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Marie Callender's Creamy Chicken & Portobello Risotto

Ok, don't get excited I am not doing these reviews again regularly... I just couldn't resist doing another review when I saw that Marie Calendar is doing "American Recipes" in her Fresh Flavor Steamer line of microwave meals.

This meal promises White Meat Chicken with Rice and Portobello Mushrooms in a Creamy Chardonnay Sauce. Well, the meal is cooking now so let's see if this Chardonnay Sauce really holds up to the test of microwave radiation being bombarded at it in a 1200 watt microwave oven.

Well, when I took the meal out of the microwave I could smell all of it's "mushroomy" goodness right away. If my nose serves me right this is going to be very tasty. One thing I have noticed so far is that the meal looks more like a soup than a risotto. I am not a risotto connoisseur by any means... I just have never seen it look this way when Alton Brown cooks it up.

At first bite the chicken tasted a little tough... that is a little out of character for a Marie Callender meal so I will say it is a fluke. The flavor overall is very good. It is a delicate flavor that would be over powered by a soda if you ate it with it. I don't want to take anything away from its overall flavor, it is a good kind of subtle that makes the mushroom really stand out. The seasoning and flavor of the risotto is present, and not one to be outdone in this meal, the chicken tastes better with my successive bites.

I really like this meal and I am pleasantly surprised by the flavor consistency as I eat it. I will definitely be picking this up again. If you are a fan of mushrooms I would definitely pick this up for your next lunch hour.

Thanks for reading, and in a word this meal was very delightful.

Cooking time: 5 minutes, one minute stand time.

Spinachy Goodness

I have been a little burnt out on writing my reviews but this micro-waved delight had to be reviewed. I have had a couple of really good suggestions for items to be reviewed so I am going to get those done this week…motivation permitting.

Today I am reviewing all of the spinachy goodness that is the Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine Chicken, Spinach, and Mushroom Panini. The sandwich has chicken, spinach (yum), mushrooms (hoooooray), Red peppers (woot!), and cheese sauce (wtf) on Italian Bread.

I have had this meal, and many meals like it, in the past. Stouffer’s is a name I have found that I can count on to make a good micro-waved meal, and pending any instruction following errors I am sure that you will find the same to be true. For the purposes of every review I follow the instructions to a “T”.

The meal at hand today was no exception from the rule that “all Stouffer’s products are decent”. I really enjoyed the aromas that emanated from the microwave while cooking, I could distinctly smell the spinach, mushrooms and peppers cooking.

The disappointing thing about the meal over all is that the sandwich seams greasy when it comes out of the microwave. I always suggest a minute or two stand time anyways but this doesn’t help in the case of this meal. Have plenty of napkins handy unfortunately, but don’t let that take away from your enjoyment of the meal. With every bite there is a blast of veggie flavor that leaves my mouth wanting more… I was salivating more than a group of women at a weightwatchers meeting when the girl scout cookies arrived. (Damnedable thin mints!)

This meal is really enjoyable if you like any of the listed ingredients, but nothing is greater than the sum of its parts. Stouffer’s has really done a great job with this sandwich and I am sure I will be getting it again in the future.

In a word, this meal was very delightful.

On a side note I think I made up the word spinachy…