Healthy Choice Sweet Bourbon Steak

I love just about anything that says it is bourbon flavored. So, when I saw this Healthy Choice meal in the grocery freezer I had to give it a try. Healthy Choice describes it this way: our seasoned beef strips are seasoned with sweet bourbon sauce, crafted with with brown sugar, molasses, and Kentuckey bourbon whiskey. Oh Yeah!! Kentucky bourbon whiskey and brown sugar, yum yum.

Seriously though just how was this meal you may be wondering. It was surprising in two different areas. The first surprise was not a good surprise, the sauce had a wierd twang to it. It did not remind me of bourbon or brown sugar, I have no idea how to describe the taste. The good surprise was that the beef was really tender. Shockingly tender.

The meal comes with a peach crisp, probably my favorite Healthy Choice dessert and a serving of garlic mashed potatoes with a broccoli and carrot medley. I wonder if I got an out of date package. The potatoes in no way resembled garlic mashed potatoes. I swear they were just plain old mashed potatoes. The broccoli and carrot medley was adequate as usual.

I will give this one another try just to see if I did have an old one and the sauce is better and the garlic mashed potatoes have any garlic flavor to them.

Calories 330
Fat 7 Grams
Fiber 5 Grams
Weight Watchers Points 6

Healthy Choice Country Breaded Chicken

I tried a new entree from the Healthy Choice family of frozen
meals today. It was the Healthy Choice Country Breaded
Chicken. This meal featured two white meat chicken strips,
mashed potatoes, gravy, mixed veggies and a cherry dessert.
The pertinent nutritional information is 9 grams of fat,
370 calories and 6 grams of fiber.
Weight Watchers points equal 7

I prepared this meal as per the instructions on the box. The vegetable medley was okay.
The chicken actually tasted pretty good it was just a bit soggy from the gravy. They
could have left the gravy out and I would have enjoyed it more. The mashed potatoes
came out as one mass. I tried to use the little dab of gravy to soften them up but it didn't
help much. The cherry dessert with vanilla crisp was missing the crisp. It tasted good but
I missed the crunch.

PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait... I: wait... wait... C: wait... SD: wait...

Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers Chicken Margherita

This was the first one of the new Cafe Steamers from Healthy Choice that I have tried. I have liked most of the Margherita frozen dinners that are available
so I thought I would try this number for lunch one day.

First impressions - great packaging, the steaming tray is pretty
cool, it looks like real chicken breast strips, the tomatos are soggy

Overall this is a keeper. It had great flavor, the noodles were
tender but not squishy and the chicken was good. If the tomatos had not
been soggy it would have been a really great meal. I still recommend
it and I will be trying some of the other flavors too.

It turned some heads in the lunch room when I removed the steamer tray and poured the contents into the sauce. Some frozen dinners that have similar sauces will have some of the sauce scorch and stick to the packaging. That was not the case here.

Weight Watchers Points = 6 calories 300 grams fat 8 grams fiber 5

Healthy Choice Grilled Chicken Monterey

Today’s lunch selection is from Healthy Choice and is from their Complete Selections line of frozen entrees. My local grocer had these on sale the other day so I thought I would try it out.

The Specs

300 Calories 7 Grams of Fat 5 Grams of Fiber

Weight Watchers Points 6

I was pretty excited to get a meal that had a dessert in it and a creamy sauce that was only six points. This meal came with a small piece of grilled chicken in a creamy Monterey sauce, rice pilaf, broccoli florets and a side of peach crisp. If you take each component separately then this meal was not great except for the dessert. But together it was a pretty good meal that I wouldn’t mind having again.

The chicken patty was not tough but the texture was a little off. Soft but good is the best way to describe the rice pilaf and the broccoli was tender as it should be. The peach crisp was the star of the entrée though. It is made of two things I really like, peaches and oats.

My advice for cooking this meal is to follow the directions on the package except for one. I have found on all of these Healthy Choice meals that have a peach or apple crips dessert do not remove the cover from the dessert. Just cut a slit in the center of the dessert. I used to peel back the cover as per the box directions but you end up with your dessert boiling onto your turntable.

This one makes it to my lunch menu.

Healthy Choice Four Cheese Manicotti

I thought I would try something different, something that I don’t even eat when I am not dieting. I don’t think I have ever tried Cheese Manicotti so I thought I would give it a try.

The Specs 270 Calories 4.5 Fat Grams 5 Grams of Fiber

Points 5

As I packed my lunch this morning I was having second thoughts about my selection. This one has a long cooking time which I should have cut by thirty to forty-five seconds. This meal has a thick Marinara sauce that was very tangy. The Ricotta, Mozzarella, Parmesan and Romano cheese filled pasta (enchiladas since I am from Texas) were very good. Although the pasta was a bit tough it was still very satisfying. The side of broccoli was okay, I have had better in other meals.

On the whole I would definitely try this one again. I might even have to try this dish at a fine Italian restaurant sometime. See, when you try something new you often times find a new food you like.

Healthy Choice Low Fat Franks

Its time for those great cook outs with all the trimmings as we approach the Fourth of July holiday. It can be really tough to make good food choices while everyone else is chomping down on beef ribs, cheeseburgers and brisket. Everyone knows that chicken is a healthy meat especially when grilled, but what do you do when you want a good ole hot dog?

Healthy Choice has a solution for you. Look in your grocers refrigerated case next to all of the other juicy fat hot dogs for these lower fat and calorie hot dogs. Each frank, wiener, hot dog or what ever you like to call them has 70 calories and 2.5 grams of fat. Each frank is only two points on Weight Watchers.

Now I am not going to lie to you and tell you that they are fabulous but I will tell you they are an adequate replacement for the real thing. When cooking mine on the grill I baste them with a little barbeque sauce. If I feel like chili dogs then you can cook them in some turkey chili to help with your fat and calorie intake. There are many fat free condiments you can add to give them some additional flavor. If you are lucky you can even find some one point hot dog buns. If you feel like beans and franks then these are for you.

I would prefer to have an all beef hot dog or even a local favorite, Earl Campbell Hot Links but you know I am trying to lose some weight here. Have a great holiday no matter where you live.

Healthy Choice Grilled Chicken Marinara

Chicken Breast & Pasta in Marinara Sauce with Broccoli Florets

Today’s lunch selection is from Healthy Choice’s Café Selections line. I had passed over this selection before in the freezer case but finally decided to give it a try. First off I really like the ease of cooking for all of the Healthy Choice meals I have tried so far. I like not having to stir them halfway through the cooking process.

When I first took the tray out of the box I was a little disappointed in the amount of chicken I saw. But after it was prepared I was able to cut each chunk in half and that helped. The Marinara sauce was tangy and tasty. The chicken had a nice flavor but one of my pieces had some gristle. The broccoli florets were tender but not to soft.

From the nutrition label this meal comes in with the following stats.

Calories 250
Fat 4 Grams
Fiber 5 Grams

Weight Watchers Points 5

I will be including this one in my lunch routine in the future. Paired with some fruit it made for a really nice lunch.

Healthy Choice Sesame Chicken

White Meat Chicken with Vegetables & Rice in Sesame Sauce

The Specs 230 Calories 4.5 Grams Fat 5 Grams Fiber

Points 4

First off this is one of Healthy Choices Simple Selections frozen entrees. They named it Sesame Chicken but I didn’t really think the sauce could be called a sesame sauce. The sauce was fine but my taste buds were thinking it would be similar to the sesame sauce from one of the Chinese restaurants I used to eat at before I started dieting.

The chicken was very good and the rice had the right texture. As for the vegetables (mostly carrots and broccoli) they were just right. The directions called for a cooking time of 4 to 4 ½ minutes in the microwave. I settled on 4 and it was just right. I did enjoy this offering and will purchase it again. I also like the fact that the last two Healthy Choice entrees I tried you don’t have to pull back the film and stir halfway through the cooking time. I like to just cut a small slit, pop it in and wait for the time to be up.

So, if you like rice, broccoli and chicken I think you will like this one too.

Healthy Choice Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

The specs 220 Calories 3.5 Grams of Fat 5 Grams of Fiber

Weight Watchers Points 4

I almost didn’t pick this meal from Healthy Choice from the freezer case because of the combination of Spaghetti, with peas and carrots. As it turns out I’m glad I did. The spaghetti sauce was tangy and had just enough meat to give me the impression I was eating a hearty meal. The pasta was not clumpy which concerned me with the recommended 4 minute cooking time. Average, is the word choice for the peas and carrots, not bad but not great either.

As an added bonus this meal is only 4 points if you are on Weight Watchers. I like 4 point entrees as it allows me to add more stuff before and after the meal. Today I had a banana before lunch and after lunch I had a 100 calorie Hostess chocolate cake snack. If I get hungry later I have sugar free Jello pudding and a 100 calorie peanut butter cookie pack.

Healthy Choice Chicken Parmigiana

Breaded Chicken Breast with Marinara Sauce and Cheese

The Specs 370 Calories 9 Grams of Fat 6 Grams of Fiber

Points 7

This frozen entrée rates a thumbs down from me. The funny thing is that the broccoli was better than the meat and the pasta. It also had a cinnamon apple crunch desert that was pretty good though. But the main course was a disappointment. The breaded chicken breast had an unwelcome texture. I guess I would describe it as soggy. The pasta cooked together in one lump and the marinara sauce was virtually non existent.

I will leave this one in my grocer’s freezer next time.

Healthy Choice Chicken Margherita

Points 7

The Specs – 340 Calories 8 Grams Fat 4 Grams Fiber

Healthy Choice describes this entrée as a white meat chicken with angel hair pasta & roasted garlic in balsamic vinaigrette sauce. This one had a nice aroma as it heated in the microwave. I like angel hair pasta but the texture of the pasta in this offering was dissatisfying. The balsamic vinaigrette sauce was really good. Of course the chicken was good because of the sauce. This meal did satisfy my appetite today. I followed the microwave heating instructions exactly and it turned out just right. I’ll add this one to my lunchbox.

Healthy Choice – Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo

The Specs 210 Calories 5 Fat Grams 5 Grams Fiber

White meat chicken & fettuccine in Alfredo sauce with a carrots & broccoli medley

Points 4

This frozen entrée by Healthy Choice is satisfying in that it leaves you feeling that you ate ‘real’ food. The chicken was very tender and meaty just as if I had cooked the chicken myself and diced it up. Creamy is the way to describe the Alfredo sauce. The only drawback to this one is the vegetables were not very good. It is hard to cook carrots and broccoli in the microwave and have them come out right. The veggies were somewhat soft or gooey may be a better word to convey the texture of them. However, I will definitely buy it again.