Product Review: DeBoles Rice Pasta and Cheese

Like the the most classic of boxed macaroni and cheese dinners, DeBoles Rice Pasta and Cheese comes in a blue box. That is where the similarities end, however. This is no typical mac and cheese.

First of all, the box tells us that there are no preservatives or chemicals added. I don’t know about you, but I am always thrilled about food that is not full of chemicals.

The box also says that this product is made with all natural ingredients. This kind of statement always makes me want to double check the ingredients list because I know that there are a lot of “natural” ingredients out there that I don’t need to be eating. These ingredients checked out, though, every word was pronounceable and recognizable. So far, so good.

The preparation instructions threw me a bit. Most of the instructions are what you would expect: boil the water; cook the pasta; drain the pasta; mix the pasta with 1/8 cup of butter, 1/4 cup of milk and the seasoning packet.

The place where I got tripped up was on the 1/8 cup of butter. I don’t have a 1/8 cup in my kitchen (though I’m sure some of you do). I used a conversion chart and found that 1/8 cup is equal to 2 Tablespoons. (Learn something new every day, right?)

My next surprise was when I added the seasoning packet. It seems that one of the chemicals that got left out was the orange dye in the cheese sauce. This isn’t a bad thing in my book, but it really confused my daughter. She said, “I thought you said we were having macaroni and cheese. That looks like alfredo.” I assured her that food could taste cheesy without being day-glo orange and began serving the plates.

The gluten free pasta in the box had a really good texture. It was perfectly al dente, a rarity for rice pasta. It did still have the odd flavor of rice pasta, though I’m sure that is more of a personal preference statement.

The cheese sauce was different than any I had had before. It was very mild. It had a flavor that reminded me of sweet cream, and that was the aftertaste that stuck with me. The cheese flavor was gentle and blended with the creaminess very well.

Overall, I have to say that I won’t be craving this every night, but I do recommend it for anyone who is looking for a super fast meal and a creamy change of pace.