Michelina's Harmony - Fettuccine with Creamy Pesto

I feel like we’re really starting to bond now that I’ve written a bunch of posts. You’re starting to get to know me and my neuroses, and I’m OK with that. Since we’re in the trust circle now, I have a confession to make. It’s something not many people know about. Ready? I really like frozen dinners. There. I said it. I feel better getting that off my chest. I hope you don’t think any less of me now.

I like the convenience of a full meal packaged into a tiny, frozen box that’s ready in a matter of minutes. Most of the time I like how they taste, and I like that I can have a variety of meals at my fingertips, ready to go whenever I need them. Having a full meal ready after a long day of work, or a quick lunch that I don’t need to leave the office for is a wonderful thing.

 

I have generally had good luck with Michelina’s and its line of frozen meals. I suppose it makes more sense to call them frozen meals rather than dinners since you can eat them at whatever point in the day you like, but it’s a habit I can’t seem to break. I digress. Michelina’s has a number of product lines, and this time I felt like trying its Harmony line because a creamy pesto sauce sounded like it had the potential to be delicious. I also thought that a dish without meat was more likely to be better, because there was less to mess up. Was I ever wrong.

The picture on the box was of a pasta dish brimming with vegetables with a creamy pesto sauce beautifully covering each noodle. What I got after I followed the microwave instructions and opened the lid was far from the picture. The noodles were separate from the sauce and vegetables, and needed a good stir to create the dish. However, the noodles were a clumpy ball and it was hard to mix the sauce into something that didn’t want to cooperate. The sauce itself looked like alfredo with flecks of green in it, and there were very few vegetables. There was one lone carrot in the whole box and some small broccoli florets. I realize that we generally eat portion sizes that are too big compared to what we really need, but this portion seemed exceptionally small. The fact that it was a large ball of noodle made it look smaller, I’m sure. It tasted watery, and there was nothing that made the pesto sauce distinguishable. 

 As I mentioned, I am usually a fan of Michelina’s various product lines. However, this particular meal is an emphatic pass on my part and I would never buy it again. There are plenty of brands and choices that make a far better product than this one. I’m not sure why it’s called the Harmony line of products, but the Fettuccine with Creamy Pesto was definitely off-key.  

Michelina’s
http://www.michelinas.ca/english/