Product review: Gardien Seven Grain Crispy Tenders

I've tried a few different kinds of Gardien, but these are the one I like the best: Seven Grain Crispy Tenders. I use the traditional method of the conventional oven, so they do take a bit longer to make. My thoughts: yeah, they're good. I can eat the whole bag in one sitting. However, I can't eat them without some kind of bar-b-que sauce (more calories).
When I eat the whole bag, it is a guilty pleasure that comes back to bite me in the butt. literary. One bag is what? 5 servings? omg. Okay, so about 450 calories. When I pair them with baked tater tots or tater triangles, then eat the whole bag with bbq sauce, that's about a 1000 calories. A girl needs to know her limits, and I don't. And can't resist.
My rating:
Taste (with bbq sauce): 9/10
Taste (without bbq sauce): 2/10
Nutritional profile: 8/10 (they are decent for you)
Texture: 7/10
Convenience: 10/10
Works well with weight-loss diet: 0/10 (no restraint, remember?)
Overall: 5/10

Product review: Dr. McDougall's Ramen Bowl

When I work on the weekends, the last thing I want to do is make lunch and dinner to eat at work. At my local Hy-Vee (grocery store), I recently found Dr. McDougall's right food big cups. Today's review is for the Ramen variety.

Q: How easy is this to make?
A: Very easy! It takes about 2 minutes in the microwave after adding the spice packet (included) and water.

Q: What would you compare this to?
A: Ahh...you don't really need to know what I ate in college. But since you're curious, (pre-veg) I used to eat the chicken flavored ramen with a quarter bag of frozen "peas and carrots" dumped into it. (no, Jen-nay Forrest Gump references, please!). But this is exactly what it tastes like to me: freshman year of college. I just need to not gain that fifteen pounds again!

Q: How's the sodium level on that?
A: Not too shabby! This is a big cup of ramen - definitely 2 servings, as suggested on the cup. However, for one serving, there is only 320mg of sodium. For a ramen-replicate and for being completely processed food, I'd say that's not bad.

Q: Did it fill you up?
A: Honestly? YES! I didn't realize that the cup was 2 servings, so about 3/4 of the way through the bowl, I pushed it aside because I was super full. Then, I realized that I'm an idiot and didn't read the nutritional facts.

Q: Would you buy this again?
A: Yes. And I plan to in the near future. This is great for my desk drawer at work - I'll keep a couple in there for emergency needs or "I forgot to grab my lunch off the kitchen table" kinds of days.


P.S. If your local store doesn't stock this, you can purchase the ramen bowl (and other soup bowls) on Dr. McDougall's website.