Food Review: Marie Callender's Pasta Al Dente Meals, Fettuccini Chicken Balsamico

Pasta is one of my favorite dishes, but I rarely cook it. I recently found what looked to be a very delicious new alternative: Marie Callender's Pasta Al Dente meals.

Here's more about the Marie Callender's Pasta Al Dente meals and my review of this frozen food product.

I'm a fan of frozen dinners for quick lunches and I've always enjoyed Marie Callender's meals quite well. They're pretty hearty, especially for a woman. During a recent trip to the grocery store I found that all of the Marie Callender's meals were on sale. So while I picked up some old favorites I was most interested in trying the al dente meals. The two I purchased were Fettuccini Chicken Balsamico and Tomato Tortellini Romano.

The first one I tried was the Marie Callender's Pasta Al Dente Fettuccini Chicken Balsamico. I gravitated to this one first because it has meat and I was in the mood. The ingredients are broad egg noodles and balsamic reduction with white meat chicken, spinach and mushrooms. The packaging for this meal looked really appealing and my mouth watered in anticipation as I opened the package. The Fettuccini Chicken Balsamico was delicious and very rich. I wasn't disappointed.

One note on preparation: The Marie Callender's Pasta Al Dente meals are steamed so the pasta and meat and vegetables sit in a plastic bowl above the sauce. The meal may look a little bare when opening the package so keep that in mind. It is very easy to transfer the pasta and meat into the dish below with the sauce. Everything blends well.

The second dish I tried was the Marie Callender's Pasta Al Dente Tomato Tortellini Romano. This dish's ingredients are cheese-filled tortellini and creamy marinara sauce topped with basil and parmesan cheese. Also another good dish that was easy to heat and eat. One note of caution: the tortellini can be rough if you don't mix it well with the sauce.

One thing to be mindful of with any frozen meal, are particularly these are the high sodium content. Eat these meals in moderation and not everyday. There are 1270 grams of sodium in the Fettuccini Chicken Balsamico and 930 in the Tomato Tortellini Romano. There are 420 calories and 17 grams of fat in the Fettuccini Chicken Balsamico. There are 460 calories and 15 grams of fat in the Tomato Tortellini Romano.

The Marie Callender's Pasta Al Dente meals are priced around $3.49, but you can get them as cheap as $1.50 if you can find a good sale at your local grocery store.

Overall I would rate the Marie Callender's Pasta Al Dente meals very high on my list for frozen dinners. It is best to get these meals when they are on sale to get more value for your money.