As a college student, I know how it feels to get home after a long day, tired, in need of some comfort food that makes me say “O, That’s Good!”. The problem is, we do not want to spend a long time cooking food at that point, we probably do not know how to cook at all, and/or we do not want to go out and buy a big plate of something that is full of countless calories.
Just like always, Oprah Winfrey has come to the rescue. She just released a line of microwavable, affordable, comfort foods called “O, That’s Good!”. She offers mashed potatoes, pasta, and soups, and she adds a healthy twist to them. How? She incorporates ingredients such as cauliflower, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, celery, carrots, and white beans to her creations, making the fiber, protein, vitamin, and calorie count a bit better than in the original dishes, with no artificial flavors or dyes.
What are the dishes exactly?
She offers two types of mashed potatoes, two types of pasta, and four types of soups, all under 300 calories. For the Mashed Potatoes, she replaced some of the potato for cauliflower. For the Creamy Parmesan Pasta, she replaced some of the cream for white bean puree, and for the Three Cheese Pasta, cheese for butternut squash puree. Lastly, for the four different soups, she replaced some potato in the Baked Potato Soup for cauliflower, cream for butternut squash in the Creamy Butternut Squash Soup, again, cheese for butternut squash in the Broccoli Cheddar Soup, and dairy for celery and carrots in the Creamy Tomato Basil Soup.
The Baked Potato Soup is shown above!
So, can I eat this all the time?
These are all great ideas because by adding these nutrient-dense vegetables, the dish provides more vitamins (especially vitamin C and A), fiber, and less total carbohydrates and fats. When comparing these dishes, for example, with other microwavable brands of pasta found in Publix, you can easily see that “O, that’s Good!” actually provides less calories from fat and more fiber and vitamins. Also, comparing the Tomato Basil Soup with another Tomato Basil soup sold at Publix, the latter one has literally twice as many total calories, twice as much sugar, and less vitamin content.
However, should you eat them daily or even regularly? The answer is no! They are packed with sodium (providing around 30% of the daily limit) and food additives (some related to allergies). These dishes are far from perfect, but if you are going to get comfort food, at least you are getting some veggies with it!
Where can I get them?
The line was released in October. You can find them at your local grocery stores (Winn Dixie, Target), and you can order them from Amazon Fresh and Instacart. Another plus is that ten percent of the profits will be donated to “Rise Against Hunger” and “Feeding America”.
Go try them, and hopefully they’ll make you say…
“Oh….that’s good!”