Day 24: Freezin' for a vegan

Once again, laziness struck and I couldn't bring myself to meal plan, grocery shop, and cook all in one night. My brilliant idea was to explore the world of vegan convenience foods, so we walked to Whole Foods and raided their freezers. The first display we came across was full of Chinese food, so we figured we'd give it a shot. We left with four different frozen items and everything was cooked within 10 minutes of getting home (aside from the egg rolls, since we decided to bake them). Here's how it went, starting with the worst and working our way up to the best.

Whole Foods Brand Vegetable Potstickers"Traditional thin dumpling dough filled with shiitake mushrooms and a variety of vegetables including napa cabbage, celery, bok choy, and carrots."
These certainly weren't bad, I just think we're not potsticker people. Or maybe it was my inability to follow directions when I cooked them... I know there shouldn't be much complication to pan frying, but I'm physically incapable of reading beyond the first line of directions, so I can't be held accountable for what happens after "heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium heat." Long story short, they never really seemed cooked and my tears of confusion only made them soggier. I doubt I've ever had napa cabbage or bok choy on their own, so maybe one of those were the offending source. Who knows. The final verdict: a 4 in our book, but they got great ratings online, so don't let us deter you. 

Whole Foods Brand Vegetable Fried Rice"A vegan mix of seasoned long grain white rice stir-fried with bits of onion, carrots, corn, red bell pepper, green peas, and scallions."This was a nice, unique mix that had more complexity than most kinds we've had. I could have done without the peppers, but Scott liked them. My favorite part was the fact that I could dump the bag into a bowl and microwave it, the way our ancestors intended. The carrots were... soft, and the corn was... yellow - I don't really know how to talk about food in an eloquent manner, much less a bag of microwave rice, so I'm just gonna wrap this one up in a hurry. The rice was good. I'd give it a 7... on the rice scale.

Whole Foods Brand Vegetable Egg Rolls
"A crisp and flaky crust surrounds a seasoned mix of green cabbage, edamame, water chestnuts, carrots, celery, onion, and brown rice."
These were Scott's favorite and I was a fan, too. I didn't dare microwave these, so I chose to bake them instead... even though everything else was cooked on the stove top before the oven even preheated. Again, forethought isn't my strong suit in the kitchen. Since we had already finished everything else by the time these had spent 20 minutes in the oven, we had egg rolls for dessert - a trend I fully believe will catch on eventually. These things were tasty. I'd throw a 7 their way - Scott says 8 (too bad it's not your blog, buddy bear).


Gardein Mandarin Orange Crispy Chick'n"A quick & easy meal that's award winning, better than takeout, and entirely meat-free."
I loved this. I'm in love with this. I want to give it a ring, buy it a home, and make it Facebook official. What I'm trying to say is: this particular food tasted a lot better than a lot of other foods do. It was exceptionally chickeny (that's a common thing food critics say, right?) and had a much better texture than the "chicken" you get from Chinese takeout places - whatever that actually is. I loved the sauce, too. It was sweet but not sickly. Well, here we are again... you hoping to hear a fellow adult share their educated opinion on a product, and me lacking the refined palate and vocabulary to express myself. Let's jump straight to the big fat 10 I'm giving these strangely flat but excessively addicting chick'n strips. I may live on these alone for the remainder of my [inevitably shortened] life.