Chicken Fettuccine In A Creamy Parmesan Sauce

I was a little leery of this one. Frozen veggies don’t usually sit well with me, and broccoli especially – its tiny ends tend to get very limp when microwaved from frozen. So when I saw broccoli on the package of this offering from Stouffer’s, I thought “People expect a review. Sack up and eat it.”

The package has Weight Watcher’s points published on it, something Lean Cuisine does even though they’re not affiliated with Weight Watchers. 300 Calories of Chicken Fettuccini is 6 points, one of their heavier offerings relative to the mid-200 calorie range more common to Lean Cuisine dishes. I’ve never been in the weight watcher’s program but if you’re in it, you may find the point system useful. I dunno.

Lean Cuisine meals work to control your weight by being a means of portion control. Just like Jared Fogle chowing down on 6″ Subway sandwiches instead of the chips, pop, etc. he ate before that, if you switch to smaller portions with fewer calories than you’re already eating you should gradually lose weight. But don’t “reward” yourself with something else that adds back the calories, or you’re defeating the purpose.

The Chicken Fettuccini in a creamy parmesan sauce is part of lean Cuisine’s “Sélections” line, touted as “low fat”. Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine also offers the Spa menu (“almost all the meals are preservative free”, according to  LeanCuisine.ca) and Panini, a collection of toasted sandwiches with meat and cheese in them.

This dish is pretty easy to make. Take it out of the box, pierce the plastic covering the tray (I poke it with a fork a few times) and pop it in the microwave on high for 4 to 5 minutes. Since there is pasta involved, and because of my previously mentioned aversion to frozen broccoli, I set the microwave on 4 minutes. Don’t get me wrong; I like broccoli. I’ll eat it raw, lightly steamed, stir fried, and so on. I just don’t usually care for frozen broccoli that’s nuked back to life.

And this dish was no exception. The broccoli was limp, like a dead slug. Or a cubicle worker who has given up on his dreams of working his way up to CEO someday.

Fortunately the broccoli didn’t taste as drained as it appeared. It tasted like boiled broccoli. The rest of the dish? I was pleasantly surprised!

After I let it sit for 2 minutes (seething about frozen broccoli, but really that’s the recommended time to let it ‘stand’) I peeled back the clear plastic cover and stirred the dish up. The smell was quite appetizing. I sat down with the dish and began to eat, enjoying the pasta, sauce, and chicken.

This is frozen, prepackaged food, not a fine fresh gourmet meal, so let’s keep it in context, but in that context this particular Lean Cuisine effort was exquisite. It far exceeded my expectations, even with the broccoli business.

All in all, I recommend this one.

If you’ve tried this product, what do you think? Agree or disagree? Let me know below.

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