i hear the microwave timer going off. that must mean that my total of 2:45 of cooking time is up. today we’re talking lean cuisine. why? why not. it wasn’t the annoying commercials with office women gabbing about how they would like to “eat out the center of a grilled cheese” (sexual puns not intended) that made me buy this. i just was hungry and was too lazy to go to a sub shop.

this is the latest product from lean cuisine that’s a hybrid between atkins dieting and the latest trend of ‘the public will buy anything on a pita as long as we call it a flatbread’ marketing scheme. this one purports to be a chicken philly. i’ve had many a philly cheesesteak, including a pilgrimage to the oldest 2 joints in philly. this was no philly. however it was still good overall. if they had adjusted the name i would have been pleased, but i digest.

cooking: 2:45 is all the time it takes. if you are daring you can try to break the 3 minute mark from unpacking to cooking to table. go for it. let me know if you can do it.

the look: something that fascinates me, always, is how products are made to look on packaging versus how they look when they come out of the cooking process. so in order to show you all what’s up i have a comparison. the top photo is from the box and the bottom photo is from what i ate. not that the bottom one looks like vomit, but it’s nowhere close to the box image

the taste: the flatbread (read: pita) was gummy. yeah, i know, that’s to be expected from a microwaved pita, but still. from the toasted edges on the box i was expecting to have one of those silver “crisper” discs on there, but there was none. what also pissed me off was that some of the cheese melted off during cooking and the paper from the box got stuck to it. did i still eat the paper? yes, but i thought you should be warned. there wasn’t really any distinct texture differences when chowing down, however the onion was a bit of a standout, in texture, not in flavor. the cheese was soft and almost liquidy. i didn’t really taste the chicken, or at least i couldn’t pick it out. i did get a slight kick in spice from the pepperocini which was a nice addition. all in all i thought there was a good mix of veggies and cheese, but the amount of chicken i desire was lacking. oh well.

overall: i was actually impressed. it was mostly filling, i had an apple to help supplement my lunch and was a balanced flavor. i was surprised to find that the salt flavor was right in my opinion. this scores an 8/10, losing points only because the pita was chewy. (can’t win them all). i would get it again and if they are on sale i would grab a few and stock up. here’s the link to the nutritionals.