Posts filed under 'beef'
(with gravy and garlic-herb mashed potatoes)
Directions: microwave on HIGH for 3 1/2 minutes, stir, cook for 1 more minute, let stand in microwave
Since when is meatloaf a Bistro selection? I thought it’d be a shoo-in for Comfort Classics.
This is a two-compartment tray. Once side is a meatloaf slice slightly larger than the palm of my hand. The other side is the mashed potatoes with green flecks which I believe are chives. The ingredient list reads like a chemistry lab. And although there are no red pepper chunks, the loaf and the “gravy” have red pepper in it.
The meatloaf has a pleasing spongy texture to it and I swear I taste a tinge of ketchup in it, which reminds me of home. The taters are decent too…a bit flat but the garlicky taste makes up for it. It’s not garlicky enough, though, to be a bad-breath-at-work issue.
Paired with a side salad and some carrots, it filled me up and made me happy. On its own this meal wouldn’t have.
250 calories, 8g fat, 5 POINTS)
June 18th, 2008
(Beef Steak in Whiskey BBQ Sauce, Roasted Potatoes & Vegetables)
(and no red pepper chunks!)
O happy day! NONE of the frozen diet meals were on sale this week so bet your bottom dollar I picked something other than Lean Cuisine. Anyway, this week I give you…
Cafe Steamers Week!
Directions: DO NOT PUNCTURE PLASTIC. Microwave on high for 3 min, 15 sec to 4 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes. Remove steamer basket from outer sauce bowl. Stir steamed food into sauce bowl. Dispose of Steamer basket and serve in sauce bowl.
Kim’s warning: The steamer basket is VERY HOT when you pour its contents into the sauce.
Eight large chunks of beef are swimming in the BBQ sauce which actually contains whiskey! (hic!) It’s a very tasty sauce albeit a bit on the watery side. I wonder if it has to be watery for the “steam technology” to work. The potato wedges are so large they look like apple slices. The corn, green beans and tomatoes were recognizable and didn’t disintegrate into a pile of mush.
The dish is filling enough on its own (although I paired it with a side of peas) but I am VERY thirsty afterward. I wonder if the 580g of sodium would cause that…nah, it’s just the whiskey. (hic!)
I prefer the BBQ sauce from the Lean Cuisine Southern Beef Tips but I like this meal’s roasted potatoes better.
4g fat, 260 cal, 5 POINTS
May 27th, 2008
(barbecue sauce & beef rib tips with oven-roasted potatoes)
(oh, the potatoes feature corn, onion, and RED PEPPER CHUNKS!)
Directions: Cook on HIGH for 4-5 minutes. Let sit in microwave for 1-2 minutes.
There is a group of ladies at work who order out for lunch every single day. They eat at their desks then take their hour lunch to do other things. Sweet deal, huh? Anyway, today someone ordered a barbecue sandwich, and my tummy started grumbling. Luckily I knew I had this dish - part of the “Comfort Classics” collection - at home, so after a nice 4.5 minute wait in front of the microwave, I have my own BBQ lunch!
There are seven chunks of moist and delicious beef in this dish, each about the size of my thumb. The potatoes held up well through the nuking process, but the corn/onion/pepper mixture fell away from the potatoes to the bottom of the tray, where they soaked up the BBQ sauce. I think this tray should have had 2 compartments to it to combat that unholy commingling.
The sauce…is okay. It tastes like your typical Kraft BBQ sauce without any of the fluff. And while it’s a far cry from that BBQ place I went to in Memphis a lifetime ago (Rendezvous?) or even my favorite chain BBQ place, it’s passable for a quick lunch. On second thought, there’s almost too much sauce, even after liberally dipping the seven chunks.
This meal along with the accompanying diet iced green tea beverage in a beer pint glass filled me up! So the hearty garden salad I made up will come to work with me this afternoon as a snack.
More importantly, it knocked out the mild craving I had for BBQ.
5g fat, 250 cal, 5 POINTS
May 13th, 2008