Lean Cuisine Sweet and Sour Chicken

May 12, 2006 | Reviewer: Jess

Price: $3.19
Serving: 1 tray, 10 oz.
Calories: 300
Fat: 4%, 3g
Sodium: 28%, 680mg
Protein: 17g
WW Points: 6 Winning Points
Diet Exchanges: 1 1/2 Lean Meat, 2 Starch, 1/2 Fruit, 1/2 other carbohydrate

Lean Cuisine says: Tender, roasted chicken tenderloins tossed in a traditional sweet and sour sauce made from soy sauce, pineapple juice and tomato. Hand-picked red and green peppers, julienne carrots and golden pineapple tidbits finish the dish which is over a bed of long grain white rice

Jess says: My mom has this ridiculous obsession with Americanized Chinese food. Literally this woman could eat Chinese -style food for every meal, every day of the week, and be completely content with her life. I find this odd for a woman whose family lines are straight White Russian. Culturally speaking she should be craving borscht and blintzes. Instead she’s looking for egg rolls and baby corn. As a teenager, my lame rebellious move was to boycott all Chinese establishments just to piss off my mom. If she wanted to break bread with me, it wasn’t going be in Fortune Cookie form (yeah, I can’t think of any other Chinese food bread-like product, which is probably a part of the problem). So she had to choose between her favorite meals or quality bonding time with her only daughter. In the end I think she just made us each get our own take-out orders from the place of our choice. The woman is clever.

Now that I’m living away from home, I’ve recently started getting back in business with Americanized Chinese food. And with this meal, Lean Cuisine made me glad that I did. The sauce is more sweet than sour. The pieces of pineapple add a nice little sugar kick. (Abi later informed me that I was getting a 1/2 serving of fruit – right on, LC. I need those nutrients!) Plenty of chicken and its not breaded which can be kind of annoying in the restaurant version of this meal. That’s right LC, let’s keep it healthy. There is a good sauce to rice ratio (this is key to a good microwavable eating experience). There are also many colors of peppers, so that the meal is not only tasty but pleasing to the eye. I damn near licked the sauce left over in the bowl afterwards and then thought about calling my mom to tell her that I loved her. But Sunday is Mother’s Day, so I’ll probably just hold out until then.

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comments

3 Responses to “Lean Cuisine Sweet and Sour Chicken”

Simply Enjoy Pad Thai with Chicken | HeatEatReview.com on July 18th, 2007

[...] better mediocre sweet and sour chicken meals, check out Jess’s reviews of Lean Cuisine’s Sweet and Sour Chicken and Kashi’s Sweet and Sour Chicken. It appears that Jess is the Queen of all things Sweet and [...]
Smart Ones Fruit Inspirations Orange Sesame Chicken : Heat Eat Review : We Review TV Dinners, Frozen Meals, and Microwavable Foods on May 6th, 2008

[...] Sesame Chicken was pretty filling for a Smart Ones meal. It is pretty much on the same level as Lean Cuisine’s Sweet and Sour Chicken, which I will purchase whenever it is on sale. This meal was entirely worth the nothing I paid for [...]
hen on August 8th, 2008

I hate it….I rarely want to spit food but this tasted like concentrated pineapple juice to me. Mine did not look like yours in the picture either. Just orange and bleh.