Food In Real Life

Kashi Sicilian Veggie Pizza

Today’s review comes from reader Megan W. of Lawrence, Kansas:

Looks: The actual pizza appeared to have more, and larger, pieces of vegetables than are shown on the box. The crust didn’t brown much at all. The sauce is as startlingly orange as it appears on the box. The vegetables had actual grill marks exactly as shown. When I first unwrapped the pizza some of the vegetables had migrated to one side so I arranged them to be more even across the pizza.4 out of 5

Taste: This was a delicious pizza. The crust very good: just salty enough with a nice mix of crisp and chewy. The sauce, although orange, was tasty and had noticeable tomato flavor. The vegetables were plentiful, not too soft, and actually tasted grilled (apparently the grill-marks weren’t just for appearances). Although the pizza was flavorful, it was a bit under-seasoned. It could have benefited from some Italian herbs and/or pepper. 4.5 out of 5

My only comment is that it appears that Kashi forgot to add the cheese. Even more embarrassingly, they forgot to add the cheese to the pizza they photographed for the box. Crazy!

Healthy Choice Chicken Margherita Cafe Steamer – Revisited

Another revisitation of a reader submission:

Sydney’s picture:

My picture:

Looks: As it lacks the thick brown sauce pictured on the box and the long pieces of chicken with discernibly browned skin but white meat, I do believe that this box has seen a little photoshopping in its day. 3 out of 5

Taste: You may remember that Sydney called this bowl of food “the worst thing I have ever eaten.” I think it’s fair to say that I had a different experience. It’s certainly not the best thing I’ve ever eaten, but it’s a mildy pleasing combination of the noodles + chicken + sauce trio that comprises essentially every Healthy Choice meal out there. 3 out of 5

Lean Cuisine Pasta Romano with Bacon

Looks: Except for the absence of melted cheese (which most likely melted into the sauce as it cooked), Lean Cuisine accurately portrayed this meal. Probably because it doesn’t look disgusting in real life, so there’s no reason to fake it. 4.5 out of 5

Taste: Nothing special, but nothing terrible. In the grand scheme of pasta, there are five levels of taste:

1. Michelina’s
2. Chef Boyardee
3. Dry pasta with canned sauce
4. Homemade pasta with homemade sauce
5. Homemade pasta with homemade sauce in Italy

This meals comes in somewhere around #3. The slight bacon taste gives it a little edge over your generic jarred spaghetti sauce, but I might not have noticed that there was bacon in this if I hadn’t already known it. 3 out of 5

Red Baron Sausage Biscuit-Style Scrambles

Looks: Have you ever seen something more delicious looking, especially at 7am? The only thing missing is the faint glow of the heavenly halo that the box depicts, but even though you can’t see it, be assured that I felt the presence of a higher power immediately before eating this. 4 out of 5

Taste: I know I’ve reviewed the bacon version of these in the past, and I know that some people don’t like it when I review two similar items, but some people can just sit on it. Maybe someone who hates bacon was wondering, “Gee, I wonder if the sausage version of that is any good…” Well, now they’ll know: the sausage version is even better than the bacon version. I had no trouble with overcooked biscuit this time, and the egg, cheese, and sauce combination was still delicious. The bacon topping had been a little bit dry, but the sausage topping is perfectly hydrated. I’ve bought an entire freezer to fill with these as soon as they go on sale. 5 out of 5