Amy’s Bowls- Brown Rice & Vegetables with organic tofu- no gluten added/wheat free/ non dairy
To kick off my focus on gluten free frozen foods for this month, I just had to begin with an Amy’s product. To me, this line of frozenfood products has been a lifesaver while adjusting to a gluten free way of cooking and eating. Going gluten free often means more cooking from scratch with “new” ingredients. However, I don’t always have the time, energy, or desire to create a meal from square one. Amy’s gluten free frozen meals provided me a quick meal option that is fairly healthy when those rushed and tiring times came along.
One of the first Amy’s products I tried was the Amy’s Bowls Brown Rice & Vegetables with organic tofu. Each package contains one decent sized portion that may be cooked in the microwave or oven. Since the microwave only requires five minutes of cooking time ( and the oven requires a whopping 50 minutes!) I took the quick and easy route of zapping in my microwave.
Fresh from the freezer, this is what the Amy’s Brown Rice & Vegetable bowl looked like:
After cooking for five minutes in the microwave, I stirred the bowl and contents, and this was the result:
Overall, I found this product to be very flavorful and a great find. The vegetables (onions, miushrooms, broccoli, and carrots) semeed perfectly cooked and not too mushy. The flavor of the onion and mushrooms was especially yummy and strong. I liked how the broccoli spears were a nice, large size and still had a nice crunch to them.
The rice was slightly sticky and moist, with just a hint of added spices and tahini sauce that complimented the brown rice and vegetables, instead of competing with them. The tofu pieces are quite large, so I cute them into smaller pieces for more even distribution ( Plus, I am not a huge fan of tofu, so this helped in that regard.) In fact, the tofu absorbed the flavor of the rice bowl, so I hardly noticed the tofu was an ingredient. That was a huge “plus” for me.
Overall, I found this to be a hot and satisfying meal option that I will most likey purchase again.
PROS: tasty flavor and texture, vegetables cooked perfectly, great quick lunch option, lots organic ingredients
CONS: rather large pieces of broccoli, onion flavor may be too strong for some
Rating: 4 stars
Where can I purchase Amy’s Brown Rice & Vegetable Bowl?
Check your local grocery store’s frozen foods section- I know they are sold in Wegmans, Walmart, Giant and Weis in Pennsylvania.
See what IAteAPie.net , Elaine from WebMD has to say about this gluten free product!
November 8th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Oh, I haven’t tried this one yet, it sounds yummy! The broccoli and tofu are “pluses” in my book.
November 9th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
I love your theme this month! I was kind of worried for you having to eat all those cookies and cupcakes- maybe my sweet tooth just isn’t sufficiently developed but I would think it would get a little overwhelming after a while.
I like the idea of this meal, but I thought it was a little boring and bland in execution. Heh heh. I love my veggies and tofu, but it’s hard for a frozen version to beat made from scratch. One good timesaver is to buy frozen (Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s) or prepared, sealed brown rice (rice a go-go etc.) and then roast some broccoli in the oven, and grill some marinated tofu on a gas grill. Fast and tastes much more interesting. But then, I’m a veggie connosieur, dahling.
-sea
November 13th, 2007 at 12:15 am
Hmmmm….I may just have to check these out! Thanks for the review!
November 17th, 2007 at 6:54 am
Wow - these look really good! I’ll keep an eye out for them on my next grocery shopping trip.