When I am cooking for my family, I find I put a lot of time and energy into feeding them well-rounded meals. I am a good cook and I enjoy it. Indeed, I am a professed food snob. BUT when it comes to me being alone in the middle of the day, I find my own food intake is often put on the back burner. I often just throw together a sandwich or salad or end up skipping lunch altogether. So Amy’s Organics has been a great fallback for me over the last few years when I am alone. When Amy’s decided to send me some free coupons to review their products, I jumped at the chance. Amy’s sells some of the best organic vegetarian convenience food around. I was sent coupons for one frozen item, one frozen burrito and one canned item.

For my frozen dish I chose the Mattar Paneer. For those of you who don’t know, Mattar Paneer is an Indian dish made of peas and paneer (a quick Indian cheese) with a spicy sauce.  I am not a vegetarian, but I find I generally eat meat only a couple of days a week. I also am in LOVE with Indian cuisine, so I was happy to try this and I was rewarded in full. The dish was really tasty. The paneer kept a fine texture even though it was frozen and I was pleasantly surprised. The basmati rice also maintained a pleasant texture and the whole thing was a joy to consume at midday. The dish had a bit of a bite to it, but was not so spicy that I couldn’t palate it. My only real complaint was the packaging. They put all of the components frozen separately but in only one container so that when it cooked it melded together. Some people may prefer that type of presentation, but I prefer to keep my food separate, so it put me off just a bit. Otherwise, the quality was optimal.
I had never tried Amy’s burritos or wraps before, but I chose the Southwest as it looked like my kind of burrito. It was filled with poblanos, pinto beans, corn, and cheese.  The flavour was nice, but not overly spicy. There was a lot of filling which is always nice. I made it in the microwave which I don’t normally do, but I was in a rush and starving, so I did and, surprisingly, the texture was just fine and it cooked evenly. It was a good experience and I will eat it again.

Amy’s sells a wide variety of canned items from beans to soups and chilis. They sell a thai coconut  soup that I love, but it wasn’t in stock the day I was at the store, so I opted to try Black Bean Chili. I have never had it before, so didn’t know what to expect. Though after eating other products from Amy’s I was sure it would be good. The first 2 items I mentioned were just for me, but with the chili I decided I would make it into a light lunch for the whole family, so I cooked up some brown rice and cut up some veg and served it all with tortillas, sour cream and cheese. It was a quick lunch that filled us all up. The spiciness was a “medium” and was a bit spicier than I like which is why I served it with sour cream, but all-in-all it was really good for a canned chili and a great alternative for a quick meal.

Betty