A Meaty, Boozy Father's Day
Polynesian Cocktail Party
10 Spicy Snacks
Party Food from the Corner Store
How to Make Nut Milk
Sausage Recipes of the Month
Dr. Praeger's Kids All Natural Spinach Littles
I Paid: $4.69 for a 12-ounce box (prices may vary by region)
"Sensible Food Never Tasted This Good!" shouts the box containing the fun-shaped* potato-and-spinach dinner nuggets known as "Littles." Another promotional line reads: "Where You Recognize All the Ingredients."
Right from the get-go, this sort of lecture on a box gets my hackles up. The grim-faced cardiac surgeon featured on the back of the package (Dr. Praeger, the company's namesake) has taken it upon himself to teach us fatties how to eat better. His approach, arguably condescending even to kids, is to stuff spinach into the basic outline of a triceratops and have us broil it within an inch of its life. (The cooking instructions are a little overzealous: Eight minutes of high broil on each side imparted a bit more carbon flavor than the good doctor probably intended.)
But I wanted to like Dr. Praeger's Kids All Natural Spinach Littles in order to prove a point to myself, which is that we do need to eat better, we need to do it in the context of day-to-day eating, and we need to do it in a way that balances nutrition and flavor.
Unfortunately, these Littles fall just short of the mark on flavor. While the potato-y crunch of each dense nugget is pleasant, that pleasantness is more than undone by the aggressive metallic bite of the spinach and the carbon of the burnt onions. "Well," you might say, "that's just how spinach tastes." "Fair enough," I'd retort, "but maybe it's not meant to be cooked like this, and instead should exist solely within the context of properly dressed dinner salads."
It's hard not to admire Dr. Praeger's mission, which is a reasonable and timely one. But more vigorous work needs to be done on the taste front in order to make this particular healthy concoction a dish parents and kids will want to return to. One cheat that worked for me: dipping the Littles in organic ketchup, which covered their sins while doing a minimum of nutritional damage. If the box had recommended this, I would've given these things three stars, spinach and all.
*"Fun" comes in three basic shapes: star, gingerbread man, and dinosaur. Proposed update: electric guitar, cell phone, and Justin Bieber.
What kelly said. A little salt, pepper and Tabasco can go a long way.
And now you care about diet and health shaming. Of course. It's only acceptable when you do it, isn't it?
Hey, I love the spinach items! I add salt, pepper and hot sauce tho..
I think they are better if you let them cool thoroughly too.
Some of Dr. Praeger's products are delicious and some are just ho-hum; they don't make anything that someone else doesn't make better, but I have to say that I love those broccoli patties and the spinach patties rock if done correctly. You have to show some creativity if you want a good meal from a box.
Gardein makes the best I've tried. They're fingers, not nuggets, but the breading crisps nicely and the texture is very chickeny.
As far as healthy chicken nuggets go, I realized that what I mainly like about them is the dipping sauces. So I cut up boneless, skinless chicken breasts, saute in a bit of olive oil until nicely browned, and use them as a vehicle for honey mustard sauce and wasabi mayo (the last is probably not all that healthy in large doses, however).
I gave up on Dr. Praegers' products when I tasted the veggie burger. If you can market/sell a product that tastes that bad, I hold out no hope for the rest of your products. Seriously nas-tay.
There are other veggie nuggets that are pretty good that I find in the produce refrigerator section. I wish I could remember the brand. They have spinach and are lightly breaded. Those I recall are not bad with a softish texture.
As a long-time vegetarian I have become well-acquainted with Dr. Praegers. Their only edible item are the potato pancakes. They're giant pucks of hashbrowns, so what could go wrong? Their other stuff goes similarly wrong to these spinach fails. Their veggie burger is corn, peas, and cubed carrot held in a patty by bland, unidentifiable mush. No matter how you cook them, they fall apart. Even if...+READ
As a long-time vegetarian I have become well-acquainted with Dr. Praegers. Their only edible item are the potato pancakes. They're giant pucks of hashbrowns, so what could go wrong? Their other stuff goes similarly wrong to these spinach fails. Their veggie burger is corn, peas, and cubed carrot held in a patty by bland, unidentifiable mush. No matter how you cook them, they fall apart. Even if you manage to crisp the outer part the inner part has the firmness of pudding. Nutritious food does not have to be this way!-COLLAPSE