on the meal in the little passport provided. I look forward to testing out the other two recipes as well once I get a chance.

Looking for a Brazilian inspired dessert to go with the recipes included in this box? My work has a small culture inspired project where we all made dishes for different countries assigned to us, for mine I made Arroz Doce which is a sweet rice. It is so good and I highly suggest trying it out, it would make a great addition to this explorer box.

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by Eat2Explore for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.