by Marianne Plunkert
Overall rating: 2.5 of 5.0
Meal Description and Cooking Instructions
The eDiets Homestyle Pancakes and Apple-Chicken Sausage breakfast entrée consisted of two 3-to-4-inch whole wheat pancakes and 1 ½ sausage links. No syrup or other type of topping was provided for the pancakes.
The heating instructions called for the meal to be microwaved on high for 15 to 20 seconds. I initially nuked mine for 25 seconds since my microwave oven requires more time. This proved to be insufficient, so I heated for 10 seconds more, after which the entrée seemed appropriately warm.
Homestyle Pancakes and Apple-Chicken Sausage
I was to supplement the meal with a nonfat/low-fat dairy item. Since no topping had been included, I decided to add an ounce of reduced-fat cream cheese to my plate.
My General Impressions
The meal didn’t look very appetizing. The pancakes looked rather plain without any syrup or fruit compote to adorn them, and the 1 ½ sausage links looked anemic. But I recalled that I hadn’t been impressed with the looks of the eDiets Flapjack breakfast that I had enjoyed in Week 1, either, so I kept the faith.
Unfortunately, these pancakes weren’t even close to being as good as the flapjacks. They were sawdust-dry, with a dense texture. Despite their appearance, the sausage links tasted good enough, however; they were moist with a subtle apple/maple flavor.
Deciding to be creative, I tried wrapping a sausage link in one of the pancakes, piggy-in-a-blanket style, to see how that would work. The sausage still tasted good, and the pancake was still unpalatably dry.
Never say die. My cream cheese came to the rescue. I spread it on the pancakes, wrapped the sausage in them and ate them like sandwiches. It wasn’t the greatest breakfast that I’ve had, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
Nutritional Content
Only a quarter of this breakfast entree’s calories are from fat—50 of the total 200. There are 22 grams of carbs, with 2 grams of fiber and 5 grams of sugar, and 13 grams of protein.
The entrée provides 20% of the recommended daily intake of calcium and 10% of the daily iron requirement. It also provides 2% of the recommended daily dose of Vitamin A, but is void of Vitamin C.
Protein (chicken) and starch (pancakes) are the primary food groups represented in this entrée, and my cream cheese contribution provided a full serving of dairy. Apples are listed among the ingredients used to make the sausages, but they don’t count as a full serving of fruit. There is nothing from the vegetable food group.
Food Rating/Quality
I am giving this meal a 2.5 on a scale of 1 to 5 only because the sausage was moist and flavorful. The pancakes themselves would not have been palatable had I not had the foresight to opt for reduced-fat cream cheese as my dairy product selection. My plain nonfat yogurt wouldn’t have done the job for me.
Although the sausage was appealing to the palate, it wasn’t very visually attractive. This would be improved if they were browned prior to including them in the meal.
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