The Emperor’s New Food

I really wanted to do something different. I wanted to do something that was out of the box for me because that is what I ask my blog readers to do everyday. I ask them to try a food that they may not have normally tried, based solely on my opinion and description of the food that I eat. So today I went out of the realm of what was normal for me and tried a meal by Kashi… yes Kashi. Friends said that I would be surprised how good the food was and boy were they right. I was very surprised how good it was to say the least. So surprised in fact that I think I actually over estimated how good that it was going to be. The food was not nearly as good as one would expect from a company that prides themselves like Kashi does. Their pompous, better than everyone else commercials, we care about the environment, blah blah blah crap doesn't cut it when it comes down to actual taste. I really feel like this was a case of "the emperors new clothes". Let me explain… Kashi is overpriced and it gives the consumer a higher perceived value, and their marketing would lead you to believe that as well. People want it to taste good because it is all natural and good for you. Well, I am not falling for it! This was crap! If I were at a restaurant I would tell them to take it back and give me something that had flavor in it. The pasta sauce was pretty flavorless, the actual food was watery. This was so bad in fact that I had to go and make another meal. I know it is more entertaining when I rip apart a meal for tasting like sawdust , or being soggy, but once in a while I would like something to taste good. :o)

This meal was completely gross. It was downright unedible! I was trying to eat the wheat noodles and tasteless sauce when I bit into some "mystery vegetable". I had no idea what it was… it looked like a branch from a Birch tree, lol. The funny thing was that the mystery vegetable at least had flavor, it wasn't good flavor, but it was flavor nonetheless. The meal itself needed one of the steamer baskets from the Healthy choice meals, but I am sure that would be to rough on the planet… boo hoo. That'd be too much plastic, *cry*. It was too much on my stomach, that food was grool. I will probably never give them another chance in the micro-wave ring again. :o)

I will upload the pictures tomorrow, I am going home with an upset stomach. (jk, that'd be the ultimate eff you to kashi).

An ode to Pizza

Pizza is pizza. You can make pizza a million different ways and it still tastes great. You really cant mess up a pizza in my opinion, there is no one right way for sure. Look at businesses like CiCi's. By no means are places like CiCi's, Domino's, or even Pizza Hut the best and yet they are still in business. I think the reason they are still around is because Pizza is more than a meal, it is a bonding ritual. Everytime I eat pizza, especially the bad kind, I am reminded of my childhood. I remember having terrible school made pizza that was shipped in from other schools. The dough was this thick spongey mass that had no crust around its edges. Just imagine that crust with a sweet style marinara sauce, and terrible plasticy cheese and you have Parley Coburn's pizza. God, I miss that pizza. It is true, probably the worst pizza I have ever had and yet I get nostalgic for it like an old girlfriend. I remember eating Pizza in first grade and up with my best friends Joey Maynard, Paul Osteen, Mike Malone, Andy Peirce, and the list goes on and on. Friday's meant pizza and ninja turtles to me then, now it means a whole lot of good memories before life was complicated.

So when I say that today's review was good cause it reminded me of that pizza don't think I am silly. It doesn't really even taste like it or look like it at all, believe me it is a thousand times better. I was pretty hungry, waiting for my micro-waved pizza and I got a little giddy. The smell was filling the room, even overpowering the previously cooked meal by my coworker. I thought to myself "ah, it is pizza day, like so many Friday's way back when." Then for no reason at all I just thought of all of the pizza's that I had before this. Going to my oldest friends house, Joe Maynard, having pizza with him and playing nintendo games (back before it mattered what kind of graphics games had.) Playing roleplaying games with my friends and ordering two sheet pizza's from Pudgies and breaking the game only long enough to get our fingers greasy with some delicious pizza grease. (my wife hates pizza grease, she must be some kind of communist, lol) Then now as an adult going to Pizza Hut with my wife and two children it all makes sense to me. Pizza is pizza and it doesn't matter what it tastes like, just as long as if you have fun eating it.

In a word, I had pizza… it doesn't matter, it was worth the memories.

Cook time: 2:45 minutes

Stand time: 0:30 minutes

Nutritional information found here.

Leave a comment, write a favorite pizza story, or just say hi… thanks for reading and God Bless.

I love my Pizza, thanks for all the great Pizza memories!

Bad Decision

Have you ever seen or done something that made you a little gun shy to do the same thing again? Like if you take a sexual harassment class you will be hesitant to say something off color for at least a couple days after the class. I hope you can relate to that analogy because I know that it is that way for me and I certainly say a lot of off color remarks, but I am working on that. Well, I will be a lot more hesitant to try Asian Inspired frozen food by almost any brand now. Yesterday I had the Thai-something-something by Never-try-this-crap-again, or was it Smart Ones… It was, now I am sure of it. It was weight Watcher's Smart Ones: Thai Style Chicken & Rice Noodles from their Bistro Selections.

This has been the only meal I think I have had where the picture on the box didn't look nearly as good as the food inside. I was really surprised by their lack of effort on their packaging for this product. When I micro-waved the meal it smelled all right so every early indication of my meal was that it was going to be pretty good. After the initial stand time of the meal I stirred everything together and looked pretty good like I mentioned. Fortunately for the reader I took pictures on my journey as I ate what would be considered a bad decision at the end of the day.
I really went against my better judgment when I bought this because I did think "how good can Asian diet food be?" After my first bite I wasnt so uphauled by the taste as the texture. The food left a filmy residue in my mouth. I have never had that from rice noodles or any microwave food.

At this point I didn't want to eat anymore, but my momma didn't raise no food waisting fool.

After a long meal, and much regret I managed to almost clean my plate.

I took a deep breath and inhaled the rest of my food so I could say that I had ate the entire meal.

I wasnt very happy with myself after eating all of that and my stomach let me know he wasn't happy. That brings me to wonder, if my stomach had a voice who's voice would it sound like. I would like to think it would sound like Mr. T when it was angry at me, but realistically it would sound more like Mort Goldman from Family Guy. For now I am just going to pretend my stomach's voice is Christopher Walken, the greatest actor of all time!

So in short, todays meal was without a doubt not a bit delightful.

Cook Time: 3 Minutes... (or something just dont eat this)

Stand Time: 2 minutes (I remember that at least)

Time til I had to rush to the bathroom: 2 Minutes

Nutritional information on the Weight Watchers website, and it was 5 points for those counting.

Voodoo Magic!

Lunch today was so a.maz.ing! I decided that for the rest of this week I would eat "diet" frozen foods that appeal to a growing boy like myself. I really like doing these reviews but the nutrional information sometimes is a little bit scary so I took the initiative and went the diet route. So for today's lunch I had a chicken, spinach, and mushroom Panini that had red peppers and a (non descript) cheese sauce on Italian bread. I always have to point out when a cheese is non descript because they can get away with any flavor they want. I would rather thing I was eating a poorly made swiss than a cheese food (like Valveta… yuck). Other than a poorly worded description of cheese there was nothing at all wrong with this meal. I absolutely loved it!

I had no intentions of this being a good meal at all. When I looked at the packaging it showed that the Panini had grill marks on it and I laughed a little. So when I setup the Panini to grill my curiosity had me looking at the under side of the bread to make sure there was the pre-made grill marks on the package… none? "What is this, I got ripped… no premade grill marks?" I thought to myself. I know these grill marks are all fake and all but why did I get rooked out of my fake grill marks? A little disappointed, and with a heavy heart I put the meal in the microwave and let it cook for 3 minutes. After the suggested, and incredibly short stand time of 30 seconds I took the Panini out of the microwave. I flipped over one half of the sandwich onto the other to make my delicious smelling sandwich complete and what do I see… GRILL MARKS. What kind of voodoo magic is this?!?! Where did these grill marks come from? Where in the world did these grill marks come from… someone answer me! I looked around the break room and checked to see if someone secretly put a Panini grill in there, and switched out my meal. No such luck.

I had to take pictures of the completed meal and I just kept shaking my head, I was so impressed with the "revolutionary grilling tray". I wasn't even going to mention every stupid promise that these meals offer, but they really delivered on this one. I am so shocked! Imagine my surprise when I took my first bite into my very toasty Panini. You think I was excited just to see that it looked grilled. It was grilled and it was delicious! It was so tastey and warm! The spinach and mushrooms were incredible tasting and the chicken was spot on. I can't believe that this was that good! It was so good in fact it made me wonder why people couldn't stick to diets (like myself)! I know that is aweful, but now I want to eat one of these things for 4 meals a day… wait 3. L (maybe that is why I have a weight problem.) I don't think I can review anything else for lunch from now on these were that good.

I guess I could review these everyday: "Lean Cuisine Panini… STILL AWESOME!"

I highly recommend this product to anyone that has a taste for mushrooms and spinach, or if you just want to check out its cool "revolutionary grilling technology"

In a word, my meals was amazingly delightful!

Cook time: 2:45 minutes to 3:15 minutes

Stand time: 30 seconds!

Nutritional Information found here.

Looks can be deceiving

Today for lunch I had another Marie Callender Meal that I really wanted to try. It was thier Country Fried Pork Chop, and do I love country fried anything! Too bad this is not another love story like the Rigatoni was unfortunately. I had really high expectations for this meal. Why shouldn't I, the picture on the box is really good looking. The packaging is a bit weird once I opened it but other than that I didn't have a clue that it wasn't going to be good.

The cooking instructions were intriguing when I first read them. The instructions called for the preparer to puncture the gravy bag that is stuck to the top of the microwave trays film covering. After doing the usual puncturing of this and that you have to take the lava-hot gravy bag off the top of the tray and stir the potatoes. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the potatoes, they had seemed like the major selling point when I saw the packaging, and they were just a shadow of what was promised.

Once I was done with the familiar song and dance of microwaved meal preparation and letting it stand I sat down with my disappointing looking potatoes… I mean meal. I shouldn't put all of the focus on the potatoes, but looking at the
picture you have to admit they look awesome on the packaging. I sit down to start eating and put the gravy on the meal like it is illustrated. Wow, this gravy is tasteless, and I am a "gravy man" if there ever was one. I love to slather any potato dish with gravy and this was as tasteless as it gets. Good for my reading audience I can identify all of the ingredients of any meal just on taste alone.

To give you an idea how the gravy tasted I will give you what my interpretation of the gravy recipe was:

2 parts water

1 Dash of black pepper to taste

1 part Saw dust (either pine or maple will do)

So if you want the great Marie Callendar Gravy taste for your meal stop by your local Lowes Hardware store and ask for a bag of their finest saw dust, I am sure they will be happy to oblige.

Overall the most disappointing this was pretty much the mashed potatoes and gravy. The breaded pork cutlet wasn't bad at all, but it was overshadowed by the tasteless sides of the meal. I wasn't a huge fan of the vegetables either; they tasted more like boiled vegetables than micro-waved. I expect sub par vegetables from Banquet but not from Marie Callendar at all.

Maybe I will chalk up today's review to false advertising. There is no way that this meal could look as good as it does on the packaging and I was really disappointed as a result of this (well, that and the really bad gravy…shame shame shame.) I guess with this long of cooking time and preparations that had to be made I expect a much better meal.

Overall, this meal was not very delightful.

Cooking time: 4 minutes, then 4 minutes

Stand Time: 2 minutes

 

Where is the Banquet?

Today for lunch I had Banquet's Pork Barbeque patty with corn and mashed potatoes. To be honest, you would be shot in St Louis if you did a taste test between these and real ribs. Heck, you should be shot in South Carolina for even thinking that! Whether or not you like a dry rub or a liquid smoked pork bbq rib will not matter when it comes to these ribs, they are about as much a rib as I am Jamaican. I have had Banquet's Micro-waved "meals" plenty of times, most of those times I was broke and a bachelor too. They are like one step above eating Raman Noodles in my book and just a few steps below eating a burger off Burger King's dollar menu. I never really thought of the irony of the brand name Banquet until I started writing this review. There is a bit of false advertising with their brand name in my opinion, in order to better reflect their name they should be called "school cafeteria" or "Airplane Food". (I tried to come up with something better believe me, I am just not that clever)

Just look up what a banquet is on google image search here. The general populace has a different idea of what a banquet is and what they are selling for $0.88 a pop at Wal-Mart. I know, it is terrible that I am reviewing this product to begin with but when I think of bad, inedible food I think of Banquet. I used to eat the hell out of these things, I won't lie about that, but I was young and naive. You can't blame me for being young and broke. J

The one redeeming factor of this meal is that they barbeque sauce isn't as bad as one might imagine. The downside is everything else, literally. The packaging seems to be like every other microwave meal, except for the fact that the food compartments don't really hold the food as much as they kind of just have an idea of where they should go. The corn will be in the potatoes and visa versa, and there is always something from both sides in the main entrée section. I don't know why they even bother dividing the food, they clearly fall short with this in every Banquet meal I have EVER had. The sad thing is that none of that was an exaggeration. The "pork" was more soy than meat in my opinion. If you look at the ingredients it says that the pork bbq rib is pork and soy proteins. I think I could fool a vegetarian into eating this and they wouldn't even notice it was pork. On a side note too the potatoes looked like potatoes this time and not potato soup which is always an improvement. The corn was terrible, it tasted like corn but had the texture of raisins (just imagine that for a minute for me.)

Also, I tried to make this meal look good. I tried to make it as awesome as it is on the packaging and I failed miserably. There is no way that you can make it look that good, given the same plates and props you would find out that you are 4 oz of potatoes short and you would need real corn (not the corn-raisin hybrid I had to endure earlier.) I found that once I had the whole meal on the paper plate that I had way less than the promised 10 oz of food on the packaging. Looking at my abandoned sauce filled container I realized how they got the 10 oz mark that they promised… with about 2 to 3 oz of sauce. The sauce filled plastic container was not a surprise to me, it is the same tricks that canned vegetables have doing to us for years with added water content.

I really can't believe how many bad things I have to say about this meal, but then again I am not surprised.

In a word, this meal was not at all delightful.

Cooking time: 3 minutes, stir then 2:30 minutes
Stand time: 1-2 minutes

I am not going to list the nutritional information because you should not be eating this, but if you want to know who to blame click here.

Can you tell what one of these is the microwaved meal?

My inspiration

Ok, so today's lunch is an easy one, and considering how tired I am that is a good thing. This microwave meal by Stouffer's is the reason why I wanted to start doing a blog to begin with. It is the Stouffer's Corner Bistro Chicken Quesadilla Flatbread Melt! WOOT! This thing is so good! I had 2 of my coworkers come into my office asking me what that great smell was. Normally I would offer them a bite but I had to keep its roasted red peppers, poblano peppers, onions, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, and chicken on a seasoned flatbread to myself! I really do love this and it beats the hell out of any cold and thrown together sandwich (right Tony… yeah I

called out my brother.) I posted a pic of this on my facebook lastweek recomending this to everyone and to my surprise people listened. My friend, and arch-enemy, Brandon tried this and he liked it so I decided to go ahead and do a full review.

The seasoned flatbread is really good, it is one of the meals many defining qualities. I remember the first time I had tried it I had thought "oh this is so good!"and as the bits of seasoning was falling off onto my plate I was trying to use other bits of flatbread to take back what gravity had stolen from me. The peppers and onions are great, that seams to be a strong suit of Stouffer's so far. I just imagine the execs sitting around their oversized table, all brainstorming ideas for new food, and one of them hatching this idea: "If we put really good vegetables on the sandwiches they will not care what they rest of the sandwhich tastes like" and another one pipes up "or if our toasted subs arent really toasted…" The rest of the room glares at him, then they burst out in laughter "hahaha". [see the Toasted Sub review] The chicken is good, it has those fake grill marks on it wich always kind of make me laugh to myself, I don't know who they think they are fooling. The chicken isn't bad by anymeans, but we know it isnt really grilled. Then again the chicken is as real as any sandwich meat is, except it has more of a texture of what real chicken is like. I really like the texture of the meal as a whole, every thing blends well overall. I really can't say enough good things about this meal, but if I could just say one thing it would be "try this". I greatly enjoyed this, and it is probably my first or second favorite thing I have reviewed so far.

In a word, my meal was very delightful.

Let me know what you think! If you try this or any of the products after I suggest it let me know, I would love to hear your feedback. Thanks again for reading, god bless.

Cook Time: 2:30 minutes

Stand Time: 1 minute

Nutritional information here.

I apologize about the lack of pictures on this review... the pictures must have been so delicious that my camera ate them. :)

Asian Inspired?

I really feel like a new food critic now. This weekend I went to a couple of grocery stores to get things for the house, but not with out stopping at the frozen food section each time to see if there was any standout items there. While perusing the different selections at my local Wal-Mart I noticed the freezer end-cap had NEW! Marie Callendar's Asian Recipes that had the same packaging as their Al Dente meals and it really caught my eye. It was another meal that promises to deliver on its steam basket packaging. Having such good luck with the last meal that promised the same thing I was sure that this would follow in its footsteps. To be exact it promises "steam fresh taste" which sounds great if you ask me.

I grabbed a couple of the new selections that were in the case, and today I tried the Chicken Stir-Fry with vegetables. The "stir-fry" had all of the elements of a great stir fry: chicken, white rice, carrots, onions, mushrooms, green peppers, and water chestnuts in a soy garlic sauce. I really like the variety of vegetables that they used for the meal, they added a lot of flavor to the meal as a whole. The problem as a whole was that it was anything but Asian to me in my eyes, it was pretty good, but certainly not Asian or even Asian fusion. I was really expecting more flavor to the meal that made the meal compliment each other as a whole, for example a Terriaki flavor would have been appreciated. Instead I get this bland sort of illusion of what Asian food is supposed to be. I was eating the meal and picked up the packaging re-reading the cover. I had to make sure I didn't skip a step…

1. Remove contents from package (ok, I got that one)
   




2. Microve on high 4 1/2 minutes… yada yada yada
   




3. Carefully take out of microwave..something something something
   
   

Nope, there isnt a line that says "add Asian flavor" as I was hoping that I was missing something. Then as I looked over the package again I saw it in little print on the back of the package… "Asian Inspired"… "Oh my god! I have been duped!" They pulled a fast one on me, this isnt even close to an Asian flavor in my mind and then I read their subconscience disclaimer to avoid comsumer complaints. This asian meal is as asian as Chef Boyardee is Italian.

I really feel like they just dropped the ball with their sauce choice, it is good don't get me wrong, but it isnt really asian. I don't know if doing asian food in a steamer basket is a good idea anyway so maybe in that is the core of the problem. I make some Asian fusion foods for my wonderful wife all the time (she loves it when I mention her) and the best part… no, the make or break part, is always getting the sauces just right. I don't know if it is the lack of quality ingredeants or just for lack of trying, but a wise man once told me that you cant make chicken salad out of chicken shit. I don't think I will be trying any more "asian inspired" meals anymore, outside of the ones that I have already purchased. I will make sure that I point out anyone of them that stand out as good, but for now I will stick with my final say on this matter.

In a word, my meal was not as delightful as I hoped.

Cooking Time: 4:30 Minutes

Stand Time: None Listed

Nutrional Information for this and all other Marie Callendar meals can be found on the ConAgra website.

How Italian is this? About as Italian as this meal was Asian.

Toasty

Let me just start out by saying thank you to all of my friends and family that have bothered to read my blog this week. I have had a tremendous amount of fun doing this, and I hadn't anticipated liking it this much. Please feel free to leave any comments that you have on any of my "reviews" and thank you again. :o)

Being that today is Friday I thought that I would do a sure fire, easy, and sure to be delicious review. For lunch today I had Stouffer's Corner Bistro Philly-style Steak & Cheese Toasted Sub (say that 5 times fast). One of the first things I do now when I am getting ready for lunch is I prepare myself for what could be a possibly long wait for my meal. I had no idea until the other day that you don't necessarily cook micro-waved meals on your time, but their time *shakes fist at Boston Market Oven Roasted Chicken Review*. I read the time to animate my "Toasted Sub" that clearly says "Bakery Fresh Taste in minutes." I read that the cooking time is 2 minutes and 45 seconds with a one minute wait time. I can handle that kind of wait" I think to myself as I take the "Toasted" sub out of its lifeless packaging. It is wrapped in plastic and I am assuming to look like a sort of Sandwich-body-bag. I rearrange the Stouffer's packaging I am now pretty familiar with and place it on its perch. A short 4 minutes or so I take it out of the microwave and it smells pretty good, but I am sure it wouldn't turn any heads for my friends from Philly. The sandwich really looks edible to me. You wouldn't be able to tell by the picture I provided, but mixed with the smell it is pretty good looking.

As you can tell by the tone of the article I wasn't very impressed with the sub when I picked it up. The bread was moist and squishy at best, and wasn't the "Bakery Fresh" texture I expected. I worked as a baker for years, you couldn't pass this off as dough in a bakery. Should I be forgiving of the fact that it is in fact micro-waved, probably not. My reasoning is this, micro-wave pizza doesn't outrageous claims like "brick-oven fresh" on them. Everyone knows that is a ridiculous claim so I shouldn't dwell on it, but c'mon! REALLY? BAKERY FRESH!, lol jk

In all seriousness the bread was a little moist for my taste and not very toasty at all. I like the "steak" portion of the sandwich and the cheese was good, but a little unrecognizable in flavor. The vegetables in the sandwich were good, I am really always surprised when I can say that. The sandwich was a quick cook and was eaten pretty fast by myself. I think it was because I didn't want to get cheese dripped on me. :o) The cheese was pretty unrecognizable too. I didn't know if there were going for a particular flavor or not, but I have to mention that I am pretty sensitive to different flavors and I got nothing. I am as surprised as you may be by this review, I sincerely expected more from Stouffer's than this. I don't think I will be purchasing a "toasted sub" from them again, but overall I will not be giving up on the brand as a whole. If I do purchase another toasted sub it will be a different variety, but for now I will not.

In a word my lunch wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Time: 2:45 minutes

Stand Time: 1 minute

Nutritional Information found here.

I wish I could speak Italian

Oooh, Mama mia this is deliscioso… or something. I wish I could speak Italian so I could give this meal the proper praise that it deserves. I had Marie Calender's Pasta Al Dente: Rigatoni Marinnara Classico today for lunch and it was sooo good I wanted to write about it today (as opposed as a day later which is what I do in all of my previous cases… yeah all two of them.) The packaging promises "Steams to Perfection" and that it is "Rigatoni in a Slow-Simmered Marinara Sauce with Meatballs and Italian Sausage" my thoughts are simple…"ok, lets see" as I roll my eyes.

A minute or two into the microwave process I begin to eat my words… the room fills with this amazing, spicy Italian aroma, and I can't wait to get my hands on this meal. I lift the film cover and as the rush of hot steam escapes its plastic prison my mouth begins to water. I absolutely love the packaging of this meal, the steam basket is suspended above the sauces, which are cooked separately below the pasta. Once the meal is cooked you put the pasta from the upper tray into the bottom sauces. After I mix together they form a match greater than Luke and Laura (oh yes, that was a General Hospital reference.)

As I begin to eat the pasta I realize that it truly is "steamed to perfection" and I think "how'd they do that?" The sauce is excellent it is really incredible, and spicy. The meatballs seems to be a little bit more than meat to them, my impression is that they are a little more bread crumb than what you would make at home, but they are still pretty good considering. I adore all of the spices and flavors that I tasted when eating this meal! The sausage and meatball is its weakest asset but they are really not that bad at all, I have had worse sausage that wasn't micro-waved so I am pretty forgiving. The portion size of this meal is great, at 10.5 oz I think this is where my sweet spot is at. I really enjoyed this meal a lot and it made me regretful that I have to review something different tomorrow.

In a word, this meal was very delightful

Cook Time: 4:30 Minutes

Stand Time: None

Nutritional Information here.

Good Gravy!

The first thoughts in my head when I read the instructions for Boston Market's Oven Roasted Chicken Dinner was "Good Gravy!" that is a long time to have to microwave a meal. The instructions called for a 4 minute run on high, 7 minutes on medium, and finally a 1-2 minute stand time. I will point out that the majority of people that are eating these meals have a ½ hour lunch break. I put the meal in the microwave and just hoped that it would be worth the tremendous 13 minute wait. Yes, I said 13 minutes, I am following the instructions to a T for the purposes of this review. The instructions inform me that I have to stir the potatoes after my food is done standing, not an easy feat considering the chicken is placed on said mashed potatoes. I begin to stir the potatoes and realize that they are room temperature at best… things are not looking good so far. I continue to stir the potatoes in disgust and realize that the vegetables cannot possibly be good after all of this time in the microwave… to my surprise I was wrong.

I sit down and begin to take notes on the meal at hand. My first impressions are that the gravy is rich and buttery. That sort of gravy really suits my pallet and it puts a smile on my face. I try the potatoes with the gravy and am greeted with a mouthful of what tastes to be "real" potatoes, in the traditional sense (too bad they were not very warm). The whole meal was full of surprises, the gravy was delicious and buttery, the vegetables were slightly seasoned making the flavor pop just a little bit, and the chicken was in fact real chicken breast (I sincerely didn't expect that.) I enjoyed my meal with what time that I had left in my lunch break, I almost felt rushed through it because of the arduously long wait that I had to endure for it to be done. I don't think that I will be purchasing anything that takes that long again unless I have time for an hour lunch. The negatives of the meal seemed to way out my surprises, time being the biggest factor. For that amount of time I could have went to a fast food restaurant, and that is the whole purpose of me having frozen food for lunch, to avoid having to do that. Also, I really didn't like the packaging that much, I think they could have the tray separated better. I also thought that I almost had too much food to eat. I am not a super big fan of eating a pound of food for lunch, even if it is somewhat decent. If you are a big fan of large portions of potatoes then this meal is suitable for you, for me… well, not so much.

In a word, my meal was not that delightful.

Cook time: 4 Minutes (High), 7 Minutes (Medium)
Stand Time: 1-2 Minutes

Nutrional information here

Image from the Boston Market Website

More than a Hot Pocket

From the moment I had the Stouffer's Pepperoni and Provolone Stromboli in the microwave I knew that I was in for a treat. The air was filled with a very rich Italian aroma that really made me feel like I was in for an authentic Italian meal! After my long one minute waiting period I was ready to try what my nose was promising to be a very delightful meal.

As I began to eat the micro-waved treat I quickly realized that the Stromboli's looks were very deceiving. I anticipated something just a notch above a hot pocket, and I was pleasantly disappointed. I noticed that the filling did in fact fill the Stromboli's crusty bread shell, and not only that but tasted incredible. The provolone that the packaging promises was definitely present along with the "thick cut pepperoni." The provolone was creamy and had a strong enough flavor profile for me to know it was present amongst a lot of very delicious seasoning and spices. The pepperoni is thicker than I usually eat, but true pepperoni fans like my wife would certainly like Stouffer's thick-cut pepperoni instead of the traditional thin-sliced, barely noticeable flavor of a Pepperoni Hot Pocket. I am very sure that I will try more of these and other Stoufer's products.

In a word, my lunch was very delightful.

Cook time: 3 Minutes

Stand Time: 1 Minute

Nutrional Infromation here