Smart Ones Three Cheese Ziti Marinara

March 19, 2009 | Reviewer: Guest Reviewers

Smart Ones Three Cheese Ziti Marinara Price: $1.99 (on sale)
Serving: 9.0 oz.
Calories: 320 per serving
Fat: 12%, 8g
Cholesterol: 4%, 10mg
Sodium: 25%, 590mg
Protein: 14g
Carbohydrates: 16%, 47g
Fiber: 15%, 4g
Sugar: 2g
Weight Watchers Points: 6 points

Smart Ones says: Ziti pasta in a delicious marinara sauce topped with mozzarella, monterey jack and parmesan cheeses.

Tara says: I’m Italian, so I love pasta. One would think that I would avoid any pasta that comes prepared in a box, as any other sane Italian might do. Not me, I love a challenge, and furthermore I love cheese. And what is better than one type of cheese on your pasta? Obviously multiple types of cheese. In this meal, Smart Ones provides me with three different kinds, which is great, but fifteen would have been better.

The cooking instructions, as with most Smart Ones meals, were quite simple. I heated up my lunch in the microwave at work and probably overcooked it because that microwave is on crack. I am probably going to get cancer from standing so close to it every day, or maybe I’ll just get super powers. Or grow a new body part. Either of these things would be pretty cool, and maybe I could even get workman’s comp or something.

The first thing I noticed upon peeling back the film cover was that my meal looked nothing like the picture on the box. I know, I know, only a mentally challenged individual would actually expect something like that (don’t hate me PC freaks – turn your vengeance back on Tropic Thunder!), but I wanted to peel back that film and see mountains of cheesy goodness melted perfectly atop my ziti. Suffice it to say, I was disappointed.

While the cheesy goodness was not visible to the naked eye, it was perceptible to the palate. There was definitely a nice cheese flavor present (just one cheese flavor, not 3 as promised on the box), but it did have a bit of a chewy texture. At some points I would get a large bite of cheese and it felt like I was chewing cheese flavored gum (Why has no one invented that yet? I’m a marketing genius).

The pasta was cooked fairly well for being microwaved. It was a bit overcooked for me, but I am really all about al dente pasta. The other thing I liked about the pasta was that it was easily stabbable with a fork. I believe that the main reason for this was that when the cheese melted, it fused several pieces of ziti together into clumps that resembled a stack of logs. I liked this clumping a lot because I had to spend little effort stabbing, and the less time I spend stabbing, the faster the food makes it to my mouth.

The sauce is nice and thick and clings well to the pasta. It has a bit of a sweet flavoring, but you can also taste the Italian spices. I also noticed that there were a lot of black specs in my food, so I am continuing to tell myself that it is the spices, and not something more menacing. The sauce contained small chunks of tomato and also what I believe was onion. The final thing that I will note about the sauce is that it is a bit salty. Eating this dish made me very thirsty, so I had to drink a lot of water, which will result in me having to pee a lot today. That sucks, because there are some nasty chicks where I work and sometimes the bathroom is a little funky.

In all, I would actually eat this again. Good job Smart Ones, you have just proven to me that you don’t completely suck after all.

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comments

8 Responses to “Smart Ones Three Cheese Ziti Marinara”

norby on March 25th, 2009

I am an extremely picky frozen food eater, but this is one frozen food dish that I am willing to eat repeatedly. I have found though that if you have the time, like all things, it is slightly better if prepared in the oven. In any case, it’s one frozen food I enjoy and can eat without feeling like I’m completely ruining my diet.
MaryAnne on March 26th, 2009

While this review made it sound delicious, this costs pennies to make on your own AND you could use whole wheat pasta and fresh herbs!
Meredith on March 27th, 2009

This is one of my favorite Smart Ones meals. (I’m a vegetarian, so my options are limited.) The cheese is consistently tasty and the tomato sauce is good. (I normally loathe tomato sauce…had to quit Nutrisystem because their stuff was covered in nasty tomato sauce.) And while it may be cheap to make on your own, it’s not going to be as convenient or as low-calorie. Smart Ones meals aren’t trying to be delicious…they’re trying to be healthy. They can’t make the portions TOO tiny or there would be no food, so they use lower calorie items. Lower calorie cheese is not as good as regular cheese, of course.

I really like this one. In fact, I usually pick up at least 2 when doing my grocery shopping.
Jamie on March 28th, 2009

I normally quite enjoy Smart Ones frozen meals…. but not this one.
The texture of the noodles was surprisingly not horrible.
I did find it kinda bland though. I will not be purchasing this entree again.
Samantha on March 30th, 2009

The Michelina’s budget gourmet is extremely comparable to this meal, and generally a lot less expensive (a dollar each instead of 2 or 3 for 6 dollars at my market). Apparently it’s a bit less food (I can’t tell the difference though, it’s probably the difference of 2 or 3 ziti pieces) and there’s not quite as much cheese, but I just add Parmesan cheese on top and I can’t tell the difference.
kathee672 on May 11th, 2009

One of my favorite Smart Ones. Really great flavor, a lot of noodles and tasty cheese. Yummy!
Lorri on August 12th, 2009

I’m not a huge Smart Ones fan (more of an LC fan really) but this is my favorite Smart Ones meal…love the cheesiness.
dianna on February 5th, 2010

i love this meal. especially with mama lucia frozen meatballs (8 meatballs for 5 pts.)