Real Kato Blog: Today's Frozen Meal: Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake

I'm reviewing this one at Amy's request. Other folks can feel free to submit specific requests, too; I'll try just about anything once.

I'm not sure whether to blame the microwave at work or the product itself, but this seems like it turned out dreadfully overcooked, and the resulting product sure didn't look very appetizing. It was hard to tell where the pilaf ended and the polenta began, though is it really ever possible to figure that out anyway?

Taste: "Chewy" is the first word that comes to mind, because the entire thing is a chew-fest. And aside from the plantains, which are good, the whole thing is pretty bland. There's a little bit of spice in the "spicy ancho sauce", but it's otherwise under-seasoned. It's hard to really think of this as a polenta dish, because the polenta and the pilaf and the beans just mixed together to form a single mass... a single CHEWY mass. It's a little insubstantial for a meal, too, despite their claim that "fiber and proteins from whole foods make for a satisfying meal". Fewer beans and more vegetables (tomatoes? red peppers?) would probably improve this dish greatly. I'd be willing to sacrifice the Mayan-ness of it for a little more flavor. Score: 2.0/5.0

Meal

Update 5 April 2010: I tried this meal again, because I found something out about Sharp Carousel microwaves: To cook at 50% power, you don't press the "power level" button and then "5" or "50"; you just press "power level" six times, with each press decreasing the power by 10%. What ever happened to the standard microwave user interface? Anyway: this time around, the meal was properly cooked, and significantly less chewy. It was still a bit mushy, but the spicy flavoring came through better, and I have to say it was more enjoyable overall. Score: 3.0/5.0

Nutrition: It's so spectacularly high in fiber and Vitamin A that I'd like to overlook the 9 grams of fat. But there's also the fact that there's a gram of saturated fat in there, and that's strange for a vegan dish. Score: 2.5/3.0

Packaging: You do have to slit the film and it requires two cooking stages, but it gets a bonus point for having a box made of recycled cardboard. Score: 2.0/2.0

Total Score: ~~6.5/10.0~~ 7.5/10.0

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