Product Review: Road’s End Organics Penne and Chreese

Oh, how I miss that “blue box”! The ease combined with artificially delicious flavor. That day-glo orange color combined with a cheese sauce so tangy you can totally believe it came from powder… Many of you right now are wondering if I am joking. I am not! I was totally addicted to boxed mac and cheese before going gluten free. Granted, it was never the healthiest option, but, oh so yummy!

So I walked into my kitchen the other day and discovered another kind of blue box on my shelf. This one had penne instead of macaroni. I really like penne so it earned a point automatically. Then I noticed that Road’s End Organics Penne and Chreese is not only gluten free, but dairy free and certified organic as well. A little more reading told me that this product was also vegan. By now I’ve read enough to know that I can share this meal with all of my friends (despite having very different diets). The points were really adding up.

I started the water boiling, cooked the pasta and drained it according to the directions. I had some amazing veggies roasting in the oven and was really looking forward to the healthy meal I was treating myself to.

I put the brown rice gluten free penne back into the pan and mixed in the Chreese powder and rice milk (my choice, you can use water or any other dairy substitute). I stirred rather fast. I was starving and ready to eat. I took a small taste before the pasta had had a chance to really heat back up.

DON’T (and I cannot stress this enough) Don’t do this! It tasted like raw beans! Let me correct myself here, it tasted like raw beans mixed with radishes. It literally stung my tongue. Reeling from the experience I went back to stirring, hoping that with a little more heat the flavors would soften and settle.

The stinging flavor did settle. The bean flavor did not. My finished product consisted of broken penne (my fault, remember the fast stirring?) and a very thick sauce that tasted more green than asparagus.

I tried very hard to remain positive, but the finished product I had in my pan had no resemblance to pasta with cheese sauce - vegan or otherwise. On the good side, the penne did cook perfectly before I mangled it with my stirring.

Needless to say, I will not be looking to buy this product again. It really goes against my nature to end on a negative note, though, so please help me out. If you have tried this product and have a better opinion than mine please share it in the comments. Everybody has different tastes and preferences and it would be great to hear some positive feedback.