Surviving a McDonald’s add-on meal deal!

OK, so you’re on a diet, and possibly the very last place you need to be parking your thunder-thighs would be anyplace that had the word ‘Mac’ in it. But, hey, this is a real world and you are a real person! Someone who has been making an honest effort to walk the diet walk and talk the diet talk. So what if you take a dive off the wagon from time you time. You’re only human, right!

So, I arrive in customary style at the McDonald’s Drive-in grill thingy that you talk to in order to get food. As I pull up, I’m greeted with what surely sounds like a 15 year old boy with greasy pimples thanking me for choosing the Big D – then almost with out pausing for a breath the grill asks me if I would like to have a Big Mac fry meal a ding dong. And wait! If I order right now, I can get a SECOND BIG MAC for just twenty nine cents!

I answer, ‘No’, in my politest and nicest voice. Just one thunder thigh Mac, some fries and a diet coke would be quite sufficient. Oh, and I do so want some ketchups to go with the fries, please kind youngster with acne. On the electronic screen I immediately see:

1 MED DIET COKE…………………$1.49

5 KETCHUP PACKET………………$0.00

1 BIG MAC MEAL…………………..$4.10

1 BIG MAC…………………………..$0.29

TOTAL WITH TAX………………….$6.36

What! Looks like I’m getting that extra Big Mac whether I want it or not! F-it, I thought and pulled on ahead. Later, when I go my meal a deal home, I had second thoughts!

First of all, I’m on a diet and life if hard enough without this kind of temptational crap being thrown in my face! Second, if I elected to eat it later (which I did), I wondered how it was going to survive spending overnight in the fridge. I mean can you re-heat these things? Will they taste anything like the original when I do? Or, more likely, will they taste like reheated dog dodo??  Well, I was going to find out. And, in the spirit of the occasion, I also ate only half my fires. The other half went into the fridge to keep the ‘Big Mistake’ some company.

Honestly, though, what gives with this add-on shit? Even supposing I have a cheap friend in the car with me, won’t that friend still have to also order a fry and a coke to go with that thirty cent burger? And, if they do, won’t the extra coke and fry be a lot more expensive than when you order them as a meal? Huh? What the F! And where, exactly does McDumald’s get off making my choices for me? Honestly, I felt as though I was dealing with an Obama reincarnate here!

[The Next Day]

As I sat down to eat my ‘bonus’ hamburger and fries after nuking them in the microwave, I had occasion to think about how McDonald’s was very much like the Healthcare plan that was being rammed down America’s throat. They both force you to buy poor quality stuff you don’t really want at inflated prices. And, at the end of the day, you’re stuck with a bad taste in your mouth and a fast tummy! The moral of this story? Take a guess!

Critique: Michelina’s Stroganoff Sauce with Beef and Pasta!

Just for a change of pace, here’s a TV entrée I’ve actually been looking to enjoy! Beef Stroganoff is one of only nine foods that I could easily eat every day for the rest of my life (it if weren’t so darn fattening). Something that good and that filling, has just got to be truly horrible when it comes to nutrition. (God, in his infinite wisdom, made the universe work that way just to piss us males off). So, it was with no little trepidation that I purchased this entree for the paltry fee of $1.39 USD!

Now before even getting to the directions or the scoring or anything else, I want to cover the nutritional panel. For should things go sideways, I felt it would start there! First off, you’re getting about a cup of product for your money. That’s 8 ounces at $1.39 or about 17 cents per ounce. Not all that bad for a frozen product. Next, eating said product will dump about 300 calories into my body. Once again, I can live with that figure just so long as I make sure any side dishes are low calorie vegetables or perhaps a tossed salad. Surprisingly even the cholesterol at 25 mg was OK and the sodium at 700 mg was one of the lowest I’ve seen for an entrée of this size! Well, I’ll be horn-swaggled and stomped on like a frog! If this meal passes the taste test, then I’m a true believer in all things Michelina!

Preparation is a snap – You lift a corner to vent – nuke it for 2 ½ minutes on high – open and still the contents – recover and re-nuke for about another minute! Wham bam, thank you ma’am! For this test, I decided to go with some boiled Brussels sprouts and a small carrot. The veggies came to about 80 calories for a total of 380. Now for the scoring:

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Appearance:     6         Not as appetizing as I had hoped for!

Smell:               6          Decent aroma, but still with that TV made after burner smell.

Texture:            7          The noodles were al dente and tasty!

Taste:               7          Not a slam dunk! Just OK to somewhat good is about all.

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Average:            6.5      A good dish to have as a back up to the real thing!

For the money, this is a fair bet. Still, if you’ve ever had real stroganoff made from scratch you’d realize this meal was an insult. Also, it could use more salt!

Disclaimer: All content in this post is the sole opinion of the author and may or may not reflect that of other readers.

Let's face it - We're all a nation of dingbats!

The TV and my toilet – Twins!

Whenever I catch myself watching too much TV these days, I mentally want to smack myself up the side of my head! BAD BOY! I think to myself. With life being as short as it is, why an I wasting my time in such a mindless way? The entertainment channels no longer amuse and the media controlled 'news' is anything but news. Even the presidential debates have become something of a running joke. Did you catch the recent debate in Arizona that was sponsored by CNN? Not one question was asked about many of the major challenges that face this nation. Instead, I guess the burning issues for Americans everywhere must center on the candidates sexual preferences. Like how they felt about birth control or condom use for instance. Questions such as those were asked often and to all the candidates, while the real burning issues we all face like unemployment and even corruption in our government were left untouched. Housing problems? Hey, Arizona has been gutted with foreclosures and yet how many questions were there that addressed that very important issue? How about zilch...zero...nada! Who is CNN really trying to protect here, I wonder?

Mr. President – Let's see you talk your way out of this one!

Ever since Obama took office, he has been the Teflon Don! Nothing sticks to this man! Not the economy, not the war, no not nuthing! It's always the same old song and dance. His 'just look at the mess I inherited,' lament has been repeated so often and by so many of his supporters, perhaps it should be engraved above the entrance to the White House! But, now the screw has finally turned. Gasoline, Obama baby. It's all about the gas. And, this is one God awful mess that has your personal socialist and environmentalist stamp all over it. I'm gonna watch very closely this summer, when the national average tops $4 to $5 a gallon to see just how you try and dodge this bullet!

Opps! Ron you were right! Iran is clean after all!

Turns out that our intelligence community is now backing up something you've been saying all along! In a leaked report to the LA Times, it seems classified documents indicate that 'Tehran is not currently seeking to build a nuclear bomb'. Well golly and gee willikers. After listening to all the other candidates lambasting you on this issue, it must give you a little sense of satisfaction to hear this news Ron. Hey, perhaps. Just perhaps, you're not crazy after all...

The thing is America, you've been had by the media. Iran has played the fake nuke card very nicely and the media ate it up like candy. In the end this country now looks, well quite frankly, we look a little hysterical to much of the rest of the world. It'll be great fun, however, watching those presidential hopefuls do the 'dingbat back-peddle'. That's a new dance were you consistently go backwards in the eyes of the voting public. Everyone, that is, except for Ron...

Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers

A semi-original effort on my part that produced a nice result! I was looking for a meaty entrée that was low in calories, relatively low in cholesterol and sodium when I stumbled across this winning combination!

Ingredients:

Add half the can of tomato sauce.

2 bell peppers, seeded & tops removed

½ lb ground beef, browned & drained

¼ medium yellow onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp dried basil

8 oz can of tomato sauce

1 cup of instant rice, micro waved

2 slices of brick cheddar cheese

Paprika

Salt and pepper (optional)

Directions:

Make sure to overfill the pepper a bit more than shown!

Make up the rice (about 1 cup) according to package directions. Set aside. Blanch peppers in hot boiling water for about 3-5 minutes. Combine the hamburger (about half a pound) and onion, brown in a pan over medium heat and drain off any excess fat. Add the rice, basil and garlic. Mix a little then add about half the can of tomato sauce and mix well. Add this mixture to the bell peppers. Overfill the cavity slightly. Place these in a crock pot that has been set to low. Drizzle the rest of the tomato sauce over the top of each tomato.

Place the peppers into the crock-pot, stuffed side up. Cover and cook on low for about 3 to 4 hours. Just before the end of this time, cut the cheese into four narrow strips and make X’s over each bell pepper. Re-cover and cook for another 15 minutes (or nuke briefly in the microwave to melt the cheese). Remove and sprinkle with some paprika! Note: I did not use and slat in this dish. If I feel the need to do so, I use the so-called fake salt or potassium chloride for that purpose). Serves 2.

Nutritional Information:

Not too shabby nutritionally speaking!

Here’s the nutritional panel I came up with for this recipe. It represents two large stuffed bell peppers with lots of ground beef and rice. This is a meal you have to be careful with if you're on a diet like me. In my case, I only eat half of a pepper (see line of figures in blue) that’s been cut lengthwise. To this, I like to add one of more vegetable sides like streamed green beans, corn or whatever you might have in the pantry. In most cases, you should be able to stay under 400 calories for a filling and great tasting repast!You'll also stretch the budget a bit as I paid a dollar apiece for the peppers on this date!

Notes:

The peppers turned out pretty good with the exception of the way the filling had a tendency to fall apart. Next time, I may elect to add one or two egg whites to the mix to see if that helps. I also plan to add about two to three tablespoons of ketchup to the tomato sauce to kick it up a bit. 

This recipe was redone slightly the next day using grated cheddar cheese (about 20 grams) that was mixed in with the meat and rice just prior to cooking.  The peppers were also placed in small Pyrex glass container to allow them to stand up better in the slow cooker. I also added about two tablespoons of plain ketchup to the mix which helped the over all flavor a lot!

If you prefer, place your peppers into a small baking dish and cook them in a pre-heated oven at 350F for about 20-30 minutes!

Critique: Healthy Choice Lemon Herb Chicken

I figured it was high time for a change in the manner in which I score and rate frozen TV dinners! It suddenly came to me that the way I was going about things before were ambiguous in terms of sidestepping the truly important issues; that being the taste, smell, texture and overall appearance of the meal in question. So, from now on, I’ll drop the cost and package art scores from the scoring panel (which no one gave a rat’s ass about anyway)!

Today, I will be savoring, devouring and otherwise rending apart, the hoped for goodness of a creation from the folks at Healthy Choice! This time the lucky winner (and focus of my culinary lust) is an entrée by the name of Lemon Herb Chicken! According to the HC site, this meal consists of ‘tasty chicken tenderloins are prepared in a savory herb lemon-Chardonnay sauce and are mixed with firm whole-grain pasta, juicy cherry tomatoes, and succulent green beans!’ Wow! Now, who could resist that? They then go on to tell me that I will be ingesting only 210 calories. (Hold up a minute! The box plainly states 200 calories. Well, perhaps it’s just a misprint…)

Upon opening the package I had a strange discovery – whole frozen cherry tomatoes. Why golly gee, how Californ-i-a is that? Upon reflection, this whole meal deal does reek of all things San Francisco! (For some reason the tune, ‘Do you know the way to San Jose? I’ve been away so long…’ popped in my head) Well, it was a great song, so maybe this entree will be too! (Feel free and play the song by Diane Warwick on another tab while reading the rest of this mess)!

Nutritionally, I’ll score one for the owner of the company as he has lead the charge to keep the sodium levels down in this line of products! This one comes in at only 480 mg. Awesome! As I mentioned earlier, the calories are good to go at just 200 and both the cholesterol and carbohydrates are very low! From this standpoint, what we have here is a ‘diet quality meal’! See that my jelly belly – I’m looking out for ya! (My belly promptly rumbled in what I will assume was an affirmative response). Now, on to the scoring:

Category                    Score                              Comments

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Appearance:                  6                Lots of veggies complete with eyeball tomatoes!

Smell:                            7                Mildly appealing! Fresh, at any rate!

Texture:                          8                I was somewhat surprised! Pasta was al dente!

Taste:                             8                Much better than I was hoping for! It's da sauce!

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Average:                        7.25           Good taste at a fair price! Go out and buy some!

Seeing as how you can prepare this meal (and others like it in the line) in just about four minutes in a microwave, justifies it as a good bet for a low calorie lunch candidate at work! I plan on keeping a few in my fridge at home also.


Disclaimer: All content in this post is the sole opinion of the author and may not reflect that of other readers.

Obama! We've had enough!

Critique: Freschetta’s Pizza by the Slice!

This is just not right!

By the slice! And, a perfect slice at that! I’ll tell you one thing I can see coming right now. Nobody, but nobody can eat just one slice of pizza. That is unless it’s really horrible! And, as for perfect? Well, they’re setting a mighty high bar!

Another interesting thing about the Freschetta web site; no mention is made of the product I’m reviewing here. Yeah really! What’s going on with that?

I’ll forgo the normal scoring grid and whatnot on this dish and get right to the meat of this review.

1)      The pizza tasted pretty sweet actually. Not a good thing for a pizza to be doing. 

2)      The coupon on the inside of the box was expired! This begs the question as to how long this item has been sitting around in the freezer section of my store?

Bottom line: Game over! Zip up your fly and go home! I plan to avoid this particular item in the future and have forwarded a complaint to the folks at Freschetta! Note: A week later I got an email which did not address the problem with quality, but did promise a 'discount replacement coupon'. I wonder. Did they even read my complaint? Not sure I plan to ever use them or it in the future.

Disclaimer: The content of this post is solely the opinion of the author