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One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. ~Virgina Woolf

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Hungry-Man Jumbo Rigatoni with Meat Sauce

November 3, 2006 | Reviewer: Nicole

Price: $2.00 (sale at Giant)
Serving: 1 package, 1 pound
Calories: 620
Fat: 25%, 16g
Sodium: 58%, 1380mg
Protein: 28g
Carbs: 28%, 84g
Fiber: 24%, 6g

Hungry-Man says: Rigatoni Pasta with Hearty Meat Sauce Topped with Mozzarella Cheese with a Garlic Bread Stick

Nicole says: Are the rigatoni supposed to be jumbo or is the serving size of rigatoni supposed to be jumbo? The former would be a false claim, the latter would be right on. I’d say that this pasta-sauce-cheese serving is three times the size of those in Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice meals (the tray is not only wider but deeper,) and over twice the size of a Stouffer’s or Boston Market pasta serving.

This Hungry-Man meal also comes with garlic bread. We all know that microwaving bread for too long is not good. Don’t worry, you don’t add the bread to the microwave tray until the last 45 seconds of cooking. Yes, it stills turns out a bit soft and squishy, but it is palatable. I’d recommend a quick trip to the toaster oven for the garlic bread, if available.

The first thing I noticed after heating the meal was that the rigatoni around the edges was dried out and hardened. Even after stirring the cooked meal and waiting a few moments, these pieces (about 4) could not be properly revived. I still ate them in all of their chewiness. The cheese portion on top of the noodles is reasonable. I would use more cheese if I were making something like this at home, but I think we all know that I don’t MAKE any food at home. I heat it up. The sauce is tomato-ey and not too watery. The meat in the sauce actually impressed me - it is spiced with a bit of hot and a bit of sweet. Quite tasty, especially when you can tell just by taste that your meat sauce uses sausage-like meat versus plain old ground beef.

This meal tastes good and fills me up!

HeatEatReview.com in MySpace

November 2, 2006 | Reviewer: Abi Jones

Before you begin reading this entry, please check out this post from the Best of Craigslist. Don’t worry, we’ll wait for you. Back? Oh, you didn’t click on the link? Click on the link and read the social networking guidelines! Don’t worry, it is safe for work.

With those guidelines in mind, HeatEatReview.com has entered the social networking world. Yes, we have a MySpace page. Two things we have noticed:

1. Hmmm, there are some cute people in the HeatEatReview.com friend list.
2. I can’t think of a second part.
3. Oh yeah, we only have one guy friend. Hmmf.

So, check out our MySpace page and become friends with HeatEatReview.com. Really, I’d like to see who is out there, reading what we’ve been writing.

Healthy Choice Roasted Chicken

November 1, 2006 | Reviewer: Jess

Price: $3.19
Serving: 1 package, 11.4 oz.
Calories: 290
Fat: 11%, 7g
Sodium: 25%, 600mg
Protein: 16g
Carbs: 13%, 39g
Fiber: 40%, 10g
WW Points: 6 Points
Diet Exchanges: 1 Lean Meat, 1.5 Starch, 1 Carbohydrate, .5 Fruit

Healthy Choice says: Roasting brings out the flavors of our tender and lean white meat chicken. Creamy mashed potatoes and savory mushroom sauce with hints of thyme and sage, a medley of peas and carrots, and sweet peach crisp complete this satisfying meal.

Jess says: You should only eat this meal if you want to punish yourself for something bad that you did in a previous life. They should call the meal ‘Karma Chicken’. This large rock of chicken definitely has that pureed-chicken-bits-reformed-to-look-like-chicken-breast look, as in ‘disgusting’. While eating it, I had the joy of biting into one of those fat roadblocks, which I had to spit out. You know what I’m talking about. Those things are nasty.

The at times globular and at times runny gravy had two minuscule mushroom bits and very little flavor. To top off the entree, the potatoes have that grainy, paperish taste of instant potato flakes. I would be able to describe them better if there were more than two bites of them. They went by too quickly for my taste buds to make any real judgements. The peas and carrots were awesome, but I feel like peas and carrots are naturally awesome. They are really low maintenance veggies and they caused me to make this mental note: eat more peas and carrots.

I was excited that the peach cobbler had some oaty grains on the top, so I would have the joy of eating more than just the pie filling that is in most of the other Healthy Choice desserts. But while eating the “cobbler”, I found it just tasted like oaty pie filling. It was as if cereal had accidentally fallen into the pie filling can. Not much for flavor, nor desserty joy. On the plus side I now feel redeemed for my sins. Thank you Karma Chicken. It’s like I never even went to Vegas!

(I’ve confirmed that the potatoes were made from flakes. Come on Healthy Choice! You have these new commercials showing chefs making your “new packaging” meals and then you go and use potato flakes? Ew. — Abi Jones, Editor)