Patbingsu Time

Last time I described patbingsu. Today there's visual confirmation!


Combine shaved ice, sweet red bean paste, fruit syrup, condensed milk and a pinch of soybean powder. Mix thoroughly and enjoy. Not much better than a bowl of homemade patbingsu on a hot summer day. Good times.

When I was a kid I used to add granulated sugar to my patbingsu. Sweeten the pot as it were. One time I mixed up containers and poured in salt. Needless to say that was not good times.

Frozen Food Journal Isn't New and Probably Not Improved

But it is different! Regulars here will notice that Frozen Food Journal got a facelift over the Fourth of July weekend. Because nothing is more American than a little cosmetic surgery.

Most notably I decided to switch to a three-column template instead of cramming so much stuff on the right. Archives and Food Links have been shifted to the left side. Also the Blogger navigation bar has been replaced with a Google Custom Search, which can found on the top right below the Frozen Food Journal RSS Feed.

And above the RSS Feed is a new poll question:

What is your favorite summer frozen treat?

Lots of stuff happening here. Busy busy busy.

-Ken

Review: Hungry-Man Roasted Carved Turkey

Thanksgiving has moved to July! Okay, not really. But it does feel weird eating a turkey dinner this time of year. Then again, I eat fried chicken on the fourth Thursday of November. So maybe I'm the weird one.

When I think of frozen dinners I think of typical American cuisine: pizza (hey, we stole it from the Italians and made it our own), pasta, meatloaf and chicken. Besides in sandwiches how often do people eat turkey? I'm guessing no more than five times a year. So why do so many turkey dinners line the freezer section at the supermarket?

My half-baked, flame-broiled and rotisserie'd hypothesis is that consumers buy frozen turkey dinners because they're a nostalgic Thanskgiving meal ready to eat in a matter of minutes. Obviously TV dinners can't match the flavor of a homemade holiday meal. But they also don't require slaving over the oven for half a day to prepare. And you're still eating turkey, potatoes and stuffing.

Okay, long intro over. Today I'm reviewing Hungry-Man Roasted Carved Turkey. It's the second Thanksgiving-esque frozen dinner I've reviewed for Frozen Food Journal. Previously I expressed mixed feelings over Healthy Choice Traditional Turkey Breast.

Before cooking this frozen dinner remove the plastic film from the dessert. Then poke holes through the plastic to vent the corn and potatoes before sliding the tray into a 350 degree oven for 35 minutes. I recommend stirring the corn and dessert a couple times during the cooking process.

The turkey comes in four flimsy slices. It has a mild taste, especially the white meat. Most of the main course lies smothered in the delectable and thick brown gravy, which really keeps the turkey moist. In fact, the gravy really elevates this entire meal. Bits of bird that aren't smothered during the cooking process ends up being dried out.

And while drying out is no good for the turkey it's great for the stuffing. Toasted bread crumbs pair excellently with the gravy, providing a terrible combo of richness and crunchiness. Mmmmm. Some of the stuffing lies trapped under the turkey and/or gravy, providing that familiar starchy mushiness.

Moving onto the mashed potatoes, they're quite tasty. I don't like the goopy consistency but the buttery flavor makes up for it. I was expecting a buttery flavor for the corn as well. Or maybe a slightly sweet taste. Instead I got nothing. As if Hungry-Man shucked the corn straight into the tray. It's easily the worst part of this meal.

Fruit pieces drowning in a slightly sour syrup. Thus describes the apple cranberry compote dessert. I prefer sweet treats but this was okay. Not as good as the Hungry-Man brownie (like the one found in the Classic Fried Chicken dinner) but a nice finale nonetheless.

The healthiest Hungry-Man yet! Seriously, this dinner isn't that bad for you. One quarter of the 560 calories come from fat, which is reasonable. And there's only a modest amount of cholesterol. Sadly once again Hungry-Man overdoes it with the salt. Also a lot of sugar here too. Positives include being a great source of protein and Vitamin C as well as providing some fiber, Vitamin A and iron. Note that the packaging did not list Trans Fat.

Roasted Carved Turkey isn't as delicious as many as of its deep-fried Hungry-Man brethren. But it does offer a good meal without sidetracking your diet.

Happy Fourth of July

One day early, but you know. Hope everyone enjoys a great weekend. I will probably be eating large quantities of charred animals and watching a ton of baseball.

So I was reading the Blueberry Muffin Pop-Tarts review at The Impulsive Buy. It got me thinking about a different kind of frozen food. Specifically the "regular" food that I freeze. Like Pop-Tarts. I don't put Pop-Tarts in the toaster or even in the pantry. Nope, they go straight into the freezer so I can eat them later as a dessert. Other foods I regularly freeze include fruits (watermelon and bananas for smoothies/protein shakes), bread and chocolate. Sometimes I freeze milk into ice trays, also for the shakes. Nothing too crazy right? I'm not stuffing heads into the icebox or anything.

Speaking of brain freezes... as you may have heard KFC recently went through a coupon fiasco over a free Kentucky Grilled Chicken meal promotion. After Oprah gave it a shout out restaurants were overwhelmed by requests and started to run out of chicken. The promotion was nixed early and KFC refused to accept any more coupons. To not lose customers forever compensate for its blunder KFC offered to mail raincheck coupons. Good news: I received my coupons yesterday. Bad news: I can't redeem them until August. I get to wait another month for free chicken. Ugh. Colonel Sanders is rolling over in his grave.

El Pollo Loco (a flame-grilled chicken franchise in Souther California, i.e. KFC's enemy) ran a two-piece meal giveaway a couple months back. Lines were long but things ran smoothly. I got to eat a lot of free food that day. That's how you run a promotion.

And by the way, KGC doesn't taste that good. It's really greasy and kind of dry. I say stick with fried goodness along with eleven secret herbs and spices. The Impulsive Buy reviewed Kentucky Grilled Chicken and gave it high marks. Meanwhile Fast Food Maven prefered El Pollo Loco. But of course, free chicken is better than no chicken.

Those are my non-frozen food thoughts of the day. Consider them a holiday bonus.

And finally, I'll be tinkering with HTML over the weekend. Brace yourself; you might see some wonky stuff. So basically it'll be business as usual at Frozen Food Journal.

-Ken

Review: Arctic Blasters Fudge Bars

Frozen chocolately thing plus wooden stick. Sometimes the best things in life are the simplest.

Arctic Blasters seems like an odd brand name for frozen desserts. But thankfully these Fudge Bars taste just fine. Certainly not the creamiest or tastiest chocolate-flavored popsicle I've ever had but it gets the job done. The Fudge Bars are sizable too; no need to double-dip into the carton for seconds.

Speaking of the carton I was glancing at the ingredients and noticed buttermilk. Buttermilk? I don't know, that just seems weird.

Courtesy of MyFitnessPal here are the nutrition facts. This is a low-fat food with each bar containing only a single gram. Sadly it does contain a lot of sugar (14 grams) and 100 calories. Benefits include small amounts of potassium and calcium.

Arctic Blasters Fudge Bars discount a couple bucks compared to more recognizable brand name fudge popsicles. While not as satisfying as their fancier counterparts these Fudge Bars will please most people.