Review Round-Up #4

Time for another review round-up! I’ve been into prepared meals for dinner lately, which isn’t very typical for me, but that’s okay. So there are a few interesting frozen and ready meals in this round-up, among other things. I feel like I’ve been saying to myself, ‘Have to review this!’ so many times in the past couple of weeks; I’m sure I’ve missed a few things in this round-up. Click the link to read the rest.

Gardein’s Trio Complete Meals — The Sicilian Trio (fake chicken) is pictured above, and I also tried the other two flavors: the Thai Trio (also fake chicken) and Burgundy Trio (fake beef). Both those links are to my photos of the meals on flickr. These are amazing. Really, really good. The fake chicken comes as a sort of stuffed ‘fillet’, but I cut mine up after cooking, to better coat it with the sauce. For some reason, I don’t make rice very often, but I loved it so much with all three of these. I wouldn’t consider them ‘complete’ meals, because there’s not a really legitimate serving of veggies, but that’s okay — I’d rather add my own fresh vegetable side, which I did. A definite repeat buy.
Morningstar Farms Lasagna — Another pleasant surprise. Not as amazing as the Gardein meals, but definitely tasty. See mine here. I baked it in the oven, which was the right choice; I think it could have been mushy if it were microwaved. It’s got 20g of protein, I think, which is good. I enjoyed the meal, but it really got me thinking that I ought to make a pan of homemade lasagna with Morningstar burger crumbles (this uses sausage crumbles, which were fine, but I would have preferred fake mince).
Sunbutter Natural Omega 3 — I bought this when I used up the last of my Barney Butter (but now that I’m almost done with this, I’ve bought more BB), and it made for a nice change. This version has whole flax seeds in it, which add a little bit of crunch. I was impressed by how spreadable the Sunbutter stayed even when it was stored in the fridge — it’s actually fairly runny. Between this and Barney Butter (which is made form almonds), I’m pretty much turning up my nose at peanut butter these days. The alternatives are just so much better!
Wheaties Fuel — I only tried this because I picked up a free sample-size box at my race last weekend. It’s tasty, but I’m unimpressed with its nutritional profile. It’s a pretty sweet cereal (sugar is the third ingredient), and it’s not high protein. If I were asked to describe a ‘performance’ cereal, I’d say something that’s going to stick with you and not spike your blood sugar, but what do I know? If you’re just looking for a nice new cereal to try, though, it’s good.
Damascus Bakeries Low-Carb Pitas — I don’t care about the ‘low carb’ part of these so much as the fact that they’re high in protein. I’ve been eating them for a few years, but for some reason they’ve been tasting especially good to me recently. I started keeping them in the freezer, so I’ll thaw one in the microwave and then heat it up in a dry skillet, and there’s just something about that that makes them extra delicious. And 10g of protein gives a good boost to a meal.
Archer Farms Veggie Burger, Southwest Style — I think these are new-ish; I only noticed them this past week. (Archer Farms is Target’s ‘premium’ store-brand.) They have a rice + wild rice base, and so are mushier than the typical soy-protein burger, but the taste is very nice. They remind me of the kind of housemade veggie/bean burger you might expect to get at a restaurant, only smaller. They’ve only got 7g of protein, which isn’t amazing, but they’re also only 90 calories, so you can’t ask for too much. A good, natural-tasting veggie burger.