The combo of daylight savings and working night shifts allows for food photography with much improved lighting. At least that’s the silver lining I’m choosing to embrace (as opposed to the fact that I lost an hour and then had to pull an all nighter).
If I had pendant lighting in the kitchen, this wouldn’t be an issue, but I don’t. As a result, my late night food pics are sometimes lacking. No matter what camera settings I use, there’s no substitute for natural sunlight.
So. Yeah. About that night shift…
This So-Yah Creamy Coconut Curry Tofu Shirataki Fettucine was another Expo West discovery.
Many of you guys may be familiar with House Foods’ Shirataki noodles. So-Yah is the latest line of products from House Foods which includes tv dinners packaged dishes made with these tofu noodles and various sauces. This flavor happens to use the fettuccine variety with a coconut-based curry sauce. Unlike a typical TV dinner, House Foods’ meals aren’t frozen, nor are they kept in the fridge.
A few things come to mind when I hear the phrase “stable for storage at room temperature.” (1) What a perfect ready-to-eat product to have on stand by; (2) This product has amazing potential to get lost in the depths of my pantry; (3) This product must have a sh!t ton of additives in it to stay edible without being refrigerated.
When I was getting ready to pack up for Sunday’s night shift I was still pretty disorganized. All my Expo swag was strewn about the living room…and I had no intention of straightening things up before I left for work either. Hence the above meal choice. It was at the top of the freebie mound, and simple as that, dinner was served. Easy peasy. Despite my reservations about the lengthy list of ingredients, I can’t deny the fact that it sounded good. And what can I say, free is free.
Thank goodness the container is only one serving. That probably would have been a deal breaker. However, the environmentally conscious hippie in me really isn’t a fan of this packaging and for this reason, I can safely say I won’t buy So-Yah on my own.
Prep is virtually nonexistent. All you have to do is peel back the lid and pop it in the micro.
However, I didn’t like the idea of a veg-less dinner (or microwaving that plastic container), so I added some fiber by massaging kale and then adding the So-Yah noodles on top.
It’s a decent way to get greens while still putting VERY little effort into cooking.
Confession: Growing up I ate very healthy food. My mom made us home-cooked dinners and packed all our school lunches without processed crap. I loved everything from oatmeal to salads, so naturally I thought nothing of it. BUT. There was a brief phase in my pre-teen years where Spaghetti-O’s made up a good 75% of my diet. Ok maybe not that much, but put it this way, if my hometown had homeless people, they would’ve thought they hit the jackpot after rummaging through our trash.
Why am I sharing this with you? [Good question] Filter I have not.
After tasting my So-Yah meal, I was instantly reminded of my Spaghetti-O days. House Foods’ ready-to-go noodle dishes are like the natural foods version of Spaghetti-O’s. If Campbell’s made a “healthy” dish, it would probably look and taste something like this. The curry noodles dyed my fork just like the canned soups and it’s sauce had that same creepy ability to defy the laws of physics with it’s unnatural cohesion.
And yet, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like it. It was delicious in spite of it’s non-food-like appearance (ok that was a bit harsh, it is food). What I especially liked was that the flavors weren’t bland or muted down for the generic palate. I was sweating and coughing as I ate it (and I can handle spice!). For the record, I consider myself a 3.5 (out of 5) on the spice scale and this was a 4.5 at times, even with the kale to break up the bites of noodles.
To quickly summary my main thoughts:
Negatives (nays)
- Sodium content (850 mg is practically half the recommended daily allowance…in one dish?!?)
- Extra ingredients (although the package says “no preservatives,” in order to be shelf stable, there are more additives on the label than I like…TOFU SHIRATAKI NOODLE [WATER, TOFU(WATER, SOYBEANS, CALCIUM SULFATE, GLUCONO DELTA LACTONE), YAM FLOUR, CALCIUM HYDROXIDE], WATER, COCONUT CREAM [COCONUT EXTRACT, WATER, NATURAL STABILIZERS (XANTHAN GUM, CARRAGEENAN, AND GUAR GUM)], TOMATO PASTE, PREPARED GARBANZO BEANS (WATER, CARBANZO BEANS, SALT), RED PEPPER, CARROTS, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF THE FOLLOWING INGREDIENTS: ONIONS, CORNSTARCH, SUGAR, CURRY POWDER (CORIANDER, TURMERIC, CUMIN, CITRUS PEEL, LICORICE ROOT, AJOWAN CARAWAY, SPICES), VINEGAR, GARLIC, SALT, GINGER, YEAST EXTRACT, MALTODEXTRIN, CAYENNE PEPPER ALLERGEN INFORMATION: CONTAINS SOY GLUTEN FREE)
- Overly processed (this relates to the above point, but regular readers know I try to avoid food that’s not real)
- Plastic container (not eco-friendly, not good for food storage, no thanks)
Positives (yeahs)
- Storage (it’s nice to have a pantry item that doesn’t use up valuable fridge/freezer space)
- Prep (it’s literally ready to eat in 90 seconds)
- Gluten free (for those who have this dietary concern, So-Yah is a wheat free noodle option)
- Low calorie (I debated listing this as a positive, but the fact that obesity is a national epidemic makes the meal’s 200 calories seem like a pro in the grand scheme of things…even if I personally don’t look for low calorie foods, others may find this info useful)
- Taste (I liked the flavor of the sauce)
- Veg friendly (similar to the low calorie stat, the fact that pre-packaged vegetarian meals are becoming more and more available shows a step in the right direction for the health of our nation)
- Healthy (there are worse thing to have in your pantry – ie Spaghetti O’s)
All things considered: Yummy – yeah. Nutritious – meh. Would I buy it again – nay.
The rest of my work eats included a gala and mini Larabar. It was the new(ish) Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough flavor. Do I even need to review this bar? I mean really…it’s chocolate, nuts, and dates. It was superb.
Fortunately work went by quickly because I was in a zombie state (I’m blaming it on daylight savings) and I returned home to get some shut eye.
Now, since I shared my dirty little secret embarrassing Spaghetti O’s phase, it’s only fair that you tell me about your own favorite unhealthy packaged eats. [Either as a kid or now] Lemme hear it. What did you love that was canned or out of a box? I was always jealous of classmates that had cool things like Lunchables, which seems so hilarious now. One thing I do remember was at the end of the school year when our teachers returned our (unused) emergency earthquake packs to us, it had stickers and a note from my mom in it as well as gushers and fruit roll ups and the likes. Seeing that bag was like Christmas morning (although now that I think about it, we still never got to eat any of the stuff in it). I wonder if my mom used the same bag year after year? Hmmm…
My guilty pleasure food as a kid was this bizarre candy bar that was made of coconut, I think, but it had yellow, white, and red stripes. As a kid, I called it bacon. Haven’t seen one in years; don’t even know what it was called, but I’m sure it was processed beyond food recognition.
I love the cute little larabars – perfect size if you ask me 🙂
LOVED me some fake, orange mac n cheese back in the day. Kraft, Stouffer’s, you name it. Now, I prefer Annie’s!
You are good at reviews! Just sayin. And you’re funny. And I like you. And that was a sneaky way to sneak in your link for CSN. Clever girl. Boxed food like that skeeves me out. But if you are going to eat boxed food, it may as well be semi-healthier.. so it’s good that people out there are making this sort of thing.
I used to love lunchables. For sure. I was also a big fan of frozen fish sticks and lynn wilson frozen bean & cheese burritos. Do those all count?
hahaha. i love you. the csn links are so obvious but i just dont care 🙂 frozen burritos dont sound too bad…the fish sticks on the other hand…yikes.
agreed! the minis are cuter too
Like you, I grew up on a super healthy whole foods based diet. I hated it, lol! *loved* going to friends houses and eating whatever junk I could get my hands on. 2 favorites that I remember standing out? Capri-suns (something about the pouch I thought was SO cool…) and those gross, nasty, boxed au gratin potato mixes. I can’t believe I am admitting that! Potatoes out of a box?!?! And I liked them!?? No, correction–I loved them. Sigh…live and learn.
Courtney
great review-im with ya on the NAYS!!.. mega confession: i used to eat canned vienna sausages just straight out of the can.. that is NASTY
oh and i was like 6 yrs old at the time.. EW
During my first four months of college, I ate Pop Tarts, Doritos (black pepper jack), and Ramen on an almost daily basis. I haven’t touched any of these foods in the last five years as a result. 🙂
Boxed meals like that generally turn me off, no matter how they stack up in the “yeahs” category (very comprehensive review, by the way!). I was spoiled by healthy, home-cooked food growing up too. Even when I did try stuff like sugary cereal or Spaghetti-O’s at friends’ houses, I didn’t like them. Definitely appreciate the parents for my dietary upbringing!
def can relate to your healthy upbringing. at the time, it was torture as i loved me some pizza (xtra cheesy) lunchables, which my parents NEVER bought. not even once. another guilty pleasure was sugary cereal, capt’n’ crunch, lucky charms and cinn toast crunch. perks of staying overnight at a friends house! 😉
Boxed macaroni and cheese, and frozen pizza. My childhood comfort foods don’t exactly think outside the box (oooh, play on words…).
hahahah…that is awesome. ive never tried those, but i know what youre talking about. i never really liked capri suns, but sunny D was such a treat! we got them after soccer games every once in a while (depending on the parent who provided the snack) and it was pure heaven.
i can relate so much to your upbringing. even though it couldve been a “treat” to get the crappy processed stuff, i truly preferred the healthy “real” food my parents had. i am now very appreciative of the way i was raised.
yeah, i had a similar experience when i first discovered the plethora of sh!t food available in dorm living…needless to say i OD-ed on tater tots within a month of my freshman year and now cringe when i think of them.
hahahaha. im not gonna lie, that is NASTY!!
Ramen noodles!
I love canned bean and veggies for quick meals, and occasionally Amy’s canned soups.
As for a box? Mostly just frozen meals by Amy’s when I’m in a pinch.
Cheez-its, Goldfish crackers, and Kraft Mac and Cheese — do you see a theme here? Yes, I LOVE cheese, but I guess all that isn’t really cheese! And now I wonder if that’s why I have to be careful with dairy stuff — lactose intolerance! I do have it at times, but limited! But I do LOVE Cheez-its still — used to always have a box in the house, but decided several years ago that was not a good thing — not only for me but for my kids!
Speaking of which, I think the way kids eat is why they are so huge these days — and not just overweight or obese! My son is 6 foot 2, and he’s the tallest in the entire family! Been like that since 8th grade! I swear it’s all the processed crap I used to give him to make things easy for me and because that’s all he liked!
So stick to your guns, girl! I love the way you think and the way that you want to teach not only your patients but all of us the benefits of eating a whole-foods diet! You’re convincing me more and more each day! I’m glad wine is still on the list of things I can have. Speaking of which — it’s time for one!!!
Haha that’s a cute story about your mom with the emergency packs…she definitely was strict about food with you guys if she didn’t even let you eat those things once a year! one of the things I used to guiltlessly love was gushers for sure…I could pound through a box in a minute (only, I got it just once a year a summer camp!)
Oh but those tofu noodles look really appetizing! definitely a lot of ingredients and unnatural seeming things in there…but the stats are pretty good, considering it’s so low calorie but looks really yummy too!
I can’t believe I am admitting this, but I used to like the Chef-boy-ardee (sp?) Ravioli. Ugh. Not only that, but I would eat it straight from the can. Ew… 😉
Before you mentioned Lunchables, I was thinking of my teenage love of them. I remember when they first came out and they had a packet of herb sauce that you could squeeze onto your processed cheese and meat. The herb sauce was my favorite part.
We grew up in a stereotypical American healthy household– Not a lot of sugar, home cooked meals, etc… But i definitely remember crushing on Kraft mac n cheese…. Now, I see that powder and just wonder, “who thought that was cheese”?
Wow, I feel like a loner here! I did not grow up in a house of healthy food. My mom cooked occasionally but it was never really healthy foods. I used to walk to McDonald’s at least once a week as an adolescent. Quarter pounders with cheese, fries and soda. In addition, any time I had extra money, I spent it all at 7-11 on candy. Especially sour candy. When I got my driver’s license at 16, it got even worse. My parents used it as an excuse for me to bring home fast food for dinner most nights. Taco Bell, Jack in the Box and Wendy’s were the staples. I was so happy to give up that food when I finally realized what I was doing to my body. I still can’t get my dad and brother to drop the fast food though. Sorry for the long comment, I just thought it was quite interesting how everyone commenting seemed to come from a healthy household.
I’ve seen those meals in the grocery store before but never looked at them closely. Thanks for the info!
I really loved Campbell’s Clam Chowder. So salty and fatty but so good!
hey allison, thanks so much for commenting. its so great that you realize now the importance of cutting out fast food…im so impressed by those like yourself who break out of the mold after being raised without the same foundation i was fortunate enough to have (built on home cooked meals). please please please continue to try and show your dad and brother the healthier alternatives. its so important to live a long and full life, and your example will be the way to bring change to their lives. ps long comments are may faves
i think we got them as treats throughout the year…maybe? i cant remember though, so obviously i didnt feel too denied, ha!
i wasnt a cheez-it person as much as a wheat thin and triscuit lover. your point about processed food being linked to bigger kids is so interesting. i would be curious to see a study that compared various cultures’ diets to height/weight…but then im pretty sure its an obvious conclusion (see: the china study) anyway, thank you so much for your support. its really great to have kind readers like you remind me that im reaching people. as for the wine, well, that is something i would never get rid of!
amys is the perfect example of a quality processed ready to eat option. love it.
this post (and comments) are too funny. I use to LOVE Michelina’s frozen fettucini alfredo. Looking at back now, I gag!!
Same story here girlie. My mom always packed super healthy lunch foods. Like carrot and apple slices, celery with peanut putter, hummus and tomato sandwiches on whole wheat bread, little raisin boxes… and always water. My friends had juice boxes, lunch-ables and hostess puffy things. lol I usually stuck to my healthy food but sometimes I would sneak in the cafeteria line and have a chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich <—-so naughty!
I think I was raised in the “cool” household. My mom always had easy and quick foods on hand because I was in competitive sports and was always traveling. So in elementary school my mom wanted to keep my calories up so I ate lunchables, cream filled oatmeal cookies, soda, McDonalds, kid’s tv dinners, and poptarts. Now I did have all of these foods, but my mom always made sure that there was a homecooked meal on the table after sports were completed for the night. I am glad that my mom didnt restrict foods when I was young, but made it important to include the nutritious food as well.
I LOVE this post. I am not sure I would have eaten that meal, shelfstable microwavable foods kind of freak me out these days! 🙁
you were definitely that lucky kid with the cool and trendy eats. at least your mom balanced it out though
i probably wouldve done the same, but my school didnt had a cafeteria.
i love the comments section too. so funny what we loved as kids. white creamy faux food really skeeves me out nowadays.
Entenmann’s Chocolate Frosted Donuts- So gross, but so good! I still can’t believe my parents used to buy those.
ps- I made the cheese sauce from your creamed kale recipe and added it to spaghetti squash instead to make “mac and cheese”- so good! I served it with baked bbq tofu for me and pulled pork for my fiance and we both loved it. Thank you!
Girl, I feel ya on the Spaghetti-O’s.. idk what they put in them that makes them so yummy… cuz all the stuff on the can I can’t pronounce! But I ate a VERY large amount of them growing up. And while I do miss them.. it’s prolly for the best that we have grown apart. 🙂
E, this post couldn’t have better timing. I went to TJ’s yesterday morning for a packaged lunch eats and picked up a Tandori Chicken bit. Pretty much microwave for 3mins, let stand, and eat. It was pretty delicious and after, I looked at the ingredients and I believe there was a bit of “creamy” on the list. Aside from my continuous denial of lactose tolerance, I feel like you’ve made something in this department. A tomato-ey curry based flavor of some sort. If not, I think you should make one, but vegan of course. Down?
yes! coconut milk seems like a natural and delish alternative (thats
lactose free)
My whole childhood was junk food so no need to go into that, and I predate Lunchables by at least a decade. HOWEVER, I feel compelled to confess that I finally tried the Shirataki noodles though I’ve been following Hungry Girl since the day she launched.
Okay, that’s a lie. I BOUGHT the Shirataki noodles (angel hair), and when I got them out of the package and started rinsing them I was gagging so badly I had to throw them in the trash. Now, I even had a cold and couldn’t totally smell them but gagging ensued nonetheless. I NEVER gag (except when I used to watch Fear Factor. That’s when it started). I know a lot of people have problems with them, and finally work their way to loving them but since I’m really not supposed to have that much soy anyway I think I’ll pass.
I bet sauce helps. A lot.
put it this way. they arent noodles. once you accept that, theres at least the possibility of making them into another dish. but definitely NEVER by themselves. sauce isnt helpful, its necessary. ha!
ohhhhhhh man. i remember those. we were only allowed them once in a blue moon but dang were they delish.
haha. probably. so gross.