I don't know what it was about today but somehow the meals were just not satisfying. I found myself very hungry throughout the day which I did not experience on the other days at all. I ate the snack, which I have tried to save until mid-afternoon previously, before lunch because I was so hungry. And even though the lunch was tasty and satisfying, I found myself starving by mid-afternoon. I ended up having to eat some non-Fresh Diet hummus and lavosh (I did try to be judicious in the amount I ate).
Breakfast: Mango Stuffed Honey Wheat French Toast with Raspberries and Banana Ricotta Cheese. The french toast was fine. It was a triangle-shaped piece (so basically a half-slice) but quite thick studded with pieces of mango. The mango wasn't the most flavorful I've ever had but maybe I'm spoiled from growing up in Hawaii where there is an abundance of amazing mangoes. There were about 6-7 raspberries. They were ok. I'm not the biggest fan of raspberries but I ate them and they were fine. I had an issue with the banana ricotta cheese. I was optimistic about this item. Although I'm not a huge ricotta fan, there have been many dishes in the past that I have had where I really enjoyed the presence of ricotta. Given that this item was supposed to be combined w/ banana or banana flavor I was really hopeful since I love bananas. There was no banana taste that I could discern in the ricotta. Also, texturally & taste-wise the ricotta seemed to not match w/ the french toast. The ricotta was grainy where the french toast wasn't. The ricotta had some tang to it where was the french toast was mild flavored and sweet from the syrup. I don't know. For me, I wouldn't NOT get this item but I wouldn't enthusiastically select it.
As I mentioned above, I ate the snack early in the day because I was so hungry...maybe from not eating the ricotta? I ordered Carrot Cake with Pecans and Cream Cheese Frosting. It was pretty good. The cake itself didn't have the texture you normally associate with a full-fat Carrot Cake. This one was more compressed, had less of a crumb or flake to it, and was somewhat spongy. But it was fine-tasting and the frosting was nice.
Lunch: As usual, this Fresh Diet lunch was really good. Another restaurant-quality entree. Today, I had the Thyme Infused Chicken Salad with Arugula, Orange Segments, Strawberries, and Blueberry Vinaigrette. First, this wasn't a "chicken salad" of the mayo-based variety but rather a salad w/ chicken pieces sprinkled on top. The chicken had a nice herby flavored although it was a little on the mild side which was fine considering the greens used in the salad and the tang of the dressing. Beware that the only type of greens in this meal are arugula I believe which had a very strong, grassy, sharp flavor. I enjoyed it but I could see someone thinking that the flavor was a little too strong. The orange segments (I think there were 2 slices) were on the sour side as well which worked with this dish. The strawberries were nice and fresh and because they were chopped up it felt like there was an abundance of strawberries which added flavor and texture to the salad. The dressing was very tasty although I have to say that until I typed up the name of the dish just now I had no idea that it was a blueberry-based dressing.
Dinner: Grilled Jumbo Shrimp with Lemon Pepper, Garlic Sauce. The sides I selected were Roasted Sweet Potato and a Parsnip & Pear Puree. Again, this dish wasn't horrible. It just wasn't great. The shrimp, I don't believe, were actually "grilled" in the sense that one first thinks of. There certainly wasn't any smokiness or char or even marks that would let you know that the shrimps were grilled. They weren't exactly HUGE jumbo shrimp but they were decently meaty. I saw the pepper flakes but certainly didn't really taste any lemon from the lemon pepper. Also, the shrimps weren't cooked originally in the garlic sauce. The sauce came in a little cup and I poured it over the shrimp prior to reheating. The sauce certainly helped with the flavor a little but didn't taste like garlic sauce to me. My impression of The Fresh Diet is that they rely on creating intensely flavorful dishes so you don't miss out on any fat taken out and so you don't mind a smaller portion size. The shrimp could have used a more intense flavor IMHO. The roasted sweet potato was fine. There didn't really seem to be any other flavor beside what a plain roasted sweet potato would taste like which was ok with me but I could see this side dish being improved if it had some sort of flavoring. The parsnip & pear puree. At first, I kind of enjoyed it. The texture was creamy and smooth. The dish, despite the pear, has a fairly strong parsnip flavor. After awhile, it was too much for me. Parsnip has a sharp flavor and a whole scoop of it was a bit much.
The dessert though, as seems to be the way with The Fresh Diet, is excellent. I had the Cherry Vanilla Cheesecake and it was lovely. Creamy, sweet, satisfying, everything you'd want a plain piece of cheesecake to be. The cherry flavor wasn't that strong but the vanilla flavor was there. And I just want to say, that however The Fresh Diet makes their crusts, they are better than most regular non-diet crusts!
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