For dinner tonight my wife tried the Lasagna with Bolognese Meat Sauce, and I tried the Slow Roasted Beef in a Red Wine Sauce.
Both required cooking in the microwave.
I heated up the Lasagna first: instructions said to lift the corner of the plastic film on top (to vent), heat the meal for 3 minutes, with care pull back the film so that you can spoon the meat sauce on top of the lasagna roll, then put the plastic back and heat for 3 more minutes. Then remove and let stand for 1 to 2 minutes before you eat it.
I mentioned last time that the box does NOT say what level of Wattage on your microwave is best to use for preparing these frozen meals. I also mentioned last time that I have a 1200 Watt microwave, but most meals I heat up in it will instruct me to set it to 1100 Watts...so lacking instructions to the contrary I had done the same last night with the Four Cheese Macaroni and also with the Lemon Caper Chicken: I cooked them at 1100 Watts.
I think I neglected to mention with my previous review that the Four Cheese Macaroni seemed to have unmelted cheese at first, so we put it back in for a short bit of additional time to melt the rest of the cheese. I know, though, that I mentioned how my chicken felt a tad cold in one or two places.
Because of that, this time I went full blast, using all 1200 Watts. I also cooked both meals tonight at the full length of suggested time.
The Lasagna came out fine, for the most part. My wife enjoyed it, and said it's better than the equivalent lasagna meal from Stouffers (nicer tasting, bigger portion). She enjoyed it. However, the edge on one side was hard/crunchy enough that she found it hard to swallow...literally. So she left a bite or two behind when she was done. Nevertheless, she felt full and happy when she was finished.
She liked it, and she thinks it was worth the $5.94 price tag. So she wants me to buy the Lasagna by Gordon Ramsay for her again.
The heat-up instructions for the Slow Cooked Beef were to simply run it in the microwave for 5½ to 6½ minutes, with a corner of the plastic film pulled back a bit to vent. Usually I would go right in the middle and pick 6 minutes solid, instead of messing with half-minutes. But since my chicken last night had cold spots, I did not want that to happen again. So I went for the full six-and-a-half minutes!
After letting it rest for 1 to 2 minutes, as the instructions said, I pulled off the film for the first time and went to mix everything up. Note that the meal includes roasted potatoes (of the same sort which came with the Lemon Caper Chicken I had yesterday for lunch). There were more of them this time. The box shows them neatly separated from the Beef, but in reality the potatoes are mixed in with the beef before you heat the meal up.
As I went to mix up the meal to more evenly distribute the sauce, I noticed a hard crunchy edge on the side near where I had pulled the film up to vent. When it came time to eat it, I tried that hard crunchy part...and it wasn't terrible, but not nearly as nice as the rest of the meal.
But the entree as a whole was delicious! I was making such great yum yum sounds eating it, that my wife wanted a taste, and she also praised it highly. Frankly, it's a no brainer that I would try the Slow Roasted Beef by Gordon Ramsay again.
But next time I will try to get rid of the hard crunchy edge by cooking it the same way as the Lasagna's instructions said: cook it for 3 minutes, pull back the film and stir it up, then finish it with another 3 to 3½ minutes, then let it rest 1-2 minutes and serve. I think that might get rid of the hard crunchy part, perhaps!
Otherwise, like I said, it was really good. Maybe the portion could have been a bit bigger. Next time I'll warm up a bread roll and use it to sop up the wine sauce; that should help fill up my tummy a tad more! :)
Both the Lasagna and the Slow Roasted Beef get high praise from us, and ARE RECOMMENDED! We will buy them again.
This experience was certainly better than the Macaroni and the Lemon Chicken. I wish we had tried these first, instead of those! Live and learn.
EDIT: eight days later
re: "We will buy them again."
Okay, we did. We bought these same two again, and had them for dinner tonight. THIS TIME I TOOK PICS!! And, for the most part, these images look very similar to what we ate originally, a week ago.
First know that I prepared them this time THE EXACT SAME WAY that I prepared them last time. No changes.
This time, however, both dishes came out extremely worse than last time! 😣
My wife says that the Lasagna was VERY tough, esp. the pasta portion of it. Note that there was less sauce this time, and more cheese in that sauce. The tough noodle, and the tough cheese inside of it, made it hard to cut with the edge of a fork, and she almost went to get a knife! That should never be needed for a frozen food lasagna, we think. In the end, she couldn't finish it. It not only was too tough, but she didn't enjoy the taste as much this time.
I had the Slow Roasted Beef again, and this time it - like the lasagna - also came out a bit tougher. There were a couple of chunks of meat which were almost burnt tasting. Another piece of "meat" just was chewy, like fat. I did finish mine, but I can't say I enjoyed it as much as last time.
Neither of us will be buying these two again. It's just not worth the $5.94, when I can get a Steak 'N Taters from Night Hawk at the same Walmart store for $3.48 and it has just as much food in it, but tastes a TON better! Chef Ramsay could learn a thing or two about frozen food entrees from these Night Hawk folks in a small town in Texas, I'd say.
Lasagna & Slow Roasted Beef? NO LONGER RECOMMENDED!
6
u/DaveLambert Aug 26 '23 edited Sep 04 '23
REVIEW #2 - LASAGNA and SLOW ROASTED BEEF
For dinner tonight my wife tried the Lasagna with Bolognese Meat Sauce, and I tried the Slow Roasted Beef in a Red Wine Sauce.
Both required cooking in the microwave.
I heated up the Lasagna first: instructions said to lift the corner of the plastic film on top (to vent), heat the meal for 3 minutes, with care pull back the film so that you can spoon the meat sauce on top of the lasagna roll, then put the plastic back and heat for 3 more minutes. Then remove and let stand for 1 to 2 minutes before you eat it.
I mentioned last time that the box does NOT say what level of Wattage on your microwave is best to use for preparing these frozen meals. I also mentioned last time that I have a 1200 Watt microwave, but most meals I heat up in it will instruct me to set it to 1100 Watts...so lacking instructions to the contrary I had done the same last night with the Four Cheese Macaroni and also with the Lemon Caper Chicken: I cooked them at 1100 Watts.
I think I neglected to mention with my previous review that the Four Cheese Macaroni seemed to have unmelted cheese at first, so we put it back in for a short bit of additional time to melt the rest of the cheese. I know, though, that I mentioned how my chicken felt a tad cold in one or two places.
Because of that, this time I went full blast, using all 1200 Watts. I also cooked both meals tonight at the full length of suggested time.
The Lasagna came out fine, for the most part. My wife enjoyed it, and said it's better than the equivalent lasagna meal from Stouffers (nicer tasting, bigger portion). She enjoyed it. However, the edge on one side was hard/crunchy enough that she found it hard to swallow...literally. So she left a bite or two behind when she was done. Nevertheless, she felt full and happy when she was finished.
She liked it, and she thinks it was worth the $5.94 price tag. So she wants me to buy the Lasagna by Gordon Ramsay for her again.
The heat-up instructions for the Slow Cooked Beef were to simply run it in the microwave for 5½ to 6½ minutes, with a corner of the plastic film pulled back a bit to vent. Usually I would go right in the middle and pick 6 minutes solid, instead of messing with half-minutes. But since my chicken last night had cold spots, I did not want that to happen again. So I went for the full six-and-a-half minutes!
After letting it rest for 1 to 2 minutes, as the instructions said, I pulled off the film for the first time and went to mix everything up. Note that the meal includes roasted potatoes (of the same sort which came with the Lemon Caper Chicken I had yesterday for lunch). There were more of them this time. The box shows them neatly separated from the Beef, but in reality the potatoes are mixed in with the beef before you heat the meal up.
As I went to mix up the meal to more evenly distribute the sauce, I noticed a hard crunchy edge on the side near where I had pulled the film up to vent. When it came time to eat it, I tried that hard crunchy part...and it wasn't terrible, but not nearly as nice as the rest of the meal.
But the entree as a whole was delicious! I was making such great yum yum sounds eating it, that my wife wanted a taste, and she also praised it highly. Frankly, it's a no brainer that I would try the Slow Roasted Beef by Gordon Ramsay again.
But next time I will try to get rid of the hard crunchy edge by cooking it the same way as the Lasagna's instructions said: cook it for 3 minutes, pull back the film and stir it up, then finish it with another 3 to 3½ minutes, then let it rest 1-2 minutes and serve. I think that might get rid of the hard crunchy part, perhaps!
Otherwise, like I said, it was really good. Maybe the portion could have been a bit bigger. Next time I'll warm up a bread roll and use it to sop up the wine sauce; that should help fill up my tummy a tad more! :)
Both the Lasagna and the Slow Roasted Beef get high praise from us, and ARE RECOMMENDED! We will buy them again.
This experience was certainly better than the Macaroni and the Lemon Chicken. I wish we had tried these first, instead of those! Live and learn.
EDIT: eight days later
re: "We will buy them again."
Okay, we did. We bought these same two again, and had them for dinner tonight. THIS TIME I TOOK PICS!! And, for the most part, these images look very similar to what we ate originally, a week ago.
First know that I prepared them this time THE EXACT SAME WAY that I prepared them last time. No changes.
This time, however, both dishes came out extremely worse than last time! 😣
My wife says that the Lasagna was VERY tough, esp. the pasta portion of it. Note that there was less sauce this time, and more cheese in that sauce. The tough noodle, and the tough cheese inside of it, made it hard to cut with the edge of a fork, and she almost went to get a knife! That should never be needed for a frozen food lasagna, we think. In the end, she couldn't finish it. It not only was too tough, but she didn't enjoy the taste as much this time.
I had the Slow Roasted Beef again, and this time it - like the lasagna - also came out a bit tougher. There were a couple of chunks of meat which were almost burnt tasting. Another piece of "meat" just was chewy, like fat. I did finish mine, but I can't say I enjoyed it as much as last time.
Neither of us will be buying these two again. It's just not worth the $5.94, when I can get a Steak 'N Taters from Night Hawk at the same Walmart store for $3.48 and it has just as much food in it, but tastes a TON better! Chef Ramsay could learn a thing or two about frozen food entrees from these Night Hawk folks in a small town in Texas, I'd say.
Lasagna & Slow Roasted Beef? NO LONGER RECOMMENDED!