Amy's Bowls - Brown Rice and Vegetables (8.5/10)

Summary

• Price: ~$3.50
• Overall: 8.5/10.   A vegan's delight, and not a bad mid-day snack for the rest of us. Though vegetarian, very healthy and flavorful.  Avoid eating before quiet boardroom meetings or long drives, due to the high fiber content.
• Healthfulness: 9/10.  Simple, organic ingredients. More protein would've made it perfect, a common drawback to vegetarian meals.
• Portion Size/Filling:  7/10.  Relatively small portions (260 calories) will keep you satisfied for 2-3 hours of sitting at your desk or watching TV.
• Flavor: 9/10 (Spiciness: 0/10).   Brown rice was flavorful and not overpowering.  Could taste all of the wide, pleasing assortment of vegetables and a light mustardy sauce.
• Texture: 9/10. The brown rice was moist and soaked with the flavor of the sauce, not the usual difficult-to-swallow, eat-only-with-three-glasses-of-water brown rice meals. The many vegetables were finely chopped and blended well with the rice. Tofu was firm, not slimy.
  

Beer Pairing - Wolaver's India Pale Ale, Butte Creek Brewing Pilsner


Numbers

• Calories: 260
• Fat: 9g (0g Trans Fat)
• Carbs: 36g
• Fiber: 5g
• Protein: 9g
• Sodium: 550mg

Details
Healthfulness:  Almost perfect balance of fats, carbs and proteins.  A little more protein would've made it perfect.  The ingredients read like a best-seller list from Whole Foods.  There is an array of organic vegetables with very little or no artificial preservatives or flavoring.  (9 out of 10, only lacking slightly in protein)
Portion Size/Filling:  The portion is small (260 calories; about the same as a 6" turkey sandwich from subway), but this meal keeps you "full" for 2-3 hours.  The full feeling comes from the relatively high protein and fiber content, but not the bloated feeling that you normally get from brown rice.  This is a perfect size and balance for a light lunch or a late afternoon snack to hold you over until a late dinner.  (7 out of 10, more like a large, healthy snack than a meal)
Flavor:  The picture on the box does not look too appetizing, and it looks even worse after removing the bowl from the microwave and pulling the film off.  However the taste was surprisingly good.  The abundant amount and variety of vegetables could all be tasted.  Most surprisingly, the brown rice was soft and soaked with the flavor of the light sauce.  I'm not sure what flavor the sauce was, but it was good. (9 out of 10 for the variety of vegetables. 0 out of 10 for spiciness.)
Texture:  If you like vegetables, which would seem like a good assumption if you're buying a vegetarian meal, then you'll love the textures.  The brown rice is soft and soaked with the sauce.  There is an assortment of crunchy vegetables, leafy vegetables and soft vegetables, combining to create a texture party in your mouth. (9 out of 10 because of the texture variety)