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If there's anything that people in the United States are (almost) guaranteed to be eating in November, it's turkey. So I was a little dismayed when my wife brought home three turkey meals for us to test this week. They're all from Lean Cuisine's "Comfort Cuisine" line, and two are labeled "New Recipe," which has been good news in the past.
The
first one we tested was the Roasted Turkey and Vegetables. This
is turkey with a mushroom gravy along with green beans with cranberries
and slivered almonds. I'd feared that the green beans would be
limp and mushy, but they were actually still moderately crisp
and flavorful. The cranberries and almonds add a sweet and savory
note - all in all, a good recipe. The turkey was also surprising
- actual thin slices of turkey, although it tasted just a shade
too salty. I was surprised that it tasted salty when the box
says it contains just 480 milligrams of sodium along with the
190 calories and 4 grams of fiber, but then I looked at the ingredients
and noted the addition of potassium chloride - a salt-free salt
substitute. That explains it! The mushroom gravy tasted like...
mushroom gravy. A good choice for a light lunch.
This
was followed by a meal I was rather surprised to see: Glazed
Turkey Tenderloins with whipped sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes
in a convenience meal! The good news is that the turkey and gravy
in this meal is basically the same turkey and gravy as in the
Roasted Turkey with Vegetables meal. (The Glazed Turkey Tenderloins
contains 660 milligrams of sodium along with the potassium chloride,
3 grams of fiber and 250 calories.) I've never been much of a
fan of the overly-sweet sweet potatoes (actually yams) that people
serve at holiday time, and fortunately these whipped sweet potatoes
aren't that sweet. These are smooth and almost buttery and have
just a touch of brown sugar and vanilla. Good stuff if you like
sweet potatoes this way. The bad news is the dressing. It looks
good, smells of sage and thyme and has cranberries and celery
in it - all good things. But it has the gummy, chewy texture
of old, moistened croutons. Too bad.
The
final turkey meal is a Roasted Turkey Breast with "savory herb
dressing"
and baked apples in a cinnamon sauce . I love how Lean Cuisine
describes the turkey in these meals as three different things:
tenderloins in the first two meals and turkey breast in this
last one, when they all look and taste exactly the same. Which
is fine. It's good, actually. The apples in this meal are good
- baked but not to mush and with a good, cinnamony glaze. Once
again the downfall is the dressing. According to the ingredients
listing on both boxes, this dressing is made with bread crumbs,
while the other was made with croutons (and tasted like it).
And these also taste like they're made with bread crumbs - and
not in a good way. This bread crumb dressing once again has good
flavor, but it varies in texture from too mushy to chewy. Another
meal marred by poor texture. That's why we eat it - so you don't
have to.