What the hell am I eating? This meal has some of the most questionable looking meat in it I have ever ingested! Unfortunately for me today I am having Sweet Teriyaki chicken by Tai Pei. I will start out by saying that I had no intention of writing a food review today so I didn’t prepare myself mentally for the shock of the meal I was about to eat. First of all the cooking time is 5-6 minutes, and then another grueling 3-5 minute standing time… The meal smelled wonderful while I waited for it to finish but was sadly disappointed when I opened the microwave and unwrapped my lunch. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked at the “new and improved recipe” looked like. I noticed a piece of “grilled chicken” that was more like grilled gristle with sear marks on it attached to what tasted like a piece of petrified wood from the Jurassic period. I played off my first piece of absolutely disgusting chicken as a mistake, but I tried it anyway… just to see if it tasted as bad as it looked. Yes, it did. Not only was it gross it was not the only piece in this pile of trash I promised myself that I would finish for the sake of this review. I tried the dehydrated tasting carrots followed by the over cooked broccoli. My favorite part of the whole meal was the pineapple… yes I said it, p i n e a p p l e. There was one piece of pineapple in the whole container and it was delicious… too bad there wasn’t as many pieces as the picture on the container. I guess when I list an ingredient and there is only one piece it should say “may contain pineapple.” I guess it is just like when I order a pizza from Dominoes I expect more than one pepperoni when I order it with pepperoni. This meal was so disappointing to me because I adore Tai Pei’s Chicken Egg Rolls and I was hoping for some of the same quality and great taste that they have always had with this meal.
In a word this meal was very disgusting.
Cook Time: just don’t… save yourself some time.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
NEW – Stuffed Melt AND Soup!
Stouffer’s Corner Bistro
Steak& Swiss Stuffed Melt with Broccoli Cheddar Soup
So my wife loves it when I write these reviews… she may not necessarily read them but she likes it when I am creative… turns her on. What turns me on is reading the new Steak& Swiss stuffed melt with broccoli cheddar soup is Herb-topped focaccia bread filled with beef steak, onions and mushrooms in a Swiss cheese sauce paired with creamy broccoli and cheddar cheese soup! Damn, that does sound delicious doesn’t it?
I like the layout of how you have to prepare this meal. You can easily take off the top of the box and it makes a tray for you food… very clever so far. Once you put in just your soup you have to take it out, stir it and then put your sandwich in one of those hot pocket sleeves. Once it is done you have to wait a minute or so and then you can enjoy. One thing I would take away from the cool tray idea is that the instructions should not only be on the underside of the tray but also on the inside of the top of the container that I just tore off… sure the microwave instructions are for one minute and thirty seconds, but I had already forgot what my next step was by the time the microwave went off. At the point where I was about to do the next step it would be a lot easier to be able to read the instructions if they were printed on the part that we were supposed to discard.
When I take my food out the soup really LOOKS like homemade soup (and my sandwich looks like a slightly exploded hot pocket). The soup looks better than most stuff that I would order at a restaurant and tastes like my wife Cassidy would really enjoy. I really like cheese soup, even though I claim I don’t like most cheeses, this tastes pretty incredible. I am surprised that the soup isn’t overheated either, it is a very pleasant surprise, and it doesn’t taste greasy or fake like I anticipated. I don’t know why I had that notion but I shouldn’t be surprised because the good people at Stouffer’s seem to do that a lot to me.
The steak & swiss stuffed melt exceeds my expectations too. The “focaccia” is good bread, but it certainly doesn’t taste like any focaccia I have ever tasted or made. I think they could have called it ciabatta and almost got away with it, that is how far it is from focaccia. I imagine the marketing staff coming up with pitches to name the bread… “ooh, lets pick focaccia, most Americans don’t know what it is and ciabatta is played out…” Oh, and "stuffed melt" seems to be the new way to say "hot pocket thingy" to consumers. Nitpicking aside it is very good. Much more than just another hot pocket look alike it is tasty and palatable. The soup certainly overshadows this part of the meal, I keep neglecting it to continue eating the soup. I kind of had the urge to dip my sandwich into the soup but I didn’t want to press my luck.
This meal is perfect for a cold or rainy day, I just felt so warm inside eating it. I don’t think I have liked a meal this much in a long time and now I just want to snuggle under some blankets with my honey and read a book.
In a word this meal was INCREDIBLY delightful.
Steak& Swiss Stuffed Melt with Broccoli Cheddar Soup
So my wife loves it when I write these reviews… she may not necessarily read them but she likes it when I am creative… turns her on. What turns me on is reading the new Steak& Swiss stuffed melt with broccoli cheddar soup is Herb-topped focaccia bread filled with beef steak, onions and mushrooms in a Swiss cheese sauce paired with creamy broccoli and cheddar cheese soup! Damn, that does sound delicious doesn’t it?
I like the layout of how you have to prepare this meal. You can easily take off the top of the box and it makes a tray for you food… very clever so far. Once you put in just your soup you have to take it out, stir it and then put your sandwich in one of those hot pocket sleeves. Once it is done you have to wait a minute or so and then you can enjoy. One thing I would take away from the cool tray idea is that the instructions should not only be on the underside of the tray but also on the inside of the top of the container that I just tore off… sure the microwave instructions are for one minute and thirty seconds, but I had already forgot what my next step was by the time the microwave went off. At the point where I was about to do the next step it would be a lot easier to be able to read the instructions if they were printed on the part that we were supposed to discard.
When I take my food out the soup really LOOKS like homemade soup (and my sandwich looks like a slightly exploded hot pocket). The soup looks better than most stuff that I would order at a restaurant and tastes like my wife Cassidy would really enjoy. I really like cheese soup, even though I claim I don’t like most cheeses, this tastes pretty incredible. I am surprised that the soup isn’t overheated either, it is a very pleasant surprise, and it doesn’t taste greasy or fake like I anticipated. I don’t know why I had that notion but I shouldn’t be surprised because the good people at Stouffer’s seem to do that a lot to me.
The steak & swiss stuffed melt exceeds my expectations too. The “focaccia” is good bread, but it certainly doesn’t taste like any focaccia I have ever tasted or made. I think they could have called it ciabatta and almost got away with it, that is how far it is from focaccia. I imagine the marketing staff coming up with pitches to name the bread… “ooh, lets pick focaccia, most Americans don’t know what it is and ciabatta is played out…” Oh, and "stuffed melt" seems to be the new way to say "hot pocket thingy" to consumers. Nitpicking aside it is very good. Much more than just another hot pocket look alike it is tasty and palatable. The soup certainly overshadows this part of the meal, I keep neglecting it to continue eating the soup. I kind of had the urge to dip my sandwich into the soup but I didn’t want to press my luck.
This meal is perfect for a cold or rainy day, I just felt so warm inside eating it. I don’t think I have liked a meal this much in a long time and now I just want to snuggle under some blankets with my honey and read a book.
In a word this meal was INCREDIBLY delightful.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
RisottOMG
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)