Product Reviews - Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, Smart Ones

Like I said in my last blog post I am allowing some frozen/processed foods in my diet.  It has been interesting so far.  Not all of these products are created equal.  Let's start with the bad.

I was extremely hopeful that I would like the Healthy Choice  Lobster Cheese Ravioli.  It certainly sounded good.  However, I am convinced now that Lobster has to be fresh.  It just tasted too fishy.  I didn't even finish it.  Instead, I immediately put it down the disposal and nuked the Healthy Choice Pumpkin Squash Ravioli.  I ate it all, but it was strange.  I thought it was going to be a combination of sweet and savory.  It was heavy on the sweet and too easy on the savory.  The addition of the granny smith apples seemed entirely out of place.  Today I tried the Healthy Choice Portabella Marsala Pasta.  It was much better than the raviolis.  It is highly rated on the Healthy Choice website.  I will definitely be reading more of the reviews on the website before purchasing anymore Healthy Choice frozen entrees.  Some of their soups are okay, but soup tends to already be fairly low in calories if you pick the right ones.  With that in mind, I prefer brands like Amy's Kitchen and Wolfgang Puck.  Both brands are organic and packed with flavor.

The Lean Cuisine Butternut Squash Ravioli is much better than the Healthy Choice Ravioli.  Overall I haven't tried very many Lean Cuisine meals.  It seems like they have often disappointed me in the past.  One of my client's said that the Three Meat Pizza is quite good and satisfying.  It's 390 calories.  If you have tried a few of the Lean Cuisine products that you really enjoyed, then please post them in the comments.

As far as pizza goes I found some frozen pizzas that I really like that don't break the calorie bank.  For a supreme pizza I like DiGiorno 200 Calorie portions.  I also really like the California Pizza Kitchen small pizzas.  I particularly like the BBQ Chicken (around 500 calories) and Margherita (430 calories) pizzas.  Sometime over the next week I'm going to try the Hawaiian pizza (380 calories).  I was also quite pleased with Freschetta Chicken, Spinach, and Mushroom pizza by the slice.  I can't remember how many calories it was, but I believe it was under 400.  It was delicious and full of flavor.

As far as food from the freezer aisle, I have also tried several of the Smart Ones. My favorite so far is the Pasta with Spinach and Ricotta.(300 calories, 8 points).  Since the Smart Ones entrees were on sale today at the grocery store I stocked up on a variety of different ones to try.   I will blog my reviews over the next two weeks.  Let me know if you have a favorite Smart Ones, and I'll be sure to put it on my grocery list.

Now I am off to get ready.  My husband is taking me out to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary.  It's actually tomorrow, but who says we can't celebrate early?  It's definitely going to be a cheat meal.