Day 345 - Farfalle with 4 Cheeses and Spinach

Here’s the thing: I am stressed.

This time of year is STRESSFUL.  There are so many gifts to buy and wrap.  And we always make our own Christmas cards and that takes a ton of time and creativity (we haven’t even STARTED yet…).  We are heading out of town soon and I need pack for that…

Last week, which somehow wasn't as stressful of a time....  This is a big ass Christmas ornament, isn't it pretty?

But on top of all of that “normal” stuff, a good friend who we help care for has been injured and so we have jumped into “care taking” mode.  We are her only friends really, and have the responsibility to make sure she is okay.    So the past couple of days that has meant bringing her home from the hospital, advocating for her to get in-home health care people who speak Spanish and can communicate with her, and trying to help clear out her apartment to make it safe for her to navigate with a walker.  (She is a hoarder…  Two and a half years ago she was on the verge of being evicted and we had to do a major clean-out of her apartment – it was very hard.  Now, with health care workers going into the space, we are worried they might report it as being “unsafe” for her since she has begun to re-accumulate stuff.  Sigh.  It’s an ongoing battle.)

Again, from a less stressful time just a few days ago, David "plugging in" a huge ass string of Christmas lights in NYC.

SO, with all of THAT going on, I am stressed and haven’t written a review yet today!  It is 4:30 PM my time and I try to have my reviews posted much earlier than this every day, but I am sure that you are super busy, too, so I hope you will forgive my tardiness.

Onto today’s REVIEW. 

This Farfalle with 4 Cheeses and Spinach is a typical frozen meal.  I used to eat this type of thing allllll the time for lunch.  You know the drill:  small box of frozen something-or-other than you grab out of the freezer and bung in the microwave.  I used to buy whatever varieties were on sale at the grocery store and just keep a freezer full of them.

Here's the box - it looks prettier on the front of the box than it does when you open it and cook it.

But after a while, they all sorta tasted the same and felt, well, kinda crappy.  So I stopped eating them.  But I picked this one up at Trader Joe’s to eat and review for the blog.  J

This one is pretty bland.  That surprised me, considering the fact that the title boasts of not 1, not 2, not even 3, but 4 cheeses (they are listed as:  hard cheese (what the hell is that?  “Hard cheese” sounds like a rubric of cheese…), emmental, mozzarella, and gorgonzola !  Somehow, even with all four cheeses, this dish doesn’t taste all that CHEESEY.  The spinach in it is nice and the bow tie pastas are cute. The meal definitely requires the addition of salt and pepper. 

This was my view as I ate this lunch - I was eating with my CNN friends.

This box is one serving.  It is quick and easy to make.  It fills you up if you eat it for lunch.  Basically this is not amazing, but it gets the job done.  If you just “need some lunch” this is fine.  I wouldn’t write home about it and I wouldn’t put it as a “must buy” on your shopping list.  But if one somehow jumps in your shopping cart you don’t need to throw it out. 

See, it doesn't look nearly as pretty as the box made it out to...  And it kind of tastes as bland as it looks here.

Ok, it’s time to continue with the holiday “do do do” s and go watch the little neighbor girl in “The Nutcracker”.  J

Price – $1.99 (I think)

Rating - 3