Healthy Choice Mushroom Roasted Beef

June 29, 2007 | Reviewer: Adina

Price: $2.50
Serving: 1 meal, 11.4 oz.
Calories: 330
Fat: 11%, 7g
Cholesterol: 20%, 60mg
Sodium: 23%, 550mg
Protein: 21g
Carbs: 14%, 42g
Fiber: 16%, 4g
WW Points: 6 Points

Healthy Choice says: Seasoned beef strips are tossed with creamy herb gravy and twisted egg noodles, and served with green beans, carrots, and a tart cherry crisp dessert to complete this satisfying meal.

Adina says: Guess where this meal is right now. That’s right, THE TRASH. I have never rated anything I have eaten a zero because ultimately, eating crappy food is better than not eating. But this made me realize that I was wrong. I was so wrong. Every bite of mushroom beef made me regret living. Because living meant I was still eating this meal.

The beef was tough. It was flavorless. It was ugly. It was your junior prom date that wore Birkenstocks to the dance and sat all night talking about shooting squirrels with a beebee gun and didn’t even notice that you stuffed extra socks into your bra just for him. The noodles were manageable, but every time I ate a noodle (one of seven provided), it reminded me that I would have to eat another piece of beef if I wanted to make it through the day. The sauce was absolutely the most boring thing that I put in my mouth, and I’ve put a lot of boring things in my mouth, if you know what I’m saying.

I didn’t even make it to the greens or cherry crisp, I was so set on throwing this meal away and finding other, less soul crushing food to eat. Seriously. I hated this meal with all my heart.

If you have two dollars to spend on lunch, do not spend it on this meal. Spend it on a candy bar. Or bottled water. Or just donate it to a homeless person and eat grass. Any three of these options will provide you will a more fulfilling lunch than this Healthy Choice Meal.

Filed Under 6 WW Points, Beef, Healthy Choice Reviews, Zero Stars | 10 Comments

Stouffer’s Country Fried Beef Steak

June 27, 2007 | Reviewer: Nicole

Stouffer's Country Fried Beef Steak Price: $2.00 (on sale)
Serving: 1 package, 16 oz.
Calories: 610
Fat: 51%, 33g
Cholesterol: 13%, 40mg
Sodium: 55%, 1330mg
Protein: 22g
Carbohydrates: 18%, 55g
Fiber: 24%, 6g

Stouffer’s says: A large, breaded chopped beef patty surrounded by homestyle country gravy. Served with a green bean and carrot medley and a satisfying portion of Stouffer’s creamy mashed potatoes.

Nicole says: This box of Stouffer’s Country Fried Beef Steak had been sitting in my freezer for the past few weeks. Well, since the Stouffer’s sale at Giant. I was waiting to be “in the mood” to eat it. A comfort-food type mood. But what actually put me there is the fact that I’m dating a man enamored of the Food Network, especially of the hokey “Good Eats” with Alton Brown.

The other night, a Good Eats re-run (Cubing a Round) told me all I ever needed to know about some of my favorite meals. It was about cube steak. Apparently, “Salisbury Steak,” “Chicken Friend Steak,” and “Country Fried Steak” all fall under this category, as does something called “Swedish Steak.” They are “perforated” steaks. I learned so much more than I can impart here - you will have to keep an eye out for the program. After watching, I really wanted a Country or Chicken Fried Steak. I mean, I love a decent filet, but a steak that is tenderized, floured/breaded, fried, and served with gravy? Ahhhh….

Stouffer’s offering is paired with mashed potatoes, carrots, and green beans. The cooking is overly complicated, but I guess the variety in the meal is the culprit. Add water to veggies. Cook 4 minutes. Stir potatoes. Cook 4 minutes. No, not the most complicated thing ever, but more than is generally expected of convenience food.

The gravy portion looks a bit miserly, but the steak is of a decent size (about 3″ x 4″ and 3/4″ thick) and the potato portion is generous. There are also a ton of steamed carrots and green beans. The carrot slices are soft but not mushy, the green beans maintain just an iota of crispness. There really are a lot of vegetables in this meal, perhaps more than I eat in an average day. Too bad they’re of middling microwave quality.

The point of this whole meal, cube steak, should be so tender that a knife is not required. The “perforation” and slow cooking destroys all connective tissue. This doesn’t work the best ever, however, when you are using a plastic fork. I’m surprised I didn’t break any tines off in my microwaved steak. The breading was soggy, but it was going to get that way anyhow once I slathered on the creamy, peppery gravy. The steak is not as tender as I would like, but has a nice flavor. The flavor would be meaty. Too bad that I could tell that some connective tissue remained. Stouffer’s, listen to Mr. Brown and get this 48 blade meat tenderizer.

This is a nice, big, tasty lunch, but I’ve had better Country and Chicken Fried Steak from the microwave. Get Marie Callender’s offering if you’re unconcerned about price. Or get a 48-blade meat tenderizer and go to work at home. Invite me over for dinner. Stouffer’s is a poor man’s cube steak that I would recommend on sale only. Not that I wasn’t licking the gravy from the carton. But that’s just how I roll.

[We haven’t yet reviewed Marie’s Country Fried Steak, but if you’re interested in other breaded and fried and then microwaved items, check out Nicole’s review of Marie Callender’s Country Fried Chicken and Gravy. -Ed.]

Filed Under Beef, Stouffer's Frozen Meal Reviews, Three Stars | 3 Comments

Freschetta Brick Oven Classic Supreme Pizza

June 25, 2007 | Reviewer: Abi

Freschetta Brick Oven Classic Supreme Pizza
Price: $2.50 (two pizzas) (sale)
Serving: 1/2 pizza, 3.4 oz.
Calories: 220
Fat: 14%, 9g
Sodium: 22%, 520mg
Protein: 9g
Carbohydrates: 8%, 25g
Fiber: 8%, 2g

Freschetta says: Our Classic Supreme pizza features large cut roasted peppers that are intense in flavor. The special grind of the sausage meat, along with the spice blend carries greater flavor and perfectly balances the pepperoni. The marinara sauce is a bit more delicate so as not to overpower the toppings.

Abi says: Read the description above again. That is a pretty fancy way of talking about a frozen pizza. Delicate marinara? Specially ground sausage meat? You’ve got to be kidding me. Those are Wolfgang Puck sorts of adjectives, not something I should expect from a frozen pizza line (though yes, I understand Mr. Puck has a frozen pizza line. I have not tried it yet for two reasons: 1) ‘Uncured’ pepperoni gives me the heebie-jeebies, and 2) I have not yet seen it on sale).

Fortunately for all of us frozen pizza consumers, Freschetta is dead serious about making delicious and inexpensive (when on sale) frozen pizza without the aid of fancy-named chefs. These pizzas are approximately the size of ‘Personal Pizzas’ you’d find at a place like Pizza Hut, yet they’re considerably less caloriffic (440 for the whole, filling pizza). No, they aren’t diet food, but they’re a lot better for you than chowing down on a pint of New York Super Fudge Chunk (1240 calories).

Some food chemist (pizza designer?) went to unbelievable lengths to ensure that the ratio of crust to sauce to cheese to toppings was perfect in every way. The crust crisps up nicely in the oven, the sauce avoids bland-paste-neverland, and the cheese actually covers the entire pizza! Miracle of miracles!

Now, these pizzas aren’t complete perfection. They’re expensive. By expensive I mean that the regular price is $5.00 for the two small pizzas. So perhaps the pizzas are not expensive and I’m actually quite cheap. Whatever the reality, I only buy these when they’re on sale.

Now that I’ve written this review I realize that even at full price, these well-proportioned little gems are worth $2.50 each. I dare you to not like this flavorful medley of peppers, sausage, and pepperoni. I may be upping my pizza consumption once it stops being 90 degrees every day here in DC. My oven has been one lonely appliance lately.

I know, there’s not a picture of the pizza. I totally forgot to take one until after I’d already consumed the pizza. The next time I have one I will amend this review with an image of the pizza. For now you will have to be satisfied with my explanation that the actual pizza is startlingly similar to the photo on the box.

Filed Under Five Stars, Freschetta Pizza Reviews, Frozen Pizza Reviews | 16 Comments

Lean Cuisine Chicken in Peanut Sauce 3

June 22, 2007 | Reviewer: Rebecca

Lean Cuisine Chicken in Peanut Sauce

Price: $3.29
Serving: 1 tray, 10 oz.
Calories: 280
Fat: 11%, 8g
Sodium: 26%, 680mg
Protein: 22g
Carbohydrates: 9%, 30g
Fiber: 12%, 3g
Points: 6 Weight Watchers 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

Rebecca says: If I have learned anything from my forays into the frozen food realm, it is that you cannot expect frozen food to actually match anything you might find in the outside world. Things that are made in small plastic containers to be reheated weeks or months later are unlikely to taste like anything that one could buy at the Thai restaurant across the street. I should have not associated my “Chicken in Peanut Sauce” by Lean Cuisine with my “Chicken Peanut Sauce” that I sometimes have for lunch from across the street.

By the two major markers (chicken and peanut sauce), my Spa Cuisine most definitely loses. The chicken were tender to the extreme— in other instances I might say “the chicken was so tender it fell off the bone” but here it was kind of strange. Perhaps the chicken had spent too much time stewing in the sauce—the miles and miles of sauce. The saucy was watery and both diluted the flavor and caused splatters all over my desk.

The chicken seemed especially tender in comparison to the crispy water chestnuts and snap peas—they stood up to the sauce and maintained their firmness (apparently there were carrots too but I have no recollection of them). But snap peas and water chestnuts do not make up for bland, watery peanut sauce.

Speaking of carrots, I did a little snooping on the side of my box to find out where carrots were in the chain of command and discovered that the second ingredient in this dish is….wait for it…skim milk. Yes, skim milk. Not chicken, not peanuts/peanut butter, skim milk. Do skim milk and peanut butter even go together? No wonder the sauce was so watery and bland—it was milk.

I have spent the last few minutes trying to convince myself that it has merits in terms of money (4 for $10 is much less than the restaurant charges) and convenience but the Thai place is pretty speedy and would get my order only a couple minutes after this 8-minutes-at-50% dish is ready.

If, however, you do not know of the chicken/peanut dish from across the street, you might find this mighty delicious but if so, do not ever order said dish from a Thai restaurant. It will ruin this Lean Cuisine dish for you.

[Yes, this is the third review of Lean Cuisine’s Chicken in Peanut Sauce. For other opinions, read Jess’s take on the meal (one of my favorite reviews) and my own dismal experience. - Ed.]

Filed Under 6 WW Points, Chicken, Lean Cuisine Reviews, Two Stars | 9 Comments