Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Amy's Mexican Tamale Pie

First of all, I'm not sure what's up with the color in the picture of today's lunchbox. I tried doctoring it up on my computer but I didn't have much luck. I guess the color of all that polenta just somehow messed with my camera. Anyway, the picture may have not turned out too great, but today's lunch sure does taste good. While looking through the fridge & freezer last night, trying to figure out what I was gonna' bring for lunch today, I stumbled upon Amy's Mexican Tamale Pie. As you probably know, I love all of the vegan products from Amy's Kitchen. I eat the vegetable pot pies all the time, and the last time I featured that on here, a blog reader mentioned in the comments that the Mexican Tamale Pie was also really good. I had never tried it before because I guess I just assumed it had cheese in it and wasn't vegan. Well, after that recommendation I purchased one and placed it in the freezer at home.

All I had to do last night was just cook it up in the oven and then pack it in the lunchbox. I hadn't read the box too closely, other than to verify that it was indeed vegan, so I was thinking that the top was more like cornbread than polenta, but it's polenta. I was expecting it to brown up a little more than it did, but I was afraid to leave it under the broiler too much longer for fear of burning the paper bowl that it comes in. Maybe polenta just doesn't brown that easy? I don't know, it's my first time dealing with polenta. Isn't it basically just runny cornbread?

Anyway, this thing tastes really good. I hate the fact that my picture came out so crappy, so here's a prettier picture from the Amy's Kitchen website. Something like this would be really easy to make from scratch too, but of course it wouldn't be near as convenient. I figured it would be delicious (everything else I've tried from Amy's has been), and it didn't disappoint. Plus, listen to this, this thing is a good size, the size of a regular pot pie, but it only has 150 calories and 3g of fat! I was impressed. Definitely good for the ol' diet, and very, very tasty indeed.

To go along with the tamale pie, I brought my two most favorite side items; roasted potatoes & onions and mustard greens. These were actually some leftovers from dinner, so I didn't have to do any extra work to make them for my lunch.

And finally, for dessert, I brought one of those new delicious Larabar Jocolat bars. GOSH! These things are so good. They taste just like a brownie, but they're nice & dense, and so chocolaty. I could eat my weight in these things, and so could a few other people, judging from the fact that they can hardly keep them in stock at my local grocery store. These are the most perfect vegan replacement for a regular old candy bar that I have found. If you like chocolate, I highly recommend trying them out (if you can find them).

So there you have it. Amy's Kitchen to the rescue again. You know, this tamale pie was so good that it's inspired me to try a new Mexican recipe that I've been wanting to try for quite a while. I might actually get around to making it for tomorrow's lunch. UGH! And now that's reminded me of ANOTHER Mexican recipe I wanted to try. SHEESH! This may end up being Mexican theme week if this keeps up. I guess we'll see.

At any rate, thanks for checking out the blog today and I'll see everybody tomorrow!
LARABAR JOCOLATROASTED POTATOES & ONIONSAMY'S MEXICAN TAMALE PIEMUSTARD GREENSFORK & SPOON

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow. that looks good! I have been looking for interesting things to do with polenta... i'll have to try making something similar to that!

oh, just fyi, polenta is more like grits than cornbread. it's just really finely ground dried corn (grits are coarse ground). So, not too surprising that it didn't brown...

Tracy said...

That does look super-yummy. I'm not sure if they carry them here where I live, but I'm definitely going to keep my eyes open!
Congrats on your continued weight loss, BTW!

KB said...

I really like your blog. My big struggle with eating healthy is making sure I'm satisfied with what I eat for lunch at my desk, because I get so bored at work that all I do is think of the food I want to eat. Also, I try to keep some Amy's or Whole Foods brand frozen products in the freezer at work in case of emergencies. Because of this blog and some others, making a good lunch to keep me satisfied at work has really become something I look forward to each evening or morning.

Have you heard of the book "The Beck Diet Solution"? It's really helped me stick to a healthy diet whether eating leftovers at my desk or going out to eat with non-vegan-friendly co-workers.

kennyboy said...

Thanks tracy & kb.

I checkin' up on that book.

;o)

Anonymous said...

Hi,
The tamale pie is one of my absolute favorite Amy's meals. I am glad you like it too. Thanks for all of your good reviews. Do you want us to send you samples of our new vegan meals to try when they are available? Send me your address if you do.
Rachel Berliner, owner Amy's Kitchen

Alpa said...

wow, that looks really good! I wanna trade lunches with you everyday, lol.

i'm a vegetarian myself, but trying to cut out as much dairy as possible. hopefully i will be able to make the shift sooner than later. your blog is absolutely lovely as well as inspiring. Congratulations on your terrific weight loss!