February 9, 2011
Eggo Thick & Fluffy Waffles
Eggo has some new frozen waffles on the supermarket shelves, called “Thick & Fluffy.” Essentially, they are Eggo’s version of a Belgian waffle. The waffles are pretty much what you would expect a frozen, Belgian-style Eggo waffle to taste like. There not nearly as good as homemade or what you can get at a diner, but taste fine considering how easy it is to prepare them. One difference I noticed with the Thick & Fluffy compared to regular Eggo waffles was that they have a pronounced vanilla flavor. In fact, when toasting them in the toaster, a strong smell of (imitation) vanilla filled the kitchen. I guessed there wasn’t any real vanilla in the waffles. The ingredient list confirms this – there’s only “artificial flavor.” Fortunately, the waffles tasted okay when I ate them and while their vanilla favor may not have been the best, it wasn’t bad either. Otherwise, the waffles were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. They’re a bit larger than regular Eggo waffles, which is nice because two of them make a nice breakfast whereas two regular Eggo waffles really aren’t much more than a breakfast hors d'oeuvre. I enjoyed the Thick & Fluffy waffles enough that I’ll probably make them my frozen waffle of choice in the future.
Phoood rating: 
March 18, 2010
Sonic Ched 'R' Peppers
Sonic Drive In is a recent discovery for me. Being a Michigan native, I would drool over the commercials every time they would air. Now that I have one just up the street, I am making it my goal to try everything on the menu. Today's experiment is the Ched 'R' Peppers, Sonic's take on jalapeno poppers. I can hear you now "jalapenos? No, no, no ... too spicy." Not true! You get a fantastic pepper and cheddar cheese flavor without the blistering heat you would normally expect. They come 4 to an order, a perfect amount for either a snack, or to add a little extra to your order. Plus they were piping hot, right from the fryer.
Phoood rating: 
October 31, 2009
Marie Callender's Pasta Al Dente
Let's start this review off with some background. I don't like frozen meals. Most of them just leave me unsatisfied, at best, or disgusted, at worst. That being said, when I'm pinching pennies and I buy some to avoid going out for lunch at work, I try and find some that at least look moderately appealing. Marie Callender's new Pasta Al Dente line seemed interesting. The claim on the box is that the heating method causes the pasta to "steam to perfection" (hence the "Al Dente" name). I grabbed two varieties, Beef Bolognese Rigatoni and Chicken Carbonara. As I pulled out the first meal (Beef Bolognese Rigatoni) to cook it, I saw how the heating process worked. The meal comes in a large bowl that holds only the sauce. Set inside the bowl is a steamer which holds the meat, veggies and noodles. The first thing I noticed is that you don't have to cut a slit into the plastic while the meal cooks, as the meal self vents. This is great because it saves you an extra step. When you place the food in the microwave, the sauce heats up which causes steam to rise and cook the rest of the meal. When it's done cooking, you simply pour the stuff in the steamer down into the sauce and mix it together. It's actually a pretty ingenious method, and I'm happy to report that the pasta prepared with it has by far the best texture of any frozen meal pasta I've ever had. As far as taste goes, the Beef Bolognese was OK. Aside from the great pasta, the sauce was good, but uninteresting, and the beef had slightly better-than-average consistency for frozen food meat. It certainly was a bit better than your average frozen food dish, overall, but not spectacular. As I was expecting it to be the better of the two, I had little hope for the Chicken Carbonara. Surprisingly, it was in fact the Carbonara that exceeded my expectations. The smokey, flavorful carbonara sauce was very tasty, and blended well with the chicken, peas and uncured pieces of bacon. When mixed with the great pasta, I must say that it was quite good. I doubt it will cause a culinary revolution, but it is great by frozen food standards. It's my humble opinion that Marie Callender's Pasta Al Dente line is above average in both taste and quality for frozen food. Though I was a bit disappointed by the Beef Bolognese, it was certainly not bad, and the Chicken Carbonara ranks amongst the best frozen food I've ever tried. If you like pasta and are on a budget, I can certainly recommend this line. I'm sure I'll try more Pasta Al Dente varieties in the future, which hopefully will be as good or better than the Chicken Carbonara.
Phoood ratings:
Beef Bolognese Rigatoni: 
Chicken Carbonara:
August 19, 2009
DiGiorno Italian-Style Meatball & Four Cheese Flatbread Melt
This probably has the longest name of any product ever reviewed on Phoood, so I’ll just abbreviate it as DISMFCFM. Longtime readers know that I love everything DiGiorno. Until now, that is. The DISMFCFM is not worthy to carry the name DiGiorno. The flatbread is not very appealing and when cooked, doesn’t look anything like the delicious, golden-brown picture on the box. But, I don’t expect much in this regard as the DISMFCFM is intended to be cooked in a microwave (in fact, the cooking instructions say not to cook it in a conventional oven). It’s the filling that really kills the DISMFCFM. There just isn’t any flavor. Each bite was a mouthful of bland. I thought that I had lost my sense of taste when I was eating it, because there wasn’t anything there. Fortunately, my sense of taste is intact and it's the DISMFCFM that is the problem. Stay far away.
Phoood rating: 
November 12, 2008
Bob Evans Sausage Gravy & Biscuits
A few years back, I was on a business trip in Ohio and ate at Bob Evans. I was surprised to see a bowl of sausage gravy on the menu. I live in California, and it’s common to see biscuits with gravy on a menu. But I had never seen an entire bowl of gravy on a menu. I ordered it, of course, and ate it like an Ohioan would. I recently found Bob Evans products in the frozen food section of my supermarket. Now, I can enjoy Bob Evans sausage gravy and biscuits whenever I want. The gravy is very tasty, with lots of pieces of sausage. I thought that the gravy should have been thicker, but this is just a personal preference. I was less impressed with the biscuits, which didn’t have the tenderness and flakiness that a biscuit should have. I cooked the biscuits in the microwave according to the directions in order to save time. They probably would have tasted much better if I had cooked them in the oven. With the nearest Bob Evans being over halfway across the country from me, their frozen gravy and biscuits will do until I once again have the pleasure of ordering a bowl of gravy in one of their restaurants.
Phoood rating:
October 22, 2008
Claim Jumper Chicken Fried Beef Steak
Those who have had the opportunity to eat at a Claim Jumper restaurant know that they are known for extremely large portions of food. My last visit to Claim Jumper was one of the few times in my life where I left with a doggie bag. I simply could not eat all of my dinner, Country Fried Steak. Eating way too many appetizers may have had something to do with this, but it’s still a rare occasion that I leave food on the plate. Claim Jumper also has a line of frozen entrees that are sold in grocery stores. I recently tried the Chicken Fried Beef Steak, which included mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn on the cob. Both the meat and mashed potatoes were very tasty, and the gravy was pretty good too considering it came from a plastic pouch. The meat, however, did not have any crispiness at all (and I cooked it in an oven rather than a microwave). This is one of the best things about chicken fried steak and I really missed it. The meal was also smaller than I thought it would be, given the Claim Jumper name. Overall, it is a pretty good meal but those with big appetites may want to eat two of them – or just go to a Claim Jumper restaurant instead.
Phoood rating:
August 28, 2008
Hot Pockets Pepperoni & Three Cheese Calzone
How good can a frozen meal cooked in the microwave taste? When you only have three minutes to heat something up, you could certainly do much worse than Hot Pockets Pepperoni & Three Cheese Calzone. At 8.5 ounces, it’s a good size for either a large snack or a small meal. To cook it in the microwave, you use a crisping sleeve, which is supposed to give it a crispy crust. It didn’t work so well – the crust wasn’t soggy but it wasn’t very crispy either. Those crisping sleeves never really seem to work as well as advertised, do they? Anyhow, the pepperoni and cheese filling tasted good, and there was plenty of it. The herbed cheese crust was also very tasty, even if it wasn’t as crispy as I would have hoped. All in all, it’s a good choice when you want to eat in a hurry.
Phoood rating: