heat + eat = review

[mango]

on a much less swoony note, a quick review of the frozen pizza for which I had high hopes earlier:

pizza in question: Sam's Choice Thin Crust Hawaiian Style Pizza

my response to Sam: with your choice, you disappointed me and left a bad taste in my mouth.


so, a bad day for Sam, and a sad day for me.

but, as is life, the quest continues for inexpensive but delectable edible frozen meals.

[witchypoo]

mango, does your local supermarket sell prepared pizza dough (it's usually in the deli)?  you bring it home and let it come to room temp, then roll out, spread with toppings, and bake.  cuts out a lot of the work.  and typically tastes much better than the frozen. 

i will admit to sometimes using the prepared dough, and no one can tell the difference between it and my recipe.

[nadra24]

mango, does your local supermarket sell prepared pizza dough (it's usually in the deli)?  you bring it home and let it come to room temp, then roll out, spread with toppings, and bake.  cuts out a lot of the work.  and typically tastes much better than the frozen. 

i will admit to sometimes using the prepared dough, and no one can tell the difference between it and my recipe.

Trader Joe's makes a really kickass herb garlic pizza dough.  And according to America's Test Kitchen, pizza dough is better if you let it sit in the fridge overnight, so theoretically the prepared dough would make a better pizza than if you made dough yourself and didn't let it rest overnight (which I would never do, because I'm not organized enough to plan my meals that far in advance).

[merigayle]

I was pressed for time and picked up an Amy's gluten free and vegan burrito and it was quite tasty!

[Chasing Amy]

i will admit to sometimes using the prepared dough, and no one can tell the difference between it and my recipe.

That can't feel good.

I like this:

But it is pricey so it is a rare buy.

[witchypoo]

That can't feel good.

i console myself by remembering that they are all philistines.

[redkitty]

If frozen ravioli counts as heat and eat...Kroger's private selection Ravioli Florentine is very good. It is not one of thsoe individual meals, but rather a box of ravioli. 

Oh...on the not so good.  Marie Callendar's breakfast sandwiches. I got the sausage croissant ones.  GROSS. I took two bites and had to throw it out. Not sure what is off about it, the cheese maybe, but it is icky. 

[diablita]

Trader Joe's chocolate croissants are good.  They require wait + heat + eat (you have to take them out of the freezer the night before you bake) but they're very good.

[mango]

you bring it home and let it come to room temp, (a) then roll out, (b) spread with toppings, and (c) bake.

no doubt that would make much better tasting pizza.

however, (a)+(b)+(c)=cooking, which I don't much care for -- a culinary philistine that I am.

Kroger's private selection Ravioli Florentine

Trader Joe's chocolate croissants

they sound fancy! and very much in line with the spirit of heat+eat!

but alas, no Kroger, no Trader Joe's around here.

there is many a Walmart and its ilk (i.e., Target) to fill the void though; one just needs to not trust Sam's choice so willingly.

[diablita]

we just got our Trader Joe's recently.  Prior to this, we'd take a bi-monthly drive to the nearest location (greenville, sc, about 80 min away) and stock up.

[Run Amok]

Trader Joe's chocolate croissants are good.  They require wait + heat + eat (you have to take them out of the freezer the night before you bake) but they're very good.

Yes, they are. They have several of these little frozen pastry treats and they're all really good.

[redkitty]

Target's archer farms ravioli is pretty good.  I got butternut squash for my DD. She liked it (though we are talking about a 20 month old here) and I have also bought the roasted vegetable, but haven't tried it yet.  Target's Pantry Shelf (or whatever the hell the name is) cheese ravioli isn't bad.

and kroger goes by LOTS of different names, one of its other named stores might be around you.  (they might not sell Private selection, but I would bet that store's generic is the same thing.) 

[Clementine]

and kroger goes by LOTS of different names, one of its other named stores might be around you.  (they might not sell Private selection, but I would bet that store's generic is the same thing.)

If you go all the way to the bottom here http://www.kroger.com/Pages/default.aspx, there's a list of "The Kroger Family of Stores" to scroll through. Also, our local Smith's stores all show up when you "Find A Store" on the Kroger website. (Not sure about the rest, but Smith's carries Private Selection and other Kroger store brands).

[mango]

... we'd take a bi-monthly drive to the nearest location (... about 80 min away)...

Trader Joe's product stories do stir up much covetousness in my heart, but not enough to tempt me to make such a road trip.

in fact, were there to be any such excursion, it would probably be to H Mart.

no matter, my thanks to all you people of gustatory goodwill.


and now, a brief report on my serendipitous encounter with this yesterday:



I say serendipitous because I didn't buy this but found it in the lobby of my apartment building, in that free to good home zone, where goods that are no longer wanted (or needed) are dumped.

never one to nonchalantly pass by the unwanted of the world, I brought it home, removed the tray from the box, pulled back corner of film to vent as per the instructions given (and also, to do the sniff test to make sure it wasn't rotten), heated it up, and ate it all up.

I confess to scraping off much of that whitey, slimy, (not) sour creamy, (not) cheesy thingy from top, but otherwise, this was a fairly okay meal; it's just like that rice and beans side dish you get at a mediocre Mexican restaurant, and really, who doesn't like that?

so, would I buy this myself?

probably not; there is hardly anything smart about it, the portion's too small, and that sour cream/cheese topping is kinda gross.

but last night, it did the trick; it satisfied my hunger at little cost and without much ado about cooking.

[redkitty]

So i had beef stew tonight...homemade. It made me think of Dinty Moore Beef stew. My review on this is...it is AWESOME. Love Dinty moore.  I hated the homemade stuff today. I have yet to find a homemade recipe that tastes better than dinty moore. So I will continue to eat my preservative filled beef stew and be happy with it.

[mango]

I hated the homemade stuff today.

you're weird.

or perhaps just not a fan of your own cooking?

either way, I dig your way; a lady after my own heart, you are.


another thing I dig, Pulmuone Kimchee Son-Mandoo (not to be confused with Wang-Mandoo).

besides being delicious, when cooked, they turn orange-red.

if there's an Asian grocery store in your area, try 'em out.



[edited to remove pictures that just wouldn't show properly.]

[redkitty]

Well, i am not the best cook, but in this case I think it was the recipe.  It was a short cut recipe...so instead of using stew meat you use sirloin.  I tried some of the sirloin before I put it in the stew....OMG that was so good.  Unfortunately the meat cooked more once it got in the stew and it became tough.  and the "gravy" had too much carrot taste to it.  I go through phases where I think i need to cook more and then other phases where I don't care and I eat a lot of packaged food.

[mango]

I go through phases where I think i need to cook more...

I always think I need to cook more; my thinking has yet to be translated into practice though.

a day may come when a canister of oats fails to entice me, when I forsake instant ramen and break my bond with the microwave, but it is not this day.


in the meantime, stoked by your rave review of Dinty Moore Beef stew, I had this last night:
 


I wouldn't call this a "healthy choice" (obviously), but, adding loads of (microwaved frozen) broccoli and some (microwaved instant) rice made it infinitely less salty, and therefore, infinitely more edible.

[Sarah511]

About a month ago, I ate an Evol Teriyaki Chicken entree:

The vegetables were nowhere near as attractive as the box cover - think slimy/green/massacred. The portion size was tiny. I complained and got a coupon in the mail for a free Evol bowl, so I got the fire-grilled steak, which was better than the teriyaki chicken but still a tiny portion size and really gross looking. I think I'm done with Evol bowls. They are almost as expensive as Amy's and the quality is nowhere near as good.

[diablita]

Evol sounds evil