Update!!

Due to the annoying idiot that keeps screwing up my blog, (thanks a lot dude) I will only be posting once a week.  This will take place on Fridays and you can look forward to more hilariously disgusting and surprising delicious reviews :)


Thanks for hanging in there while I work out the kinks in the system! You are a trooper!

Healthy Choice Top Chef: Chicken Margherita

I'm always incredible cautious about products that boast their relationships with tv shows. Congrats, you talked to some guy who had something to do with that thing next door to the show...or however you made this connection. But since I felt the urge to have some pasta and chicken, I thought "Eh why not?".

First and foremost, I had to read the directions 4 times before I completely understood what I needed to do. Maybe that's because I had absolutely no sleep the night before and was stuck in a rapidly failing sugar high. Maybe it was because this is a pretentious meal that needs overly complicated instructions. No one will ever now the true answer, but one thing can definitely be said. This is not your average microwave meal. It steams the food over the sauce. Very high tech, if you ask me. (which you are)

I give this a solid B+. The dish was very good but a bit boring. I was expecting full flavor from
the top chefs. What I got was something I could have whipped up myself if I had taken 15 minutes out of my day.

Pickin back up! Stouffer's signature classics: southwest-style chicken panini

I'm not even going to try to point a flaw out on this one. YUM YUM YUM!! I can honestly say that I ate every last bite! Cooking was a bit odd but it definitely did the trick. Be careful when opening this because you need the box.

The panini was really fantastic and I didn't even take the time to put it together. I chowed down on this baby like someone was going to steal it. Definitely worth it!

Please stand by...

We are experiencing some technical difficulties and I haven't been able to post anything.  Looks like we are back and running so keep an eye out for a new post!

Thanks for sticking in there folks :)

Stouffer's signature classics meatloaf

So first off, I apologize for missing the blog yesterday. A lot of things happened. I said some things, you said some things, and promises were broken. But it's ok now, and we made it through. Now on to today's review.

I accidentally bought this. ( and yes that can happen.) I almost didn't try this one because I felt like it wasn't going to taste good at all. But because I'm dedicated (and broke) I went for it!

I'm torn on this one, because the meatloaf takes the full amount of time to cook, 4 minutes then 5 1/2 minutes at half power. But, the mashed potatoes really only need 2 minutes or so, in my opinion. In a perfect world, this dish would be in two separate containers. But it's not. So, if you want cold meatloaf with great potatoes or hot meatloaf with awful potatoes, then this is the dish for you. Enjoy.

Lean cuisine chicken fettuccini

Let's just jump right in this one, shall we? This was very accurately represented on the box. It had the same consistency as the photo suggested, same amount of chicken, same coloring. In fact, it even tasted as I would have expected from the box. It's not too heavy, which is great considering what it is. A decent amount of seasoning was present but I felt like the salt was a little much. The chicken was the quality you should expect from a frozen meal. ( a little questionable at times but overall editable and sometimes delicious.) I don't know what else to say...

Bravo lean cuisine, bravo. I am pleased.

Sukhi's Naanwich

For those of you who love Indian food, pay attention.  This one is for you.  Let it be known that I am unfamiliar with Indian cuisine.  I have a very basic understanding of the flavors and terminology that goes along with it.  But I felt this was necessary to try.  Besides, I love good food and this looked tasty. I had to give it a try so I picked the Tandoori Chicken.  Here is what it looked like pre-microwave.

Now, there were a couple things I wasn't expecting when I cooked this.  First off, I didn't expect it to only take 45 seconds.  Although, I did have to zap it for another 15 after realizing a few pieces were still cold.  This brings me to the next bit that I didn't expect.  It was not a solid piece of chicken.  It was like pulled chicken.  Maybe that's what tandoor chicken means.  Honestly, I didn't look it up because frankly the naanwich wasn't very good.  The Naan Flatbread was dry and hard in some places and the sandwich wasn't very big.  After pulling off the gross parts of naan bread, I had maybe 5 or 6 bites.  I give this a 4 out 10.  If it comes down to eating this or snack food, then I would choose this.  But, it is definitely not my first choice for a frozen meal.  It's a little pricey as well.  This was on SALE at The Fresh Market 2 for $6.00.  Not a great deal, in my opinion. 

Michael Angelo's Chicken Parmesan

After the disaster with the Eggplant Parmesan, I was a bit nervous about trying something by this company again.  But I decided that everyone deserves a second chance, even a horrifying frozen meal.  So when I saw that they had a carnivorous alternative to the meal I had purchased previously, I couldn't but try it.  But honestly, I didn't have high hopes.  How could I?  They had let me down before and I couldn't let them hurt me again.  Ok, maybe that is a little dramatic.  But the point remains that this meal had everything going against it.

With that being said, I thought this was a VERY successful frozen meal.  The chicken was higher grade than I expected.  The pasta was cooked very well (not over or under done).   Perfect amount of sauce and a nice layer of cheese on top.  Nothing to complain about.  That is right World.  I am admitting that I was quick to jump to conclusions about this dish.  I am sorry Michael Angelo's.  Here is my delicious meal.

Michael Angelo's Eggplant Parmesan

I work at a grocery store, so its safe to say that I have a huge assortment of meals to choose from.  Today, I didn't bring anything to try and instead decided to let The Fresh Market decide for me.  Like I said before, I LOVE Italian food. I don't mean the kind of love that fades.  I'm talking about a true passion and admiration for Italian food.  So, when I say that I was excited about the Eggplant Parmesan, I really mean it.  This is one of my all time favorite dishes.  And if that wasn't enough, this meal came with raving reviews from my coworkers.  "Delicious" was the word of the day when it came to this dish, according to everyone I asked.  Well, apparently I have a different definition of the word because this frozen meal was anything but delicious.

First complaint of many was the texture of the eggplant.  Disgusting was a better descriptive term.  It was mushy and flappy.  By flappy, I mean that if you picked up a piece of this eggplant it would sag like a limp noodle before completely falling apart.  If it weren't for the strip of skin that they left on, I wouldn't even be able to identify the vegetable at all!  The breading was so finely ground that it was probably just sand.  Actually, it tasted a bit like sand too. (I think I ate sand.)

This company was claiming fresh ingredients but I didn't see anything fresh about this product.

The one positive that I can give this is the cheese was good.  I ended up eating the saucy cheese and buying some chips.  Well one thing is for sure, the photos was pretty accurate, except for the thickness of the eggplant, which was thin.  Definitely not a product I would recommend.  

Bertolli Part Two...

After the delicious meal from Bertolli (Braised Beef and Gold Potatoes), I decided the best way to really test this meal was to make it a two part meal.  After all, if you live alone then most likely the leftovers from this are going to be your work meal.  I only kept this in my refrigerator for one night before taking it to work the next day.  I wanted to give my meal the best chance at being delicious.  But lets face it, most of us are going to forget that its in the refrigerator at all.  It will get pushed to the back with all the other lonely leftovers, covered in suspicious green substances.  

But, for the sake of argument, say that you don't forget about it.  Let's say that you take it to work in your tupperware and reheat it in the microwave.  Well, that is exactly what I did.  After 2 minutes, I stirred it and cooked it again for another 45 seconds.  Keep in mind that I was reheating the ENTIRE remaining portion of the previous meal.  You may want to split this into three meals instead of two if you are looking for lunch sized portions.

I hesitated at first because it looked like it might burn my mouth, but actually it was the perfect temperature.  It tasted and smelled just as amazing as the night before.  In fact, I think it was better!  The extra cooking helped the larger potatoes to really reach the proper consistency. The beef didn't sacrifice any flavor or tenderness because there was still quite a bit of the "gravy" in the container.  (I'm not sure if it's really gravy or a sauce.  Honestly, it was a bit like a hybrid of the two.)  I felt like the peppers didn't really benefit from the extra cooking time but it was a small price to pay for a delicious lunch.  I was incredibly satisfied with my meal and even spent a little extra time that evening on my dinner because I wasn't starving when I got off of work.  Here's a little pic of my reheated Bertolli Meal for Two.

 

Bertolli Classic Meal for Two: Tuscan-Style Braised Beef with Gold Potatoes

After my last fiasco with a frozen meal, I decided to take a different route.  I have seen the Bertolli meals and they look DELICIOUS, so this was the obvious next step for me.  I wanted something hearty and fulfilling and whats better than meat and potatoes?  (The answer is nothing, by the way.)  The meal is for two, but after emptying the contents in a large skillet I realized that this was definitely enough for three normal sized meals, at least for lunch sized portions.  I was thrilled!  My senses were in high alert once the pan hit the heat.  The red and yellow peppers released an amazing aroma that combined perfectly with the beef and potatoes.  It took 12 minutes to cook, stirring occasionally.  The only complaint that I have would be that the potatoes were cut different sizes.  This caused some of them to not be cooked as much as I would like.  I would rate the quality of the meat as a solid 7.  It was a little fatty but not chewy at all.  I was very pleased to see how close the picture is to the end result!  A happy ending for me at last :)

To Be Continued.....

My first Frozen meal...well sort of.

While standing in the frozen foods section at Kroger, I found myself asking the same question.  

Which one of these actually tastes like it looks?

After skimming the rows and rows of different products and brands, I decided that I needed to play it safe for my first official frozen meal.  The brand was easy for me.  Marie Callender's has never let me down when it comes to their extensive collection of pies.  With that much culinary knowledge, I expected the meal to be equally delicious.  

After that, the purchase was fairly easy.  I love Italian food and the Three Meat and Four Cheese Lasagna stood out as a homerun.  Reasonably priced at $2.99 for a one serving meal, I couldn't help but think how easy this was going to be!  If I drank a full glass of water with my lunch, then I could potentially have a very simple solution to expensive and fattening breaks at work. 

::Sigh:: Why couldn't it be that easy?  

First issue I ran into didn't seem that bad.  The time was 4-5 minutes at full power, followed by 5 minutes at half power.  I felt like this was a very long time to microwave it but decided that they knew best!  How could I ignore Ms. Callender  when she clearly knows what she is doing?  I answered my own question  when I removed the boiling mass of what used to be lasagna.  In its frozen state, there was a lovely layer of cheese on top.  Apparently, it evaporated in the microwave because I could not locate it under the pool of liquid on top.  As disappointing as it looked, I vowed to try it when it was no longer lava hot.  This took about 10 minutes, making my grand total time into this meal at about 20 minutes.  Not exactly my idea of quick bite.  

I took two bites of this lasagna, both including the sauce, pasta and cheese mixture between the layers.  I attempted to get meat in the bites as well but was not able to find more than one or two pieces.  Again, disappointment took over.  The pasta was gummy and tasteless.  The only cheese flavor I could make out was Ricotta (at least that is what the texture led me to believe).  And, if that wasn't bad enough, the sauce was oily and unappetizing.  

I would definitely not recommend this product based on my experience with it.  The image and description on the box were very misleading.