Lean Cuisine Roasted Garlic Chicken - Decent meal, side dish wasn’t for me.
Written: Jun 24 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Decent flavor, quick to prepare, no preservatives.
Cons: Higher sodium and spinach for the side dish.
The Bottom Line: This is a tasty meal, decent sized chicken pieces, but the side dish was not one for me at all.
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| Magick1's Full Review: Stouffer's Lean Cuisine Classic Roasted Garlic Chi... |
Another adventure in searching for fine lunch cuisine started with a trip at the super market. I had one of those coupons that the cash register spits out at you based upon your purchases and it was for $1.50 Lean Cuisine frozen meals. Due to this coupon, I decided to grab some more of these lunch items to try, as I have had decent luck so far. Well, without thinking, I grabbed this lunch of Roasted Garlic Chicken with spinach in a creamy parmesan sauce.
One of the things that does delight me with the Lean Cuisine lunches (or dinners, I suppose) is the fact that they state “NO PRESERVATIVES” on the front of the box. That can help cut down on some unnecessary junk they stuff in these frozen meals to give them a decent shelf life! I grabbed this one due to the chicken, which I have been very happy with so far!
The Product
Preparation of the meal is quick, like most microwave dishes. If you prepare 1 box, you just need about 5 minutes and 30 seconds; 2 boxes, you should cook for about 10 minutes and 12 seconds. I usually prepare 1 box and I don’t usually need that long since the lunch has been sitting in a lunch bag with an ice pack for about 5 or 6 hours by the time I get to it. But, if you pull it directly from the freezer, you will likely need this full amount. You just need to pull the plastic film back off one corner before microwaving it!
The meal itself had a very great appearance. The chicken is a nice white tenderloin portion and had some decent sized pieces. I had 6 pieces included in this meal. They were mostly decent sized with 2 of them being just tiny pieces. But, it was enough to enjoy the flavor.
The chicken was very tender and deliciously flavored. I did not think it was heavily spiced or tremendously garlicky. But, it did have a nice flavor. If you don’t like much spice, this might be a touch spicy.
Now, the reason that I said that I cannot believe that I grabbed this dish is because I don’t like cooked spinach. I love it raw in salads, on sandwiches, etc. But, for some reason, the texture when cooked just is disgusting to me. But, I bought it, I was hungry and I did try it. You never can tell when your taste buds might change their minds and might like something you once hated, right?
Well, needless to say, I did not like. It just tasted too much like cooked spinach. Initially, the taste was almost a sweet taste with the carrots and parmesan cheese mixed in and onions, etc. But, after a couple of seconds, that novelty wore off and I was not happy. I gave it a second taste, just to be sure, but yes, the spinach flavor did me in and I could not eat any more of it! But, if you like spinach, this won’t stop you from buying it again!
The Ingredients
Water, cooked chicken tenderloin (chicken tenderloins, glaze [water, seasoning, {modified cornstarch, salt, dehydrated garlic, spices, dehydrated onion, citric acid, dehydrated parsley}, canola oil, maltodextrin, caramel color], water, modified potato starch, soy protein isolate, chicken flavor [yeast extract, salt, soy sauce [soybeans, wheat, salt], sugar, maltodextrin, dried chicken, flavor, sesame oil, dried chicken broth, thiamin hydrochloride, lactic acid, citric acid, chicken fat], sodium phosphates), spinach, skim milk, onions, carrots, modified cornstarch, parmesan cheese [cultured milk, salt, enzymes], soybean oil, white wine, butterfat, asiago cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), salt, cheese flavor (cheddar cheese [cultured milk, salt, enzymes], water, salt, enzymes, cultures, phosphoric acid, xanthan gum), chicken flavor (yeast extract, flavors, water, chicken powder, chicken fat, sugar, sodium lactate, sodium phosphate, lactic acid, ascorbic acid), potassium chloride, roasted garlic, dehydrated onions, basil, enzyme modified parmesan cheese (cultured milk, water, salt, enzymes), garlic puree, yeast extract, whey protein concentrate, carrageenan, spices, caramel color, flavor (chicken fat, flavors, chicken flavor), cultured whey, turmeric
Contains Milk, soy, wheat ingredients
Nutrition Facts
This information, as the ingredients, is taken directly from the box. This nutrition detail is based upon a standard 2,000 calorie daily diet.
Calories 180 Calories from Fat 60
Total Fat 7g or 11%
Saturated Fat 2.5g or 13%
Trans Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2g
Monounsaturated Fat 2g
Cholesterol 40mg or 13%
Sodium 650mg or 27%
Potassium 750mg or 21%
Total Carbohydrate 9g or 3%
Dietary Fiber 1g or 4%
Sugars 3g
Protein 20g
Vitamin A 35%
Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 15%
Iron 6%
Overall Impressions
Again, another Lean Cuisine item was tried and another meal was mostly delightful to my palate. I was disappointed that I did not read the box better due to the spinach mixture that was the only side dish with this meal. The bits of chicken were, mostly well sized, and tender and flavorful. It wasn’t terribly strong in flavor but it wasn’t weak and milk either.
If you like spinach, this mixture was decent with the carrots, parmesan cheese, and onions, but I don’t like spinach and this was a down side for me.
The lower calories were very nice and no preservatives. But, one drawback was the level of sodium. If you are watching this, you might not like the amount of sodium in this dish. But, if that’s not a concern and you are looking for healthier lunch alternatives that are quick to prepare and eat, this might be a good choice for you to check out. If they offer other sides on this chicken dish, I will likely try that. But, if this is it, I will be passing on this dish in the future.
~Thanks for spending time with me today!~
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Recommended:
No
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