Sep 16 2008
Creole, Y’all
For dinner tonight, I was rummaging around for something to make, and ran across a box of Zatarain’s Creole Chicken and Rice Mix in my pantry. The ingredients are the box, 2 cups water, a can of diced tomatoes, and pre-cooked chicken or shrimp. Super simple to make too; throw everything in a pot, bring to a boil, simmer for 25 minutes, et voila!
While I was trying not to watch the pot boil, I read through the nutritional information. Too much sodium to have as an every-day-of-the-week meal, but that’s usual for boxed stuff. But here’s the fun stuff; per a 1 cup (cooked) serving, there are 130 calories, 0.5 grams of fat, and 1 gram of fiber. If you’re on Weight Watchers, you know why those numbers mattered to me. Throw them in your calculator or slide rule for a pleasant surprise.
Now, I’m assuming that nutritional information doesn’t include the meat, because it seems way too low to include it, plus chicken != shrimp as far as I know. But maybe it includes it with chicken, since the front of the box says chicken even though the back says either? Even if you assume it doesn’t include the meat and add that on separate, you’re still talking about an easy, low-point, very flavorful main dish. Throw on a couple veggie sides, and you’ve got yourself a dinner!
I mentioned flavorful. The finished dish was quite tasty, a bit spicy but not so much that it was all heat and no taste. But just enough that one serving was quite satisfying, and prompted me to drink a lot more liquids with dinner than I normally do (this is good!). I finished my plate off with a side of steamed green beans.
