evol Veggie Curry Review

Last night I was tired. Sitting in my freezer are a bunch of frozen meals that at some point I bought because I thought they would be worthy of a trial. The evol veggie curry wrap had ended up in that dark cold place waiting to be microwaved and eaten. So last night I took it out, wrapped it in the obligatory paper towel and popped it in the micro for just under three minutes.

And the result...eh, it was just ok.

evol Veggie Curry wrap


I had a few major disappointments with this wrap, but I wanted to like it so much. I gave it points for being vegan, and made with mostly organic products, but the image on the box, has nothing to do with what the actual wrap looked like. I loved it for the taste, but the texture, and my inability to identify any of the ingredients inside was disappointing. There were no cubes of tofu, sticks of carrots, and other veggies, all I could see was a mash of what looked like and felt like pre-chewed tofu and brown rice, and some green stuff (what veggie was that?) Every once in a while there was a piece of orange or a different green color that would show up when I took a bite, but those sitings were few and far between.

I wanted, more veggies, less rice and more tofu in this wrap. The wrap boasts that it has 11 grams of protein but for vegan, who needs to bulk up on non-animal protein this just wasn't enough in my eyes. Also 4 grams of fiber?? my sugary terrible for you cereal has more fiber than that in it. The entire wrap was 340 calories, so basically it was a lot of wrap a lot of rice and little of the things that are actually good for you. I think this wrap needs a re-do. Keep the flavor, boost the tofu, and the veggies. All in all it would increase the goods on the nutrition, the fiber and protein and end up reducing the calories, by removing some of the unneeded fillers.

evol, i want to love your products, but this one just doesn't do it. Sorry.

Seared Scallops with Asparagus & Linguine

Ben and I had a small celebratory dinner last night, just a little nod to the fact that we have now been together for 2 and a 1/2 years. We don't really celebrate anniversaries, why if we love each other why do we have to congratulate ourselves for sticking in the relationship? We are together and it's great, there is no reason to count or list the days, hours, minutes that we've lasted.

But nice dinners together are something that I think we both cherish, so there is no reason that we can't do that on a weekly basis, and just enjoy each other.


I sent Ben a few different options for dinner. We decided on a pasta dish because neither of us could remember the last time we had pasta (which is almost a crime.) We also like trying new things and neither of us had ever made scallops before, and they are a food that we both like. So we experimented, guided by a cooking light recipe.

Seared Scallops with Asparagus & Linguine

1 (9-ounce) package refrigerated linguine
1 bunch asparagus
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp Romano cheese, divided
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
Handful of chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 lbs sea scallops
1 lemon

In a medium size pot bring the water to a boil to cook the pasta. While waiting for the water to come up, rinse and cut the asparagus into bite size pieces. Once boiling place the asparagus in the water, let come up to a boil again and then add the pasta in. Cook according to the package (2-3 minutes) then drain pasta and asparagus in a colander over a bowl. Combine pasta, 1/4 cup cheese, 1 tablespoon oil, chopped basil, the juice of 1/2 a lemon and pepper in a large bowl; toss well.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large cast-iron skillet over high heat. Sprinkle salt evenly over scallops; add scallops to pan. Cook 1 minute on each side or until golden.


Serve pasta with scallops on top and extra lemon wedges on the side. Sprinkle with cheese to finish the dish.


So the pasta was good, not great, the flavors were there that Ben and I love but we had a few issues with the dish. First, apparently I don't like fresh pasta, for some reason the texture was too chewy, it stuck together and I just didn't enjoy it. So if we make this again the first thing we would do differently is use dried pasta.


The second thing we would do is not over cook the scallops. I said "Ben it says scallops one minute on each side, that's it, don't over cook the scallops" about 7 or 8 times before we started to cook them. (Ben was in charge of the scallops while I did the pasta.) It got to the point where I knew I was annoying him, but I had this feeling that he would cook and cook and cook the scallops and they would be like rubber. Well...that's exactly what happened. We sat down to eat and Ben popped a scallop in his mouth, looked at me and smiled..."I over cooked the scallops," he said. Oh well...at least we'll know for next time. I'm sure that we will make scallops again, I can't wait to perfect it.

One last thing that we would change, adding the cheese to the pasta while it was hot made one big clump of cheese in the middle of a bunch of pasta, because the temperatures of the cheese and the pasta were too cold to have the cheese mix in well, so I would just take that whole part out and add the cheese on the top over everything at the end. I would also next time use Parmesan cheese not Romano.

But all that said, the flavors were there, the lemon, asparagus, seared scallops, it was yummy and I can't wait to redo it and make the dish really a winner. Ben took the leftovers to work today for lunch so...it was good enough to keep and eat again, just not as fabulous as we thought.


The night was not ruined because this is what we love, to cook, eat and be together, it's fun to be in the kitchen, mixing, stirring and pouring. I boss Ben around, his dinner gets cold while I try and take a million pictures and for us, this works.

Spicy Chicken Soup

Ben and I made our first dinner at my new apartment. It was spicy, yummy and quick. A perfect mid-week dinner.


To figure out what we wanted Ben and I listed the things that we were craving. I said I wanted spicy, Ben said soup, I asked chicken? and Ben agreed. I then searched for something that would match our key words on Cooking Light's website. Low and behold we found Spicy Chicken Soup!

Spicy Chicken Soup

3 Tbsp chipotle salsa with adobo sauce
1 tsp olive oil
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium to small onion, chopped
1 jalapeno without seeds, diced
1 tsp ground cumin
2 cups cooked chicken breast strips
2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans fat-free, chicken broth
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
1 can whole-kernel corn with sweet peppers, drained


Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper, onions, jalapeno, and cumin; saute 4 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Stir in salsa, chicken, broth, tomatoes, and corn. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes.

We grated some reduced fat cheddar cheese over the top, with some crackers on the side it was a fabulous dinner. This recipe makes 4 servings of 2 cups.


So this dinner takes about 15 minutes to put together but tastes like it simmered all day, the flavors are so good and spicy. This soup warmed us up on a chilly fall night. (The cooking light nutrition facts are about 350 calories, 11 grams fat, and 40 grams protein.) Ben reheated the extra for lunch and it was just as good the second time around.

Mini Calzones

Let me start off with saying I'm really proud of myself for making these. They are pretty easy to make and if you use store bought pizza dough all you need to do is pick your favorite flavors you want inside cut, fold and bake.


I brought these to Ben's for the usual Sunday night football snacks. I made them miniature so that they were easy to eat while watching the game and each one is about one slice of pizza, for quantity control. I looked up recipes on Cooking Light and followed the directions except used flavors that I knew these boys would love.

Mini Calzones

3 packages refrigerated pizza dough

Feta & Spinach Stuffing
2 cups fresh spinach, chopped
3/4 cup feta
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp oregano



Pizza Stuffing
1 cup cheese (pizza blend)
1/3 cup pizza sauce
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper


Herb-Parmesan Stuffing
1 cup greyer cheese
1/3 cup grated parmesan
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 sprigs fresh thyme


First you want to mix your stuffing in bowls so that it is ready to go after you have prepared your pizza dough. Please note that if you do want to create your own stuffing they should more solid than liquid, that is why in my pizza stuffing there is a lot more cheese than sauce, this is because when they cook and the cheese melts you do not want all of your stuffing leaking out the tops or the sides.


Roll out your pizza dough. Cut into 4 1/2 inch rounds (I used a small bowl.) Place your stuffing on one half of the circle. Fold over and crimp the edges. Make sure that the edges are really stuck together or else they will pull apart in the oven while baking.


Place on a baking sheet that you have greased (I used Pam.) They will only get about an inch bigger so they can be relatively close together. With a sharp knife cut a small hole in the top of the calzones so they can breath while baking. Spray tops with Pam, so that they turn golden brown. Place in a 425 degree oven for about 10-12 minutes. They should be golden before removing from the oven. With three packages of pizza dough I made 18 mini calzones, there are 6 servings in each pizza dough that I bought, which will make each calzone about 200 calories (depending on your stuffing) and each is equivalent to a slice of pizza so make as many as you need. You could even make them and freeze until you want to serve them.


They look a lot more impressive relatively than how much work they actually are. I loved making these, coming up with the flavors and putting everything together. Everyone loved these. I set some aside for my dad for his dinner and then brought the rest over to Ben's for football snacks. Ben made me pull out a few so that he could have them for lunch the next day before the boys got at them. You can eat them cold or reheat them in the microwave or oven. They are perfect for any meal (you could even put together a bacon and eggs stuffing and have a breakfast calzone!)


This is a really creative and easy meal or snack that you can redo over and over again depending what you have in the refrigerator, or what you are craving for the stuffing. This would be a great way to also get your kids in the kitchen helping with the flavors and folding the dough.