Michelina's Lean Gourment: Creamy Rigatoni with Broccoli & Chicken

As a kid, I loved frozen meals and Michelina's brand was a classic - it was cheap, which my Mom loved, and their frozen Mac 'n Cheese or Wheels 'n Cheese were my two faves (after the Blue Box Kraft :). Now as I'm older, I re-visit the Lean versions to see how they stack up!

First Impressions: Alright, so there's no way around saying it, but Michelina's meals are SMALL. They are a great option if you're having 4 or 5 small meals during the day, but don't count on this alone if you're extremely hungry or looking for something that will tide you over from noon until a 6 or 7 pm dinner. The tray it comes in is usually a bit sad looking, and I noticed that this little meal in itself has 8 grams of fat. Upon seeing that, I think two things - 'They could have tried a little harder to reduce the calories & fat' and 'Damn, this is gonna taste pretty good!' The sauce is creamy and thick enough, but the tiny, sparse pieces of chicken and broccoli do leave something to be desired.

Taste: The sauce on its own has an ok flavor, you get a little of that peppery alfredo taste and you can tell this is where the 8 grams of fat is coming (mostly) into play. Although this little meal has 660g of sodium in it (yikes!), it's not overly salty unless you're used to a strictly low sodium diet.

Texture: The sauce has a nice consistency as mentioned above, not watery or thin as one might expect from a 'lean' version of an Italian fave. The pasta is very American in doneness - probably 2 minutes or so past 'al dente' but not yet into the unhappy 'mush' zone. The broccoli 'chunks' (as they are too small to be real florets or anything else) like the pasta are softer than they were in my previous review of the Lean Cuisine meal. They are still enjoyable and as I usually cook my broccoli until it's soft enough to cut through with a fork, I like it. The chicken crumbs (they really don't manage to get to the size of a full slice) are kind of rough for me, so I'm glad there aren't many. They have a few faint grill marks but they are definitely of the variety of chicken that is re-formed into breast patties, so the texture is a bit off, even a little bit chewy.

General Thoughts: So it's not the worst low-fat/lean thing I've ever ate, but it's woefully mediocre. Italian food is super popular in the US, so it makes sense that it captures a large segment of the frozen food market. However, I'm just part of the 'Italian food as healthy? Pfft, yeah right!' camp. Certain recipes are viable as healthy alterntives, like oil based sauces, or even a pomodoro sauce. All bets are off when it comes to cheese and cream sauces, and Michelina's proves that while you can make Italian favorites healthier, it's often with the loss of flavor. This dish would have been improved by nixing the chicken and adding some more and larger broccoli chunks. It might work better with some small side such as a salad or veggie medeley, or even as a 2-serving side dish with grilled chicken.

Ultimately, I might buy this again, but it's not a staple for me.

Rating: 2.5 stars

Calories: 280
Fat: 8 grams
Michelina's Website with Complete Nutrition Info