Holiday Gift Guide 2010: El Monterey Family Size Entrées

With the holidays comes hustle, bustle, and a longer to-do list. Wouldn’t it be great to cut down on chores this holiday season? One of the most thoughtful gifts you can give is something that will make the recipient’s life easier. And that’s where El Monterey Frozen Dinners come in! El Monterey Family Size Entrées can feed a household in the push of a button on your microwave. Busy moms (And dad, grandparents, college students…) would welcome an economical night off from cooking, so why not treat them to a box full of El Monterey?

El Monterey did just that for me, and it couldn’t have been better timing. I was under the weather and did not feel like shopping or cooking, but our bare fridge necessitated it. But then a big box arrived from FedEx:

Is that a sight for sore eyes, or what?! This bounty of food kept us well fed for some time…and all I had to do was stick it in the microwave! Jai and I thoroughly reviewed all of these meals. 😉 Here’s what we thought of the many varieties:

Cheese Enchiladas with Rice & Sauce

The first variety which we tried was the Cheese Enchiladas. To cook, you simply slice the plastic on top of the meal and microwave for around 17 minutes; you can also cook it in a conventional oven. We usually cooked ours for less than 17 minutes, since our microwave is so powerful – I just cooked it until it looked ready.

These enchiladas had a deliciously cheesy flavor, and made for a satisfying meal….mmmm!

Chicken Enchiladas with Rice & Sauce

The Chicken Enchiladas were one of my favorites. As you can see, you can serve it straight from the tray it cooks in – no fuss, no mess! I served this with two ears of corn on the cob and soda (Side note: Never cook corn on the cob in a slow cooker!). We definitely enjoyed the tasty chicken!

Spicy Beef Enchiladas with Rice & Sauce

I don’t have much of a tolerance for spicy foods, so I thought the Spicy Beef Enchiladas would be too much for me – but they were actually not too hot and I was able to eat them. I served it with a nice refreshing salad to balance out the mild spiciness.

Chicken Mexicana

Chicken Mexicana is a pasta and chicken dish. Surprisingly, this was way spicier than the Spicy Beef Enchiladas! The box made no mention of it (The beef enchiladas had “SPICY” written in big, fiery font), but this dish is HOT. I did a lot of choking and guzzling water, and Jai – who is a lot more tolerant of spicy foods – agreed that it was very spicy. I wasn’t a big fan of it the first time I tried it, but the second time it actually grew on me a lot, although I would enjoy it more if it weren’t so spicy. Once again, I served this with a fresh salad as a counterpart to the heat of the meal. Jai loved this and said it was his very favorite out of all the meals.

All in all, we loved the great taste of El Monterey Family Size Entrées and the utter simplicity of preparation. One entrée provided both Jai and I with dinner as well as leftovers for lunch the next day. For larger families, you’ll likely want to serve it with a side dish or cook two entrées at a time to ensure there’s enough.

Food: It’s the holiday gift that keeps on giving!

El Monterey Family Size Entr̩es are available in the freezer section at grocery stores nationwide Рclick here to locate a retailer near you.