Frozen Friday - Michael Angelo's - Baked Ziti and Meatballs

Michael Angelo's Baked Ziti and Meatballs frozen meal features ziti pasta, tomato sauce, meatballs and mozzarello cheese topped with Pecorini Romano. An 11-ounce box retails for $3.99 but I picked this one up for $1.50 on sale with a coupon.

Cooking is easy; it's one of those set-it-and-forget-it deals. Out of the microwave, it really doesn't look much like the nice presentation on the box but that's really applicable to microwaveable baked pastas in general. There's a little puddle of cheese grease there that reminds me of pizza.

Taste-wise and quality-wise though, it blows the other microwavable baked pastas I've tried out of the water. It really tastes like if you were a good cook, made it at home, froze it and then reheated it the next day (and if you read the ingredients, it seems like it's pretty much what they did; all the ingredients are basically stuff you'd find at home).

The biggest surprise was that the pasta was actually al dente! Not soggy at all but firm. I don't know what magic they worked to achieve this with a microwave but wow.

The tomato sauce was thick, flavorful and not watery at all. Better than any sauce out of a jar and even some made from scratch.

The only knock was the meatballs were rather sparse; only four or five small meatballs. They were tasty but I wanted more! Overall, Michael Angelo's Baked Ziti and Meatballs was better than I would make at home and much faster to boot.

Nutritional Info - Michael Angelo's Baked Ziti and Meatballs (312g)
Calories - 480 (from Fat - 160)
Fat - 17g (Saturated Fat - 7g)
Sodium - 670mg
Carbs - 57g (Sugar - 7g)
Protein - 25g