Atkins Meal Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

Rant and Tip for December 7, 2012

Hello everyone, I know it has been a while since I have written last but I recently had an opportunity to try one of Atkins new frozen Entrees. I was in the market the other day and while I am a big fan of preparing my own meals, I have to be honest that sometimes being pressed for time makes me make choices I normally would not make. Atkins has recognized this dilemma and has chosen to start producing frozen Atkins Dinners.

I procured 3 of these meals and will blog about each of them, with my next few posts.
The first meal I tried was the Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo. This meal has 5 grams net carbs, 20 grams of fat and 26 grams of protein. This is a perfect mix for a meal. The 26 grams of protein is perfect amount of protein for the most people, as the body typically is unable to process more than 20 to 30 grams of protein without storing the excess as fat. Athletes like me and many of my friends can definitely partake of a higher gram count. However for most people this is perfect.

The meal takes 4 minutes to cook in a microwave and in a conventional oven it will take 38 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees. I chose the microwave instructions because I was at work when I decided to cook the meal. After cooking the meal I was surprised to see the meal had plenty of eye appeal. For many people the first appearance of a meal and make or break and experience and flavor of a meal.

This meal actually has 3 components to it, the chicken, broccoli and the sauce. Upon taking the meal out of the microwave, I stirred the sauce into the entire meal. The sauce was creamy and had a great flavor to it. I was pleasantly surprised with this as most gravies and sauces in prepared meals are weak in texture and flavor. This sauce was perfect. The broccoli had a nice bright green color and more of an al dente texture. It had plenty of flavor and was fresh. It seemed as though Atkins took the time to make sure they used fresh products at the onset of the preparation of this meal. The chicken had great texture which is also surprising for a microwaved meat. To many times I have tried a prepared meal to only be disappointed in the meat portion of the meal. The chicken in the meal was moist and had great flavor. Overall this meal was a home run. The only problem was it tasted to good and I wanted more. I guess this is where portion control comes in, my friends, because as my body started to digest the meal I found I was plenty satiated. This is one of the many benefits of eating a lower carb higher fat diet.

My training schedule has been a bit perplexed lately. Many changes in family schedules have made my training schedule a bit hectic. My next meet will be in Albany and will be a full geared meet. This means I will train in my bench shirt once a week and squat suit once a week. This should be interesting. I will keep you all updated.

Have a great workout!

Tip: The Atkins meals should be in your local grocery store and even Walmart.