Tags: low calorie

20 Aug 2009, Comments (6)

Cedarlane Moussaka Eggplant Mediterranean

Author: healthnuttxo

eegg

Let me just cut to the chase with this one.
THIS MEAL KICKS BUTT.

I never in my life tried a piece of eggplant. It looks nasty, it’s ugly looking (okay that’s 2 superficial reasons…) and it was just never my vegetable “of choice”. So i was skeptical to try this meal, eggplant? And Eggplant Moussaka? What does that mean? According to Cedarlane, “Moussaka” is just another word for Eggplant Mediterranean in the Old World.  Either way, THIS MEAL IS SO GOOD.
I decided to try it because after overindulging myself with 2 HUGE garlic knots from my local pizza place (oops!), i wanted a healthier dinner that was lower in carbs to balance out all that greasy dough. So i figured what they heck.

So let’s begin. This dish is slices of roasted eggplant in a tomato sauce that has carrots, mushrooms, red bell peppers, feta cheese and other spices in it. Then on the top is a little smattering of a white sauce. The eggplant is amazing. It’s soft, it is bursting with flavor, and it melts in your mouth like butter. I am definetely an eggplant friend now :)
The veggies are awesome too. There are thick chunks of carrots, and the vegetables as a whole add a little spicy kick to the meal.
There is also “Ground Round”, or veggie crumbles. After all, this meal is vegetarian. They taste almost exactly like and have the same consistency of ground beef. They are also delicious.
Lastly the white sauce on top. I didn’t care for it too much, it was slightly bland compared to the flavor of the rest of the meal, and if it wasn’t there i honestly wouldn’t have missed it. But who cares. This meal is so good they can keep it or ditch it and i would be happy all the same.
Overall, this meal is tomatoey, gooey, savory and just DELICIOUS! You must must must try it!!

Hows the nutrition? Excellent as well!
per dish, it’s 230 calories, 10 grams of fat, 22 carbohydrates, 6 grams of fiber, and 13 grams of protein. You also get 20% calcium and vitamin C, and 35% vitamin A. Yay!

Eggplant, Milk, Crushed Tomatoes, Veggie Ground Round (Water, Textured Soy Protein, textured Wheat Protein, Natural Falvor, Malt Extract, Salt, Onion Powder, Evaporated Cane Juice, Carrageenan, Garlic Powder, Spices, Wheat Germ, Oat Bran, Vitamins and Minerals), Fire Roasted Tomatoes (Tomatoes, Tomatoe Juice, Salt, Calcium Chloride and Citric Acid), Feta Cheese (Pasteurized Milk, Salt and Enzymes), Onions, Carrots, Mushrooms, Rice Vinegar, Organic Unbleached Wheat Flour, Canola Oil, Red Bell Peppers, Green Bell Peppers, Extra Virgin Oilve Oil, Parsley, Water, Spices, Garlic Powder, Cornstarch, Salt, Guar Gum, Lemon Peel.

10 Aug 2009, Comments (0)

Earth's Best Elmo Mac'n Cheese

Author: healthnuttxo

ELMOO

Macaroni & cheese anyone? Who, honestly, can resist mac & cheese!? This sinful dish is often gooey, cheesy and delicious, but also often packed with sodium, artificial colors and fillers. But not this mac & cheese!
Earth’s Best Elmo (yes, ELMO!) Mac’n Cheese is all natural, with 22g of whole grain per serving. Yes i admit, it’s probably aimed toward kids, but who says “older kids” can’t enjoy it as well? Plus i’m a sucker for portion size!

This Mac & Cheese comes with a side of carrots and broccoli for extra nutrition. If you look on the box, you will see, yes, the macaroni is in shapes of elmo’s face. Cute! I was excited to try this, i love macaroni & cheese, but we all know how easy it is to overdo it.

So how does this meal live up? Well, this is real macaroni & cheese. No fake boxed crapola, no cheese “powder”, no dyes. This uses REAL cheese, REAL milk. So, it tastes like REAL macaroni & cheese! It’s very creamy, cheesy, and buttery tasting. The cheese adheres well to the elmo pasta, which is cooked nicely, not mushy but not too hard either. There’s a pretty generous portion of pasta in this meal too, i thought it would be a itsy bitsy amount of pasta, but nope, there are a lot of cheesy elmo faces ready to be eaten. As for the veggies, i would have liked more. The broccoli is not big at all, rather chopped up in little bits. The carrots are good though, soft and sweet. It’s a good compliment to the mac & cheese, but i wish there was more. To make it more filling i added an extra serving of vegetables and had some protein with it as well.

As for the nutrition, it’s pretty good! It’s 220 calories, 7 grams of fat (YES, SEVEN, and it’s made with REAL ingredients!), 33 grams of carbs, 5 grams of fiber, and 9 grams of protein. I was happy that the first ingredient was whole grain durum wheat for the pasta, not blanched wheat/refined flour. Yay! It’s also enriched with extra vitamins and minerals, like B vitamins, etc.

The only cons for this meal that i have is it skimps a little on protein (but as i said, i just had a little extra to round this out and make it more of a meal for my size), and it has 4 grams of saturated fat, probably from the heavy cream , cheddar cheese and butter oil in the ingredients. But most macaroni & cheese has about that amount of saturated fat, and at least this fat is from real cheese & butter and not fake stuff..

So if your craving mac & cheese, this will help your craving without helping your waistline fill out. Give it a shot- and enjoy the cute little elmo faces!

Organic Elmo Pasta (Organic Whole Grain Durum Wheat, Organic Durum Semolina, Vitamins & Minerals [reduced iron, niacinamide, zinc oxide, riboflavin, thiamine hydrochloride, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, cyancobalamin]), Cheese Sauce [water, heavy cream, cheddar cheese [cultured pasteurized milk, salt, enzymes, annatto color], nonfat milk, corn starch, butter oil, enriched wheat flour [flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], sea salt, natural flavor, torula yeast, xanthan gum, annatto color), Organic Carrots, Organic Broccoli.

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