Critique: Michelina's Chicken Alfredo!

Nothing I could do would improve the pic

In general when I see a frozen entree on sale and for under a buck, I'm cautious. I wonder just how 'nutritious' such a meal-a-deal really could be. But, figuring, what the hey, I grabbed that one up along with another package that indicated I'd be enjoying 'beans and rice'. Yea.

The front of the package indicated that it was 'Delicious fettuccine pasta in a classic rich and creamy Alfredo sauce with chicken and broccoli'. My eyes were drawn to the word Alfredo which is synonymous with 'heart attack' for not a few nutritionists.

Seven grams of fat (3 grams saturated) were a bit of a culinary downer, even as the calorie content was a low 240 grams! Even the 660 grams of salt was not out of the ballpark, but 33 grams of carbohydrates was really over the top for a dieter like myself.

And, while it may not look like very much, the meal tasted OK. For .79 cents is was actually great. Just not a meal I'd serve to friends... unless I didn't like them.

Critique: The All American hot dog!

Why does this look like a very fucked up vagina?

The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council estimates Americans consume 20 billion hot dogs a year - more than twice the retail sales figures. That works out to about 70 hot dogs per person each year. Hot dogs are served in 95 percent of homes in the United States.

That is one heck of a boatload of dawgs! (For myself, I think that the total would be a much more conservative rate of consumption... maybe 68 hot dogs a year). Whatever the actual count, I thought to examine this very popular pastime in a bit more detail!

Right off the bat, let it be known that (like eggs), there are many variations you can eat out there; you have all sorts of meat wieners combined with many kinds of buns which are slathered with more crap than I could ever recount here. For this review, I decided to concentrate on your average run of the mill dog and bun! Here's a list of what I used for this post...

A disclaimer: This particular combination of ingredients was not the best a health conscious person could buy, nor was it the worst. (It was the kind of stuff I was able to easily purchase at my local Country Mart located in Forsyth Missouri).

I decided not to add anything about taste as that would be a waste of time. If you do not like to enjoy a good hot dog, you are very likely beyond the administrations of medical science....

What's actually in a common wiener?

All hot dogs (those that are sold commercially in the US) are cured and cooked sausages that consist of mainly pork, beef, chicken and turkey or a combination of meat and poultry. Meats used in hot dogs come from the muscle of the animal and looks much like what you buy in the grocer's case. Other ingredients include water, curing agents and spices, such as garlic, salt, sugar, ground mustard, nutmeg, coriander and white pepper. And that don't sound too bad... [Rumors that some dogs contain ground up eyeballs, beaks and other sordid and sick animal body parts. Not true, those are only sold to some West Coast consumers!]

Calories per gram!

After doing much research, I determined that there are about 2.3 calories per gram in this particular dawg. So, at 57 grams for the Frankfurter and 46 grams for the wiener, that came to only about 230 calories! Really, not all that bad even after adding some additional toppings.

The toppings!

For myself, I like a fairly standard group of stuff to throw on board; mustard, ketchup, minced onions, hot pepper and relish! I also like to lightly brown the inside of the bun for that finished look! 

In the end, you have thrown together a great tasting treat for low cost and a minimal impact on your waistline... enjoy!

Critique: Trio Italiano

After going to a local grocery store and searching in vain for a package of American Beauty Penne Rigate on sale. No luck. I selected instead, a 340 gram package of Trio Italiano! Like the Penne I wrote about earlier, it was on sale for only a dollar! I figured I'd give this a try.

Now, normally, three different pasta's will cook to doneness at different times. However, I suspected that the AM Beauty people aka New World Pasta Company's quality control staff were on top of this and so designed all three types at about the same weight and thickness. As to why they decided on this particular mix, I really had no idea.

The cooking directions on the American Beauty package call for about two quarts of water, heated to boiling, in a pot. And even as salt is often considered optional, I like to add a small amount as it does add some needed 'flavor'. (If your on a salt free diet, then consider using a salt substitute). 

Once the water is boiling, you can add the noodles and maybe set a timer for say eleven minutes as per the package instructions. One thing to remember is that actual cooking times will depend on a number of factors such as the density and even age of the particular batch your working with. Do what I do and grab a sample piece from the pot for a quick taste test towards the end of the cooking cycle. After some practice, I've found that I can hit the 'al dente' mark just about every time!

Weights are in grams!

Once your pasta is cooked to the degree you like it; strain it and then add a pasta sauce of your choice back into the pot along with the noodles. (For this meal, I used Hunt's pasta sauce). Reheat everything for a bit and perhaps even add a small amount of Parmesan cheese to give this meal-a-deal an added flavor kick. There you go! Trio Italiano, ready to eat in only about 15 minutes!

[Take note that this meal is so not a diet breaker! Just make sure that any sides you choose to add are low in caloric impact; like say a salad with a vinaigrette dressing!] In the actual meal that I consumed, I used a tad less pasta sauce (110 grams) and sub'd in Catalina salad dressing and so the whole deal with a salad came in at about 360 calories! A very doable and satisfying repast!

Critique: SmartMade Roasted Turkey and Vegetables!

At about $3 and a half bucks, the Smart Ones folks, ( a Kraft-Heinz company) latest creations called SmartMade meals are not to shabby! They offer about 19 different combinations of which I tried their Grilled Peppercorns Beef and Vegetables about a week prior. It was a 'bowl' type deal with strips beef mixed in with 'oriental-styled' veggies in a sauce resting on rice. When I nuked it up, for the first time, I had my doubts. Those were quickly put aside, however, after just a few minuses of eating. The blend of separate tastes was inspiring and I even felt fairly satisfied. No small feat in a 255 gram – 260 calories frozen creation!

So, as I was then somewhat hooked, I went back to the local grocery store on a cloudy November day and quickly selected the Roasted Turkey and Vegetable item from the frozen food shelf. This 240 calories meal was advertised as 'Roasted white meat turkey medallions with honey glazed roasted sweet potatoes and citrus green beans'. That sounded pretty good to me, and so into the shopping basket it went!

Now, anyone who would bother to read the nutritional label would be hard pressed to find anything that was out of line. This is a low cal, low salt and low fat meal a deal! What's more it delivers a decent carb-blast that doesn't really overdo it at just 36 grams! (I was in awe and also a little doubtful as it is very true that in the world of food the better the nutrition, the more many of us will run the other way – It's like a carrots versus French fry kind of deal).

The directions to make are simple. It's one of those vent-nuke-stir-cover and nuke again kind of prep deals. I have no problems with that and in short order a steaming tub was on the table before me. And yes, I generally eat right out of the plastic container as it saves dirtying up a dish and I can do pretty much what I want anyway. 

As I motored through this repast, I found everything to be just OK. Not great. To add to my displeasure there were all those sweet potatoes, which I couldn't quite wrap my head around. I'm more of a regular potato kind of guy, but soldiered on. Overall, a mediocre experience, and whenever they get around to using regular potatoes, call me!

Critique: Banquest's Salisbury Steak Meal circa 2017!

It took me quite some time before I came to the realization that TV dinners actually evolved and changed. What existed in 2015 was not what was offered in 2017! Only the price of $1.29 seemed to remain somewhat constant.

One of the changes was the masked potatoes, or what I would better describe as baby vomit. The texture was wrong and the taste a bit on the grainy side. Not cool.Even repeated nuking in the microwave did not improve that mush. Likewise, I never got a good look at the Salisbury steak as it was covered by an annealed mass of sauce. But, unlike the mashed potatoes, it tasted OK.

Gag me, totally!

On the better side of things, the corn tasted like corn (duh) with the desert being the real star of an otherwise very disappointing late afternoon encounter. Other insults that came from this 350 calorie mess were the extremely high doses of saturated fats (23%) and the completely insane load of sodium at 1340 milligrams. (Were I a much younger man sponging off of poor parents, and that was all they could afford, I could live with it. But, as an older and hopefully smarter person, I elected to dump most of it into the trash...).

I scored this a 3 on a scale of 10 and would not recommend it... well, maybe I would to my enemies.

Critique: Red Baron's Deep Dish Single Pizza!

It had been some time since I'd had any pizza and so it was that I bought a Red Baron Deep Dish pizza package at my local grocery store on a whim. There were two small pizza's in a box that cost me $3.34. when I opened the box up, after I got home, I was surprised to see how small they were. Almost immediately I was then shocked by the nutritional information! Each little pizza 'bomb' that weighed a mere 159 grams or a third of a pound or about 5 ounces contained 430 calories, 20 grams of fat, 40 mg of cholesterol and 990 mg of salt! In other words about as bad a piece of nutrition as there is anywhere to be found! And, while I may be somewhat suicidal, I wasn't crazy!

To that end, I made the quick decision to only try ½ of a serving. By doing that I cut the whole nutritional mess down to a livable portion. I then substituted in a small salad and called it a day.

The taste of my little portion was as feared. Incredible! My only complaint was that I felt that the crust was a bit too crunchy. But, why is it that the poorer a food is, the better it seems to taste overall? Mine was gobbled up so fast, I almost bit off my fingers! I then finished this lunch off with the salad that served as a rather boring counterpoint the the entire interlude.

Critique: Lean Cuisine's Sweet & Spicy Koren-Style Beef!

Other than going for the longest name ever on an entree, I wasn't sure about how I'd like this offering by Nestle USA Inc out of Ohio. First of all, were they talking North or South Korea. I didn't want nothing to do with anything Kim Jon-Un might have had his fat little hands on. So, I assumed it was a south Korean dish and therefore somewhat safe to consume..

At 320 calories, this offering was not bad, assuming it would fill me up. Also, the 650 figure for sodium was a livable amount. At least the food wasn't soaked in salt!

After performing the rather simple preparation deal in the microwave, I noticed that the meal didn't look much like the picture displayed on the box, but it was close! It also helped a lot that I was hungry as this food was a wee bit too sweet for my pallet. If this is what they eat in Korea, I could better understand why everyone is skinny. It wasn't something I'd ever order seconds of... that was for sure! Of the visible vegetables, I was certain of the carrots and only guessed that what looked like zucchini really was. The cook prime beef steak was OK and I never really made out the green onions or the host of ingredients like whey solids, molasses or succinic acid. Not sure that was really a bad thing. In the final analysis, this meal was sort of like what I thought K-rations must have tasted like in WWII. You ate the stuff and then didn't feel too bad about going off to die.

I rated this entree a 4 on a scale of 10 and honestly do not intend to purchase it again in the future... unless we have another war or something...

Critique: Lean Cuisine's Chicken Parmesan!

OK, so this meal deal is about chicken, cheese and pasta! So, what's not to like?

After all, at only 310 calories, who wouldn't want to pleasure their taste buds in such a fashion? I was all on board and really like any frozen entree that is a slash, nuke, stir and nuke again affair. Simple meal prep for a simple mind.

Well, let's get to it. (No one like long boring reviews). This meal was composed of four basic elements;

Chicken – The texture was 'chickeneny', and it tasted OK to boot! I gave it three points!

Pasta – Way overcooked for my taste. It was only saved by the.. (one point)!

Sauce – You basic tomato sauce made all the more palatable with lots of salt (660 mg)! Two points.

Cheese – The element was pretty sparse and hard to find once you began to eat! One point.

So there you have it – a seven on a scale of 10. No the worst meal in the world, but at a cost of $3.55, there's lots better fare to be found on them thar frozen shelves...

Critique: Smart Ones Roast beef and mashed potatoes! Don't buy this!

Way too salty!

Beef too icky!

The mashed potatoes had hard spots! Really?

The meat was swimming in slat laden gravy with bit of something I could not quite define.

WTF? Why did I buy this crap?

And that is my total review on this sorry lot!

Critique: Smart Ones Teriyaki Chicken and Vegetables!

At only 250 calories I thought to give this $2 (on sale) item from Weight Watchers a try. Not sure it was a good decision.

After following the direction carefully, I sat down, fork in hand to a good meal. That was the plan. Unfortunately, the rice was a bit underdone and even hard to chew in some cares! I felt that slippage going on as the meal kept going downhill. While the broccoli looked great, it too was on the raw side. I even tried nuking the meal some more to no avail. On a good note, the chicken tasted pretty good. But, after chewing through that tough rice, who really cared?

I gave this meal a 3 on a scale of ten. Best go look at some other offerings...

Critique: Smart Ones Salisbury steak with Mac n Cheese entree!

Salisbury steak is a dish made from a blend of ground beef and other 'ingredients', which is shaped to resemble a steak, and is usually served with gravy or brown sauce. Salisbury steak was invented by an American physician, Dr. J. H. Salisbury (1823–1905), an early proponent of a low-carbohydrate diet for weight loss; the term "Salisbury steak" has been in use in the United States since 1897. The dish is popular in the United States, where it is traditionally served with gravy and mashed potatoes or noodles.

In point of fact, this is a gravy covered meatloaf of some questionable origins in terms of the ingredients. That said, this little number by Weight Watchers under the label Smart Ones is rather tasty and anyway, who doesn't like Mac n Cheese?

At just 260 calories, I've found a place for this meal in my freezer and will dig one out, from time to time. As it easily forms the basis for a more hearty repast, I often will include a side or two, making sure not to exceed a 500 calorie speed limit!

On sale, this meal can be had for just a couple of bucks and since it's frozen, it'll keep for quite some time.

Lima beans are what's good to eat!

As a food source, Lima beans were known to be cultivated more than 7000 years ago making them rather ancient! As they can stand the heat better than most beans, Lima's are often grown in tropical areas like Africa and Asia.And, I've found either you like the taste or you don't. 

The scientific name for Lima beans is Phaseolus lunatus and these puppies are chock full of nutrients as the graphic above shows. They are also high in fiber and really help to moderate or stabilize blood sugar levels which is a good thing for all us diabetics. Even more amazing, in a study that examined food intake patterns and risk of death from coronary heart disease, researchers followed more than 16,000 middle-aged men in the U.S., Finland, The Netherlands, Italy, former Yugoslavia, Greece and Japan for 25 years. Typical food patterns were: higher consumption of dairy products in Northern Europe; higher consumption of meat in the U.S.; higher consumption of vegetables, legumes, fish, and wine in Southern Europe; and higher consumption of cereals, soy products, and fish in Japan. When researchers analyzed this data in relation to the risk of death from heart disease, they found that higher consumption of legumes was associated with a whopping 82% reduction in risk!! Wow!

Every 100 gram serving (~ half a cup) delivers about 114 grams of calories and will fit nicely as a side for most any meal. I like to buy them frozen in one pound bags in the frozen food isle. They cook up in just a few minutes and cost just a couple of bucks!

Critique: A tale of two beef dogs!

In this post, I will be comparing two 'beef' hot dog wieners; one made by Oscar Meyer labeled as 'Premium beef' and another called 'Jumbo' by Fairgrounds, a product that is distributed expressly for the Save A Lot chain of grocery stores.

Before getting to any remarks about taste, I wanted to inspect the ingredient labels closely on both. Right from the get go, I saw that both had very similar lists of ingredients....

Fairgrounds Ingredients: Beef, water, dextrose, modified food starch, corn syrup, contain 2% or less of salt, sodium lactate, flavorings, sodium phosphates, sodium diacetate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrate. Additionally, each link weighed in at 50 grams and give up about 150 calories when consumed.

Oscar Meyer Ingredients: Beef, water, corn syrup, contains less than 2% salt, potassium lactate, dextrose, sodium phosphates, sodium diacetate, flavor, ascorbic acid (vitamin c), extracts of paprika, sodium nitrate. One link weighed in at 42 grams and had about 130 calories.

From a cost analysis standpoint;

Fairground $3.99 for 8 dogs 400 grams/pkg at about .26 cents per ounce cost

Oscar Meyer $4.99 for 10 dogs 420 grams/pkg at about .32 cents per ounce cost

Fairgrounds on the left

Based on the above, I wondered why anyone would buy the Oscar Meyer brand when the other guy gives you a bit more meat at a significantly cheaper cost? Let's move now to the all important appearance and taste tests....

Fairgrounds on left

OK, if you were wondering where that extra dollar went, then just get a gander at both dogs in a side by side comparison. To my way of thinking, the OM dog looked to be a bit darker and when you cut it to see the 'grain', it looked to be more meaty if that is even a term.

Rather surprisingly, both tasted about the same to me...

So, from an appearance perspective, I like the Oscar Meyer dogs and would buy them if serving something like wieners on a toothpick. But, for everyday, the Fairgrounds product would do nicely.

Pillsbury and their not so hot cinnamon rolls? Wrong!

Recently I made an impulse purchase of Pillsbury Flaky Cinnamon Rolls with Caramel icing. I did this to see if I could possibly push my incipient diabetes over the top....

Whenever I purchase something I haven't tried before, I often like to go to their site to see what others thought about that product. Imagine my surprise when review after review (something like 30 of them), were all one stared! Wow! I've never seen one product get some many bad reviews. My curiosity was peaked to say the least. Here are a few of the reviews;

'These are getting to be my least favorite cinnamon rolls, when you open the package the cinnamon goes everywhere, the rolls are not cut evenly, did not bake properly because of the inconsistency in the sizes of the rolls and never enough icing. I will not get these ever again.'

'Had these this am. Can didn't even pop when opened. And they didn't bake properly, no surprise there. Lots of oil running out of them after baking.... Bought at Walmart, could they have been frozen?'

'It's a huge company and they don't care if some of us miss the hot caramel rolls right out of the oven. Cinnabon will never be as good... so I don't buy these anymore and I guess that keeps my weight down if nothing else. So sad when a good thing is over.'

To be fair, there were some better to even good reviews, but they were relatively few. I wondered. Could they really be as bad as some of these people said? I determined to make them the following morning and find out....

Critique: Smart One's Three Cheese Ziti Marinara!

Not true!

Another title might be, 'How the Smart Ones people destroyed what was a good meal!' There were lots of comments pertaining the manner in which the Weight Watcher company 'improved' this offering which I had snagged on sale at $2. According to Heinz, the company that makes the Smart Ones product line, the meal was described as 'ziti pasta in a delicious marinara sauce topped with mozzarella, Monterrey jack and Parmesan cheeses.' And gee, that picture on the package did look sooo yummy, so I figured what the heck....ding ding, my net worth dropped two dolingos.

After arriving home, I was faced with a choice of eating either a baloney sandwich or the Ziti Marinara offering, I elected to do the latter. What a surprise! Ziti pasta is the same type of noodle you see on a box of cheese and mac. So, of course, I already liked that ingredient. And those three cheeses didn't hurt. Finally, at only 280 calories, I have enough room in my dinner budget for a small salad! So, what was not to like?

Preparation was a simple deal of peeling back a corner of the film, nuking for three, stirring and then nuke for another minute. Simple directions for a simple man like myself. I made this meal and had plenty of time to throw together a simple romaine lettuce salad. (I really adore meals that all come together within just a few minutes. It's a lazy guy sort of thing).

Now, I had to admit that the actual picture of this meal did not quite match what I had observed on the package. (Still, it was a far cry better than what you'd see from a stomach cam)! The noodles were Al Dente (firm) and so was quite palatable. To my happy surprise, this meal was pretty darn good overall! I also felt that the sauce was quite good, but admit that I wondered what the 'old recipe' tasted like. The package I had purchased gave me no hint of what version this recipe was... I assumed it to be the new one, though.

Critique: Subway's Cold Cut Combo!

At some point last summer, I stopped at a Subway located near my home in Forsyth Missouri and fell in love with their Cold Cut Combo 6” meal deal! (A great lunch time selection and hopefully a  healthy addiction over time)!

And so it was on one of the coldest mornings of the 2015- 2016 winter, that I stopped at the 14974 US Hwy 160 venue, just to the north of Forsyth Missouri on Highway 160, to get a midday fix!

The Combo is just one of many sandwich offerings to be found at Subway, but it had tickled my fancy mostly because it was a combo of veggies and meats on bread - simple and wholesome, just like myself. OK. So, maybe I'm just simple.

I arrived at the popular eatery a little bit early on a Monday morning, around11:30 AM, in order to skirt the crowds that show up at about the noon hour. I ambled on in to the always spotless eatery and found that there was only one person at the order counter. Perfect. Now a word of caution! As you approach that counter, there is a great looking display of all kinds of chips-in-bags, just begging to be snatched up. Don't do it! These little bags of joy are actually 'caloric bombs'! And when they detonate, they can wreck even the most carefully devised diet! Thus, as I approached the counter that morning... I quickly grabbed myself a bag of Lays chips! [So, go ahead and sue me]!

Bag in hand, I then got the attention of the person I like to call the 'Facilitator'. (That's the guy or girl who assembles your sandwich according to your instructions). From a strictly procedural standpoint, you first call out the base and style of the sandwich. 'White bread, 6 inch cold cut combo,' I stated assertively that morning. The Facilitator eyed me casually and then asked, 'Ya'll want that toasted?' 'Yes, I do', I answered right back. (My mouth had began to drool a bit, at that point. A troubling, but well understood development from past visits).

That chore done, the last item in the order process was what most always got me flustered. My 'virginal bun' had just come out of the flash oven and it smelled terrific! It was hot-to-trot and merely awaited my personal selection of veggies from what looked to be a cornucopia of mouth watering selection bins. (On this day, excessive drooling, forced me to forego normal speech in favor of animalistic grunting and pointing. Thankfully, the Facilitator interpreted these strange gyrations correctly). [FYI - I prefer hot peppers, mayo, lettuce and onion on my cold cut combo]. In no time, the meal was expertly 'wrapped up'  and I then paid up.

OK, just a word about Subway and the cost of their food. It's atrocious! Seriously, I sometimes feel like an addict scoring some drug for a hundred dollars. OK, may be not as bad as all that. Still, the 6 inch sub and the bag of chips cost $5.25 including tax! Personally, I think that a little costly! But hey, I'm a true culinary addict, like I said...

Critique: Ragu spaghetti sauce!

In past times, I've pretty much thrown together my own home brew sauce to throw over pasta. I had abandoned the store sauces, for the most part, due to their bad taste of objectionable amounts of sodium. And, then I tried Ragu!

After inspecting the label for the presence of any strange sounding chemicals, (there were none), I recently picked up a small 14 ounce glass jar that cost me a little over two dollars and took it home to try. One of the oddities I noticed as I prepared to open the jar was the advice they have printed on top which states 'Shake before opening'. I could not, for the life of me, figure out why you would want to do that and so I contacted Ragu via the net with an inquiry (I'll post their response in an update). While visiting their site at www.ragu.com, I noted that the company got its start back in 1914 when an immigrant by the name of Assunta Cantisano came to New York, planted a backyard garden and began brewing her own sauce that she sold from her front porch to neighbors in 1937, during the height of the Depression. [Please note that the company she started, Ragú Packing Company, could not have gotten started in the 21^st Century due to intense over regulation].

From a strictly nutritional standpoint, the serving size of half a cup (125 grams), yielded only 80 calories! Not too shabby. In addition, the sodium content of that serving was a modest 480 milligrams! [Note that this is considered modest for a 'processed food']. So, Ragu's Old World Style is low carbohydrate 94%), low sodium (20%) and has lots of vitamin A and C. So, what's not to like?

As to the taste? No complaints from me! When I've used this product, I often like to add in a little browned hamburger and canned mushrooms – ingredients that help make the eating experience truly enjoyable. I would highly recommend this product to everyone and plan to stock it on my shelf.

Side note: Ragu is available in all sorts of 'flavors' and can be purchased over the net. I noticed that Amazon carries the full line, and since I'm a Prime Member and I can get this product shipped free of charge via two day air, I plan to order their 'marinara' version as my local store does not offer it.

Response from Ragu: 'Thank you for contacting us regarding Ragu Old World Style Traditional Sauce!

Shaking our sauce is not required but, as with any liquid or semi-liquid food product, a good shake will always help ensure even distribution of the sauce ingredients and optimal enjoyment.

Thank you so much for your interest in our brand!

Sincerely,

Ragu Consumer Services'

Khash! A truly International dish!

A few of my readers have commented that most all my food reviews are centered around American cuisine, and that that could be considered somewhat racist. To make amends, I would like to present here a truly 'interesting', yet international dish that is frequently eaten on the slopes of Armenia.

Take four medium cow’s hooves and ankles and 1 brain (strictly optional); boil this in a large pot of water for 32 hours (without seasoning); remove scum. Before you know it, you will have true Armenia-style Khash, “the masterpiece of Armenian cuisine”! A meal is apparently always eaten early in the morning. “It is not wise to eat it late,” my friend Chef, Shirak implored. “Khash is so rich, you need all day to digest it.”

He took me to visit the kitchen, the night before the big feast; I carefully inspected the great pot where four cow’s feet and ankles and one smallish bovine brain are bubbling. “It started cooking last night, because really great khash must be stewed for 32 hours,” stated Shirak. I agreed to meet with him when that time is up: I think it was about 7AM.

7:15 AM - After sitting down at a pitted but solidly built wooden table,  my friend and chef Shirak ladled out a heaping bowl of steaming Khash. While I waited for it to cool a bit, I inquired as to the name. Shirak responded that the name had something to do with with what most people do with their teeth when they first try this most interesting disk. Oh, I blurted out in surprise, 'You mean gnashed'!

Well, the food tasted a little strange to my American taste buds, but I soldiered on through it. Later on, I had to agree that the full feeling in my stomach persisted for the rest of the day; sometimes approaching, but not quite reaching a state of true nausea.... My advice would be to make sure an invite a small close group of people you really dislike, serve them this soup, and then only inform them of the ingredients once they've pushed back from the table! Bon appetite!

Critique: HP 8610 Ink jet printer scanner!

This critique will be of the informal variety and it will be somewhat drawn out with updates as the first printer did not work well.

As my old and venerable Hewlett Packard C6180 multi-function printer was getting along in age and was no longer working perfectly, I decided to pull the trigger on the purchase of a new model. As I've been a past customer of HP for some years, I decided that I wanted to stick with the brand an so limited my search field to just those printers that could get a couple of things done; mainly color printing and the ability to scan. The successful candidate also had to be able to work wirelessly and I wanted a small USB port so that I could archive scans onto a flash drive. The HP 8610 seemed to fill that bill at a cost of only about one hundred dollars.

I ordered my unit through Amazon as I am a Prime member (free 2 day shipping) and because I knew that they would take care of me in case a problem arose. Note also that HP's customer service does not allow a customer to send them an email, electing instead to use their cumbersome online chat vehicle.

On the day of the arrival I began to unpack all the components of the printer and was pleased to find that assembly was straightforward. I grew concerned, however, when I noticed that one of the ink cartridges appeared to be leaking – it was the yellow cartridge and there was ink covering the other cartridges as well. I cleaned these off as best I could and inserted them into the printer. Sadly, the very first test print indicated there was going to be a problem as it appeared that one of the colors was not printing correctly.

Test print..oops! Problems!

That prompted a call to Amazon's Customer Service Department where I was very quickly helped out. The representative quickly determined that something was amiss and offered to send me a replacement printer. I agreed to this and packed up the one I had received while waiting for a return authorization certificate to arrive from Amazon.

As the printer did work well overall, I decided to offer up some thoughts concerning the setup and the noise issues.

Surprisingly, scanning was soundless and fast!

Setup – Everything went swimmingly until I saw the blinking blue light that indicated the printer was not seeing my WiFi network. I had to perform a few gyrations to get it to finally work and I'm not sure the average customer would have been very happy as a result – The bottom line – the process of syncing up with a persons wireless router should be a little more seamless.

Noise – The HP 8610 is not what I would call a quiet printer. It had a tendency to grind through the printing process and I could see how this might get on someone's nerves over time. Remember, though, you get pretty much what you pay for and I would hazard a guess that the more top of the line printers made by Hewlett Packard are a lot quieter. On a good note, the scanner is whisper quiet and fast!

As the black ink output seemed unaffected by the problems with the other cartridge, I did print out a couple of samples and was pleased with the degree of fine smug free detail I observed. Thus, I will now await the arrival of the replacement printer (due at my place on Jan 8 2016) and will report via a future update...

Critique: Banquet's Salisbury Steak Meal!

Banquet occasionally puts together a decent frozen meal. The key word here is occasionally. Other offerings are a culinary kiss of death, if you are older and are watching your salt intake! That said, let us venture forward!

Banquet's Salisbury Steak Meal, Now with Mac & Cheese caught my eye while perusing the offering in the frozen food isle at a local grocery. Gosh, it was only a buck and nine cents, a gold mine these days!Quickly, I grabbed one and went bravely onto the next isle..

Once I got home, the smallish meal went into the freezer. There it sat in lonely solitary as I ate up much more healthy choices. Then, one evening, I came up short. There wasn't much in the fridge and so I investigated the freezer compartment. Ah! There in a corner was my little Banquet meal a deal. Out it came and squinting at the small print I readied it for the microwave...

Preparing most Banquet offering are pretty simple; slit the film, nuke for 2 minutes, reseal and nuke for 2 more minutes. Here is what it saw after placing the plastic tray on my plate;

Welcome to the 21st Century, brave souls! Way back in the 70's, I think I saw this very same image on a NASA Apollo mission. Now, here in 2015, I was faced with the same sort of crap!

OK, at only 300 calories, this did fit into my diet plan. But, then I noticed that the sodium level was an astounding 1,110 mg! Ah, no wonder it tasted pretty good! It was the salt!

Well, lesson learned! Some of Banquets meal are not bad - others are best consumed by twenty somethings. I scored this one at an 8 for taste, but don't plan on buying it ever again!