Busy Vegan Bee Product Review: Amy's Kids Meals Baked Ziti

Since I'm currently livin' la vida no kitchen (true story), I find myself eating either very simply (salads, smoothies, etc.) or a little more on the "convenient" side (gardein products, frozen dinners, etc.). Today's post is a product review of one such convenience food: Amy's Kitchen's Kids Meals Baked Ziti.

Yes, I'm inching closer and closer to 30 years of age and I bought a kids meal. WHAT OF IT?!

But seriously, look at the picture on that package! It's vegan. It's gluten-free. And it comes with dessert! No way should this perfection be wasted purely on the young! There's even a little maze on the back of the box.

It was also on sale at Super Target, which was possibly the biggest incentive to try it out.

Here it is in its unwrapped, uncooked splendor.

I was excited to nuke this little tray of saucy ziti, broccoli with Daiya cheese, rice focaccia (WHAT?!), and apple crisp. Again, I gotta say: Isn't this the most pleasant little kids meal ever?!

And it was! The ziti noodles were perfectly tender and was overall perfectly saucy AND cheesy. The broccoli was sliiiightly overcooked following the package directions, but still good. The star of this meal was, by far, the rice focaccia. Oh my gosh! The herbs gave it so much flavor, and even though it came out of the microwave (but only for a short amount of time - the directions actually say to pull the bread out really early on), it had a fantastic texture and taste. LOVED IT. And the apple crisp was, of course, perfect. It seems to me like someone would have to try really hard to mess up an apple crisp, ya know?

My final thoughts: the Baked Ziti Kids Meal from Amy's Kitchen is worth buying! For me, though, since I'm on a budget, I would only purchase this if it were on sale or I had a good coupon. This meal is flavorful and fun and is great for kids AND adults.

What were your favorite meals when you were a child?

Busy Vegan Bee Product Review: Amy's Gluten-Free, Vegan Mac & Cheese

I've been a busy bee, folks, and while that is certainly not something to complain about (I love being busy), it does make it harder for me to eat decent meals. I semi-shamefully admit that I have been relying on small, overpriced frozen meals to get through my busiest days. Hey, no one is perfect. Meanwhile, these frozen meals serve as great blogging fodder! On those busiest of days when I actually have a spare 2 minutes to take pictures and think about my food, you can expect reviews! First up: Amy's Rice Macaroni and Dairy-Free Cheeze.

Here it is in frozen block form.

And here it is after the application of microwave heat and lasers.

Stir it up and consume!

The rice macaroni is tender. I highly doubt anyone would notice that this is gluten-free. The cheeze sauce is thick and creamy and delicious, thanks to the power of Daiya. However, a few bites in, I nearly choked when I looked at the nutritional facts.

HOLY NO-COW!!! 22 grams of fat?! 520 calories, 190 of which are from fat?! Amy's, I love my curves and all, but COME ON!

But is this delicious? Yes! Would I buy it again? That's a big, fat NO. I can think of more and better things to eat that STILL wouldn't add up to 22 grams of fat.