I had high hopes for this one because it was Kevin's polenta with braised meatballs from season 6. Johnny and I both loved Kevin from the start. He was so sweet, so loveable, and above all the drama.Unfortunately, this contained whey so Johnny couldn't try it, I was on my own.
First impression? It was pretty small - see my finger on the left for comparison. This was packaged as three (yes, 3!) serving sizes. In what world? 
I divided it up into two portions, eating one for lunch and reheating the second half later.Braised meatballs = pretty good, but were more like sausage balls. They kept having those little hard chunks in them too, which really grosses me out.
Roasted cauliflower = a lot better than any other frozen vegetable I've ever had. You could tell they went through a lot of effort to make these good, even adding lemon zest for a nice flavor burst.
Creamy polenta = mind blowingly good. Also, probably mind blowingly bad for you. But I couldn't stop gobbling it up! By far my favorite part of the meal.
The stats on this were horrific. The entire package contained 69 grams of fat, 30 grams of saturated fat, and 2760 mg of sodium - or 114% of your daily amount!!!
Besides the polenta being good, I wouldn't eat this again. Not only for the taste, but especially for the stats.
At the end of the day it was fun to try some Top Chef meals, but I think I'll stick to my home made dinners. I'm just not cut out for processed foods and boxed meals, I guess! They were both way too salty and not fulfilling for me, personally.
This is not a compensated review. Top Chef and Schwan's have no clue who I am. I bought this meal with my own money and this is my honest opinion of the product.
:( Bummer that these were a disappointment! I think it would be really neat to eat something that you saw on TV. However, you kinda wonder if these are really close to what was actually prepared or heavily salted to preserve it. Oh well, it is much better to eat freshly prepared foods anyways. :)
ReplyDeleteLove, love, love the bell pepper jack o' lantern!
ReplyDeleteGreat job on decorating -- I have barely managed to remember to pull out our fake jack o' lantern
Heck, that's not even enough for one person! But I'll bet they downsized it considering how rich it is...
ReplyDeleteI LOL-ed at this part: "This is not a compensated review. Top Chef and Schwan's have no clue who I am."
Haha! It's their loss though! ;-)
Wow I snack on that before dinner...perhaps that's why I'm 'fluffy'? Whatever EVERYONE should know who you are :)
ReplyDeleteBlogger ate my comment!
ReplyDeleteI haven't been overwhelmingly pleased with the few frozen meals I've tried, even if they're supposed to be healthier options. Kashi wasn't very great and Amy's Kitchen is organic but so loaded with sodium and saturated fat I won't eat them again. I'd much rather spend more time preparing something for myself knowing it's fresh and healthier, and make extra so I can have leftovers for lunches.
I hate when meals are calorie/sodium/fat heavy and then TINY. So annoying. I loved Kevin too. He was my favorite.
ReplyDeleteOMG, I'm blown away by those stats ... and not in a good way. I'm also kind of grossed out about the hard chunks in the meatballs. Blech! I don't each much frozen stuff in any case, but even if I did - no way would I buy something loaded with that much fat. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteI was very curious about these meals when they were announced, so its really interesting to hear your thoughts. Might be more fun to try and recreate your own homemade version of this meal. I'll bet it would rock!
p.s. - Kevin was my favorite too!