Smart Ones Fruit Inspirations Honey Mango Barbeque Chicken

April 22, 2008 | Reviewer: Chavi

Smart Ones Fruit Inspirations Honey Mango Barbeque Chicken Price: Free/$2.56 (on sale)
Serving: 9 oz.
Calories: 240 per serving
Fat: 5%, 3.5g
Cholesterol: 11%, 30mg
Sodium: 21%, 490mg
Protein: 9g
Carbohydrates: 11%, 34g
Fiber: 0%, 0g
Sugar: 14g
Weight Watchers Points: 5 Points

Smart Ones says: White meat chicken with diced mangoes in a honey barbeque sauce and orzo pasta

Chaviva says: Oh Smart Ones, you’ve finally done it! A Smart One I will look forward to purchasing in the future. My only two beefs on this chicken meal are that

It lacks any fiber. At all. Note zeros above.
The barbeque flavor is completely missing.

Luckily, I chose this dish because I was stoked about the idea of a mango sauce. I cooked the package in the microwave according to the instructions and after it’s few minutes of sitting idle, I dove in. I was trying to decide whether the bbq flavor was meant to be in the sauce, which essentially just looked like a mango chutney, or if it was some type of flavor cooked into the chicken. Either way, the flavor was not apparent, though there definitely was a zing and bite to the chicken and mango sauce. The orzo pasta was delicious, though I have no gauge as I’ve never had orzo pasta before. It has a slightly cheesy flavor to it, which I didn’t mind. I’m pretty sure the mix-ins were spinach and red pepper, and I dumped the orzo pasta over into the
leftover mango sauce.

I think the pro to this dish was that it wasn’t all watery like a bulk of the Smart Ones I’ve purchased. That extra watery goo just rains on my eating healthy parade, and it often turns me off from an entire brand. But this one was spot on. The mango sauce was not watery and didn’t require any mixing in with spare moisture left by the chicken. The orzo also lacked any overly liquidy content, making it just darn near perfect.

I’ll admit that I ate this dish super fast – it was that good. I could probably go for a whole additional one, but at 5 points it pretty much rings in as a good dining choice for Weight Watchers folks. I imagine that the point value would drop dramatically if there were some fiber enjoined in this fruity concoction. So I implore you, pick up this fruit creation and enjoy. And avoid those other Smart Ones (especially the Chicken Santa Fe, oy, that gets a 1 star on my radar, if even that).

Now to go find some more fruits to fill the void left by the consumed mango sauce … oh, and sorry for the poor photo quality – my small, convenient digicam is broken, so the blackberry is serving as my on-the-go camera for work photos. I can guarantee that the colors of the mango sauce and the chicken and orzo are much more appetizing and bright than this photo portrays!

[The folks at Smart Ones’ PR company sent coupons for free meals to reviewers as part of their ‘Fruit Inspirations’ promotion. Yes, we got this meal for free. Actually, Chaviva got one for free. I paid for one and until I saw this review, I was trying to figure out how I could trick George into eating it. -Ed.]

Filed Under 5 WW Points, Chicken, Five Stars, Smart Ones Reviews | 13 Comments

Wolfgang Puck All Natural Cheese Pizza

April 21, 2008 | Reviewer: Abi

Wolfgang Puck All Natural Cheese Pizza Price: $6.00 (on sale)
Serving: 1/3 pizza, 4.78 oz.
Calories: 360
Fat: 23%, 15g
Cholesterol: 12%, 35mg
Sodium: 33%, 780mg
Protein: 17g
Carbs: 13%, 39g
Fiber: 10%, 2g
Sugar: 8g
Weight Watchers Points: 8 points

Wolfgang Puck says: All natural cheese pizza with mozzarella, fontina and parmesan cheeses

Abi says: If you prefer astringent, watery chopped tomatoes to mellow, slow-cooked pizza sauce, then you’ll like Wolfgang Puck’s All Natural Cheese Pizza.

You’ll enjoy it if you adore pleasantly airy crust topped with light pink tomato water. If you’re also a cheese lover, you’ll be happy because this pizza comes topped with luscious cheese, all floating atop a lake of tart tomato juice.

I am none of those things and I do not prefer this new style of pizza. Biting in to that awful surprise, I realized that I’d have to take drastic measures. I lifted the cheese off of my pizza and scraped out the offending tomato water. This did not make it better. Instead it cooled the cheese into a single unappetizing mass. Left with little recourse, I reheated the pizza under the broiler, resliced it, and resolved to never go near this pizza again.

Filed Under 8 WW Points, Frozen Pizza Reviews, Trans Fat Free, Two Stars, Wolfgang Puck Reviews | 11 Comments

Stouffer’s Commercial from the ’80’s

April 19, 2008 | Reviewer: Abi Jones

My favorite part is when the guy gets off the phone and pumps his fists in the air. I can’t tell if he’s doing that out of excitement or agony. “Noooooo, I will not be doomed to eat Stouffer’s forever! Nooooo!”

Filed Under Videos | 10 Comments

Happy Birthday, Heat Eat Review!

April 18, 2008 | Reviewer: Abi Jones

In April Heat Eat Review turned two! Yes, we’ve been writing about frozen meals for two whole years. The image above? Well, that’s straight from the birthday card my mom sent. She reads Heat Eat Review every day. Hi mom!

I’d like to share some stats we’ve accumulated in the last year:

466
Reviews on Heat Eat Review

14.8
Percent of reviews that are Lean Cuisine Items (that’s 69, for you non-math folks)
Last year, 19.18% of all reviews on the site were Lean Cuisines

$1165
Estimated amount of money we’ve spent on review food
(We buy things that are on sale)

8
Average number of comments a review generates, up from 4.125 last year

67
Number of comments on Jess’s review of Kashi’s Sweet and Sour Chicken

119,806
Spam comments blocked by Akismet
This year Heat Eat Review received 5 times as much spam as last year

36
Number of Review Contributors
You can become a contributor, too.

I’d also like to share some new and upcoming features:

Dedicated frozen pizza reviews section
That’s right, we have a category just for Frozen Pizza Reviews. I’m more than a bit ashamed that we don’t have more pizza on Heat Eat Review, so one one my goals for the site is to eat more pizza. I know, my life is so hard.
Ability to view all ’sponsored’ reviews
I’d like to improve transparency at Heat Eat Review, so I’m going to create a category for all of the reviews involving food sent to us by companies. This should give you an easy way to see if we’re serious about ethics or if we are just a bunch of corporate hacks.
Gravatars (Globally Recognized Avatars)
Coming soon: Gravatars at Heat Eat Review, meaning that you’ll have a little picture appear next to your comments. The picture is connected to the email address you enter via a Gravatar account. If you don’t have a Gravatar, get one at the Gravatar website.
Video Reviews, now without annoying laptop fan noise.
The next video review will go up on Friday, April 25th. Yes, I got a microphone. Yes, I found Lunchables Tacos. Yes, they are gross. No, I’m not going to tell you anything else about it until the review goes up.

Thanks for reading Heat Eat Review! I look forward to seeing what Year Three brings!

Filed Under Announcements | 17 Comments