Well, I was a little nervous about this one. I was so excited to see a gluten-free Lean Cuisine that I didn’t read the description very well. All I saw was braised beef served with a side of mashed sweet potatoes. I complete read over the spicy red chile sauce and the chipotle in the mashed taters. Oops.

When I opened it after cooking for 3 minutes in order to stir it (per the directions), it was hot as heck. The steam nearly burned my thumb. And, the fumes from the chiles in the meat’s sauce nearly burned my eyes. This wasn’t looking good.

The texture of the meat was actually pretty good. A little bit chewy, but mostly tender and moist. A couple of pieces did actually melt in my mouth. They do have it listed as prime rib in the ingredients, and I won’t argue that. The sauce, however, did set my mouth and lips ablaze. Please remember that I am freakishly sensitive to spicy food, so this probably won’t happen to you. The sweet potatoes were very light and fluffy. They did have a bit of a Southwest bite to them. I’m pretty sure it was the potatoes and not the meat because I took a big spoonful of Nutella in between to stop the burning. Yes, I’m a big sissy. Shut up.

For those of you who are normal and whose mouths won’t be set on fire by this, here are the nutritional details:

250 calories, 6g fat, 30mg cholesterol, 570mg sodium, 33g carbs, and 15g protein. Not bad.

So, there you have it.

I’m honestly torn on this one – for a microwave dinner, especially a gluten-free one – this is a winner. I just wish it didn’t start a frikkin fire in my mouth. Otherwise, you’d see me filling my freezer with them. This is definitely worth trying – especially for $2.00. That’s just insane. Hopefully Lean Cuisine will come out with some more gluten-free dinners.

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