Friday, April 15, 2011

Caesar's Pasta: Gluten-Free & Wheat-Free Manicotti


Mmm!  Did I mention how much I love reviewing food?  Well… good food.

So, there were more packages of pasta from the samples I received from Caesar's Pasta, and now I get to share with you!

(If you missed my review of their Organic Lasagna and Gluten Free Spinach Gnocchi, you can look back here.)

With Monday, I need a quick meal again, so I yanked out the Manicotti.  Like the other entrees I tried, I enjoyed this one.  The pasta was a good consistency; I wouldn't know the difference in texture or flavor.  I liked the sauce in this better than I did the shells, but I still think the vegetable lasagna had the richer flavored marinara.  (It's probably the same marinara, but affected by the vegetables and seasonings.)  The ricotta also had a great texture: firm enough to stand up in the shells and get cut by the fork but still creamy in my mouth. 

An added benefit was that despite all the cheese, it didn't bother me.  I used to be severely lactose intolerant, but with the latest age-body-changeover, it's become much less sensitive.  I can still get set off by really poor quality cheese and ice-cream, but none of the cheesy meals here bothered me at all, which speaks to good quality… and perhaps a sensible amount of cheese as both filling and topping.

Like all of the food I've eaten by this company, I also am extremely pleased by their cooking instructions - particularly for frozen entrees.  It was uniformly cooked with no burned corners, no cold spots, and a tender cut throughout. 

Calories were 390 with 160 coming from fat (18 g fat).  Sodium was at 640 mg, which is higher than the lasagna, but lower than the shells.  So, statwise, pretty decent.

I did find out from a previous comment (Thanks _rm_!) that Caesar's Pasta is available at many Whole Foods stores.  I haven't been to the grocery store (sorry: #reviewfail!) to check myself, but I'll get there. 

In the mean time, bon apetite!

2 comments:

Heather Kantz said...

Ooh, that just made my stomach growl like Whoa! Can it be found in a store like Giant or Safeway, Trish? I may have to pick this up and give it a shot myself. :)

Thanks for the review!!!

Trisha Wooldridge said...

The company never got back to me with places you can buy it. :( Not cool. But, hopefully, they will get their website working... Since Whole foods was mentioned, check some of the specialty grocery stores... or ones that have big sections on organic, etc.

 
A Novel Friend © 2008 by para Você | Re-design Sweet Baby Girl