Friends for Free Food
Cuz anyone will hang out with you when it’s free…
Hola! So, summer is over and classes started back this week. That went way too fast! I’m working on a lot of catch-up posts to remember the fun events of this summer, but this post is all business.
As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker’s program, I was able to try Birds Eye Voila! frozen meals. Being a poor graduate student, frozen meals make up the vast majority of what I eat these days, so I was more than happy to try these. And because my friends also happen to be poor graduate students who never need an excuse to gather for food and beverage, we decided to have a dinner-and-drinks party to celebrate the beginning of the school year (if I were saying this to you, you would detect sarcasm.)
My roomie (Christy) and I picked up supplies and headed over to my co-worker Erica’s apartment for dinner. Another friend was going to join us so we were well prepared with a variety of the Birds Eye Viola selections- I picked up Garlic Shrimp for free (thanks, Foodbuzz & Birds Eye!) and also used a BOGO coupon to get Alfredo Chicken and Chicken Florentine. Our fourth comrade couldn’t make it, so we decided to just make the Garlic Shrimp and Chicken Florentine flavors.
Erica was a great host and had this spread of bread , dips and grapes waiting for us
She immediately offered us a glass of wine, and I got to work in the kitchen. The instructions on these guys couldn’t be easier:
We were all impressed with the colors- lots of veggies in these meals! It made Christy and me very happy (nutrition nerds.)
Cooking should always require wine, even if your cooking only involves a splash of water and occasional stirring for 10 minutes. Sooner than I knew it, we were ready to eat.
I tried tastes of both flavors, but picked out the chicken (still not eating meat, but wanted to try the dish!) I ate the Florentine first and thought it was really good.
But then I tried the shrimp and was blown away- definitely a restaurant-quality meal! Both of the girls had the same reaction. We weren’t sure if it was the crunch of the corn that added to the texture, or just the combination of flavors, but we all went back for more helpings until this skillet was gone!
I asked the girls for their opinions on the chicken, and they were split- Erica really liked it, but Christy wasn’t a fan of the texture of it. However, we were all very satisfied with the meals and were really impressed with the taste and amount of veggies in the dishes. We all plan to eat these meals again, but I’m really holding out until a store here carries the Shrimp Scampi! I also wish they would make a vegetarian-friendly meal- the flavors would be great with some mushrooms and edamame in the mix (go veg!)
