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Appetizers
Box of Trader Joe's Crispy Green Curry Shrimp Gyoza
Crispy Green Curry Shrimp Gyoza from Trader Joe's

I tried some frozen Trader's Joe's Green Curry Shrimp Gyoza. I followed the microwave instructions because I only wanted to try a few first and didn't want to wait 14 to 16 minutes waiting for it to bake. The instructions say to microwave the gyoza for one minute. I microwaved only three first, and they looked a little underdone after one minute so I microwaved them for two minutes.

I assumed that the shrimp gyoza would be more soggy and not as crispy when microwaved compared to being baked in the oven, but I was pleasantly surprised that they still had crunch… I guess it's because they are pre-fried in palm oil.

The overall taste and texture of the shrimp gyoza was pretty good. The shrimp inside wasn't super hard or rubbery. I could taste a nice combination of a little spice, sweetness, and pepper with the taste of shrimp. The taste reminded me of the "Thai" taste in Trader Joe's Lemon Grass Chicken Stix, except that the taste of the shrimp gyoza was a lot better, and it didn't have the overwhelming pepper taste.

After eating the three gyoza I microwaved, I was definitely craving more.

Overall Rating:
Good
Food: Trader Joe's Crispy Green Curry Shrimp Gyoza
Source: Trader Joe's, Tucson, AZ
Rating: Good

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Box of Handy's frozen Maryland Style Crab Cakes
Handy Maryland Style Crab Cake on a plate

My boyfriend and I saw a box of these frozen Handy Maryland Style Crab Cakes at Costco.

The box comes with three sets of two crab cakes, packaged individually (a total of six crab cakes):

Handy Maryland Style Crab Cakes Inside Packaging
Inside packaging for Handy's frozen Maryland Style Crab Cakes

For the two of us, we cooked four cooked crab cakes, following the oven / baking instructions on the box. However, the instructions state to cook it for 22 minutes in the oven at 350F from frozen, flipping it once. We cooked it for 22 minutes at 350F, and they looked very pale, so we continued cooking it longer. We cooked it for 30 minutes, and it still didn't look done… eventually, we cooked it for a total of 47 minutes, and it was a little browned by then.

Despite cooking it in the oven for more than twice as long as the stated directions, it still wasn't very crisp on the outside. The crab cakes were small-ish, and the main taste was crab and mayonnaise... with a little breadcrumb and black pepper.

Although it was mushy on the inside, I liked that I could taste the crab and see it, and there seemed to be a decent amount of it. However, the mayonnaise taste was very prominent - a little too prominent for me.

My boyfriend and I shared three of the four crab cakes we made - we didn't feel like finishing a fourth one, so we saved that one for later in the refrigerator (even though we were still a little hungry after eating three crab cakes.)

Overall Rating:
OK
Food: Handy: Handmade & Gluten Free Maryland Style Crab Cakes
Source: Costco, Tucson, AZ
Rating: OK

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Bag of frozen Perdue Popcorn Chicken purchased at Costco
Perdue Popcorn Chicken cooked

My boyfriend and I bought some of the frozen Perdue Popcorn Chicken from Costco to have as a snack every now and then. The instructions on the bag state the preferred cooking method is using a conventional oven or toaster oven, but we just used the microwave instructions. The microwave instructions don't state how many pieces to microwave for 3 - 3.5 minutes, so we just tried microwaving 8 pieces.

Although the breading was thick, it didn't turn out very crispy. It was kind of doughy and a little too thick for me. The chicken underneath the breading was OK, but it was a little dry, and the overall taste of the chicken was a little peppery.

It was fine as a quick snack, but I don't know if I'd get these again.

Overall Rating:
OK
Food: Frozen Perdue Popcorn Chicken (chicken breast chunks with rib meat fritters)
Source: Costco, Tucson, AZ
Rating: OK

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