Easy Chinese at home w/ Trader Joe’s and InnovAsian

For moments where I’m in the mood for Chinese food I like to keep some items I’d normally order from my local Chinese restaurant on hand incase a random craving for dinner were to arise.  Many of my favorites at my local Chinese restaurant just simply are not worth the points plus values to me.  Now, don’t get me wrong – I do order out Chinese once in a while, but for the most part I’d rather make it at home – homemade or frozen.  This time around we went with frozen since I didn’t have any cold rice on hand to make homemade fried rice.

 

For this particular meal I used two Trader Joe’s items, an InnovAsian meal and a bag of frozen green beans.  Talk about clearing out some freezer space!  My whole plate was 12 points plus, which I feel was very justifiable for the assortment of food and the volume of food I had on my plate.  Yummy!

Trader Joe’s Lemongrass Chicken Stix. These are a crunchy, Thai spring roll.  Spring rolls (and egg rolls) are some of my favorite appetizers.  These lemongrass chicken stix are delicious – they’re about a finger length, crispy on the outside with a chicken filling that’s flavored with lemongrass.  They’re yummy, slightly lemony but not overwhelmingly lemony.  They were super easy to heat up – either in the microwave or in a deep fryer.  I opted for the oven and within 11 minutes they were ready to serve.  A serving is 2 for 3 points plus values.

Trader Joe’s Chicken Fried Rice.  This has to be one of the best frozen chicken fried rice dishes I have tried.  It’s flavorful, packed with veggies, chicken bits and egg bits.  You can heat it up in two ways – using olive oil to fry it (to get a crispier, crunchier exterior) or you can use water to cook it through. I went with the water method and found it was perfect. I don’t generally like harder fried rice, so this was perfect - nice, softer and fluffy.  A 1 cup serving is 5 points plus values.

InnovAsian Black Pepper Chicken. I admit the picture on the box looked far more appealing than the meal that it truly was, but it tasted up to par.  The box described it as a chicken breast chunks with green beans, red bell peppers, water chestnuts, onions and a savory black pepper sauce.  That is exactly what I got.  This also can be cooked in two ways – on a stove top or in a microwave.  I opted for the microwave option since it was quick and easy.  All I had to do was pour off some of the water that came from the food cooking in the microwave – whereas if I cooked it on the stovetop it would’ve evaporated.  A 1 cup serving is 4 points plus values.

All in all it was a great, filling meal.  Sometimes you just want something that taste good, but does not involve a lot of effort and/or thought.  This was a far better choice for me than say, going to Burger King.

QUESTION:

Have you tried any of these frozen dishes?