Real Aphrodisiacs for Valentine's
How to Make a Healthy Snack
McBites = Modern McNuggets?
Classic Valentine Dishes
How to Scrape a Vanilla Bean
Chocolate Beers for Valentine's
By: Kellogg’s
I Paid: $2.93 for six 2.2-ounce pastries (prices may vary by region)
“Baked not fried!” cries the packaging for Eggo’s new Bake Shop Swirlz. “Enjoy the warm goodness of a sweet breakfast you can feel good about,” it adds.
In a particularly gutsy move, Kellogg’s actually publishes a head-to-head comparison of the Swirlz’s nutrition stats and those of the Pillsbury Toaster Strudel. Swirlz are bigger (63g versus 54g), have fewer calories (150 versus 200), less total fat (3g versus 8g), and less trans fat (0g versus 1g). In the world of mass-produced sweet breakfasts, this surely counts as a victory, as well as a marketing coup. Swirlz also look appealing: They’re round little baked items with filling (cinnamon icing or strawberry jam plus icing) baked inside.
That said, the things have 40 to 50 different ingredients. High-fructose corn syrup sits in third place after water and enriched flour, followed closely by sugar, dextrose, and vegetable oil. Despite—no, scratch that, actually because of—the ongoing slew of pro-HFCS ads, I remain in the “skeptical” camp in terms of how much of this stuff we should cram into our bodies on a daily basis.
And then we come to the flavor problem. Far from having any of the rich flakiness one would expect from a similar-looking real-world breakfast item (for example: a classic kringle from Racine, Wisconsin), Bake Shop Swirlz are dry and starchy. The cinnamon variety particularly suffers from a dull bready quality that calls for—no, screams for—maple syrup. And once you’ve added syrup (something the packaging doesn’t suggest), you’ve blown the nutritional calculus completely.
The strawberry variety is slightly better, spicing up its drab breadiness with a bit of sticky jam flavor. But it’s as artificial-tasting as its cousin, and still a long way from a wholesome breakfast.
Easy Express Cheesy Garlic Lasagna with Meat & Sauce or Rigatoni with Chicken
By: Stouffer’s
I Paid: $6.59 for a 35-ounce lasagne box or a 28-ounce rigatoni box (prices may vary by region)
“Hey, America—how about a giant Stouffer’s pasta meal that you nuke in the microwave for a long, long time?” Not an appealing prospect, but the reality of Easy Express meals is considerably more appealing than that image. A sampling of two of the three varieties available—the Cheesy Garlic Lasagna and the Rigatoni with Chicken—reveals hearty, simply prepared, workaday meals that underpromise and overdeliver.
The lasagne, which takes 17 minutes to heat up in the microwave, is uncannily convincing. Although it’s arguably too heavy on garlic flavor and has relatively one-dimensional ground beef, it has a great sauce-to-cheese-to-meat ratio, which is a difficult balance to strike. Some actual browning on the cheese combined with visible bits of onion and flecks of herbs makes this a frozen lasagne that could pass for a freshly made, real dish. The rigatoni is less convincing, suffering from an advertised pesto flavoring that comes up a bit short on basil or garlic (to say nothing of pine nuts or olive oil). But the chicken is nicely browned and tender, and the sauce isn’t overly thick or creamy. Although the dish could use a little more chicken, it is, overall, a pleasant rendering of a simple Italian American–style entrée.
While neither of these entrées is going to fool a fan of lovingly prepared Italian American food, they’re pretty damned good value for the money: Each box will provide four servings at about $1.65 a pop.
Pesto "flavoring" huh? That's our clue that there won't be any basil or garlic or pine nuts or olive oil. Just "flavoring."
i agree. i hate the IDEA of frozen lasagna but when i've had it, it's really not that bad - actually pretty yummy (and lasagna is A LOT of work). it's not homemade, but it's not supposed to be.
Is this available anywhere in southern California? I've never seen it ...
Says who? You? Fine for you to say it's "icky" for you; not fine for you to say it's "icky" for others. What dictionary did you use for finding that definition? Judge not, StriperGuy :)
Ewwww yuck, are you seriously eating TV dinners? Frozen supermarket lasagna by definition is icky!!!!
Can the lasagna be cooked in a conventional oven also? Some can and some can't. It would be nice to have on hand and the conventional oven would certainly give more browning. Thanks for the recommendation.
I actually just used the Stouffer's Easy Express lasagna as an emergency substitute for the real thing- my oven broke the day I was hosting a study session at my apartment, and I had promised lasagna.
It worked out very well, was absolutely easy, and tasted pretty amazing, especially for something that came from a box. Overall, thumbs up!
I wouldn't touch the Swirlz, though.
Oi... I think part of the appeal of frozen entrees is that one can bring them to work and eat them for lunch. This, unfortunately, rules out those pasta dishes: oworkers would *kill* someone who monopolized the microwave for 10-18 minutes!
As for the strawberry Swirlz, sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who's utterly sick and revolted by all the artificial flavour these days. How much does...+READ
Oi... I think part of the appeal of frozen entrees is that one can bring them to work and eat them for lunch. This, unfortunately, rules out those pasta dishes: oworkers would *kill* someone who monopolized the microwave for 10-18 minutes!
As for the strawberry Swirlz, sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who's utterly sick and revolted by all the artificial flavour these days. How much does it cost to slap a couple of strawberries pureed on something? Artificial strawberry flavour barely tastes like strawberries anyways.-COLLAPSE