Hangin' On The Corner (Stouffer's Corner Bistro™ Dinners)

I’ve been seeing a lot of searches, both here on Food Life and over at the Icebox Diner, for information on Stouffer’s Corner Bistro products, both the regular frozen meals and the panini. You can find consumer reviews of Stouffer’s Corner Bistro Panini here; today, I’m going to provide mini-reviews of the Stouffer’s Corner Bistro meals.

Click here for nutritional information and additional consumer reviews (or to add your own reviews to the Diner's growing database of over 1400 products) of Stouffer's Corner Bistro meals at the Icebox Diner.

The Stouffer’s Corner Bistro meals line consists of 6 dishes, of which I’ve tried four that I’ll mini-review here:

• Stouffer's Corner Bistro Chicken Carbonara;
• Stouffer's Corner Bistro Garlic Chicken Pasta;
• Stouffer's Corner Bistro Grilled Rosemary Chicken;
• Stouffer's Corner Bistro Monterey Chicken;
• Stouffer's Corner Bistro Seafood Scampi, and, lastly,
• Stouffer's Corner Bistro Sesame Chicken.

It's a tie for first place in my affections between the Chicken Carbonara and the Rosemary Chicken dishes.

The Chicken Carbonara, served over pasta, has a nice, creamy taste, the chicken breast is an actual chicken breast, the peas and bacon add a nice textural touch. Absolutely yummy. Definitely a dish I not only recommend, but actually look forward to eating.

The Rosemary Chicken is also excellent; served over a bed of veggies in balsamic vinaigrette, along with penne pasta in a yummy fontina sauce. The flavor is excellent, and the combination of the sweet/tart vinaigrette coupled with the salty fontina is surprisingly successful. My sole complaint with the dish is that the "veggies" are roasted red, yellow and green peppers; I think some variety would have added texture to the dish. Again, however, I genuinely enjoy eating this meal, and gave it 4 stars at the Diner.

The Seafood Scampi is a little less successful, although still not bad. Shrimp and scallops are lavished over a bed of linguine in garlic-butter sauce, with a serving of green beans and julienne yellow carrots on the side. I thought the sauce need a little "something," although truthfully I'm not quite certain what it was that it lacked, exactly, and the scallops admittedly were a little worse for wear for having been frozen. The shrimp surprisingly were not too tough. A worthy effort, but not remarkably distinguished. I added both salt and a droplet of lemon juice to make the dish a bit more piquant.

But, alas, now we come to the Garlic Chicken Pasta. This dish is supposed to be white meat chicken, with bowtie pasta, asparagus, mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes in a garlicky cream sauce with romano; as I said somewhere else, what's not to like, right? But I absolutely hated it. The dish is simultaneously bland and overpowering, as idiotic as that sounds. The romano is undiscoverable, the basil in the dish overpowers any remaining taste in the sauce, is the only thing you can smell, and the garlic leaves you with that yucky burning aftertaste. I don't think any simple addition like salt or romano can save it. At the Diner, I gave this a one-fork rating, although I would note that at 340 calories, this is the "diet" meal of the group.

I haven't tried either the Sesame Chicken or the Monterey Chicken, but they are on my list to try soon. Overall, I genuinely appreciate the Stouffer's Corner Bistro meals. They are definitely an upscale attempt by Stouffer's to compete against chilled prepared meals from companies like Trader Joe's and A.J.'s, and probably a harbinger of yet more frozen dinners to come on a par with the Carbonara and the Rosemary Chicken, and that's good news for busy consumers.

Still hungry? Trying to find more nutritional information, or reviews of other frozen foods, TV Dinners and prepared meals? Check out the Icebox Diner; over 1400 products in our database, nutritional information, macronutrient information, searches that let you compare different dishes to find the best-tasting or the lowest-fat. Write your own reviews of products you've tried!

"Mine eyes smell onions; I shall weep anon" (Banquet Crock Pot™ Classics Stroganoff with Beef and Noodles)

The quote is from Shakespeare - All's Well That Ends Well, Act V, Scene III.

Recently I decided to get brave, and risk a beef dish from the frozen foods section of the grocery. Generally I stay away from beef (and pork), as for some reason those meats don’t seem to fare well in TV Dinners or prepared meals. I don’t know if this is due to the meats themselves, or more because I’m very picky about texture, and when meats are being processed in bulk, little niceties like removing gristle and fat tend to get overlooked.

I had enjoyed success with Banquet’s Crock Pot™ Classics chicken dishes – the Banquet Crock Pot™ Creamy Chicken with Noodles and the Banquet Crock Pot™ Chicken and Dumplings – so I thought I would try the stroganoff version of Banquet’s fastest growing product line. This family-style meal is called “Stroganoff with Beef and Noodles,” and the product’s subtitle is: “Vegetables with Beef and Noodles in a Creamy Sauce,” which should have been my first clue. I also would have been less surprised had I bothered to research the ingredients list first at the Diner, or read the list off the package while in the grocery store.

The ingredients section starts with “oriental style onions,” which is another way of saying “diced onions.” A lot of diced onions. A boatload of diced onions. More onions than meat; more onions than noodles. In fact, this dish serves 5 1-cup each servings when cooked (in other words, 5 cups), well over 2 cups of which were …onions. Neither the Hubster nor I are big onion fans these days, so I literally fished them out before putting the ingredients in the slow cooker, which is how I know precisely how many onions there were. I must say, that after having been so pleased with the other Banquet Crock-Pot Classics I tried, I was sorely disappointed with Banquet for their use of onions – a notoriously cheap ingredient – to populate this dish.

That being said, however, having fished out the onions and added a quick small can of mushroom bits (to compensate for volume loss and to add a normal stroganoff ingredient), the resulting meal didn’t taste bad. It wasn’t great. It wasn’t as good as Banquet’s other Crock Pot™ Classics meals with chicken, but it wasn’t inedible by any means. The gravy was “creamy,” (note: you have to add a cup of milk near the end of the cooking process, which obviously isn’t included, so if you buy this, don’t forget the milk) although I couldn’t taste any sour cream flavor. The gravy was beefy-ish, and the dish was certainly filling. Even minus the two cups of onions, the completed meal fed me and my husband each three times, for a total of six servings (although we are not huge eaters, and I served a biscuits with the stroganoff). I got this on sale for $5.00, so each serving was slightly less than a dollar.

I wouldn’t rush out to buy it again, but I’d eat it if it was in the house. If you like onions, have a crock pot, and don’t have the time or the skills to make stroganoff, this is probably a reasonably priced dish with a modicum of flavor. At 350 calories per serving, it’s not a bad dish for busy moms with a family to feed – add a salad and fruit to round out the nutritional requirements, and a can of inexpensive biscuits (or Bisquick biscuits) to stretch your food dollar even further.

For nutritional information on Banquet Crock Pot™ Classic meals, click here
For consumer reviews of other Banquet Crock Pot™ Classic meals, click here

Coming next Wednesday: Quick reviews of the Stouffer's Corner Bistro dishes.

From Ugly Ducklings into Schwans...….(Schwan’s Frozen Foods™)

My father-in-law’s house, which you see pictured in the snow, is on a mountainside in a small secluded valley, population 7, in the western part of Wyoming, nestled in the Gros Ventre mountain range, south of the Tetons and the world-famous Jackson Hole. The other picture – palm trees and swimming pool - is Scottsdale, Arizona, an urban destination resort city, population 250,000+/-, a little under 10% of Maricopa County, Arizona’s, 3,100,000 people.

What do these two places have in common?

Unbelievably, Schwan’s™ delivers to both.

In business for just over 50 years, Schwan’s™ Frozen Foods pioneered the concept of home-delivery of frozen and convenience foods, long before online internet grocers and supermarket chains jumped on the bandwagon. Headquartered in the heartland (Marshall, Minnesota), the Schwan Food Company™ is comprised not only of Schwan’s frozen food delivery, but owns Tony’s™, Red Baron™, Freschetta™, Edwards™ and Mrs. Smiths™, as well. Another top performer owned by Schwan is their Asian Sensations™ brand, which offers frozen “Asian-style” foods such as their Egg Rolls, Spring Rolls, Potstickers, etc., all of which are increasingly popular snacks.

Most of us are familiar with Schwan’s name-brand products, the ones we buy at the grocery, but fewer folks are familiar with the myriad products that Schwan’s offers in their home-delivery service. From fully-prepared meals like their Lemon Pepper Chicken, Stuffed Potatoes & Broccoli (eight adult servings for just under $4/head) to meal components like their “E-Z Fix”™ Smoked & Shredded White Chicken meat, Schwan’s offers convenience foods to suit all tastes; either ready-made dishes or already-cooked meats and veggies that you can use in your own dishes or casseroles.

I keep a package of the Schwan’s Roasted Chicken Breast Halves, along with a bag of Roasted Drumsticks, in my freezer pretty much all the time; not only are they great for a quick meal (just heat and eat), but I use both when I’m in the mood to make a killer chicken soup – the roasted breasts and drumsticks impart an incredible flavor to the stock – or to whip up a casserole. Trust me; no one will ever know you didn’t roast them yourself. Also incredibly handy is the Diced Chicken Breast Meat, which I use in my famous “Chicken-Broccoli Casserole,” (click here for the recipe) a serious comfort food around here, which I serve with biscuits for an added carbohydrate-comfort-food-fix. I’ve used their Beef Sirloin Steak Tips along with Stir-Fry veggies to whip up a quick stir-fry (see here); and you can put together a super-fast stroganoff with the ready-to-go Beef Tips in Gravy. My father-in-law practically lives on their packaged full meals, from the Blackened Chicken Alfredo to the Italian Meatballs. He orders on-line, (as do many of his Wyoming neighbors), and despite the fact that his driver lives in Pocatello, Idaho…Schwan’s delivers.

No matter where you live, or whether you want to cook or simply heat and eat, Schwan’s has a product you can use.

For reviews of Schwan’s foods (along with complete nutritional information) at the Icebox Diner, click here.

Living La Carb-a Loca Part II (Low-Carb TV Dinners and Frozen Foods)

Forbes Magazine today ran an on-line article entitled "10 Diets that Work," in which author Susan Yara made the ephiphanic assertion that "There are two eternal truths about diets: One, if properly followed they will result in weight loss; and two, most people will cheat." It's tough to recover from that kind of startling relevation, isn't it? Undeterred, Yara goes on to list the ten diets that "work," although there is no information provided as to what criteria was used to determine that these particular diets do or do not work. One that she listed would certainly work for me: the raw food diet recently being hyped by former supermodel Carol Alt, author of (ahem) "Eating in the Raw." Thinking about eating raw veggies is one thing; thinking about merely "searing" and then consuming raw meats is another thing altogether. I actually adore very rare roast beef...but chicken and pork? This reminds me of a recent gag-worthy CSI: New York episode in which people were consuming live critters and bugs...thanks, but no thanks.

And did anyone else see CBS’ new drama last night, “The Unit?” Whoever wrote the plotline for the wives needs to be taken out by an elite anti-terrorist team. I’m expecting copyright infringement suits any second now from either Ira Levin (author of “The Stepford Wives”) or the creators of Dr. Who’s arch-enemies, the Daleks. I half-expected a robot arm to come shooting out of Regina King’s chest while she herded the “Rookie Wife” around, intoning “resistance is futile…resistance is futile….”

Back to work!...

Continuing last week's theme about Low-Carb frozen foods, TV dinners and prepared meals, here are the second 15 dishes, all with about 20 carbs per serving or less:

16. Marie Callender’s Honey Roasted Chicken Breast; 20.0 g of carbohydrates, 440 calories;
17. Weight Watchers’ Smart Ones Higher Protein Entrees Sirloin Beef with Asian Style Vegetables, 12.3 g. of carbohydrate, 230 calories;
18. Birds Eye Foods Voila! Reduced Carb Chicken & Sausage Tuscano, 10.0 g. of carbohydrates, 170 calories;
19. Schwan’s Roasted Turkey and Vegetable Dinner, 15.0 g of carbohydrates, 210 calories;
20. Banquet Family Size Salisbury Steak, 7.0 g. of carbohydrate and 240 calories per serving, gets 4-forks at the Diner, under $4.00 and feeds 6;
21. Schwan's Traditional Chicken Kiev, 12.0 g. of carbohydrate and 390 calories;
22. Stouffer's Family Size Meatloaf in Gravy, 7.0 g of carbohydrate and 220 calories (serves 6);
23. Gorton's Crispy Battered Fish Fillets, 17.8 g of carbohydrate, 260 calories per serving; this line is consistently rated 4-forks at the Diner;
24. Cedarlane Cheese Enchiladas, 19.0 g of carbohydrate and 270 calories;
25. On-Cor Classics Dinner Partners Gravy & Salisbury Steaks with Macaroni & Cheese, 22.0 grams of carbohydrate and 270 calories per serving;
26. Schwan’s Breaded Beef Steak Fingers, 12.0 g of carbohydrate and 190 calories per serving;
27. Birds Eye Foods Voila! Classic Chicken Fajita, 13.0 g. of carbohydrate and 150 calories per serving,
28. Schwan's Beef Shepherd's Pie, 22.0 g. of carbohydrates, 250 calories per serving, and 4½-star ranking at the Diner;
29. Cedarlane Eggplant Parmesan, 16.0 g. of carbohydrates, 160 calories per serving, and,
30. Contessa Chicken Stir-Fry, 18.0 grams of carbohydrates, and 160 calories per serving – this is a dish I serve at home, just because we like it.

This is just a small sampling of what's available for folks counting carbohydrates. Depending upon where you are in your program (whether Atkins, South Beach, or some combination thereof), there are plenty of good-tasting, portion-controlled ready-made meals to help you stay on your plan. If you don't cook, like the fellow I mentioned last week, or just don't want to cook every night, check out your grocer's Freezer section, and remember to read the labels to ensure that you're getting exactly what you want.

Photos of Schwan's Chicken Kiev and Shepherd's Pie from the Schwans.com website.

Living La Carb-a Loca (Low-Carb TV Dinners and Frozen Foods)

Today’s prologue ramble:

First, before any food-oriented blathering, let’s hear a cheer for the U.S. Men’s Curling Team, which captured the United States’ first-ever Olympic medal (bronze) in the sport. Pete Fenson, Shawn Rojeski, John Shuster and Joe Polo – you guys ROCK!! (Yes, I know it’s corny and it’s been said a billion times – I don’t care, it needs saying again). Young Emily Hughes (figure-skating) stopped the guys in Torino to get their autographs – proof positive, it’s cool to curl.

Back to Work...

Recently, on a popular Low Carb website forum, a man posted a plea for assistance in finding flavorful TV dinners and frozen meals that would fit in with a low-carb lifestyle, as he didn’t know how to cook. The poor guy took a lot of heat from folks on that list who seemed to rank eating frozen prepared meals right up there with devil-worship. But just as frozen dinners in general have leapt forward light-years in the last decade in terms of taste and quality, so too have “diet” TV dinners. Whether you’re looking for low-fat, low-carb or simply low-calorie, you can find meals that will meet your dietary needs and give you the convenience of heat-and-eat.

So I decided to create a list – 30 Low-Carb Frozen Dinners – to assist low-carb dieters in their search for ready-made meals. Today, Part 1; 15 meals to get you started:

1. Cedarlane Carb Buster Four Cheese Quiche – 5.0 gof carbohydrate, 500 calories, (and organic!)
2. Cedarlane Carb Buster Chili Relleno Pie – 9.0 g of carbs, 520 calories
3. Weight Watchers’ Smart Ones Higher Protein Entrees Home-style Chicken, 8.0 g of carbs, 220 calories (a five-fork rating at the Diner!);
4. Stouffer’s Classic Welsh Rarebit, 6.0 g. carbs, 130 calories;
5. Weight Watchers’ Smart Ones Higher Protein Roast Beef Portobello, 9.0 g carbs and 200 calories;
6. Kraft South Beach Diet Caprese Style Chicken with Broccoli & Cauliflower, 12.0 g carbs and 250 calories;
7. Gorton's Grilled Fillet Meals Alfredo, 14 g carbs, 160 calories;
8. Amy's Organic Cheese Enchilada, 18.0 g carbs, 220 calories (a favorite of my sister’s);
9. Stouffer's Lean Cuisine Café Classics Chicken Marsala, 12.0 g carbs, 140 calories;
10. Stouffer's Lean Cuisine Café Classics Orange Beef, 16.0 g. carbs, 170 calories;
11. Schneider's Classic Homestyle Recipe Shepherd's Pie, 20.0 g carbs, and 200 calories (a Five-star Diner rating!);
12. Schwan's Caesar Parmesan Shrimp, 2.0 g of carbs and 110 calories per serving;
13. Schwan’s Fully Cooked Beef Pot Roast with Gravy, 3.0 g of carbohydrate, and 140 calories;
14. Birds Eye Foods Voila! Reduced Carb Down Home Chicken & Vegetables, 17.0 g of carbohydrates and 180 calories, and,
15. Birds Eye Foods Voila! Reduced Carb Chicken Teriyaki & Vegetables, 15.0 g of carbohydrates and 150 calories (a personal favorite, by the way).

Next week: the second 15 low or reduced carbohydrate dinners; Living La Carb-a Loca, Part II.

Curling Photo by Michael Burns Photography, Ltd., from the Team Fenson website.