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Chicken
Box of Marie Callender's Chicken Pot Pie
Cooked Marie Callender's Chicken Pot Pie

Last weekend was rainy, and a warm chicken pot pie sounded good, so my boyfriend and I bought a box of Marie Callendar's chicken pot pies to try from Costco.

We followed the microwave instructions: we opened the carton, keeping the silver lining on top and microwaved it for six minutes on high, letting it stand for five minutes. The instructions state to also measure the internal temperature afterward to make sure it's at least 165 degrees (F). We made two pies, and both came out at 170 degrees.

The chicken broth filling inside was very salty and almost soupy. The inside of the pie didn't have too much in it, so I did a count of what we found.

In one pot pie, I counted the following:

  • 18 peas
  • 5 pieces of carrot
  • 10 chicken cubes
  • 2 celery bits
  • The peas inside were crisp, and the chicken was nice and chunky. However, the carrots and celery were mushy, and the pastry is very dense / not very flaky.

    It started out tasting OK, but I couldn't finish the whole thing because it got too salty. I also had to eat a banana afterward to make myself feel better.

    Overall Rating:
    Blegh
    Food: Marie Callender's Chicken Pot Pie
    Source: Costco, Tucson, AZ
    Rating: Blegh

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    Bag of Trader Ming's Kung Pao Chicken from Trader Joe's
    Trader Ming's Kung Pao Chicken Components
    Cooked Trader Ming's Kung Pao Chicken

    We tried some of Trader Joe's frozen Kung Pao chicken. The bag of Kung Pao chicken came with different packets, which included a big packet of the chicken, a packet of vegetables, two sauce packets, and a packet of peanuts. That turned out to be pretty good for us because I don't like peanuts mixed in with Chinese food, but my boyfriend does.

    I warmed up the frozen chicken following the microwave instructions since it's easier than using a stovetop. I microwaved the chicken in a bowl covered with a paper towel for 3.5 minutes. Then I added the vegetables and mixed them in with the chicken (even though the instructions didn't say to mix them yet) and microwaved them for 2 minutes.

    I ran one sauce packet under some water so that it was easy to get out of the packaging and added the sauce in. I used only one sauce packet since one packet had a lot of sauce, and I can also use the remaining packet to add to something else in the future. After mixing in the sauce, I microwaved it all for one additional minute, and it was done!

    The texture of the chicken was a little spongy but not too bad. The sauce was a little spicy from the chili peppers, but it was more sweet than spicy... kind of like a sweet soy sauce. The sauce was also a little watery, but for me that's better than being too thick. I also only used one sauce packet so perhaps using two packets might have thickened the sauce up.

    There weren't a lot of vegetables so I added some steamed broccoli to my plate and mixed them in, and that worked out pretty well. Overall, it was pretty good, and I would buy it again if I was in the mood for some easy-to-make Chinese-ish food.

    Trader Ming's Kung Pao chicken with broccoli added
    The Kung Pao chicken with steamed broccoli added in.
    Overall Rating:
    Good
    Food: Trader Ming's: Kung Pao Chicken from Trader Joe's
    Source: Trader Joe's, Tucson, AZ
    Rating: Good
    from Trader Joes

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    Bag of Trader Joe's Chickenless Crispy Tenders
    Trader Joe's Chickenless Crispy Tenders

    My boyfriend's parents had bought some Chickenless Crispy Tenders from Trader Joe's so I ended up trying some of them.

    We followed the oven instructions and baked the chicken(less) tenders from frozen in the oven for 25 minutes.

    I didn't really like the breading on the outside of the tenders because there were oats in it, and the oats made the breading texture weird. I'm sure no fast food chain is going to be adding oats to their chicken breading any time soon. They also weren't very crispy, even though "crispy tenders" is in the name.

    The tenders were a little mushy on the inside, but they were close to chicken, considering they weren't actually chicken (if that makes any sense). They tasted OK overall, but they weren't that great.

    Overall Rating:
    OK
    Food: Trader Joe's Chickenless Crispy Tenders
    Source: Trader Joe's, Tucson, AZ
    Rating: OK
    from Trader Joes

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