Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers-Chicken and Shrimp is pretty good. It consists of yummy rice, a few vegetables-they sort of lack flavor, but the rice is really tasty so that makes up for it, and tender pieces of white chicken, with some nice-sized and flavorful shrimp. The sauce is not too good-it has a weird, sweet taste. I did not really detect a Cajun flavor to this dish. It was a decent meal, not one of my favorites, but it was edible. The sauce needs to be revamped and then this dish would taste a lot better.

amandadaley

Undisclosed

    Cafe Steamers from Healthy Choice gives an interesting new way to cook a frozen low-cal dinner.  The food itself sits in a separate lttle tray that sits above the sauce so the items heat up separately (but in the same container) and then you dump the one tray into the other and mix it together.  It doesn't taste any different than the standard fare because of heating it separately like this but is a little easier to mix up so the suace is evenly distributed.  I like the fact that it is quick.  One tray is, however, not enough for a normal human being to eat for a meal so be prepared to mix in some extra frozen vebetables or extra meat like chicken tenders.       One of the things that I did not like about the Cafe Steamers is that the box is bigger to store in the freezer but you really do not get a bigger portion than other low-cal frozen dinners.  The round dish it comes in makes for more wasted space in the freezer.  Also, I would not rate the Chicken and Shrimp as the best flavor.  It was awfully bland for suposedly being Cajun flavored. I expected a lot more spicy dish from the box description.

HeyGirl

Lake Forest, CA

I love Cajun foods and also have enjoyed the Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers, so the Chicken and Shrimp dinner sounded like a good choice. The Cafe Steamers are super easy to make. You don't even vent the top. Just stick the bowl in the microwave and cook for around 5 minutes. Pull it out. Pour the food from the upper vented bowl into the lower bowl with sauce and stir. It's much nicer with it not all mixed together while heating. I steamed up my Cajun Style Chicken & Shrimp, mixed it together and sat down to watch TV. I've not had time to take a break lately, so both a real dinner (sort of) and a little TV were going to be a treat. The rice was perfect. There were a few vegetables - but not many. The little white meat chicken pieces were tender and the shrimp turned out nice (not rubbery like some quick meals). So, all in all, this sounds like a winner. The kicker was the sauce. I don't know where they got that Cajun recipe, but it was not from anyone Cajun. It was not thick like in the picture for one thing. Then, the flavor was downright odd. The flavor was not Cajun. It was not anything I can think of. It wasn't super awful, but the meal would have been much better without that sauce. I do like the Healthy Choice Stemers. They just taste fresher. And, some of them are excellent. I especially like the Beef Merlot. I would like this chicken and shrimp dinner too if they changed the sauce. I can eat it, but it's not Cajun zesty or even mild and nice. It's just like, "Hold the sauce. That stuff is not very good." As a healthy meal, I figured it ranked OK with 250 calories for a dinner and 25% on salt (lower than most) and 11% on the cholesterol I'm supposed to watch. Fat was at 8%. That's a lot better than a lot of things I eat when on the fly.  

CyndiA

southern, NC

Because I like to try new things, it was only a matter of time before the new **Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers** came across my plate.  My meal of choice was the **Cajun Style Chicken & Shrimp** with rice and vegetables. **Cafe Steamers** are the relatively new frozen meals from **Healthy Choice** that are restaurant-inspired and steamed fresh right in the microwave.  The meals are prepared like most other microwaveable ones, the difference being that there is a steamer basket included with the **Cafe Steamers**.  After cooking the meal, you simply pour the food from the steamer basket into the bowl full of sauce underneath it and viola, you have a fresh steamed meal right in your very own home or office.  Sounds great so far, right?  Well, before even eating my meal I already had a problem with the packaging.  I feel bad enough when I dispose of one un-recyclable container in the trash, and now with **Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers**, there are two un-recyclable products going into a landfill (the steamer basket and the bowl).  Note:  I try to re-use the frozen meal containers that my household uses.  They are great for paints and glue that my kids use in their arts and crafts projects. Okay, back to the food.  I was looking forward to a tasty meal of cajun chicken and shrimp but I was sorely disappointed.  The chicken tasted like chicken, the shrimp tasted like shrimp, but there weren't many vegetables and where the heck was the cajun sauce?  The meal was pretty bland and I would have added some spice but I felt there was enough sodium in my meal at 590 mgs.  Nutrition-wise, the **Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers Cajun Style Chicken & Shrimp** contains 250 calories, 5 grams of fat, zero trans fat, 5 grams of fiber, and 17 grams of protein.  If you are counting *Weight Watchers* points, you'll have to deduct 5 points for this meal.    Portion-wise, the meal was adequate but because it was kind of boring, I felt cheated a little bit and wanted something more to eat afterwards.  That can get me into real trouble.  Besides the convenience of having a hot meal ready in minutes, my main reason for purchasing these types of microwaveable meals is for the portion control.  It kind of defeats the purpose if I'm still hungry afterwards, doesn't it?  Overall, I wasn't impressed and wouldn't buy this again.  I will stick with what I know and like from **Healthy Choice** in the future. 

mindyvol

Undisclosed

I found this "Unique steam cooker" from Healthy Choice while I was looking for something new in the frozen food section. I'm not a big fan of HC but I like steam cooked food (even if I usually don't prepare it myself because it's too long, too messy & too much to clean at the end ;) I have to say that I really liked the packaging, the sauce is under the steamer basket & acts as a steaming agent for the rest of the meal. Once it's cook (only 3 1/2 min!), you just have to slide the food into the bottom tray. I'm not sure that it was a really steam meal but it's was cool to try something new. The taste is not bad but not super good either. The rice is under cook and the shrimps are super small. The vegetables are only there for decoration, just a few, not very tasty. The chicken was ok. Except for the sweet sauce, it was an healty meal that didn't gave me the bad feeling of eating frozen rather than fresh. So it's perfect for a quick lunch at the office (you just need a fork & can eat in the bowl). You will definitively feel better than eating a sandwich ... but will probably need a snack at 4pm.

Apuja

Palo Alto, CA