Thursday 7th February’s Dinner – Homestyle Macaroni Cheese

On Thursday the other week, I decided to try the first meat-free dish – Homestyle Macaroni Cheese.  I don’t know, but I’ve always loved meat so I was sceptical but I ended up really impressed with this dish.  If you love cheesy macaroni, you’ll definitely love this one.  Just be aware, it’s not like the four-minute packet macaroni cheese you buy from Colesworth, it’s much more authentic.

Homestyle Macaroni Cheese

After 7 minutes in the Panasonic, this is what comes out…  If I recall, this dish really should’ve been in for another 30 seconds, even on my Panasonic.  Nothing was frozen but the top left was just warm.  It did feel cooked through but I’ll double-check the temperature again next time.

Homestyle Macaroni Cheese

I reckon with minimal styling, some studio lighting and a decent camera and lens, you could easily make the contents of the packet look like what’s on the picture.

Firstly, this has got plenty of cheese.  I don’t know how Lite ‘n’ Easy got so much cheese and sauce into a meal that contains fewer than 2000kj.  There’s plenty of pasta and to just add a little extra flavour, there are three tomato slices.  The tomato cooked OK without going soggy.  Similarly, the pasta was OK except for small warm area. The pasts didn’t go hard as it looks like it’s been covered with all that cheese and sauce.  If you like the flavour of the Kraft stuff, you’ll find this isn’t as salty and hasn’t go that artificial tangy cheese flavour.  I reckon Lite ‘n’ Easy have found a solid recipe and modified it only slightly to suit the concept of delivering frozen meals to households.

Yes, I will get this again but not for the next order.  I will be getting some of the other meat-free dishes.

4 out of 5 thumbs.  Great work.

 

Monday’s Lunch – Rigatoni Pasta

On Monday I got stuck into the pasta range from Lite ‘n’ Easy and in particular, Rigatoni.

Rigatoni

This looks pretty good on the packet but I did need to cook it in the work microwave for 9 minutes.  Remember, this microwave is pretty rubbish and maybe I overcooked the dish in this instance.  Here’s what came out…

Rigatoni

What I found with this was the pasta that was exposed dried out a little, so you’ll find the bottom pieces and some up the top of the photo have become chewy to an extent.  I won;t hold that against this dish as I porbably cooked it for a little longer than I should’ve.

However, the meatballs were fairly juicy and tender and the tomato sauce wasn’t too sweet so I think they’ve cut the sugar from it.  It was rich and it did have the tomato flavour that doesn’t normally come out of a jar.  I would’ve liked a little more Parmesan cheese.  It looks a little meagre compared to the packet.

I will give this one a go again, but I’ll be more cautious with the cooking time maybe using my home microwave.

3 out of 5 thumbs (but I will retest at some stage).

 

Saturday’s Lunch – Spaghetti Bolognaise

It was a little rainy here where I live so I wasn’t too fussed heading outdoors for my lunch.  Instead, I cracked open a spaghetti bolognaise meal.

The good ol’ spag-bol.

What can I say?  This is a pretty standard meal that everyone should love.  You really can’t get it wrong.

After 8 minutes in the Panasonic, this is what I got…

Spag-bol after 8 minutes

There’s plenty of bolognaise sauce and the bottom layer is spaghetti strands.  There’s a sprinkling of cheese to top it off.

Firstly, I felt the spaghetti was a little soft but I do prefer a firmer pasta.  However, the sauce was pretty meaty and rich.  As I said, you really can’t this dish wrong.

I would get it again, but really, this could be made quickly and easily in the kitchen.  It’s a no-nonsense dish that everyone will enjoy.  3.5 thumbs out of 5.

 

Friday Night’s Dinner – Tasmanian Salmon Pasta

Tonight I decide to try a dinner from the latest delivery.  I’ve never ordered this meal before from Lite ‘n’ Easy as I’ve always been sceptical when it comes to frozen fish especially salmon.  Although I eat seafood, I’m always wary when it comes to its preparation and delivery.  Salmon is also one of those fishes I can only have in small amounts.  Too much makes me ill; I think it’s too oily for my digestive system.  I really do prefer white-fleshed fish.

I cooked this for the prescribed 8 minutes.  Again, this was spot-on for my microwave.

Tasmanian Salmon Pasta after cooking.

Hmm, it doesn’t much look like what’s on the tin.  You can see in the photo there’s pasta, broccoli, carrot, and a creamy sauce with chunks of salmon.  First, the pasta in the lower right corner cooked a little too much and dried out but only a very small amount.  I think this was caused by the required 3cm opening of the lid prior to cooking.  The rest of the pasta came out as you’d expect – not too firm and not too mushy.  The sauce is a white sauce and it’s not too rich, not too salty nor overpowering.  The vegetables are a no-brainer.  There’s also cheese in there which you can see when you lift a fork-full of food from the tray.  Mmmm.

Now to the salmon…  I was surprised at the amount of salmon and its texture.  It was nowhere near mushy, it was flavoursome, and there were generous chunks throughout the dish.  It actually came across as fresh.

Would I get this dish again?  Maybe, but I would I order other dishes before this.  As I wrote earlier, seafood (is Tasmanian salmon even classed as seafood as it doesn’t really come from the sea?) is something I’m really picky about.  While there was nothing really wrong with this dish, I think because I prefer white fish, I wouldn’t order this too often.  However, if it were served to me, I would have no hesitation in eating it.  It simply wasn’t my favourite dish and that’s no criticism to Lite ‘n’ Easy.  Again, I just prefer white fish.  I did also order the crumbed fish dish which I will probably have next week.  It is, however, good to see seafood dishes on the Lite ‘n’ Easy menu.

My rating?  2.5 outta 5 thumbs.