Quick note before I get on with this post: I made the Happy Pear recipes for dinner as opposed to lunch, and the lighting struggle was so real. As a result, my pictures aren’t up to their usual standard. Sozza. 

It’s not been long at all since I last cooked from a Riverford recipe box, but I was eager to try this special limited edition box from guest chefs The Happy Pear. These boys are all about putting vegetables front and centre and getting us all to eat more of them every day. A message that I am always on board with, as you very well know.

Puy lentil coconut dahl 

You might remember that in my last Riverford review, I found one or two of the recipes to be a little bit more complicated and time consuming than I would ordinarily go for on a weeknight. Almost completely the opposite was true of The Happy Pear recipes. Total simplicity, with not much hands on time at all and really simple, basic cooking methods. Definitely preferable during the week when I’ve got a million things to do.

Having said that, the variety that was present in the standard recipe box I tried back in December wasn’t quite there with this box. They were all hot, comforting, cosy, tomato based eat-out-of-a-bowl dinners. My Mum was a huge fan of this approach, but I found I wasn’t as excited as I usually would be to cook after the first night because of the similarities.

I’m pretty sure this is a “Cate you’re being an annoying weirdo” situation because I am a bit of an excessive stickler for shaking things up in the kitchen constantly, but I thought it worth mentioning.

Mexican leek and black bean chilli

What we were both a huge fan of about the Happy Pear box was the clear effort that had been made to ensure that each meal was filling enough and ticked all the right ‘balanced diet’ boxes. With each dinner there was a legume element and loads of vegetables, which is a foolproof way to make sure you get down from the dinner table feeling completely satisfied.

Spanish chickpea and potato bake

If you’re into big portions then you’d have been totally satisfied with the amount of food dished up. We found that we got about four servings from each recipe, but I think we keep our plates pretty small in comparison to a fair few households, so that may well be completely irrelevant.

Unfortunately for you lot, The Happy Pear recipe boxes are no longer available, but you can check out Riverford’s range of recipe boxes on their website and follow what THP are up to by following them on Twitter.

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I was sent The Happy Pear recipe box for review, opinions are obvi mine, all MINE I tell you