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Food, like a loving touch or a glimpse of divine power, has that ability to comfort. ~Norman Kolpas

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Lean Cuisine Chicken in Peanut Sauce 2

May 22, 2006 | Reviewer: Jess

Price: $3.29
Serving: 1 tray, 10 oz.
Calories: 280
Fat: 11%, 8g
Sodium: 26%, 680mg
Protein: 22g
WW Points: 6 Winning Points
Diet Exchanges: 1 1/2 Very Lean Meat, 1 1/2 Starch, 1/2 skim milk, 1/2 Fat

Lean Cuisine says: Roasted chicken tenderloins in a flavorful peanut sauce with garlic served with crisp water chestnuts,shoestring carrots,and snap peas over whole-wheat pasta

Jess says: Last Saturday, one of our co-workers had a great BBQ on his very sunny and inviting patio. I had me a few Amstel Lites, you know, the beer drinker’s light beer. I am proud to be a beer drinker and I needed a light beer to accompany the heavy amounts of food that I was happily consuming. One of the gastronomic highlights was a peanut sauce noodle dish that Abi brought/made (despite being a connoisseur of all things cooked with non-visable wave energy, she is also great at cooking with ovens and fire just like primitive man used to do!). I was already full and still went back for seconds. The next day, while I was in Safeway, I think I was mentally tasting Abi’s noodles when I bought this Lean Cuisine offering.

Was it as good as Abi’s? No. It was certainly missing that “made with love” component. Was it tasty? Hell yeah it was. The wheat pasta combined very nicely with the peanut flavors. It was like running through a peanuty, wheat field on a sunny Spring day. And the sharp crunch (maintained somehow through the freezing process) of the snap peas was a good textural and flavorful addition. There was only one water chestnut, but it too was crunchy, as is its purpose in life. Apparently this meal was so healthy that it was a Spa Sensation (or some terminology like that). This is ridiculous. I did not feel well-rested and revived after eating this meal nor did I have a massage and a pedicure. Let’s rethink that marketing campaign, LC. I give you permission to use my peanut/wheat field imagery if that helps.

Lean Cuisine Roasted Chicken Lemon Pepper Fettuccini

May 22, 2006 | Reviewer: Abi

Lean Cuisine Roasted Chicken Lemon Pepper Fettuccini

Price: $3.29
Serving: 1 tray, 8 1/8 oz.
Calories: 250
Fat: 9%, 6g
Sodium: 28%, 670mg
Protein: 16g
WW Points: 5 Winning Points
Diet Exchanges: 1 1/2 Lean Meat, 2 Starch

Lean Cuisine says: Freshly made lemon pepper fettucini,served with roasted white meat chicken,hand-picked red peppers,chopped spinach, diced onions,and julienne carrots tossed together in an herbed olive oil sauce with aged Parmesan and Romano cheese.

Abi says: The meal looked like a real restaurant meal. Finely ground spices lay scattered across the fettuccini like stars in the night sky. Tangy lemoniness infused each cube of chicken. While that sounds like glowing praise, this meal was just adequate for a microwaved lunch. It would be interesting to microwave four or five of these and then put them all on a nice serving dish, steam some green beans, and serve them to your mother-in-law. While that plan wouldn’t go down so well in my house, maybe it could work for you. I stick to making Mexican food for my partner’s family, it is my cooking trump card.

Ok, back to the meal. I have a sinus infection, so I think that the lemon in this dish much be much, much stronger than I can currently comprehend in my not-smelling-much state. This means that you may find your cube-mates saying things like “Is someone using Lemon Pledge on their cube?” or “Jeez, someone went overboard with the bathroom spray”. Did you know
that the guys in our office don’t have a scented spray in their bathroom? Well, they don’t. We have two kinds: country rose and citrus.

Back to the meal again. If you’ve eaten all of the chicken and noodles and there seem to be some vegetables just chilling in the sauce DO NOT EAT THEM! They are swimming in a sea of ultra-lemoniness, lemon-flavor so strong that it made me wince. And I can’t smell anything!Other than that, it is a pretty good meal.

Banquet Macaroni and Cheese

May 19, 2006 | Reviewer: Amy

Price: $1.00 (on sale)
Serving: 1 meal, 12 oz.
Calories: 400
Fat: 17%, 11g
Sodium: 40%, 990mg
Carbs: 20%, 59g
Fiber: 16%, 4g
Protein: 16g

Banquet says: Macaroni and Rich Cheddar Cheese Sauce.

Amy says: I got this frozen meal because the price was right. Abi and I had stopped by Safeway to see if they had the elusive Amy’s Pesto Bowl and I stumbled onto the Banquet 10 for $10 sale. I figured that even if it was terrible and I threw it away it was only $1. The directions tell you to heat, mix and then heat again. As I took the mac and cheese out to stir it several things went through my head; these things included, but were not limited to “Gross”, “I can’t believe I am going to eat this” and “Well, I did pay a dollar for it”. While waiting for it to heat, I noticed that this product seemed to have only one ingredient, salt. It is 40% of your sodium intake for the day. Upon reading this, I said out loud to the microwave and its contents “Holy crap”. And then the microwave beeped and it was time to eat.

I must say that it still looked rather unappealing when it first came out of the microwave, but after letting it sit for the prescribed 2 minutes it was more tantalizing. The first bite tasted like nothing, but the second bite was not too shabby. Yes, the noodles were a bit soggy, but the overall flavor was pretty cheesy. It was rather filling as well. I would think twice before buying this meal again due to the sodium, but it is not too shabby for the cost. What else can you say about $1.00 macaroni and cheese? My answer to this question is nothing.

Amy’s Kitchen Shepherd Pie

May 19, 2006 | Reviewer: Abi

Price: $2.50 (on sale)
Serving: 1 pie, 8 oz.
Calories: 160
Fat: 6%, 4g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 20%, 490mg
Protein: 5g
Carbs: 9%, 27g
Fiber: 20%, 5g
WW Points: 3 Points

Non-dairy/gluten free/no cholesterol

Amy’s Kitchen says: Meatless version of a long time favorite. Organic vegetables in a nourishing broth blanketed with smooth mashed potatoes.

Abi says: This afternoon, Kate asked the following question, which has nothing to do with organic pie, but very well indicates how much Kate follows sport:

“What game are we going to tomorrow, the Pistons?”

FYI, we’re going to a Nationals game tomorrow. The Nationals are a) a baseball team in Washington, DC, and b) not a basketball team in the playoffs.

Ok, so none of that has to do with the Sheperd’s Pie I bought yesterday. Safeway was having a sale of Amy’s pies and Amy (my coworker, not the company’s namesake) and I decided to pick up a few of these tasty treats. I say that having never eaten an Amy’s Pie, though Jess seems to like the Vegetable Pot Pie and Kate enjoys the Tamale Pie.

Now, about the blurb on the box: “A long time favorite of English country folk”

Do people from the English countryside like being called that? It makes them sound like characters from Monty Python’s Search for the Holy Grail. I grew up in the country (in Oregon) and I would probably have to punch someone if they called me “American country folk”. Except I’m not a violent person, so I would probably scowl at them instead.

Amazingly, this pie does taste like something that people wearing baize and living in thatched huts would eat. It is hearty and potatoey and not really made for eating in the summer (May in DC is as hotter than July in Oregon).

Ooh, and the vegetables stay crisp but it is strange to eat garbanzo beans in a pie. So reader, please eat this pie in the winter while wearing a wooly sweater and gazing out the window at the freshly fallen snow, but don’t call people “country folk”.

P.S. The term “country folk” also reminds me of Deliverance and I’m sure that no company wants people to think about the imagery involved in that while shopping for a frozen meal.