Healthy Take Out Meals at Acacia Organics

Dinner time is often crunch time for moms, dads and hungry, tired people in general: Pizza?  Chinese?  Fast food?  It’s often the choice of the lesser evil or most convenient.

Acacia Organics at 100 East Station Street in Barrington, would like to add more appetizing choices to crunch time, How about Tuscany Chicken with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce?  Shrimp Scampi?  Crab Enchiladas?

The business owned by Registered Nurse, Laura Mueller, and Nutritional Consultant, Judy Zabielski has recently partnered with Mindful Meals, an Arlington Heights based company specializing in pre-prepared, organic, balanced meals, ready to pop in the oven for a close-to-homemade treat.

The meals come frozen and uncooked and can be thrown in the oven in their frozen state or thawed first.  Either way, a mouth-watering aroma will welcome both kids and adults to the table. 

“They are healthy, organic, natural.  They use a lot local farmers and are BPA free,” Mueller said.  “A lot of people are bringing home five, six, seven of them and stocking their freezers.”

The store offers all the pertinent details about every meal, including food allergy warnings.  Meals are packaged into large, rectangular containers, which serve four to six,  medium-sized, serving two to three, and individual, which feeds one or two.

Mueller admits to playing favorites when it comes to the current stock and Zabielski is quick to agree.  “Chicken Tuscany.  I think it’s everyone’s favorite,” Mueller said.  The meal consists of marinated chicken breasts, coated with breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese and served with a separate roasted red pepper sauce, which goes from frozen to fabulous in an hour.  The taste is enough to make meal planning something to look forward to in the future.

A surprising choice is the Mindful Eating version of sliders, usually a small greasy burger.  In this case they’re described on the Mindful Eating website as “all-natural, fresh, ground turkey, Swiss cheese, nitrate- free Canadian Bacon and special herbs and spices.”

The menu will not become redundant either, it will change every month and the choices will be listed at the Acacia Organics website, according to Zabielski.

Aside from the freezer case full of dinners, the store now carries a supply of healthy dry goods. “A lot of the food is gluten free and dairy free,” Mueller said.  “So that’s where we’re focusing. You’re eating a very clean diet if you want to detox or just clean up your life a little bit.”

For more information about Mindful Meals, visit www.mindfulmealskitchen.com