Archive for the ‘Penne’ Category

Bertolli Chicken Parmigiana & Penne

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

Bertolli Chicken Parmigiana & Penne - Ad

Bertolli Chicken Parmigiana & Penne

Looks: The chicken and tomato bits blend into the sauce much more than the package shows, and there was no melted cheese to be seen (although you could taste it). The sauce is thicker and coats the noodles more than expected, but the noodles themselves appeared as advertised. 3.5 out of 5

Taste: My wife claims this is her favorite of all the Bertolli meals, but I’m just not feeling it. (The Chicken Alfredo & Fettuccine and Chicken Florentine & Farfalle are both superior.) The noodles are fine, but I found the chicken a tad too soggy, and the sauce was underwhelming: it doesn’t taste much different than jarred Ragu. Definitely less than I’ve come to expect from Bertolli. 3 out of 5

Healthy Choice Grilled Chicken Marinara Cafe Steamer

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Healthy Choice Grilled Chicken Marinara Cafe Steamer - Ad

Healthy Choice Grilled Chicken Marinara Cafe Steamer

Looks: Are those even the same meals? The chicken pieces are deformed, the broccoli looks weak, the cheese is missing, and the sauce (which got mixed into the meal, by direction) was not the right color. 1 out of 5

Taste: It tastes about how it looks. Weak, without any standout flavors. The chicken tasted strange, like it was really ground chicken formed back into nuggets – not at all like “Grilled Chicken Marinara.” Very disappointing for what I’ve always seen as an upper-level brand. 2 out of 5

Domino’s Three Cheese Mac-n-Cheese Pasta Bowl

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

Reader Jacob sends in this picture and commentary of Domino’s Three Cheese Mac-N-Cheese Pasta Bowl:

fakebreadbowl

realbreadbowl

Looks: The pasta looks generally the same in both cases, as does the “bowl”‘s crustiness, but the problem here (and it’s a doozy) is that the product in question is not nearly as tall in real life as it is in the ads. It’s really more of a pizza with pasta on top. 2.5 out of 5

Taste: I’m not gonna lie: this thing is delicious. But, when you’re eating, you’re faced with a conundrum: Do you eat the pasta and the bowl together, or do you eat the pasta and then eat the bowl, which on its own is pretty dry? Either way, I don’t know how anyone, no matter how hungry, could eat a whole Bread Bowl Pasta on their own. 4 out of 5

Uh, yeah, no one would ever eat a whole Bread Bowl Pasta in one sitting. Especially not me. Especially not while watching The Biggest Loser… alone. And crying. No sirree.

(If you’d like to submit your own Food IRL, head on over to the Reader Submission Form. Include a photo, and optionally (but ideally), a description of how the food tasted.)

Healthy Choice Tomato Basil Penne

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Healthy Choice Tomato Basil Penne - Ad

Healthy Choice Tomato Basil Penne

Looks: If you had access to all of the individual ingredients, you could maybe construct what is shown on the box, but for a meal that includes the instruction “stir entree and replace film cover,” you’re never going to end up with a pasta dish as displayed on the box, with the sauce and cheese nicely poured over the top. The noodles are the correct shape though and the sauce is the right color, so I guess that’s something. 2.5 out of 5

Taste: Ask my wife, she’s the one who ate it. (Hey, you’re not paying to read this, what did you expect?) Ok, I asked her and she said “The noodles were a good texture and the sauce was flavorful. I had to add my own cheese. I give it 4 foods out of 5. Wait, what scale does your little blog use?”