nutritious junk

This past weekend was yet another fun filled 72 hours of shooting.  The big difference from other shoots I do is that I was actually able to go home every night.  No sleeping in hotel rooms and roaming the surrounding areas for slightly edible food.  Unfortunately, by the time I got home every night all I wanted to do was shovel food in my mouth and not have to wait for it to bake, boil or even toast.  It was also pretty chilly where I was shooting so I wanted something that would warm my tummy.  Nuking!

There are two things in my life that I love (okay there’s more but they’re not pertinent to this post so just forget about them) I love Whole Foods and Pad Thai.  Whole Foods, because they have amazing food and with the added bonus of being healthy and making me feel good about what I’m eating.  Pad Thai because I love the flavor, the texture and it’s really the only way I’ll eat peanuts.  Put the two together and you’d think I’d be in heaven.  That’s what I found when I got Pad Thai with Tofu from Whole Kitchen.  It was a pretty big sized box and the picture on the front

I’ve always wanted to go to Italy.  It seems like I’ve been everywhere but Italy, and who wouldn’t want to go there.  They’ve got crazy cool guys from history like Leonard da Vinci and Galileo, gelato and amazing cars.  They also have paninis, those grilled sandwiches filled with warm, gooey tastyness.  So I was pretty excited that one of the new crazes in the frozen food world is grilled paninis you can make in the microwave.  I was all about it, until I found out there was no vegetarian options.  Then Healthy Choice came out with a tomato, basil, and mozzarella version.

You know, you'd think being a nutrtional site I would have long ago reviewed something as common as this burger alternative, but I've been a Boca addict that i usually was apprehensive to give other veggie burgers a chance. But today i gave "the orginal" garden burger that rare chance of his. Nutrtionally, these burgers pack 100 calories, with 3.5 g fat, 5 g fiber, 5 g protien, and 1 g of sugar. Pretty good, although to be perfectly honest, since this is substituting a burger (a very high protien source) i would like my burger to have a little more protein. But the fiber is indeed impressive. I microwave mine, not a good idea, it got kinda too done (maybe my microwave is super powerful), so i suggest you do what my pal, Al does and grill em. heating fiascos aside, they did smell goos. Points for that, taste? well its not a burger or anything like one (still devoted for Boca if you want a "meat" substitute). Its definetly a VEGETABLE burger (yes, hardcore emphasis on the vegtable). You can see the different vegtables and it tastes like them as well. Its not bad, but not good if you want to make a vegetarian friendly "hamburger". I think Sonic uses the Gargenburger brand for their veggie burger, but i dont think this would work well on a bun cause i'd really like something that tastes like meat on a bun verses a bunch a vegtables molded into a pattie. But its flavor is pretty good, so if its vegetables your after, this might be good choice.

Ah take out. i must admit i havent ordered take-out chinese since high school but i remember it was usually cheap, unhealthy, and yes i'll admint, delicous, msg and all. And even though there are healthy options for chinese takeout these days, sometimes we just dont feel like ordering in. Heres where Hibachi House comes to the rescue. They produce frozen resturant style dishes fit four a family of four! Great deal price wise (although the folks from Hibachi House where uber generous and sent my a bunch of samples free!). This week i'll be reviewing each of the four dishes they sent me and tonight i tried their shrimp fried rice. I LOVE shrimp, so even bad shrimp i can stomach, but this shrimp was actually really delicous and contained a fair amount (something i find many frozen shrimp dishes do is give you like 2 teeny pieces! rip off!). The rice was nice, didn't taste frozen at all. I must say they give you a generous amount of sauce, i only used half a packet, and even that was a little much. Overall it tasted good, its not take out but it does lack the msg. Speaking of the indgredients, this is where i had a problem, the sauce had a fair amount of sodium, sugar, and a bunch of chemicals i cant pronouce. each pack had 4.5 serving with 190 calories per 1 cup serving, 1.5 g fat, 9 g protien, 1 g fiber, and 9 g sugar. i think this a great healthy chinese meal, but just go easy on the sauce. The downside to this meal, no fourtune cookie, but thats ok, those fourtunes never make sense to me anyhow.

I notoriously lack a likeness towards cheese, but usually, the exception is pizza. So i decided to give Cedarlane's pizza wrap a go. Now, i've seen Cedarlane's healthy frozen products but never actually tasted any of them (i get them confused with Amy's). But my friend, Al, recommended these so i figured this would be a good introduction to Cedarlane. Anyhow, nutrtionally, this wrap is sound. Each wrap is only 220 calories, 3 grams of fat, 2 g of fiber, 3 g of sugar, and a heft 17 g of protein. Now these are microwaveable and i highly suggest you do that cause my friend Al she tried heating them in the oven and it was apparently not a good idea. It smelled good (but again, my roomates would think otherwise cause they hate everything i heat up! but thats ok, they dont have to suffer any more since i move out on friday) but i must admit it was a little hard to eat with your hand. I think wraps and burritos should be easily consumed via hands so this was a little disappointing. But it tasted nice, a good filling to wrap ratio, but the tortilla did get slightly soggy, but it didnt really affect the taste so i didnt mind that much. This is a good "part" of a meal or a snack or mini meal that can be made quickly and even if you usually snub cheesy things, i suggest giving this a try because its more saucy than cheesy. Not really like a pizza but still tomato-y (i did like the little tomato chunks) and flavor full. You'd think this be really fatty too, but its actually really low fat so this is a nice surprise. Overall, yes, a good quick wrap...er i mean...pizza.

Now i know i have a grudge against many frozen meatless companies, but i must say not so with Boca. I am absolutly obsessed with their vegan burgers, chilli, and their links, so i had high hopes for these new breakfast wraps. The southwestern version contians, "egg whites, cheese, meatless sausage, red and green peppers, and a touch of chipotle sauce". Like most Boca products, the health benefits are high with each wrap only being 200 calories with 7 grams of fat, 6 grams of fiber, and 14 grams of protein (way more impressive than lean pockets or a sauasage McMuffin). There are few pros and cons to this so i'll do things a little differently now and list some stuff i dug and stuff i wish were different:

Dug: the Overall taste of the filling was a good, i didn't mind the cheese which i usually do, and the sauce had a nice smokey flavor to it. the tortilla also had a nice hearty taste to it that didnt get too soggy in the microwave. Also, i love that they come individually wraped because it means you dont have to bring the whole box with you if you just want one and take it to work/school/airport etc..

Didn't fancy: although the tortilla was good, there was an uneven tortilla-filling distribution (ie, too much tortilla with skimpy filling). My first bite was pure tortilla, the secon was like 80% tortilla and the rest were pretty much 70% tortilla and the rest obviously being the filling. Since the tortilla takes over, the ends hardened a bit after the microwave leaving them to be, kinda odd tasting (although this may be my fault for not heating them up properly).
It was yummy but i dont think i will buy this again because to be honest, i think i can make the same sort of wrap with about the same nutrtitionals (or maybe healthier even)that will probably turn out more filling and more tasty. Like a La Tortilla Factory tortilla wraped up with 1/4 egg beaters, a crumbled Boca link, salsa, hot sauce, and some bell peppers and onions for only about 150 calories. but if your in a hurry, this a aint a bad choice.

This Mexican entrée is made with organic tortillas, black beans and a medley of organic vegetables; it contains 190 mg of sodium compared to 390 mg in Amy¹s regular black bean vegetable enchilada. two enchilads are in the package at 160 cals each, with 3 grams of fiber, and 5 grams of protien (all each, so double that for the full meal). I actually stray from frozen entrees in case you havent notice, i dont usually review many of them. The reason for this is that i usually can prepare wonderful entrees that are way healthier and more flavor full than some of the stuff out there. and a big issue for me is that most are sodium infused. This entree smelled wonderful and i liked that it didnt have cheese. The veggies were nice for frozen food, and retained some crunch. Overall a really good meal for frozen food, my one complaint it tasted like it would be a "light in sodium" item. It was good, but there was a slight sense that something was lacking, (a bit of salt perhaps). But i liked it and would buy it again since its so hard for me to find cheeseless enchiladas. Thank god i dont have high blood pressure, cause i whipped out the salt shaker for this one.

I know! i promised to lay off the morningstar, but i was a Trader Joes, and really craved something pizza-y and this was cheap and calling my name. According to morningstar these are "Italian-style veggie burger accented with mozzarella, tomatoes and basil". Thankfully, morningstar didn't give me the pathetic dime sized sausage patties, these burgers were just the size burgers ought to be. Each patty has 130 calories, 6 g fat, 10 g protein, and 3 g of fiber. For a pizza fix, pretty sound. For a burger, i thought it was a little high in the fat dept, but i realized these are pizza-like and contain cheese (something i am usually not crazy for and usually a little high in fat). Anyhow, it made my kitchen smell like a pizza joint which is ok, but my roomates are anal about my cooking smelly stuff so i whipping out the Febreez. Looks like morningstar finally has a hit, these were pretty good and i dont even like cheesy type stuff. I dont think its good hamburger alternative, its more pizza-y. Its neat cause its like a pizza, sana crust and sans a lot of grease. But, i must say it was slightly greasy, so i suggest maybe blot it a little. I promise, i've been morningstared out now...(my roomates must think i work for them or something).