Seeds of Change Vegetarian Chicken Teriyaki

June 30, 2006 | Reviewer: Abi

Seeds of Change Vegetarian Chicken Teriyaki
Price: $3.99
Serving: 1 tray, 10 oz.
Calories: 200
Fat: 5%, 3.5g
Sodium: 32%, 770mg
Protein: 19g
Carbs: 16%, 47g
Fiber: 16%, 4g

Seeds of Change says: Our friends in the islands, devoted organic gardeners all, tell us the secret to great teriyaki is pineapple juice. Organic pineapples lend their sweet juice to this teriyaki sauce of brown sugar, ginger, garlic and tamari. Chunks of soy chick’n join a medley of green beans, bell pepper, carrots and onion, liberally bathed in teriyaki and laid on a bed of flat noodles. Onolicious.

Abi says: If not for the random dried milk in here, this meal could be consumed by vegans. Too bad for you vegans, because this is a pretty good frozen meal. Sure, it is lacking zip and zing, but I added some myself in the form of crushed red pepper flakes and a sprinkling of garlic salt.

I was going to write something funny, but then Kate and I started having a discussion about ranking the best meat-free frozen meals. I think this meal would go on my top ten list. It would look something like this:

Amy’s Kitchen Pesto Tortellini Bowl
Morningstar Mini Corndogs
Trader Joe’s Jaipur Vegetables and Garlic Naan
note: must have toaster oven for full awesomeness
Green Guru Paneer Tikka Masala
Amy’s Kitchen Cheese Enchilada Meal
Seeds of Change Vegetarian Chicken Teriyaki
Green Guru Vegetable Pad Thai (with tofu)

Yes, there are only seven items in that list. I guess I will have to try more items so that I can add to my list of the best of the best.

Does the organic pineapple juice make a difference? Maybe, maybe not. Upon reading the ingredient label, I noticed that there is more apple juice than pineapple juice in this product. Man, apple juice is being slighted by Seeds of Change. They’re all about pineapple promotion, from the pull quote to the huge picture of a pineapple on the back of the box. Fortunately, I adore teriyaki sauce regardless of which fruit carries the load. Problems? I wish that they made this meal with real chicken. Soy chick’n is ok, but I don’t enjoy apostrophes quite as much as I enjoy real meat. Yes, I like to eat animals. There, I’ve said it. Er, wrote it.

What I mean to say is that the fake meat in this meal isn’t doing the job texture-wise. It was alternately hard or really mushy. I don’t accept that level of randomness in the texture of an actual animal, so why should I accept it in the form of a soy product made by humans. Hmmmm?

Overall, this was a good choice. The Seeds of Change brand is a little spendy, but it is also Organic, (plus 5 points) so I feel good about eating the meal. Also, the box and tray are made of biodegradable paper (plus 5 more points!). My karma points are pretty high. Except that I like eating animals. Minus 10 points. I think that puts me at even.

Filed Under Four Stars, Seeds of Change Reviews, Vegetarian | 3 Comments

Banquet Chicken Fried Beef Steak Meal

June 28, 2006 | Reviewer: Nicole

Banquet Chicken Fried Beef Steak Meal
Price: $1.00 (sale)
Serving: 1 meal, 10 oz.
Calories: 380
Fat: 28%, 18g
Sodium: 40%, 980mg
Protein: 14g
Carbs: 14%, 41g
Fiber: 20%, 5g
Diet Exchanges: 2.5 Starch, 1 Medium Fat Meat, 4 Fat

Banquet says: Country style gravy and chicken fried beef steak (chopped and formed) with mashed potatoes and corn

Nicole says: In interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that one of my favorite breakfast meals happens to be biscuits and gravy. I am happy to eat my biscuits and gravy at any IHOP or at the New Transit Truck Stop or Honey Bee Diner in my hometown. This predilection weighs heavily on this review.

I was NOT excited about eating this for lunch. As far as I know, I had never tasted “Chicken Fried Steak” and didn’t think it sounded particularly appetizing. “Chopped and formed” on the box didn’t help. My apprehension grew when I removed the meal from the microwave after following cooking instructions to a tee (the minimum recommended times) and saw that the gravy had burned the plastic film covering the meal. Upon removing the film, I saw that more gravy had burned at the bottom corner of the meat section. That’s just not right, man.

These potatoes were a bit less buttery than is standard for Banquet, which I think is kind of a shame but probably good for my health; they are also creamier than I am accustomed to (from Banquet.) Not bad at all. The corn was moister than that of the Salisbury Steak Meal, for some reason-strange. It tasted just fine. Isn’t it a shame these meals don’t have creamed corn?

All of my fears about “Chicken Fried Steak” have been assuaged by this meal. Yes, the processing of the “steak” is a bit disturbing and ensures that the texture doesn’t remotely resemble a “steak”, but the coated ground beef patty tastes fine. I expected the patty to cook up a little crispy at least, but alas, the breading is rather soggy. The gravy is both creamy and oily, with a generous sprinkle of large pepper grains for zing. This meal is tasty enough that I could definitely eat it once a week. Especially for one dollar.

Thank you, Banquet, for proving yet again that all that’s required to make a meal tasty is keeping within the range of one-third of my Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of fat and approaching one-half RDA of sodium.

I licked the remaining un-burnt gravy out of the meat section.

Filed Under Banquet Frozen Meal Reviews, Beef, Four Stars | 12 Comments

Healthy Choice Cheese French Bread Pizza

June 26, 2006 | Reviewer: Abi

Healthy Choice Cheese French Bread Pizza in Box

Price: $2.00
Serving: 1 pizza, 6 oz.
Calories: 360
Fat: 8%, 5g
Sodium: 25%, 600mg
Protein: 20g
Carbs: 19%, 57g
Fiber: 20%, 5g
Diet Exchanges: 1 Lean Meat, 3 1/2 Starch
WW Points: 7 Points

Healthy Choice says: We spread a slice of crusty French bread with rich and tasty tomato sauce then top it generously with mozzarella cheese. The result is a great
tasting meal that is also low fat.

Abi says: I got home late from class (10:45pm) last night and really needed something to eat. Unfortunately, George had consumed all of the leftover pizza from the weekend. I ~~would have liked some~~ craved pizza.

After standing before the open freezer for a few minutes (something I would not have been allowed to do as a kid but am now free to do because I pay my own bills) I realized that the best looking pizza in our freezer was also enormous. It was a huge, brick oven something or other. It looked marvelous, but all I wanted was a slice. So, I looked through my freezer for other pizza options. I had a DiGiorno rising crust microwavable pepperoni pizza. I had a Smart Ones microwavable cheese pizza. I had a Healthy Choice French Bread Pizza. No Red Baron. Sigh.

Healthy Choice Cheese French Bread Pizza

Ok, I’m not sure why I even had to explain my pizza choices there. You already know what kind of pizza I ate, the picture is right there: I’ve got a title up and everything. How was the Healthy Choice French Bread pizza? Bleh.

Yes, it was ‘bleh’.

The crust didn’t get crispy, just hard, and the cheese was an insult to the good name of mozzarellas everywhere. The sauce slammed my tastebuds with loads of High Fructose Corn Syrup. Seriously, I’m not one to knock the wonders of corn, but this was too much of a good thing. Or, depending on your viewpoint, too much of a bad thing.

I’d really like to say that I enjoyed this, as it goes on sale quite often. But I cannot in good conscience recommend that you buy this product.

Filed Under 7 WW Points, Frozen Pizza Reviews, Healthy Choice Reviews, Two Stars, Vegetarian | 12 Comments

Banquet Turkey Meal

June 23, 2006 | Reviewer: Nicole

Banquet Turkey Meal Price: $1.00 (sale)
Serving: 1 package, 9.25 oz.
Calories: 230
Fat: 9%, 6g
Sodium: 42%, 990mg
Protein: 15g
Carbs: 10%, 30g
Fiber: 20%, 5g

Banquet says: Turkey (Mostly White Meat) and Gravey with Dressing, Mashed Potatoes and Peas

Nicole says: This will likely surprise those of you who know me: I was a REALLY picky eater as a child. This won’t surprise those who know that Salisbury steak and fish sticks remind me of my childhood: I was a hot lunch kid. I was not nearly as picky about hot lunches as I was about how I ate at home (sugar only). Hot lunch favorites included: festive holiday fare offerings of turkey with gravy, stuffing, and mashed potatoes; “Mexican pizza,” which looked disusting but was quite tasty (though I believe it was hexagonal); and steak subs (think Steak-Umms - with a sesame sub roll!)

Banquet’s Turkey Meal pales in comparison to the Anne Arundel county public school hot lunch version, but we are discussing a $1.00 meal. The only time hot lunch was cheaper than Banquet’s sale meals was 1986-1988, when I would hoard the dime change each day to save for a popsicle by the end of the week. Banquet’s first mistake is including the green peas instead of a nice, buttery golden corn side. I never liked peas, I refused to eat them as a child. I still don’t like them, but I do not refuse them now. But that doesn’t mean I’m happy to be eating them - I believe that all peas should be reserved for Mendelian experimentation. The readers will know I am the freak that LOVES Banquets mashed potatoes, another side on this meal - don’t knock it ’til you try it. Mashed potatoes are one of those things that your higher power made for the microwave. Creamy, buttery, starchy. The turkey has a lunch-meat like texture, and is not much thicker. The stuffing joins the turkey in a gravy marsh. Always a disappointment: the portion is very small and comes out of the microwave a bit dry. All of the gravy is required to soften it up. This means no gravy for your potatoes.

I will eat Banquet’s Turkey Meal again - come on, it’s one dollar! I’m not just a non-profit worker, but a college student! This is definitely superior to “Beef” flavored ramen. The portion, though, is small. I am looking forward to the day that Hell freezes over and Hungry Man meals go on sale.

Filed Under Banquet Frozen Meal Reviews, Turkey, Two Stars | 9 Comments