After the slight disappointment with Amy's tortilla bowl, I was a bit hesitant to try this other Mexican-flavored bowl. But I was hungry and dammit, I am on this total Mexican kick after being denied Mexican food for so long. I slit that thang and gave it cancer.
I must say that with the tortilla bowl, I had just walked 40 minutes home with it in my bag and so I thought in the 4-5 minute span, I could just put it in for 4:15 or something and it would be fine. It was underdone in the center. For this one, I gave it its full 5 minutes, but it too was a little under-done in the center. I'm not sure if this is a problem with our microwave or just with the cooking time.
This bowl contains a chili-like substance, masa, corn, peppers, and cheese. It claims there are olives in there as well. It is, in a word ...
Fantastic.
Even though I had to throw it in the cancer box, it was still so good. A nice, balanced mix of ingredients and flavors that left me feeling very satisfied when I was done. And relatively healthy, too. I got the full sodium variety, but they also have a low sodium type.
My only problem with this ... is that ohhhhh it's like $7. They have it at most of the stores around me, and it ranges from $6.50-6.99, One thing I like about frozen food is that it's cheaper than eating out, but this is not. The only convenience is that I can eat it at home without anyone judging me. And it's probably lower in calories than Wahoo's or Taco Del Mar. But as a student who is already paying the Hawaii premium and the GF premium ... ouch.
Come on, Amy. I love you. Yes, I'm two-timing you with cinnamon, but we can all get along, can't we?
Monday, December 20, 2010
Van's Gluten Free Cinnamon French Toast Sticks
I love cinnamon. Right now we're working on the whole gay marriage thing, but once that's done I want to legalize marriage between one person and one shaker of cinnamon, because I love cinnamon that much. There isn't much that can't be improved with a dash of cinnamon.
Since I'm riding the Gluten Free Train and baked goods are kind of difficult territory, I often find myself wishing there were more cinnamon-based products I could indulge in that were pre-cooked and didn't contain dates (I hate dates--you hear that, Enjoy Life?). Or raisins. Don't go thinking you could just swap out the dates for raisins and trick me.
I want a cinnamon roll or a coffee cake or some really GOOD snickerdoodles, and of course this is a hard thing to do unless you're keen on baking by yourself. Right now I don't have a kitchen per se.
So when I saw Van's cinnamon french toast sticks at my local Whole Foods? Well, I haddd to buy them.
After a few recent disappointments, I was really worried about these. But I had nothing to worry about. I opened the box and found toast-shaped slices with indentations (each slice can be broken into three "sticks"). You can stick them in your toaster on a medium setting, and voila! French toast!
The cinnamon scent and the residue of cinnamon left on my fingers was pleasantly overwhelming. I took one slice and popped it into the toaster. It actually didn't cook all the way totally (slightly cool in the center) but was still okay when I ate it.
Actually, more than okay.
CINNAMON PARADISE.
It was so good, but I had just had lunch and couldn't have another just yet. The sticks broke apart so easily, and apart from realizing I would need to set the dial a little higher next time, there were no cons to speak of with these beautiful bits of toast. The only thing I would say is that their status as "french toast" is pretty questionable. They don't contain any egg or dairy. So I would call them more like, "Cinnamon toast-shaped patties" than french toast sticks. But still. Delicious. I can't wait to try the waffles I bought.
Since I'm riding the Gluten Free Train and baked goods are kind of difficult territory, I often find myself wishing there were more cinnamon-based products I could indulge in that were pre-cooked and didn't contain dates (I hate dates--you hear that, Enjoy Life?). Or raisins. Don't go thinking you could just swap out the dates for raisins and trick me.
I want a cinnamon roll or a coffee cake or some really GOOD snickerdoodles, and of course this is a hard thing to do unless you're keen on baking by yourself. Right now I don't have a kitchen per se.
So when I saw Van's cinnamon french toast sticks at my local Whole Foods? Well, I haddd to buy them.
After a few recent disappointments, I was really worried about these. But I had nothing to worry about. I opened the box and found toast-shaped slices with indentations (each slice can be broken into three "sticks"). You can stick them in your toaster on a medium setting, and voila! French toast!
The cinnamon scent and the residue of cinnamon left on my fingers was pleasantly overwhelming. I took one slice and popped it into the toaster. It actually didn't cook all the way totally (slightly cool in the center) but was still okay when I ate it.
Actually, more than okay.
CINNAMON PARADISE.
It was so good, but I had just had lunch and couldn't have another just yet. The sticks broke apart so easily, and apart from realizing I would need to set the dial a little higher next time, there were no cons to speak of with these beautiful bits of toast. The only thing I would say is that their status as "french toast" is pretty questionable. They don't contain any egg or dairy. So I would call them more like, "Cinnamon toast-shaped patties" than french toast sticks. But still. Delicious. I can't wait to try the waffles I bought.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Amy's Tortilla Casserole Bowl
Oh, Amy.
I fell in love with Amy in college, when I first discovered her cheese enchiladas. They weren't spicy or overpowered with weird sauce. They were just cheesy and good.
Then I fell into this chasm for several years which contained no Amy's products. My hometown grocers didn't carry them, and then I was in Japan. In Japan I could get verrrry few products, but fortunately those enchiladas were one of them.
I had held off buying any Amy's until now because I wanted to try all these other mysterious GF products in the supermarket. But today I had a hankering for Mexican and I knew I wasn't going to make it all the way to Ala Moana or one of these mysteriously hidden Taco Bells. I picked up two Amy's Mexican bowls at the supermarket and trudged home.
The first on my list was the tortilla casserole bowl. I like tortilla chips, so I thought this would be tasty. Since I'm sharing a kitchen with umpteen people, I decided not to be an oven hog (even though no one is ever home) and make it in the microwave.
I think my review of this item is, "Hmm." It wasn't really bad but it wasn't really good. I would have liked some more cheese than the bit flicked on top. The tortilla part tasted okay on the edges, but in the middle was soggy and dry at the same time. I wasn't sure what else was in there (it's a casserole, after all) but mostly could just taste corn chip and a weird sweetness that I assume was some tomato substance. It had the veggie sweetness of bell peppers.
The black beans were pretty nice.
So I don't know if I would buy this again. Maybe, if I had an oven all to myself, I would go for it. Or maybe I'd just be better off buying a can of beans, some tortilla chips, salsa and cheese. Or making my fantastic Taco Bell "relatively gluten free mexican dinner I think" of nachos, beans, and rice.
I fell in love with Amy in college, when I first discovered her cheese enchiladas. They weren't spicy or overpowered with weird sauce. They were just cheesy and good.
Then I fell into this chasm for several years which contained no Amy's products. My hometown grocers didn't carry them, and then I was in Japan. In Japan I could get verrrry few products, but fortunately those enchiladas were one of them.
I had held off buying any Amy's until now because I wanted to try all these other mysterious GF products in the supermarket. But today I had a hankering for Mexican and I knew I wasn't going to make it all the way to Ala Moana or one of these mysteriously hidden Taco Bells. I picked up two Amy's Mexican bowls at the supermarket and trudged home.
The first on my list was the tortilla casserole bowl. I like tortilla chips, so I thought this would be tasty. Since I'm sharing a kitchen with umpteen people, I decided not to be an oven hog (even though no one is ever home) and make it in the microwave.
I think my review of this item is, "Hmm." It wasn't really bad but it wasn't really good. I would have liked some more cheese than the bit flicked on top. The tortilla part tasted okay on the edges, but in the middle was soggy and dry at the same time. I wasn't sure what else was in there (it's a casserole, after all) but mostly could just taste corn chip and a weird sweetness that I assume was some tomato substance. It had the veggie sweetness of bell peppers.
The black beans were pretty nice.
So I don't know if I would buy this again. Maybe, if I had an oven all to myself, I would go for it. Or maybe I'd just be better off buying a can of beans, some tortilla chips, salsa and cheese. Or making my fantastic Taco Bell "relatively gluten free mexican dinner I think" of nachos, beans, and rice.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Glutino Multigrain Crackers
Ever since arriving n Hawaii I found myself looking for crackers. I had grown to enjoy those Ener-G crackers quite a bit, and I was sad that I had so much trouble finding them. On the day I finally did find them, I also found these Glutino crackers, available in several flavors. I thought multigrain sounded like a great option, but I should have read the label.
See, I hate fennel seeds. Hate hate hate.
Who expects fennel seeds in their crackers?
Anyway, so I was a bit disappointed in that regard. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.
On the box, Glutino's crackers look like crackers of the Ritz variety. Glutino and I are having a strained relationship. Their penne was terrible and their breakfast bars were so-so (I didn't review that yet). I was really hoping that their crackers would at least be edible.
When I opened the box I was very surprised, because I expected the usual individually wrapped tubes of crackers, like you get in a box of Ritz. No no no. I guess as a cost-saving measure they decided to just THROW A BUNCH OF CRACKERS IN A BAG. Not even one big bag. Two smaller bags. Why is this a bad idea? Don't they do that with other brands of crackers? I seem to recall that Wheat Thins do this, but Wheat Thins don't break very easily. This sort of cracker? Breaks.
So I opened up a baggy to find a lot of broken and some whole crackers. Not exactly pleasant. I took one out and tasted it. Fennel. Fennnnnnnel. But it wasn't terribly overpowering. I'd survive. I think these crackers are best suited to the meat and cheese approach. Too bad I bought them for peanut butter.
So I dug out my peanut butter. It did cover up the fennel well enough. It also completely overwhelmed the cracker itself.
It isn't a bad cracker. It's just ... there's a certain nuttiness I expect from multigrain crackers, and that's missing. Perhaps because there's no (or very little?) salt on it, the flavors don't really come out in the cracker itself. But I wouldn't be very harsh on these. 6.5/10 or thereabouts. They serve their purpose. They aren't gross. They lose a point for poor packaging and the FENNEL. (WHO PUTS FENNEL SEEDS IN CRACKERS??)
But definitely not bad. And not Nut Thins. Sorry, Nut Thins, but if I wanted to eat things that tasted like Fritos ... I would buy Fritos.
See, I hate fennel seeds. Hate hate hate.
Who expects fennel seeds in their crackers?
Anyway, so I was a bit disappointed in that regard. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.
On the box, Glutino's crackers look like crackers of the Ritz variety. Glutino and I are having a strained relationship. Their penne was terrible and their breakfast bars were so-so (I didn't review that yet). I was really hoping that their crackers would at least be edible.
When I opened the box I was very surprised, because I expected the usual individually wrapped tubes of crackers, like you get in a box of Ritz. No no no. I guess as a cost-saving measure they decided to just THROW A BUNCH OF CRACKERS IN A BAG. Not even one big bag. Two smaller bags. Why is this a bad idea? Don't they do that with other brands of crackers? I seem to recall that Wheat Thins do this, but Wheat Thins don't break very easily. This sort of cracker? Breaks.
So I opened up a baggy to find a lot of broken and some whole crackers. Not exactly pleasant. I took one out and tasted it. Fennel. Fennnnnnnel. But it wasn't terribly overpowering. I'd survive. I think these crackers are best suited to the meat and cheese approach. Too bad I bought them for peanut butter.
So I dug out my peanut butter. It did cover up the fennel well enough. It also completely overwhelmed the cracker itself.
It isn't a bad cracker. It's just ... there's a certain nuttiness I expect from multigrain crackers, and that's missing. Perhaps because there's no (or very little?) salt on it, the flavors don't really come out in the cracker itself. But I wouldn't be very harsh on these. 6.5/10 or thereabouts. They serve their purpose. They aren't gross. They lose a point for poor packaging and the FENNEL. (WHO PUTS FENNEL SEEDS IN CRACKERS??)
But definitely not bad. And not Nut Thins. Sorry, Nut Thins, but if I wanted to eat things that tasted like Fritos ... I would buy Fritos.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Hawaiian Gluten Free Paradise
One of the biggest factors in my leaving Japan was being unable to eat food. I like food. I'm not one of those people who can cook a vat of chili and eat it for two weeks straight. My body just will not consume food it does not want to eat, and if it's bored or uninterested in something, I can't argue. If my body wants pizza and I try to give it rice, it will shut down the hunger after a few bites and I feel full but unsatisfied. Of course, I get hungry again about 30-60 minutes later. Horribly inconvenient.
So just a week or so after moving here, I have pretty well scouted out the best and worst places to get anything gluten free within my own little sphere of the world.
Keep in mind you're not only going to be paying the gluten free tax, but also the Hawaii tax. Food is expensive here.
If you're staying in Honolulu, I'm going to bet you're in Waikiki. If you aren't ... well ... too bad. But surely you can find something you can eat near you.
The first store I hit on my gf run was Down to Earth ( http://www.downtoearth.org/ ). They're an all-vegetarian store with a huge amount of gluten free food. I'm not vegetarian, nor do I have any desire to be, but they don't card you or interrogate you or sniff you for essence of meat before you go in.
They had a lot of frozen items (the usual Amy's as well as some other stuff), cereals, crackers, bread, pretzels, pasta, etc. The only item I was hoping they would have that they didn't (but the brochure said they did) was tortillas. They had the Annie's deluxe gf, so I was happy.
In their deli/bakery they had a couple of pizzas that were listed as gf, as well as wheat-free cookies (I assume not gf due to the potential for cross-contamination). I was intrigued by both, but a bit turned off by fake meat (dude, if you're going to eat meat ... just eat meat) on the pizza and dates in the cookies. I just have a thing about raisins or dates in cookies. Can't stand them. Always taste them. No good.
The next on my list was Whole Foods. This is in the Kahala Mall and a bit of a trek if you're ... anywhere. I had to take two buses to get there, and by the time I got home I had spent over an hour and a half on buses and my food was melting.
It was my first time in a Whole Foods, but I think they're pretty standard, yeah? Really expensive, but lots of gf stuff. I was very tempted by the doughnuts, pie, and carrot cake. Ohhhh carrot cake. But I can't afford $12 in carrot cake or $16 pumpkin pies! They had a lot of nice stuff and I spent a lot of money on it. Mostly things I hadn't been able to find at Down to Earth or the other supermarkets in the area.
The next was Kokua Market ( http://kokuamarket.ning.com/ ). Fortunately for me and my tortilla lust, after forgetting to buy them at Whole Foods, Kokua had some for me. They also had a decent selection of items, including Glutino crackers, bagels, frozen items (mostly Amy's), and instant oatmeal in a flavor I would never touch (ewww banana). They had a bit more pizza than Down to Earth had, and since they're just down the street I bet they stay a little bit competitive in pricing. A little. Chicken noodle soup! Hurray!
All in all, not bad, and probably the least I've spent on groceries thus far, even though I got several items.
Now, don't think you have to go to these hippy-dippy crunchy earth-loving vegan all-natural shops to get your food on.
Walmart is not the place to go for anything. It's not a grocery store for all intents and purposes, and is more of a tourist destination for Japanese people who want to be able to say they went to a Walmart.
The Japanese version of Walmart, in a sense, is Don Quijote (or "Donki" as we usually called it in Japan). I actually found several gf foods in Donki, such as cereals and pastas. It was kind of odd, considering I'd just left Japan due to its dearth of gf food. Of course, in Japan they don't sell the same foods ...
I haven't been to Times, but the Safeway I went to has very little in the way of gf stuff. A few Amy's dinners, a couple of bags of pasta. They do have some lunch meat that is labeled gf (Hormel, IIRC) at least. It's a little disappointing, since it's my nearest store.
Foodland in Ala Moana has a few items (mostly Amy's), but the other Foodland I went to on S. Beretania had a LOT of stuff. Waffles and chicken tenders and cereals. They even had some breads in the freezer case. A decent selection at a relatively normal store. The prices are still kind of insane, but at least you can get one of those little shopper cards and pretend you're getting a discount.
So there you go. Just a short list of my findings. If I find anything else ... I will report back.
So just a week or so after moving here, I have pretty well scouted out the best and worst places to get anything gluten free within my own little sphere of the world.
Keep in mind you're not only going to be paying the gluten free tax, but also the Hawaii tax. Food is expensive here.
If you're staying in Honolulu, I'm going to bet you're in Waikiki. If you aren't ... well ... too bad. But surely you can find something you can eat near you.
The first store I hit on my gf run was Down to Earth ( http://www.downtoearth.org/ ). They're an all-vegetarian store with a huge amount of gluten free food. I'm not vegetarian, nor do I have any desire to be, but they don't card you or interrogate you or sniff you for essence of meat before you go in.
They had a lot of frozen items (the usual Amy's as well as some other stuff), cereals, crackers, bread, pretzels, pasta, etc. The only item I was hoping they would have that they didn't (but the brochure said they did) was tortillas. They had the Annie's deluxe gf, so I was happy.
In their deli/bakery they had a couple of pizzas that were listed as gf, as well as wheat-free cookies (I assume not gf due to the potential for cross-contamination). I was intrigued by both, but a bit turned off by fake meat (dude, if you're going to eat meat ... just eat meat) on the pizza and dates in the cookies. I just have a thing about raisins or dates in cookies. Can't stand them. Always taste them. No good.
The next on my list was Whole Foods. This is in the Kahala Mall and a bit of a trek if you're ... anywhere. I had to take two buses to get there, and by the time I got home I had spent over an hour and a half on buses and my food was melting.
It was my first time in a Whole Foods, but I think they're pretty standard, yeah? Really expensive, but lots of gf stuff. I was very tempted by the doughnuts, pie, and carrot cake. Ohhhh carrot cake. But I can't afford $12 in carrot cake or $16 pumpkin pies! They had a lot of nice stuff and I spent a lot of money on it. Mostly things I hadn't been able to find at Down to Earth or the other supermarkets in the area.
The next was Kokua Market ( http://kokuamarket.ning.com/ ). Fortunately for me and my tortilla lust, after forgetting to buy them at Whole Foods, Kokua had some for me. They also had a decent selection of items, including Glutino crackers, bagels, frozen items (mostly Amy's), and instant oatmeal in a flavor I would never touch (ewww banana). They had a bit more pizza than Down to Earth had, and since they're just down the street I bet they stay a little bit competitive in pricing. A little. Chicken noodle soup! Hurray!
All in all, not bad, and probably the least I've spent on groceries thus far, even though I got several items.
Now, don't think you have to go to these hippy-dippy crunchy earth-loving vegan all-natural shops to get your food on.
Walmart is not the place to go for anything. It's not a grocery store for all intents and purposes, and is more of a tourist destination for Japanese people who want to be able to say they went to a Walmart.
The Japanese version of Walmart, in a sense, is Don Quijote (or "Donki" as we usually called it in Japan). I actually found several gf foods in Donki, such as cereals and pastas. It was kind of odd, considering I'd just left Japan due to its dearth of gf food. Of course, in Japan they don't sell the same foods ...
I haven't been to Times, but the Safeway I went to has very little in the way of gf stuff. A few Amy's dinners, a couple of bags of pasta. They do have some lunch meat that is labeled gf (Hormel, IIRC) at least. It's a little disappointing, since it's my nearest store.
Foodland in Ala Moana has a few items (mostly Amy's), but the other Foodland I went to on S. Beretania had a LOT of stuff. Waffles and chicken tenders and cereals. They even had some breads in the freezer case. A decent selection at a relatively normal store. The prices are still kind of insane, but at least you can get one of those little shopper cards and pretend you're getting a discount.
So there you go. Just a short list of my findings. If I find anything else ... I will report back.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Amy's Cheese Pizza with Rice Crust
While I was in Japan I had almost no problem getting rice crusts with which to make my own little pizzas. And they were good, too. I just hated having to buy all the ingredients and assemble them. You never know which cheese is any good, or which pizza sauce, and then I had to figure out ingredients. Black olives and mushrooms were easy. Green peppers a little more difficult. Ham couldn't be counted on to taste any good, and pepperoni? What I really wanted was pepperoni.
So I dreamed of a time when I could just go down to the store and get a frozen pizza and be done with it. Oh sure, I could pay the $17 and go to Z Pizza and have them do everything for me. But until that time, I just wanted to taste a real frozen pizza like I used to make when I was aching for a pizza but didn't want to go out to get one.
The Safeway nearby stocks the rice crust pizza, as does just about every other supermarket I've encountered so far (Walmart is not a supermarket and does not count). It was probably $12-14 as I recall. A bit pricey, but still better than Z Pizza's $4 GF markup. I got it home and took it to the oven.
Now, I'm in a bit of a contamination pickle (nothing to do with actual pickles) here. I share a kitchen with several other people. Amy is telling me to stick the crust on the oven rack and I know I can't do that. So I put it on tin foil. I'm sure this affected my baking. I just know it. But it was my only option.
In pretty much the time stated on the box I had a hot pizza waiting for me. But let's first go into how the thing looked, right? It looked cheesy enough, I guess. There wasn't a lot of sauce trying to escape, as there often is in these kinds of pizzas. So that was a plus in the "not much cheese" department. The crust looked nice too. It smelled kind of frozen pizza-ish on the way out, but no matter if it tastes good.
I would have to say I would give the pizza a 3/5. I am taking into account that it is frozen pizza and that frozen pizza is frozen pizza. The cheese had almost no flavor or texture, which was weird. When I got a bite of the inner part of the pizza all by itself, I could usually taste the cheese, but if there was any hint of that large outer crust, I could not. The sauce might as well have not existed, and then there was the crust. It was floppy due to my tinfoil predicament, and the texture was as you'd expect from GF food. Gritty. But the flavor was nice. It reminded me of those artisan-type breads you'd get at Panera. You know, garlic and sun-dried tomato herb bread or something.
On the whole, I think I might buy it again if I could find some pepperoni to put on it. And maybe some more cheese ...
So I dreamed of a time when I could just go down to the store and get a frozen pizza and be done with it. Oh sure, I could pay the $17 and go to Z Pizza and have them do everything for me. But until that time, I just wanted to taste a real frozen pizza like I used to make when I was aching for a pizza but didn't want to go out to get one.
The Safeway nearby stocks the rice crust pizza, as does just about every other supermarket I've encountered so far (Walmart is not a supermarket and does not count). It was probably $12-14 as I recall. A bit pricey, but still better than Z Pizza's $4 GF markup. I got it home and took it to the oven.
Now, I'm in a bit of a contamination pickle (nothing to do with actual pickles) here. I share a kitchen with several other people. Amy is telling me to stick the crust on the oven rack and I know I can't do that. So I put it on tin foil. I'm sure this affected my baking. I just know it. But it was my only option.
In pretty much the time stated on the box I had a hot pizza waiting for me. But let's first go into how the thing looked, right? It looked cheesy enough, I guess. There wasn't a lot of sauce trying to escape, as there often is in these kinds of pizzas. So that was a plus in the "not much cheese" department. The crust looked nice too. It smelled kind of frozen pizza-ish on the way out, but no matter if it tastes good.
I would have to say I would give the pizza a 3/5. I am taking into account that it is frozen pizza and that frozen pizza is frozen pizza. The cheese had almost no flavor or texture, which was weird. When I got a bite of the inner part of the pizza all by itself, I could usually taste the cheese, but if there was any hint of that large outer crust, I could not. The sauce might as well have not existed, and then there was the crust. It was floppy due to my tinfoil predicament, and the texture was as you'd expect from GF food. Gritty. But the flavor was nice. It reminded me of those artisan-type breads you'd get at Panera. You know, garlic and sun-dried tomato herb bread or something.
On the whole, I think I might buy it again if I could find some pepperoni to put on it. And maybe some more cheese ...
Glutino Penne Alfredo
Of course it's delicious! It says so right on the website!
Now that I'm in America and have at my disposal a seemingly limitless supply of GF yummies, I had to run out and buy ... everything. Well, as much as I can carry at one time and that I can afford, since I quit my job and moved back to America.
I went to Whole Foods and gawked a bit, but ended up buying a handful of frozen items including this Glutino Penne Alfredo. I love me some alfredo. I love me some penne. And if it looks anything like it does on the box, well, count me in!
After paying my $6-8 (it was something like that), I expected quality. So imagine my disappointment when I opened up the box and saw this sad plate of frozen, gray noodles staring at me as if all crying out for me to end their pathetic, gray lives. Okay, I know brown rice pasta is going to be a little sad-looking, but where was the sauce?? Maybe the sauce was hiding.
I put it in the microwave and some sauce started to peek out as it bubbled and rotated in the cancer box. It smelled pretty good. But what about flavor?
After dodging my quasi-housemate's (too hard to explain) dogs to get to the front door, I sat down in my room, stirred up my pasta ... and ...
Wait, all my penne had broken into sad fragments of its former penne shapeliness. What the heck? But that doesn't mean it can't still taste good, right?
I took a bite. It was ... underwhelming. There was the mildest hint of creaminess, like when you reheat macaroni and cheese in the microwave and it mostly tastes like bland noodle and a little bit of cheese. There was just no flavor. So it wasn't bad. It was edible. I didn't throw it away or anything. But it just tasted like nothing. Noodle and noodle.
I wondered if it would be better in the oven. Normally I would cook things in the oven. But I didn't see any baking instructions (even though it refers to microwaving as "baking" on the back for some reason). So if that were a possibility I would try it. However, I don't think I'll be purchasing this--or that mac and cheese I saw next to it in the freezer case--again.
Now that I'm in America and have at my disposal a seemingly limitless supply of GF yummies, I had to run out and buy ... everything. Well, as much as I can carry at one time and that I can afford, since I quit my job and moved back to America.
I went to Whole Foods and gawked a bit, but ended up buying a handful of frozen items including this Glutino Penne Alfredo. I love me some alfredo. I love me some penne. And if it looks anything like it does on the box, well, count me in!
After paying my $6-8 (it was something like that), I expected quality. So imagine my disappointment when I opened up the box and saw this sad plate of frozen, gray noodles staring at me as if all crying out for me to end their pathetic, gray lives. Okay, I know brown rice pasta is going to be a little sad-looking, but where was the sauce?? Maybe the sauce was hiding.
I put it in the microwave and some sauce started to peek out as it bubbled and rotated in the cancer box. It smelled pretty good. But what about flavor?
After dodging my quasi-housemate's (too hard to explain) dogs to get to the front door, I sat down in my room, stirred up my pasta ... and ...
Wait, all my penne had broken into sad fragments of its former penne shapeliness. What the heck? But that doesn't mean it can't still taste good, right?
I took a bite. It was ... underwhelming. There was the mildest hint of creaminess, like when you reheat macaroni and cheese in the microwave and it mostly tastes like bland noodle and a little bit of cheese. There was just no flavor. So it wasn't bad. It was edible. I didn't throw it away or anything. But it just tasted like nothing. Noodle and noodle.
I wondered if it would be better in the oven. Normally I would cook things in the oven. But I didn't see any baking instructions (even though it refers to microwaving as "baking" on the back for some reason). So if that were a possibility I would try it. However, I don't think I'll be purchasing this--or that mac and cheese I saw next to it in the freezer case--again.
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