Frozen Food Review (3)

A few days late, but nevertheless, a third frozen food review for you on my quest to find something beyond a lean cuisine pizza.

Kashi Pesto Pasta Primavera

The Skinny:

Calories: 290
Fat: 11g
Carbs: 37g
Protein: 11g

Taste:
Surprisingly fresh.  It really did taste like I'd just cooked it myself--the peas in the pasta were crunchy instead of mushy.  I was very very pleased with how flavorful the meal was.  Pesto was salty without being processed, the veggies were crisp, and the pasta had life instead of being, well, again mush.

Rating:
Presentation (1-10): 9.  Top of the charts, but something green over brown pasta is never stunning to look at.  The veggies were different colors though (they retained their color) and the food had texture.  I wasn't going...eww when I opened the package.
Taste (1-60): 53 Not quite as good as the Amy's tamale, which was a tough act to follow.  The pasta was great, but I needed more variety.  The food tasted fresh and clean, though, so a 55 is almost unfair.
Satiety (1-15): 8.5 Needed just a few more bites...then again, that's why it's 290 calories and not 310.
Nutritional Balance (1-15): 13, same as the tamale.  Less food, less calories.  I liked the protein appearance and I expected a high carb count there for the pasta.

Total (out of 100): 83.5

Would I buy it again? Yup.  It's steep ($4.75), but it's fresh, and a nice pasta option (especially over the Lean Cuisine ravioli). Just make sure to bring extra fruit and veggies, it'll leave you hungry.

Frozen Food Review (2)

Wow, am I behind.  I feel like I have a billion posts that I need to write...here's what will be coming this week (if I don't get a chance today to write much)

1) Review of another Amy's frozen meal product (this one is awesome.)
2) My project with J (NYC) for med school
3) An overview of my weekend getting BodyPump certified (holy moly, I can't fully extend my arms right now)

I've also got another guest blogger/interview with a professional coming up soon--probably next Monday, so stay tuned and look for that!

Might as well get something off the checklist first--Let's talk about my frozen food quest.

Amy's Black Bean Tamale Verde

The Skinny:

Cal: 330

Fat: 10g

Carbs: 55g

Protein: 7g

Taste:

Amazing.  This was hearty, authentic to the taste of salsa verde, and not at all watery.  It was definitely a complex taste (not just corn meal and black beans).  I really enjoyed every bite of the whole thing.  It comes with one large tamale with a mixed vegetable (mostly corn and black beans) filling, a green sauce over it and Mexican rice on the side.  Delicious beyond belief.  I will most certainly buy it again ($4.50).  One of my coworkers actually said "Is that the Amy's tamale?  Man that thing is the best."  So it has a reputation!

Rating:

Presentation (1-10): 10.  Well laid out, colorful, I wanted to eat it frozen, if that says anything.

Taste (1-60): 55.  I always leave room for improvement (this was a tiny tiny bit too sweet for me) but it was awesome.

Satiety (1-15): 10.  I wanted more, for sure, at the end.  But it's hard to say if that was because I hadn't enough to eat throughout the day or if there wasn't enough food.  I think it was probably the former.

Nutritional Balance (1-15): 13.  Pretty good balance, especially for 330 calories--a lot of flavor and a good, solid meal.

Total Score (out of 100):

88

Frozen Food Review (1)

Every night I make dinner with enough for leftovers.  Everything is made fresh and is packed before I get up to go to work.

Haaaahaha.  Yeah right.

There are days, many days, it seems, when I have to be able to throw stuff into a lunch box, most specifically, a frozen meal.  I've been a long time supporter of Lean Cuisine since I've always preferred that taste, but I thought it might be a good idea to branch out.  I purchased a few lean cuisines and an assortment of Amy's and Kashi frozen meals.  Over the next week, you'll see a variety of frozen meal reviews.  Today's review...

Amy's Indian Mattar Tofu

The Skinny:

Calories: 260

Fat: 8g
Carbs: 40g
Protein: 12g

Taste:
First off, I should say that I like Indian food quite a bit, so this wasn't some new adventurous food for me.  I heard about a place in L.A. that serves moving octapus...that is new adventurous food for me.  If you've never had Indian food, please don't start here.  As far as frozen food goes, it was pretty good. The rice was moist without being mushy, the two Indian foods were a good combo of a type of curry without being too spicy--though I take points away for not being spicy enough.  The tofu was kind of chewy, the way a thick fried egg can be--or maybe the egg in a dry omelet.  I like my tofu a bit different (not sure how, just not...like eggs).

I'll also mention that I don't like eating frozen entrées with meat in them. It's a weird thing.  I also avoid Asian food with meat, aside from the occasional chicken.  I avoid it in frozen food because it's almost always chewy and kind of...watery while I avoid the Asian entrées with meat because I can't see if I'm about to chow down on a piece of fat with the sauce.

The dish wasn't memorable, but it wasn't bad either.  While it was expensive ($4.50), I'd buy it again for the sheer reason that it was 260 calories, not dry or watery, and it filled me up.

Rating:
Presentation (1-5): 3, distinct sections of the plate and they made Indian food look better than my homemade Indian food.
Taste: (1-60): 45.  Not great, not terrible, but I never thought "what am I eating?" it definitely was Indian food.
Satiety: (1-15): 10  This was hard to give--I had it with grapes and a 100 calorie pack of cookies, but I'm going to go with a 10. 
Nutritional Balance (1-15): 13.  I was totally pleased with the fact that it was 260 and filling, and had a variety of tastes--unlike Lean Cuisine ravioli.