Green Giant Simply Steam Cheesy Riced Cauliflower & Broccoli

Lol, I didn't realise this was riced cauliflower when I bought it (and not riced rice). That's actually an upgrade because it tastes better and is a bonus veg. But it's way fewer calories, which is actually bad because I'm so hungry all the time. It's also not very cost effective to eat 80 calos (both servings in the box) for like, 3 bucks. I was in a dark place when I bought this (the grocery store). Anyway, there's shockingly little cheese goo or brocco included (thus the 80 calos I guess), but it tasted way more balanced/better than it looked. A great product if you are rich. (Well, OK, maybe not rich. Slightly richer and/or different food priorities-er than me!)

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [2-3$]
Taste: 7/10  

Hanover Frozen Asparagus Spears

Finally, a veg! For some reason, I have a memory of (some??) Hanover veggie having a peanut warning, but I couldn't find any record of this online or in my blog tome, so maybe it was something else. Anyway, these are fine. Not as good as real asparagus, but we're in PA, so, no veg box and no real asparagus. Wet and fine. Could do worse!

Overall
Cost: ?/10
Taste: 6/10 

GNC Carrots

Another Canadian carrot! And finally, one that supports my gender expression. These taste just like carrots do. No complaints. My bag only had 4 carrots in, which is a little less than I'm used to, but which is honestly fine for my purposes (maybe even a bit too much carrot). Big 'n fine. The website says,

"Interesting fact: When we eat raw carrots, we increase the assimilation of all nutritive elements that it abounds."

which I hope is a French translation, but either way, is hilarious (and true). Merci, carrottes!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10 

Topline Yellow Bell Peppers

Yellow is a good pepper. Right in the middle of the pepper spectrum. (Orange is also good; they are equally middle, OK?). I had this particular specimen in the fridge for almost a full week, and it wasn't a spring chicken when I bought it, either. But it was just lovely, no badnesses and a large tasty pepper for my ~protein bowl~. Thanks, pepper!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10 

Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-Op White Cauliflower

Finally, my local veg box has provided me....local veg! I didn't take a picture of it, but the cauliflower head I got was massive. Definitely bigger than my own head, which is pretty big as human heads go (or so I am told). It tasted also like cauliflower, and had no bugs (that I saw) or big brown spots or really any imperfections at all. Just a few tender leaves. It was so big that I failed to cook it fully the first time around and had to boil it since I was too impatient for Steaming 300 Lbs of Cauli A Second Time. But it was good. Big and good, what I strive to be. Also Blogger cum Google is asking me to insert smart search links here. That sounds like a possible AI nightmare, but let's give it a go to see what we're up against, yeah? Because I'm fortified with cauliflower (and nothing else). 

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10
Bigness: 10/10 

Mont-Blanc Carrots (Canada No. 1!)

I feel like I haven't had a veg in years, mostly because I can't spare 20 minutes to cook one lately but partially because my veg box is sending bread instead of veg. Anyway, this is nice. Feels like coming home, even if it's Canadian. Also, eating veg is such a privilege. Well, eating anything is a privilege. (I'm really bad at gratitude, except for when it comes to food.) Bless these carrots! They taste like carrot, were a good size (long but not too thick), fresh, no sliminess, all good things. So many carrot producers up north! We grew carrots just once at my house but they were 90% eaten by bunnies, which is cute in its own way. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10 

Beachside Cauliflower Head

I didn't realise cauliflower can grow at the beach! Anyway, I'm really in 24/7 sore itchy agony now (2 more days til that sweet sweet allergy testing), but this cauliflower still tasted good. Must be the salty sea air. These are nice and large, although they browned kind of fast, even in the fridge. Cutting off the brown bits (and one bug) yielded a good-tasting, filling, nice veg. One of my favorites, even. Great flavor, pleasant texture, presumably adequate nutrition, no allergy issues (beyond the baseline). Whew, I'm dyin'. OK, til next time, blog fans! And there will be a next time >:(

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10 

Grimmway Farms Whole Carrots

While googling these to find out their provenance, I learned that they were the target of a recall last winter! (E. coli, not allergy). So there's a benefit to not being able to eat raw veg anymore, I suppose -- no worries, mate! Anyway, these carrots were fine. A little slimy and with some weird leaves(?) or other veg particles(?) on them, actually, but since I of course wash and cook them, it didn't impact me. They were otherwise in good shape, a pretty good size (not too big, not too small) and fairly fresh. I don't really have a lot of fresh carrot opinions like I do for, say, berries or water, but other than the whole E coli situation, these seem pretty good. They're based in California, by the way (another classic local veg box item....). 

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 5/10 

Lakeside Organic Gardens Sweet Baby Broccoli

I could have sworn I already reviewed this, but no, that was CREEKside Organics. What a world. This is, shocker, very similar to the other sweet baby brocco. Not sweet, mostly baby. Not too many yellow flowers yet, but lots of leaf and not as much stalk as I'd like in my brocco. Tastes very mild, no issues, but I still prefer adult brocco. I also have a stomach ache, but I think that's from rice and not the brocco. (Why does rice give me a stomach ache 70% of the time? Best not to worry about it, probably.)

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10 

Signature Select Cauliflower Florets

This is frozen cauliflower. For me, the main purpose of cauliflower is to be a veg that takes up space and doesn't intrude with its own personality. In this, it served its purpose. Got nothin' else for you.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Country Fresh Carrots

I had a moment today where a richie rich was complaining about egg prices (up to 3.50$/dozen here, which is frankly still cheap per calorie) and I almost said, "why don't you just replace eggs with carrots?", which is a sign I need to g2b. Luckily I kept my carrot propaganda to myself. Carrots are really cheap though. And so versatile! I don't even like carrots, but I can't deny that they last a long time and add a certain "fun orange color" to any food. Good for rice, good for soup, good for pasta, good for salad if I could still eat raw produce without OAS. Good. But the taste is very "I'm eating this as a chore, but it could be worse". Oh well.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Lakeside Organic Gardens Spinach

Spinach is a great veg (grittiness aside), but the bundle I got from Lakeside Organics was kinda mid. Very dirty, holey, scrunchy, wilty, etc. I salvaged many good leafs, and the taste was solid spinach, as ever, but the time commitment was a lot more than I would want to spend on spinach prep. I guess this is better (morally?) than those store brand pre-washed bags are though, s i g h. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Creekside Organics Sweet Baby Broccoli

I willfully choose to interpret this as [Sweet Baby] Broccoli, because I sure don't want to eat a sweet brocco. I do understand that baby brocco is classier, fancier, rarer, richer, etc, but it is also (surprise!) much smaller in terms of brocco-content-per-stalk. As a brocco enjoyer I don't want LESS of what I enjoy, even if it is classy and cute. Plus the prep here involves so much more washing, plucking, etc. On the other hand, if I were making a meat main or a fancy italian pasta with a small serving size, I would indeed want these -- it's just that I only ever eat rice-with-veg and (non-fancy) pasta-with-veg and so the baby brocco is not a value add. Taxonomy aside, this is a solid iteration of the Sweet Baby. The taste is good (I'd say mild, not sweet) and it wasn't gritty or mushy or anything, even though I had quite a few yellow flower bits to remove (Sweet Adolescent Broccoli). 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Birds Eye Steamfresh Super Sweet Corn

I've eaten 5 distinct foodstuffs recently (=in my sick sick 48 hour day), and all of them were corn in some form. (Cereal, muffin, chip, popped, this). I don't even like corn in non-corn form!! Things are dire. Globally, personally, and cornlally. Is there a corn vitamin? I doubt it. My hindbrain yearns for ... salt? Who knows.

Anyway. I had some great store brand frozen corn last year before my fridge died, but this time I thought I'd try the Birds Eye for allergy phobia reasons. Well, it wasn't as good. Super sweet? Ha! Hardly! And so on. My reaction to this, even in delicious nacho, was "this is fine. nothing special. I like corn and this is corn, but it's small". That's right. It's small corn. Not plump. Just regular. I'll eat it but I'll return to the risk of Store Brand Corn next time. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Signature Select Frozen Artichoke Hearts (Quartered)

Artichokes have a lot going for them. Cool name (from Arabic! with an l~r sound change!); healthful; cool appearance; artichoke dip is a top tier appetizer (or so the recollections of teenage me indicate); my Canadian friendo used to insult me by saying I had an artichoke heart, which is apparently an actual French idiom. 

But, they taste bad. Sorry. Not like, olive-level inedible, but they have a sour flavor and no redeeming (flavor) notes. I get why they're often pickled because they have the essence of "pickle me". Even paired with spinach and chicken and etc, when you notice them you think "wish I weren't". These frozen ones cooked up fine and all, but they do come in their natural stacks (like in the picture), so you either have to spend time de-stacking them or suffer with occasional artichoke-heavy bites in your product. You can guess what I chose.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Ferme Benjo Carrot(te)s

Local produce from... Québec! C'est étrange, but OK. I had a tragic discovery this week that I'm itchy and hivey from raw carrots now. Never again the veggie platter times, I guess. But cooked carrots are still fine, so I get a lot of mileage from these guys anyway. They last a long time compared to other (localler, even) produce, and although they don't taste very good cooked (too sweet!), I know they are good for My Eyes and Mike Aloriecount. A good "team player" veg that can slot in to many dishes.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Green Giant Riced Veggies - Cauliflower

Where Green Giant Riced Veggies go, I will follow. But I actually got this to put in a pear smoothie (which I agree, sounds gross), where it did what it was supposed to do, I think. Then I ate the leftovers as god intended (riced). So I had occasion to notice that the bag has a ziploc closure, which is nice since it isn't really a large portion. I also made the extra on the stove for the first time, which was fine. Maybe a bit less soggy, which is good, plus you can throw some fresh garlic in there. The taste is, of course, mild cauliflower, which is pleasant. Shockingly my main complaint is that this is too few calories (60)!

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [3$]
Taste: 6/10

Altar Asparagus

Hello babydolls. I had to be aggressive-aggressive today (as opposed to passive-aggressive or better yet, passive-passive), and I had to be it multiple times! That's like, my least favorite thing to do. The end of fall semester always ruins my life, but luckily my life was already a bit ruined, so I can probably cure my ills by praying at the Altar of asparagus. Did you know asparagus is espárrago in Spanish? I think that's beautiful. These were quality stalks. Pretty thin, and I was generous in my tip-snapping, but it was a hearty bunch and tasted great with no mealy bits or secret pests. The label is in English/French but they're from Mexico and distributed via California. (Love my local produce box... nothing suspect about the eco-ness of their operations at all...)

Would buy again, weekly. Top tier veg, good producer. 

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Signature Select Cut Leaf Spinach

I had to decide between this and Signature Select Chopped Spinach. Both had the same price, same weight, and same nutrition, so it was very difficult. Are cut leafs not, in fact, chopped? I'm sure it's a size-of-chop thing, but these were pretty small pieces, so I really don't know if it's worth them producing two near-identical products. Do I like spinach enough to buy the other one next time and investigate? Based on this, it's kinda 50/50. I may switch to Birds Eye or Green Giant actually. I got 3 pounds(!!) of this stuff to make a creamed spinach dish, which was extremely "meh" (possibly because I didn't do a good enough job pressing the cooked spinach with towels, but still). It was also kinda gritty, and while I know spinach is just like that, this was next level. I thought for a moment I had dropped some eggshell in the pot even though there were no eggs involved. Also, there is a warning on the back that it has so much cadmium it'll give you cancer! Dang, spinach. On the other hand, good source of fiber and no allergies? :D?

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [3$]
Taste: 5/10

Green Giant Riced Veggies - Cauliflower & Broccoli

This is no 'risotto' flavor riced veggie, but it's a little milder than the pure brocco one, so it's pleasant. Good with fresh garlic. Moderately filling, generally healthful, not very economical but a nice treat in the veggie sphere. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [3.33$ish]
Taste: 6/10