Review Day: Simply Asia Sesame Teriyaki Noodle Bowl with Gardein Teriyaki Chick'n Strips

Phew, sorry for posting this so late! I had a friend sleepover last night and then I went out shopping! I picked up Isa Chandra Moskowitz's new book 'Isa Does It'. I'm so excited that I got this, everything looks and sounds so good! If any of you have tried anything from it yet, let me know. I'm particularly excited about the Pineapple Upside-Down Cake recipe!

Because I was busy cleaning and hosting, I didn't really have time to cook today. So instead, I combined some things that I had around the house to make this.

So, let's get started.

These are the two products I combined to make this glory bowl:

I'm a big lover of Gardein products, and they're becoming more popular around the U.S.! Good. And I honestly can't remember if I've had anything else from Simply Asia, but I want to say I have. Oh well.

First I prepped the chick'n.

Basically, you just fry it up in a pan for a few minutes.

The Gardein chick'n strips comes with a teriyaki sauce. You need to defrost that, so I did that while I cooked it. If I were you though I'd start this process a minute or two before you start heating the chick'n. (I only did it during the actual cooking process because Philly water is obviously touched by Satan because it BURNS LIKE HELL. Seriously, I could burn my skin raw on this water.)

Here's what the noodle bowl looks like when you open it all up. You basically just open things and combine them into the bowl and microwave it. Although I'm dumb and added the sesame seed packet BEFORE I microwaved it. (Although honestly, you wouldn't notice. So feel free to make dumb mistakes!)

On the Gardein package, they tell you to add the sauce and stir it around for thirty seconds. This is what you're probably going to see before you take it off the stove range. Mmmmm, that smell.

Microwave those noodles (takes about 1 and a half minutes, from what I remember) and pour that chick'n on! I roughly cut mine with the spatula before I dumped it all in.

I like to go heavy with the sesame seeds, so I added some extra to the top before I ate it all.

I was overall a fan of this dish. I think the teriyaki sauces from these two companies married well, but the Gardein one was the clear winner in terms of strength. It was more balanced in terms of the sweet to sour ratio as well.

I have a feeling that the noodle bowl on its own would be rather bland and disappointing, but adding the Gardein strips made it a heartier meal. You'd be better off just adding the Gardein teriyaki chick'n strips to a bowl of steamed vegetables.

Verdict: Gardein Teriyaki Chick'n Strips are AMAZING. The Simply Asia Sesame Teriyaki Noodle Bowl was so-so.

I have a plan for what I'd theoretically like to write about on the blog tomorrow, but seeing as its my first day back at my job (it's seasonal) and I've switched to the morning shift, we'll see if I'll be conscious when I come home, let alone able to write a blog entry.

Cheers, all!

xo, Kate