Comfortably Baked

I've noticed a new trend with frozen meals.  A baked experience, when something actually comes out of the microwave.  I know that some things like Hot Pockets use those special crisping sleeves to cook up the outside and give them that oven baked crust/outside.  That whole process is pretty cool and the susceptor basically takes the energy created by the microwave and redistributes it as conduction or infrared radiation.  Science!  Anyways, seeing this made me wonder what they were going to do to the container to "bake" it.  I knew I was going to eat one anyways (it's a hard life blogging about mac n' cheese), but now there was curiosity of how it was going to cook bugging me and I quickly added it to my eat this one right away list.

The Review

Brand:

Marie Callenders Comfort Bakes Mac & Cheese

'Murica!

Living in the SF Bay Area, I've come to discover that we live in a foodie mecca.  Some of the best restaurants in the country are here or so I'm told (being a picky ass I tend not to be too adventurous with my food).  There are also lots of specialty places that have made niches out of excelling at one kind of food.  A few years back I read about a place in San Francisco that serves nothing but different kinds of grilled cheese.  As a person who loves cheese, I told myself I needed to get there.  Sadly I hadn't ever made that trip.  While SF is not far away, I tend to only go into town when there is something planned, like a Giants game or concert and just a grilled cheese sandwich hasn't carried enough weight for a trip.

During the 2012 baseball season, a coworker decided that it would be fun if we could get a group of us together for a game when his boss came in from out of town.  Since this coworkers boss lives out of state, we had to hope that the timing would be perfect.  One trip it just so happened that the Rockies were in town (and this bosses favorite team) and a group was formed for the game.  While walking to the park, the boss and I ended up going down 2nd street to get to AT&T (rather than my normal MUNI trip) and we walked right by a place called The American.  The grilled cheese place that I had read about!  I made a mental note at how close it was to the park and said that before or after some game that I would attend separately on a weekend, that a trip would be made.

A few months later after attending a different Giants game, I told the wife lets forget taking MUNI back to BART just walk up 2nd to the station.  Lo and behold, that walk took us right on by The American and we couldn't help but stop in.  To my complete surprise (I swear on my 16 year block of cheddar) they had a grilled cheese with mac n' cheese inside.  Oh how the gods have smiled upon me!

The Review:

Brand:
The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen's Mac Sandwich

Ten hut! Present arms!

I Went In For A Cheeseburger, I Came Out With Mac

So I just hit five years of employment at my current job.  I decided that eating a just add water cup of mac n' cheese, or the standard backup turkey sandwich just wasn't going to cut it for this anniversary.  Leaving a bit late for a standard lunch hour, I decided that Fuddruckers across the street from the office would do.  A nice burger and some sweet potato fries (a current vice) were my lunch plans.  What I didn't know was that as I stared at the menu trying to decide on the kind of burger that I have, that I would discover they also served mac n' cheese.  Karma.


The Review

Brand:
Fuddrucker's Macaroni & Cheese

Now if this sign said worlds greatest mac n' cheese my mind may explode.

Mom Said Always To Eat Your Veggies

Parents face an uphill battle when it comes to getting heathly foods into their kids.  With so many fast food joints and stuff thats pre-made, it's almost too easy to not make anything yourself anymore.  As I've been scouring the shelves and frozen food aisles I've started to see a trend at some of the more upscale stores. They have begun to carry lines that are not only aimed at kids, but have found brands that have devoted some major time including hidden fruits and veggies into the dish to help combat the Mc Donalds those kids had for lunch (but ketchup is a fruit!).  I've had some other kids meals, but this is the first that has gotten all ninja with veggies and hidden them in the dish.  I wonder if I'll even notice...


The Review

Brand:
Mom Made Meals Cheesy Mac

Homestyle To Go

Kraft is THE predominant mac n' cheese maker in the country.  They've got a massive line of macaroni and cheese products that just eats up the shelf space in your local grocer.  They've added a Homestyle line that gets cooked in the oven and I've been meaning to try since it debuted a few years back.  In the last few months Kraft has introduced a just add water version of their Homestyle line.  I know these won't be the same, but having heard good things about the standard line I was very excited to see these hit the shelves. 

The Review

Brand:
Kraft Homestyle Hearty Four Cheese

Bad Day? Just Add Cheese!

I sure wouldn't have thought that the preparation of a frozen meal would become an issue to me, but it has.  Looking on the back of these boxes for my preparation instructions I often see directions for the microwave and the oven.  What is the best way to make it I keep asking myself.  Am I hindering the blog because I didn't make it the 'right' way?  From past experience, cooking frozen meals (doesn't matter the kind) in the oven almost always gives me a better dish than what the microwave puts out.  My problem is that though I have a toaster oven at work, it's not easy to make sure that I don't burn the meal, or that the heat is that accurate for the duration that the packaging requires for cooking.  For some reason I felt that with the Blake's meal I should give the ol' toaster oven a try. 


The Review

Brand:
Blake's Farmhouse Mac & Cheese

Why is it that all the best hearty meals come from a farm?  Mac n' cheese, biscuits and gravy, chicken fried steak, pot pies?