Candle Cafe Frozen Meals
I was wandering the aisles of Whole Foods and I came across the new line of frozen entrees that Candle Cafe put out. I figured I LOVE their seitan piccata at the restaurant, I should try the frozen entree. I never get to NYC and I was hoping this would be a great option. 
I’ll start by saying it is awesome that vegan food is coming into its own and we can now get a frozen dinner that is easy to make and not super fatty. I think if you have never had the real thing in the restaurant you might think this is ok. Unfortunately for me, I have eaten this dish in person, and it is delicious at the restaurant; perfectly breaded seitan with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus. So yummy! The frozen meal is nothing like it. It has chunks of plain seitan in a mild lemon caper sauce with brown rice and spinach. The lemon sauce could be more lemony, and the spinach, which is chopped really small and mixed with the rice, could have more flavor and maybe be left a bit larger in size. That way you won’t feel like the sole purpose of the spinach is to get stuck in your teeth! As a whole it’s ok – a bit salty for my taste, but for a frozen meal, it serves its purpose; I got a quick, vegan dinner, and it wasn’t cereal!
Have you tried the Candle Cafe frozen entree’s? What do you think?
-Shelley
Vegan Favorites 
Have you tried the froen entrees from Kashi? Two or three of them are vegan. I’ve had the Black Bean Mango dish and it was pretty good. Also the Whole Foods brand Whole Kitchen makes a pretty decent vegan Pad Thai frozen meal (my only complaint is that the tofu is a little squeaky).
I have not tried the Kashi meals. I have tried the WF Pad Thai. It was ok. I think I might have too high expectations for frozen meals. Not sure why that is.
try light life portobello very good and you get barley
Will do!
I just had the Candle Cafe Tofu Spinach Ravioli dish and it was fantastic! I am usually not a fan of frozen meals because the veggies are mushy and they just don’t taste that great. This one however was very cheesy and good. Now I’m looking forward to trying the Mac and Cheese! Oh and FYI to Tenneh. Wholefoods Whole Kitchen has stopped making the Vegan phad Thai. They no longer carry it. I was sad because it was a not bad option for a meal.
Love the CandleCafe Frozen Meals!! FYI Whole Foods has taken it upon itself to resurrect Veal Consumption. As a Vegetarian and ‘budding’ Vegan,I realize ‘Absolute victories’ are rare, however Veal consumption is on the way out and here comes Whole Foods to try and stimulate it. Yes indeed, they are now offering ‘Humane Veal’ (what a joke) so I won’t be shopping there as Veal is one of the few ‘deal breaker’ products for me. If you agree, please email Whole Foods and voice your displeasure. Again, love Candle Cafe and I’m hoping these meals will be offered at Veal-Free Sprouts Market.
Marc, wow that is horrible. Thanks for letting us know. What are they thinking????
Just saw these at my local Whole Foods and with a $1 off coupon in the monthly circular, I figured I’d give it a try. I’m pleasantly surprised, the Seitan Piccata was pretty good! Before going veg a couple of years ago, I used to like the Lemon Piccata Chicken that you can get in Lean Cuisine and the like, so it’s nice to know Candle Cafe has something similar. My only complaint is that they are expensive. $5.99 at Whole Foods here in Central Florida. I can get Amy’s or Morningstar meals for $3.99 or less.
Yes, I think they are expensive. I guess it’s ok, but if you have had the actual seitan piccata at Candle Cafe, it doesn’t even compare. I guess it’s hard to separate them. I know it’s harder to make frozen meals, but especially for that much, I expect high quality similar food!
I have tried the Seitan Piccata and the Ginger Miso Stir-Fry. The taste was okay and I would buy them again if the Sodium wasn’t so high. The Seitan has 920 mg of Sodium and the Ginger was also very salty. Because I am purchasing these meals because of the healthier ingredients, I will not buy them again until the sodium is about half of what they use now. I hope somehow they learn that the community they are marketing to is concerned with everything in the meal.
Yes, I agree. I tried the mac n’ cheese and all it was made up of was frozen pasta and daiya sprinkled on top. Not worth the 7.99 in my opinion.
-shelley
I was also very disappointed with the Seitan Piccata. I’ve never eaten at the restaurant, but I make seitan piccata from their recipe and it’s my favorite dish. I didn’t have high expectations, but I was still disappointed, for many of the reasons Shelley mentioned. The tiny bits of seitan were completely flavorless, and the spinach ruined the whole flavor for me. I won’t be buying it again.