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I don't even butter my bread; I consider that cooking. ~Katherine Cebrian

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Lean Cuisine Three Cheese Stuffed Rigatoni

July 10, 2006 | Reviewer: Guest Reviewers

As someone who is on Weight Watchers, I put a lot of thought (read: A LOT OF THOUGHT) into my food choices. Points dominate my daily existence so I am always looking for maximum satisfaction for minimum points…

Price: $2.25 (on sale 4 for $9 at Harris Teeter)
Calories: 240
Fat: 9%, 6g
Fiber: 16%, 4g
Sodium: 26%, 660mg
WW Points: 4 or 5*

*I’m counting it as 5 WW points but the box says 4…more later

Lean Cuisine says:Stuffed rigatoni pasta filled with a creamy blend of ricotta, romano and mozzerella cheeses tossed with orange and yellow carrots, zucchini and red peppers in a fire roasted tomato sauce with accents of oregano and basil.

Gwen says: As someone who is on Weight Watchers, I put a lot of thought (read: A LOT OF THOUGHT) into my food choices. Points dominate my daily existence so I am always looking for maximum satisfaction for minimum points. This can be a hard find with many frozen meals, but I think I’ve found a winner with Lean Cuisine’s Three Cheese Stuffed Rigatoni bowl. First, I’ve never heard of a yellow carrot: I thought they were yellow peppers until I read the box. Regardless of that vegetable image discrepancy they tasted great and on a whole, the vegetable to bowl ratio was impressive. There were a great deal of carrots and peppers, a little less zucchini but still a happy serving. They weren’t mushy and didn’t taste like they were picked ages ago. These veggies maintained some enjoyably fresh crispness. Sometimes frozen meal vegetables become lost in the sauce, but that was not the case with this meal. I couldn’t pick out the special fire roasted taste of the sauce, but it served its purpose in the meal. The stuffed rigatoni, which was essentially ravioli, was plentiful (for a microwave lunch bowl) and the three cheese blend inside each rigatoni was not soggy or waterlogged but tasty, I could even differentiate between the three cheeses. Overall I am very pleased with this meal choice and will continue to throw it into the meal rotation (this is my second time eating the meal and it was equally satisfying last time.)

A note to WW participants: Lean Cuisine includes information for the Weight Watchers Winning Points program on their boxes, however that is not the current program being marketed at Weight Watcher meetings or online. Now the program is called TurnAround Points. I don’t know if it really changed anything, but according to my points finder slide, this meal is on the line between 4 and 5 points, so I go up for the sake of a little overestimating is better than underestimating. But still, for 5 points for a filling frozen meal, I am happy.

Marie Callender’s Homestyle BBQ Chicken

July 7, 2006 | Reviewer: Abi

“While Marie’s statements are true, I also take exception to her meal. First though, I will explain the excellence of the chicken…”

Price: $2.00 (on sale)
Serving: 1 meal, 14.75 oz.
Calories: 590
Fat: 43%, 28g
Sodium: 48%, 1140mg
Protein: 38g
Carbs: 15%, 44g
Fiber: 24%, 6g

Marie says: At Marie Callender’s, our slow-roasted, juicy chicken is topped with a tangy BBQ sauce and served with a homestyle cheesy potato bake and sweet corn on the cob.

Abi says: While Marie’s statements are true, I also take exception to her meal. First though, I will explain the excellence of the chicken. It was a real piece of chicken that wasn’t minced and reformed! I could see and feel the grain of poultry muscle. I know that probably sounds gross, but it was a deliciously welcome change from the cubed chicken that appears in other meals.

Even though the barbecue sauce carried a hint of tang (nice!), I wasn’t completely happy with its performance. It required a separate container for heating, which is a complete pain in the booty. The point of the meal is convenience, not figuring out how many other things you’ll have to get dirty because they’re not just putting the sauce in there with the chicken. Yeah, it probably turned out better this way, but the sauce packet separateness is the reason Marie Callender’s Chicken Parmigiana has been sitting in my freezer for months.

The homestyle cheesy potato bake is the nutritional downfall of this meal. It contains a variety of cheese products, including American cheese. I would have preferred mashed potatoes. Even better would have been potato salad with a viniagrette dressing (rather than mayo). That would have been a great counter-point to the sweet corn. Maybe it could come
in a little detachable container and there could be a freezer pack of flash-frozen fresh herbs too. Yum.

Ok, back to reality and the corn. The corn was delicious. I believe that it was cooked in a vat of butter. Ooooh, butter. This meal is insanely full of fat, which is probably why it tasted pretty good. Pick it up on sale (just $2.00!) and you won’t be sad. You won’t be healthy either, but that’s a choice you’ll just have to make.

Lean Cuisine Dinnertime Selects Chicken Florentine

July 6, 2006 | Reviewer: Abi

“I’m generally wary of meals in cheese sauce. That’s probably why I’ve avoided most of the Hungryman line; they seem to drench everything in a nacho cheese sauce…”

Price: $2.00 (good sale at Safeway)
Serving: 1 package, 13.25 oz.
Calories: 390
Fat: 13%, 8g
Sodium: 35%, 840mg
Protein: 23g
Carbs: 19%, 56g
Fiber: 28%, 7g
WW Points: 8 Winning Points
Diet Exchanges: 2 Lean Meat, 3 Starch, 1 vegetable, 1/2 Fat

Lean Cuisine says: Roasted chicken tenderloins and rotini pasta in a Swiss and Parmesan cheese sauce accented with sherry, spinach, carrots and red pepper.

Abi says: I work full time and I’m a graduate student. This means that I’m always on the lookout for easy, delicious, and filling meals. Oh Lord, those last sentences sounded like the beginning of a paid advertisement. I should state right now that I purchased this meal myself at Safeway (on sale, of course) and I am in no way compensated for this review by Lean Cuisine or their parent company, Stouffer’s.

I’m generally wary of meals in cheese sauce. That’s probably why I’ve avoided most of the Hungryman line; they seem to drench everything in a nacho cheese sauce. Don’t get me
wrong, I love nacho cheese. On nachos. Specifically as something to dip tortilla chips in. I do not enjoy nacho cheese on tacos, potatoes, or french fries. Fortunately, Lean Cuisine’s swiss and parmesan cheese sauce resembles butter more than cheese. Not that I’m advocating the consumption of straight-up butter, but it was a much better sauce than expected.

Combine that better-than-expected (no, I did not detect an accent of sherry) sauce with the fun shape of rotini, and you’ve got…well, you’ve got pasta and sauce. There were only five cubes of chicken in this dish and 10 coins of mushy carrot.

I probably won’t buy this meal again, but if I was in the office alone and really hungry, then maybe I would steal someone else’s box of Lean Cuisine Dinnertime Selects Chicken Florentine.

If only it came with a dessert.

Red Baron Deep Dish Single Cheese Pizza

July 5, 2006 | Reviewer: Guest Reviewers

As a lover of pepperoni and sausage it’s not clear why I had a plain cheese pizza in the freezer. Unfortunately, few palatable alternatives existed and cooking a hot meal for one person seemed laborious.

Price: $2.50 (sale, of course)
Serving: 1 pizza, 6 oz.
Calories: 410
Fat: 27%, 18g
Sodium: 34%, 830mg
Protein: 18g
Carbs: 15%, 45g
Fiber: 10%, 2g

Red Baron says: Now you can get the delicious, premium quality taste of Red Baron from our Deep Dish Singles®. Try all of our varieties: Four Cheese, Special Deluxe, Sausage, Pepperoni, Supreme, Meat Trio, and Vegetable Supreme. They are great as a snack or as a quick meal on the go.

George says: As a lover of pepperoni and sausage it’s not clear why I had a plain cheese pizza in the freezer. Unfortunately, few palatable alternatives existed and cooking a hot meal for one person seemed laborious. A Red Baron Deep Dish Single makes a satisfying small lunch or large snack. Reminiscent of pizzas served at middle school cafeterias throughout the U.S., this thicker, more substantial cousin is characterized by plain sauce but tasty cheese. The silver-coated microwave trays ensure that the crust is crisp and help to melt the cheese at the center of the pizza - the ultimate challenge for any microwaveable pie. Even so, the cheese that oozed over the edges of the pizza became hardened relative to the soupy core. By nature, a deep dish pizza remains hot for quite some time, so it advisable to let it cool for several minutes before consuming (as my burnt taste buds can attest). Overall I was pleased with the substantial amount of cheese, a frequent shortcoming of frozen pizzas, and despite the absence of toppings it is a very good value.

As I enjoyed the last few bites of my pizza, Abi approached me with a cold stare. I knew immediately the sin of which I was guilty and the heavy price I would pay. Since the onset of HeatEatReview, our freezer has been transformed from a home for ice cream and ice cubes to a Mecca of frozen meals. Like a serf picking from the lord’s garden, I had unwittingly eaten Abi’s food and have been indentured to write this review.

Other pizza reviews:
Healthy Choice Cheese French Bread Pizza;
South Beach Four Cheese Pizza;
Lean Cuisine Margherita Pizza;
DiGiorno Microwave Rising Crust Supreme Pizza;
Safeway Mediterranean Mini Bistro Pizzas;
Healthy Choice Supreme French Bread Pizza; and
Ellio’s Cheese Pizza.