Hungryroot: Italian Herb Cauliflower Pilaf Review

This evening I literally spent 5 minutes making our Italian Herb Cauliflower Pilaf dinner. It was gloriously simple, yet I couldn't help but think the entire time while making it that a chicken drumstick would have made a wonderful addition. "Do I have drumsticks? Are they frozen?" And, they were frozen....great.

So I was SOL, but I didn't abort. I was committed to providing my family with a healthy vegan dinner.

As I was saying, this was crazy simple to put together. The meal consisted of a bag of cauliflower rice and one container of Italian herb chickpea medley. I grabbed a skillet, drizzled some olive oil in there, and turned up the heat. The cauliflower rice was sauteed in the pan for 2 minutes, a 1/4 cup of water was added and the rice was cooked an additional 3 minutes with a lid on the pan. The final step involved adding the container of Italian herb chickpea medley to the rice. Season with salt and pepper, then plate.

Here's the scoop. I'm not vegan, nor vegetarian, so I went into this thinking I was going to be extremely hungry when I finished the meal. In comparison to my other meals, it looked a little sad in regards to portion.  Surprisingly, it was filling.

However, this meal was extremely bland. I don't believe that if you're having a vegan dish you should have to compromise on flavor. I could taste subtle notes of Italian seasoning, it just wasn't enough to bring this dish to where it needed to be. The meal needed vegetables with more complex flavor, perhaps some onions or mushrooms. Additional spices or other flavorings could have helped this dish significantly. The cauliflower rice could have had vegetable stock added instead of water.  It just felt uninspired. 

If you're trying to lose some weight, I'd say this may be a good meal plan for you. Just don't do what my husband did and pour ranch dressing on your dinner. This dish offered 2 servings at only 180 calories. Like all of Hungryroot's meals, it was vegan and gluten-free.