I have to admit that I was really excited to give the Healthy Choice: Cafe Steamers a try! I ended up grabbing the Cajun Style Chicken & Shrimp at the store. I didn’t get a chance to try them out right away, but when I did I was very happy with the results.
Preparing
The preparation was super simple! I basically pulled it out of the box and stuck it in the microwave. It does have a plastic film on the top, but according to the box, it is specially designed to let the steam out. I didn’t even have to cut a hole in it or pull up an edge to vent. The directions stated to cook between 3.5-4.5 minutes. My microwave is not as high-powered as the ones that they use when they’re testing it out in their kitchens, so I put it on the full 4.5 minutes. Then I walked away.
Once the timer went off, I let it sit for a couple of minutes per the instructions. Then I went and pulled it out of the microwave. I was so excited to see how it turned out that I almost burnt myself with the steam as I was ripping off the plastic. Once the plastic was off, I lifted the inner steamer out (which was holding the rice, veggies, chicken, and shrimp) and then poured all of those ingredients into the bottom bowl where the sauce was.
Taste and Quality
After I had combined all of the ingredients with a spoon, I took the first bite. It was surprisingly good. I hadn’t thought it would be bad, but it was much better than I had expected. The rice was tender and firm, just the way that I like it. With the amount of sauce they give you, it ends up looking a bit more like soup and as someone who has had rice in soup before, I know how soggy the rice can be. It was not like that at all! I think they should come up with rice dishes by themselves that can be made in this way since the rice was just as good as if I had made it on the stove top.
The chicken and shrimp were perfectly cooked. They were cooked through, but were still juicy and tender which I think is hard to do when you prepare something in the microwave. In my opinion, the microwave tends to dry things out. But that’s the beauty of these Cafe Steamers. It all comes out really delicious with the unique system they use.
The sauce was very tasty. I like my food spicy, so I could have standed it to be even hotter, but I understand that some people would probably freak out about that, ha ha. I could taste the sodium in the sauce though. I think next time, I will probably only use half of the sauce.
Conclusion
I will definitely be purchasing these again. They were delicious. My boyfriend J has even decided that he’ll be getting some for himself to take to work for lunch. J is a picky eater too, so if he likes it, it’s usually great. I cannot wait to try the other varieties. I’ll have to update once I get to try a few more of them, but I did want to let everyone know how good these in particular were. I think that the unique bowl steaming system is really what makes these the best. It cooked everything perfectly and I couldn’t have asked for better from a frozen meal. Plus, they were less than $3 a piece at our nearest grocery store. That is a great price for a great product. I am also doing Weight Watchers and Healthy Choice has been kind enough to put the Flex Point value right there on the box! This variety only has 5 points, which is excellent!
If any of you give them a try and have anything to say about them, please comment. I’d love to hear what everyone thinks!
