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No man in the world has more courage than the man who can stop after eating one peanut. ~Channing Pollock

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Trader Joe’s Fondue

May 29, 2009 | Reviewer: Abi

Price: $4.99
Serving: 1/4 cup, 2oz
Servings per package: About 7
Calories: 130 per serving
 Calories from Fat: 90
Fat: 10%, 7g
 Saturated Fat: 14%, 3g
 Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 5%, 14mg
Sodium: 17%, 410mg
Protein: 8g
Carbohydrates: 10%, 30g
Fiber: 7%, 2g
Sugar: 1g
Weight Watchers Points: 10 Points

Trader Joe’s: Fondue? Or fon-don’t? If prep time and the possibility of complicated ingredient pairings are stopping you from enjoying this quintessential continental creation, the answer is a resounding fon-sure!

Trader Joe’s Fondue is a savory blend of Swiss Emmental and Gruyere cheeses that’s just about perfect with baguette slices or fresh fruits & veggies. Really, though, if you’re not in a fondue mood, you can use this easy-to-prepare cheese blend to make au gratin potatoes, souffles, even quesadillas! However you enjoy it, you’ll agree… it’s fon-tastic!

Abi says: Starting with a maximum of five stars and working our way down from there, I have these thoughts for you on fondue:

a) Typing up this review made me hate Trader Joe’s super-long on-the-box product statements. And puns. At first it seems really cute, but after awhile I just think “Come on Trader Joe’s, ‘fon-sure’? Really?” -1

b) Fondue is sort of gross if you think about it too much. It is cheese and booze and spices, heated, then consumed with bread and vegetables. And while sometimes fondue is incredibly appetizing, there are other times where all I can think is ‘this is what it would look like if I ate a bunch of cheese and drank some wine, and then puked.’ -1

c) Cheeeeese. But oh my goodness, I do adore cheese. And this is a way to justify eating cheese for dinner. +1 for Fondue.

d) Cheese is not a sexy dinner. A couple of years ago my partner and I went out for fondue for Valentine’s day and then we saw a movie and then we went home and passed out on the couch. Why? Because once you start eating fondue you cannot stop eating it! It is just dip, that’s all. And really, who can stop eating things that involve dip? Before you know it, you are a significant other are roly-poly from consuming crazy amounts of cheese dip. Unless you are planning on participating in the Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling this is not to your benefit. -1 for Fondue.

e) Trader Joe’s is telling the truth about the approximate number of appetizer and/or snack-sized servings in this pouch of fondue. You could heat this up and serve with bread and apples to please 7 people. Or you and your partner could try to eat as much as possible and then have to throw out half a bowl of fondue. Fondue is for friends. +1 for Fondue.

Final result: a four-star rating for fondue.

Ingredients: Swiss, Emmental & Gruyere Cheese (milk, cheese cultures, salt, rennet [ANIMAL]), wine, water, potato starch, kirsch, sodium phosphates, salt, spices

P.S. Doesn’t the box look like the setup involves dipping cheese into fondue? I know, I know, it is supposed to illustrate that the fondue is made out of that sort of cheese, but I had to admit that for a second I thought “Oh my gosh, I hadn’t even considered dipping cheese into fondue. Would that work?”

Lean Cuisine Chicken Club Panini

May 27, 2009 | Reviewer: Guest Reviewers

Price: $1.99 (on sale)
Serving: 1 sandwich, 6 oz.
Calories: 350 per serving
Fat: 14%, 9g
Cholesterol: 11%, 35mg
Sodium: 35%, 830 mg
Protein: 24g
Carbohydrates: 14%, 44g
Fiber: 24%, 6g
Sugar: 6g
Weight Watchers Points: 7 POINTS

Lean Cuisine says: Grilled white meat chicken strips with crumbled bacon, tomatoes, cheese and ranch sauce on sourdough bread

Liz says: This frozen meal is not a one-way street. If you think that you can just pop it in the microwave, walk away, eat it and not extend anything on your part, you would be wrong. This Panini Chicken Club requires two things: patience and imagination.

Why patience? First of all, this is not one of those meals that you can’t just rip open carefully. You’ve got to make a little platform for the “revolutionary” grilling disc (patent pending.) If you’re like me, you didn’t read these instructions and then had to stand at the microwave and reconfigure this set-up while a co-worker stares at you and smirks.

You’ll also need patience in the amount of times it takes to chew this item. Since everyone knows that bread was not meant to be microwaved, the bread is less on the toasty side and more on the really, really chewy side. I’m not saying that’s totally bad, it’s just not very bread-like. The chicken is also a bit on the chewy side, so you’re really exercising your jaw quite a bit. Way to make us burn a few extra calories, Lean Cuisine!

Imagination is required to make the meal just a bit better than it is. There are about 3 or 4 bites of this panini that really taste like a yummy sandwich you’d order at your favorite coffee shop. If you hang on that feeling and use your imagination, you can kind of convince yourself that the rest of the sandwich tastes like that too. Bacon bits are good, tomatoes are super flavorful, cheese is always a plus, and the ranch-style sauce is weird but gives it an extra little flavor.

Overall, it’s not as good as the real thing, but it’s okay in the way that a cheapo French bread frozen pizza will fulfill your pizza craving in a pinch.

What’s in your freezer?

May 25, 2009 | Reviewer: Abi Jones

My freezer illustrates the constant battle for space between me and my husband. It also illustrates that when I don’t like something that comes in a multi-pack, I don’t have the heart to throw it away. Case in point:

March 2008:

May 2009:

Yeah, those Garlic Parmesan flatbreads from Trader Joe’s are still in there. I ate one, it didn’t agree with me, and I thought “I can’t tell if I just have an upset stomach or if this is really bad.” Now the flatbread I didn’t eat has been sitting in the freezer forever. I know I keep it around because I think I’ll use it for meatloaf, but when’s the last time I made meatloaf? Oh…never.

Are you interested in further freezer voyeurism? Then I’ve got the sites for you:

• Photographer Mark Menjivar shows us beautiful, shocking and sad fridge and freezer insides, this month at GOOD.
• FridgeWatcher.com features photos of fridges from all around the world.
• People in the Netherlands are posting photos of their fridges on Twitter, tagging it as #FridgeFriday

So, what’s in your freezer? Are you willing to share your secret food life with Heat Eat Review? Send your freezer photo to freezer@heateatreview.com, along with your name, a list of what’s inside, and the URL of your website or blog so that we can link to you. Reader freezers will be published over the course of the summer.

Please note, sending your freezer photo to Heat Eat Review gives us permission to use the photo and your name on the site.

Mrs. T’s Potato & Cheddar Pierogies

May 22, 2009 | Reviewer: Guest Reviewers

Price: $2.50
Serving: 3 pierogies, 120g
Calories: 190 per serving
Fat: 4%, 2.5g
Cholesterol: 3%, 10mg
Sodium: 22%, 540mg
Protein: 17g
Carbohydrates: 12%, 35g
Fiber: 8%, 2g
Sugar: 1g
Weight Watchers Points: 4 POINTS

Mrs. T’s says: Delicious whipped potatoes and cheddar cheese gently folded in a pasta shell.

Tara says: My boyfriend is part Polish, so he tries to introduce me to some new foods every once in a while. While he insisted that these boxed pierogies would taste nothing like the ones his grandma used to make, this is our current best bet since we no longer have access to pierogi-making grandmas. While out grocery shopping this weekend, we purchased a box of Mrs. T’s pierogies, of the cheddar and potato variety.

I was actually immediately convinced that eating pierogies was a good idea, because what could possibly be wrong with delicious mashed potatoes and cheese inside something that resembles a ravioli? I love pasta and I adore mashed potatoes, so why not put one inside the other? Brilliant, I say. I might even try the reverse, some pasta in my mashed potatoes. I’ll let you know how that turns out.

I do all of the cooking in our household, unless the cooking medium is located outdoors (grill). Upon pulling the box out of the freezer for a quick dinner the other night, my boyfriend suggested that since he is the Polish one, that he should do the cooking. As if our nationalities have anything to do with heating up some frozen potato-filled pasta. He seemed really excited about it though, so instead of picking a fight I took advantage of not having to cook for once, and agreed.

On the back of the box, Mrs. T suggests several options for preparation – pan fry, deep fry, boil, bake or grill. The “pierogi expert” insisted that we pan-fry the pierogies in a butter/olive oil combination, along with some sauteed onions.

The pierogies took about 10 minutes to prepare in this fashion, which was not too long to wait for these glorious little packets of deliciousness. Mrs. T suggested that to add some “color” (and also some healthfulness) we add some bell pepper strips. Since we didn’t have any peppers, we opted to serve the pierogies with a side salad.

The pierogies cooked up very nicely pan-fried: each exterior got a bit brown and crisp, while the inside was warm and creamy. The pasta shell was an excellent vessel for holding the cheesy mashed potatoes, with a thickness that ensured none of the insides would seep out during cooking. The potato-cheddar filling was both smooth and fluffy and tasted just like real cheddar mashed potatoes, except without the lumps.

The butter/onion combination definitely complemmented the pierogies nicely, although I don’t know what could possibly go wrong with a deep fried pierogi. Maybe next time we will try that preparation option. These pierogies would also be good served with a tomato or alfredo sauce, because they are very similar to italian-style pasta…being made with pasta themselves.

The one complaint I have is that 3 pierogies is not enough for one serving. I believe that I had five and my boyfriend had six, and along with the side salad that was a nice meal. Three might be an ok lunch portion with some veggies or another side. The pierogies are really delicious though, and I’ll definitely be trying out some of their other flavors.

I leave you with this tantalizing question: Are Mrs. T & Mr. T somehow related?