I rarely cook out of a box or canned goods, and I consider that a good thing. If I need to open anything canned, it's usually to make quick bean based side dishes, like black beans for Cuban meals, pinto for Mexican night, and so forth. I even making a kicking Italian salad with Quinoa, white kidney beans and garbanzos! I just try to make everything from scratch so I can control how much sodium, protein, to just avoiding preservatives and dyes when possible. Yes, it drives me crazy knowing I could sometimes really appreciate making a quick meal in 20 minutes or less and not have to dedicate the weekend to making meals for the week. I just tell myself....we are worth the hassle of eating better.
When I saw Modern Table Meals at Target, I just walked away and never thought about them again. It's just another pasta dish with fake-o ingredients I thought to myself. The next week I saw them again and saw the bubble with the protein count listed (17 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber, per serving!). I stopped. Again, thinking I know everything, I imagined some soy or whey protein mixed in with whole grains and more corn based products, to make a meal. Again, I was so wrong so before I dug this hole any deeper.....I decided to just read, absorb and see what Modern Table Meals is all about,
My parcel arrives with 4 beautiful bags, a bag to store everything in, a wooden spoon with some serious nice weight and quality, oh and coupons galore! I'm starting to love them even though I wrongly judged a book by it's cover here (insert foot in mouth).
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Modern Table has 4 delicious Meals to satisfy every craving:
- Southwest Red Lentil Rotini
- Mediterranean Green Lentil Rotini
- Teriyaki White Bean & Broccoli Noodles
- Italian Red Lentil Penne
See, what makes the magic? Beans!! Legumes!! Whatever you call them, the **sparkle** of protein and real food comes from gorgeous pastas and noodles that are bean based.
I'm all for eating healthy and practice Meatless Mondays that get moved around during the week (rarely is it on an actual Monday), but the point is it takes place at least once a week and if not two. So, good only goes so far in my book. I eat kale but I like the flavor, so when kale became the "It Food to Eat", I had to hit a few stores to find 2 great stalks because everyone was juicing and pulverizing the heck out of them. My point is, I have to enjoy the meal beyond the numbers and healthy is not a reason alone food should not taste spectacular.
I started by making the Mediterranean Green Lentil Rotini. I open the bag and notice the veggies are dehydrated but retained shape and their beautiful color. Best looking dehydrated green onion I ever saw! It was just perfect in shape (not just turned into green dust) that I found myself squeezing the veggies to see how they looked and felt. Yes, I'm "that girl" that touches the produce before bagging it and I admit I sniff Pineapple bottoms too! :)
I read the instructions and everything is so easy to do. You just boil the bean pasta, whisk the sauces with water and/or oils, then toss and add the topping included. Everything in the bag contains no artificial colors or preservatives. Modern Table Meals took a shelf-stable product (i.e. beans) and just made it better and something a long time coming.
Cooking the Meal: As with everything, I made the product as instructed to see how it performs just out of the bag. I followed the directions and noticed that just 10 minutes had lapsed and I'm 75% done with cooking dinner. I felt like I forgot or missed something. You know like when you went out on a shopping trip and made it out of the store with good timing......yeah, I knew I forgot something. Retraced my steps and nope! This is too easy! Five minutes later and I try to make my insanity justifiable by noticing I forgot to cut open the topping bag (see, I did forget something). I top the dish and begin plating. I took out "insurance" on this meal by making it a side dish. I figured it's better being safe than sorry and paired it with veggies and Naan Herb bread that I topped with left-over roasted chicken, goat cheese and an olive medley. It was Mediterranean enough and the chicken needed eating.
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Taste Test: Just by the sniff-test, I am starting to regret having made other food but then sometimes things smell better than they taste. I taste the pesto sauce and I am already wanting to save some for later separately because it's so good. I can believe I just added water to make this! Then comes tasting the pasta alone because if it tastes bad, I'm saving the sauce for another meal. I forgot the pasta was bean based because the texture is desirable. I expected a floppy noodle or one that just disintegrates into odd pieces even though you never bit. Not this guy! It tasted like a flavored pasta shape, sort of like it belonged with the three color pastas you find at the market. So far, so good! I toss everything and then sprinkle. I have a taste before serving because why dirty the dish if I won't be eating it.......I serve myself more than what a side dish called for! I must admit at one point I mixed my veggies into the pasta because I wanted everything to have that wonderful flavor. The sauce tastes real and the package tells me there is all this good stuff and none of the bad, but this tastes real like in homemade fresh. It does not taste like anything I ever had out of a box. I tell myself that I was always right about Modern Table Meals because things out of box are horrible, but these come out of b-a-g! See, I was right all along ;)
I can't wait to try and share all the other ones!
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I received the above product(s) free of charge from Modern Table Meals. I am not obligated to provide a positive or favorable review, just my honest opinion. My review is based on my experience with the product and/or brand, which may differ from yours.
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