Lunch Time - Apple, Berries and Feta Salad + Pasta With Sausage Review

Finally allergies seem to have had it's way with me and is now releasing me from the death embrace. I LOVE spring and warm weather, but the coughing, sneezing etc I can do without!

Lunch time eats: Left-overs - a bit of poor planning saw me with 2 starving kids home after their 2-hour swim practice around 7:30 PM with nothing to eat. Well, trusty macaroni + pasta sauce + some left-over sausages = delicious dinner (or so they said) and some pretty decent left-overs. I could eat sausage for DAYS, so I made a salad to help curb the cravings, which is why I eat a salad almost every day.

Apple, Berries and Feta Salad - Green leaf lettuce (my favorite kind) + apple slices + fresh strawberries + dried cranberries + Athenos Low-fat Feta Cheese. Delicious - I missed cheese in my salads! The salad dressing is still Wish-Bone Italian, which is just about finished now ... time to try something new.

Hiding in the background is an Odwalla Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bar, which I saved for a snack later on during the day. I'm reviewing nutrition/ snack bars in the next few days, so I grabbed a bunch from the store to try.

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Healthy Choice Italian Sausage Marinara Review

Healthy Choice Italian Sausage Marinara is described as having Italian pork sausage in a marinara sauce over whole grain pasta with green beans & zucchini. I decided to buy this classic pasta dish (along with a few others), for lunch this week.

NUTRITION FACTS
Serving Size: 1 meal (326 grams)
Calories: 310
Total Fat: 7 grams, 11%
Saturated Fat: 2.5 grams, 13%
Sodium: 580 mg, 24%
Carbohydrates: 45 grams
Fiber: 7 grams, 29%
Sugars: 9 grams
Protein: 16 grams

I thought the dish delivered a solid performance in taste, but it wasn't spectacular. I love the thick hearty pasta, which soaked up the slightly sweet and not too tomatoey sauce nicely, but the cheese was a bust for me. It was in the middle of the dish and there it stayed. When I tried to mix it with everything else, it was just stringy and stuck to the fork. I'm a huge fan of green beans, so thanks Healthy Choice for including 1 cup of vegetables in this meal - but I'm not big on zucchini and thankfully, there wasn't much of it.

Each meal provides 310 calories, 7 grams of total fat, 2.5 grams of which is saturated fat (11% and 13% of the daily value), 24% of the daily value for sodium (580 mg), 7 grams of fiber (20% of the DV), 9 grams of sugars and 16 grams of protein.

The ingredients list for the Healthy Choice Italian Sausage Marinara starts with cooked pasta made with whole grain wheat flour, water, green beans, green and yellow zucchini, diced tomatoes in juice ... it continues on but I was impressed that the veggies are right at the beginning.

I purchased this for $3.00, and while I didn't go wow - it was quite adequate for lunch, and I would buy it again, especially when it's on sale. The Healthy Choice Tortellini Primavera Parmesan (Review) is probably a tastier option, but it's also smaller.

{Website: Healthy Choice}

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Healthy Choice Italian Sausage Marinara Review

Healthy Choice Italian Sausage Marinara is described as having Italian pork sausage in a marinara sauce over whole grain pasta with green beans & zucchini. I decided to buy this classic pasta dish (along with a few others), for lunch this week.

NUTRITION FACTS
Serving Size: 1 meal (326 grams)
Calories: 310
Total Fat: 7 grams, 11%
Saturated Fat: 2.5 grams, 13%
Sodium: 580 mg, 24%
Carbohydrates: 45 grams
Fiber: 7 grams, 29%
Sugars: 9 grams
Protein: 16 grams

I thought the dish delivered a solid performance in taste, but it wasn't spectacular. I love the thick hearty pasta, which soaked up the slightly sweet and not too tomatoey sauce nicely, but the cheese was a bust for me. It was in the middle of the dish and there it stayed. When I tried to mix it with everything else, it was just stringy and stuck to the fork. I'm a huge fan of green beans, so thanks Healthy Choice for including 1 cup of vegetables in this meal - but I'm not big on zucchini and thankfully, there wasn't much of it.

Each meal provides 310 calories, 7 grams of total fat, 2.5 grams of which is saturated fat (11% and 13% of the daily value), 24% of the daily value for sodium (580 mg), 7 grams of fiber (20% of the DV), 9 grams of sugars and 16 grams of protein.

The ingredients list for the Healthy Choice Italian Sausage Marinara starts with cooked pasta made with whole grain wheat flour, water, green beans, green and yellow zucchini, diced tomatoes in juice ... it continues on but I was impressed that the veggies are right at the beginning.

I purchased this for $3.00, and while I didn't go wow - it was quite adequate for lunch, and I would buy it again, especially when it's on sale. The Healthy Choice Tortellini Primavera Parmesan (Review) is probably a tastier option, but it's also smaller.

{Website: Healthy Choice}

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Banquet Brown 'N Serve Light Maple Sausage Links Review

Recently I was wandering through the supermarket aisles - as usual - when I came to Banquet Brown 'N Serve Sausages. I buy these occasionally, and since they were on sale, I decided to try the Light Maple Sausage Links.

NUTRITION FACTS
Serving Size: 3 links (60 grams)
Calories: 130
Total Fat: 9 grams, 14%
Saturated Fat: 3 grams, 15%
Sodium: 450 mg, 19%
Carbohydrates: 4 grams
Fiber: 0%
Sugars: 2 grams
Protein: 9 grams

For once I didn't over-cook the sausage links, and they came out to be sooo tasty - slightly sweet, slightly salty, juicy, and all good ... way better than the Original, and WAY better nutrition facts also. Each serving of Banquet Brown 'N Serve Light Maple Sausage Links (3), provides 130 calories from 9 grams of total fat, 3 grams of which is saturated fat (14% and 15% of the daily value), 450 mg sodium (19% of the DV), 2 grams of sugars and 9 grams of protein. The Original provides 200 calories plus 28% and 30% of the DV for total and saturated fat.

The ingredients are mechanically separated turkey, turkey, water, pork, soy protein concentrate, contains 2% or less of: BHA, BHT, brown sugar, caramel color, citric acid, corn syrup solids, dextroase, natural flavoring, salt, soy lecithin, spices, sugar and maple sugar.

A box of Banquet Brown 'N Serve Light Maple Sausage Links (10 links) cost $1.29 on sale. Since they have much less fat and calories than the Original, and they taste better in my humble opinion, this makes a rather worthy substitution - and I would buy these again.

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Weight Watchers Smart Ones Morning Express Egg Sausage and Cheese Smart Morning Wrap Review

Weight Watchers Smart Ones Morning Express Egg Sausage and Cheese Smart Morning Wrap (points for one of the longest product names to date), is described as, "Scrambled eggs and cheesy sauce with breakfast sausage, vegetables and cheddar cheese in a soft tortilla."

NUTRITION FACTS
Serving Size: 113 grams (2 pieces)
Calories: 240
Total Fat: 8 grams, 12%
Saturated Fat: 2.5 grams, 13%
Sodium: 560 mg, 23%
Carbohydrates: 38 grams
Fiber: 7 grams, 29%
Sugar: 2 grams
Protein: 11 grams

As you can see from the picture, this wrap was very cheesy, and that's just how it tastes. It was pretty good though, although I wouldn't go so far as to say delicious though. The portion of 2 of these thin egg wraps was a little small for me, but I suppose if it's PART of breakfast, say with an apple and maybe even a small container of low fat yogurt (like Dannon Light & Fit Blackberry Yogurt), then it would make a filling meal. For some reason, I also couldn't get this to heat evenly, but it might be my microwave, so although the directions said to heat for 90 seconds, I turned the wraps over and put them in for another 90 seconds to get it all warmed up.

I decided to open up the wrap and get a look at what was inside.

As you can see, the pieces of sausage are hidden, but there and I did taste it, but the veggies were practically non-existent.

A box has 2 servings or 4 egg wraps. Each serving (2 wraps) provides 240 calories from 8 grams of total fat, 2.5 grams of which is saturated fat (12% and 13% of the daily value), 560 mg sodium (23% of the DV), 7 grams of fiber (29% of the DV), 2 grams of sugars and 11 grams of protein. The portion is also 6 Weight Watchers Points. The ingredients list is lengthy because, this is not an all-natural product.

I received samples of Weight Watchers Smart Ones Morning Express Egg Sausage and Cheese Smart Morning Wrap from the company, but WW products can usually be found for between $2.50 - $3.00. This is something that I could very easily make myself with less cheese, so less fat, and substituting Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Bits for the sausage to lower the fat and calories even more. For the wrap, look no further than FlatOut Multi Grain Wrap or French Meadow Bakery Organic Fat Flush Tortillas.

So I would buy this over Weight Watchers Smart Ones Morning Express French Toast with Turkey Sausage Review, but really, this is one thing I would rather just make myself - it's not that hard or time consuming.

{Website: Weight Watchers Smart Ones}

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Weight Watchers Smart Ones Morning Express French Toast with Turkey Sausage Review

You've got mail! And in the package was Weight Watchers Smart Ones Morning Express French Toast with Turkey Sausage. I thought this was an ambitious undertaking as a frozen, microwaveable food product, so I was really curious as to how this would turn out.

NUTRITION FACTS
Serving Size: 126 grams (1 pkg)
Calories: 280
Total Fat: 8 grams, 12%
Saturated Fat: 2.5 grams, 11%
Sodium: 570 mg, 24%
Carbohydrates: 38 grams
Fiber: 2 grams, 8%
Sugar: 18 grams
Protein: 14 grams

Inside the box are 2 french toast slices, 4 small sausage ... bits, and a packet of syrup. I followed the directions to microwave, and the result was a pretty decent tasting breakfast meal. The french toast was slightly sweet on it's own, and of course, with the added syrup, the sweetness factor explodes. And the turkey sausage was like what a slightly smoky, salty turkey sausage should taste like. If you've ever looked at the astronomical fat content of sausages, you'll understand why there was not more included in this meal. The question I asked myself is, would I rather purchase this product for $3.09, or make my own french toast? More on that later ...

The contents of each package of Weight Watchers Smart Ones Morning Express French Toast with Turkey Sausage provides 280 calories, 8 grams of total fat which includes 2.5 grams of saturated fat (12% and 11% of the daily value), 570 mg of sodium (24% of the DV), 2 grams of fiber, 18 grams of sugars and 14 grams of protein. The ingredients list is quite the lengthy diatribe you would expect it to be since this is not an all natural product, and this is 7 Weight Watchers Points.

This product retails for $3,09, so, back to the question, would I buy this instead of making it myself, especially since it's so easy to make? For me, french toast & sausage is an indulgent breakfast, and Weight Watchers Smart Ones did a good job of providing a portion that wasn't too high in calories and fat, but this is not something I would really be eating if I were following a "Weight Watchers" plan, or trying to lose weight. If I were indulging as a weekend breakfast for example, then I would prefer to make it myself. But as I said, WW did a good job on the taste.

What do you think? Would you buy this?

{Website: Weight Watchers Smart Ones}

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