MNN - Mother Nature Network

Lisa’s Organics has a line of five frozen vegetables and vegetable blends that are made with what the company calls “chef inspired sauces.” I received samples of the Broccoli Florets in Gorgonzola Cheese Sauce and the California Vegetables in Balsamic Glaze to give a taste test. My boys and I gave them a try last night.

 

The Broccoli Florets in Gorgonzola Cheese Sauce (pictured at left) were good. I am not a huge broccoli lover. I used to be, but when I was pregnant with my oldest, the smell of broccoli became extremely offensive to me. Ever since, I’ve eaten it, but it’s a purely functional vegetable for me. I don’t enjoy it. The cheese sauce on this broccoli made it much more palatable for me.

 

The sauce is a blend of organic cream, butter, cheddar and Gorgonzola blue cheese that melts smooth over the organic broccoli. Be warned, although it tastes good, it definitely left a pungent blue cheese smell in the house that was noticeable several hours later when we had been out and walked through the front door.

 

The California Vegetables in the Balsamic Glaze (pictured at left) were more to my boys’ taste, although the tangy vinegar in the glaze was a bit of a surprise to them at first. A medley of organic cauliflower, baby carrots, whole green beans, plus red and yellow pepper strips, this is definitely a great way to get kids and grown-ups to eat their colors.

 

I usually serve my vegetables plain, so while my grown-up palate appreciated these sauces, my boys wanted nothing to do with the blue cheese sauce and were tentative about the balsamic glaze. They both agreed that the balsamic glaze was okay, but they’d prefer their vegetables plain.

 

That’s not a bad thing. Teaching children to enjoy the flavors of vegetables with nothing added will help to make them life-long vegetable eaters. But, once in a while it’s nice to add a little extra something as palates get more sophisticated.

 

Lisa’s Organic Vegetable Blends are very easy to prepare on the stovetop, but I did notice that the cooking times were optimistically short. The California Vegetables said they would take about three minutes to cook and the Broccoli about six minutes. Both side dishes took closer to 12 to 15 minutes on medium heat on my stove.

 

If you’d like to get more fancy with the side dishes, the company website has various recipes that make use of them. I have enough California Vegetables in Balsamic Glaze left to use in one wrap recipe that adds spinach, ricotta cheese and sprouts to the vegetables and serves them up in a tortilla.

 

Lisa’s Organics are sold in grocery stores nationwide. My local Wegmans carries them, and I’m looking forward to grabbing a bag of the Whole Green Beans with Sun-Dried Tomatoes in Garlic Olive Oil Sauce soon.

 

Product disclaimer: I am not paid by any producer of any product that I write about, although the company may provide me with a sample of the product. I’ll write about the product if it’s something that I like and if I think the producer is working toward making the product in a healthier and environmentally friendlier fashion.