Frozen dinners don't have to be boring or full of chemicals. Ethnic Gourmet has a palak paneer - spinach with cheese cubes - which is tasty and full of healthy nutrition.

Let me say first that the palak paneer comes with a side of brown rice. I always find that rice tends to get dry and cardboardy in the microwave, so I planned right from the start not to eat this rice. I wasn't mistaken. It's really best to focus on the palak paneer here - to cook the meal, put the paneer on a plate, and to eat that along with whatever else strikes your fancy.

The meal as a whole says it has 11g of fat, with 6g saturated and 0g trans fats. There are 810mg of sodium and 13g of protein. There are 23g of carbs, minus 4g of fiber.

While 19g of net carbs might seem like a lot, I'm sure most of that is from the rice. Spinach is very low carb naturally. So I would guess that the spinach portion is maybe 9g of carbs total, if even.

So how does it taste? I found it QUITE delicious. It had a rich creaminess and a nice set of spices which was flavorful but not overwhelming. I really enjoyed it a lot.

They say on the box that the ingredients are all natural with no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives. That is really so important. The ingredients list the following: spinach, fried paneer (made from milk, vinegar and canola oil), water, onions, light cream, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, spices, garlic, sea salt, canola oil, xanthan gum. That sounds really good to me!

I really wish they offered this with JUST the spinach, without the rice. I have a happy community of birds in my back yard and am quite pleased to toss the rice out to them to enjoy, but I'm sure not everybody has that ability. I suppose they could eat the rice - but why consume carbs that aren't really tasty anyway? You get not great flavors in return for a heavier waistline. It doesn't make sense to me.

But that one issue aside, I definitely recommend this. If you keep two in your freezer then no matter what comes up, you are only a few minutes away from a tasty, healthy meal!


Lisa Shea's Library of Low Carb Books