Faster, Easier and Better than Frozen!

I love to cook but I also love to NOT cook. Although I research recipes online and have tons of cookbooks, I tend to fall back on the same recipes over and over. Thank goodness I maintain a stock of frozen pastas to get me by on the days that I forget to thaw something out. My family loves them and they always go over well. The only pitfalls are that the family sized ones I purchase take an hour to cook and they don’t always cook evenly.A few months ago, Dana at The Dana Files ran a promotion on one of her blogs and I won a coupon for a Free Tuscani Pasta Meal from Pizza Hut.

There are two varieties – Creamy Chicken Alfredo and Meaty Marinara. I’m a huge Alfredo fan so I called the other day and placed an order for it. For $11.99, you get a 3 pound family sized pasta with 5 bread sticks. They boast that it can feed a family of four. It came in a 9×13 dish and was ready for pickup in under 15 minutes… just about the amount of time that it took for me to gather my purse, find my keys and get there.

Just to clarify, I’m doing a review because I thoroughly enjoyed the meal. I’m not getting paid for it. I’m not earning any kind of credits. Yes, I won it and it was free but there was no requirement for me to post an opinion.

With that said, here’s what I thought… I loved it. As I said, it was very quick. Unlike the frozen kind, it cooked evenly with no over or undercooked sections to contend with. The chicken was a normal consistency, compared to a little chewy in the frozen ones. Don’t get me wrong, the frozen ones are great but the Pizza Hut Creamy Chicken Alfredo was even better. What my family thought? We all loved it. Miss M, my 5 year old, loved all the extra cheese on the top and claimed that dinner was delicious. The side of bread sticks was a nice bonus to the pasta and something I would not have done for homemade or frozen! How many does it really feed? With two small kids, we ended up with enough leftovers for two adult lunches.

In my opinion, Pizza Hut Tuscani Pastas are a must-try. I’m looking forward to trying out the Meaty Marinara one… even without a coupon!