Travel Center of America's Homestyle Meals

First, let me apologize for the blog delay. I just haven't been in the mood to write lately. I've had a lot going on in my personal life. Anyway, let's not dwell on that.

Travel Centers of America recently started a menu insert of homestyle comfort foods. A small array of entrees to choose from that comes with a side of corn bread and the soup and salad bar. The price seems a little steep for the portion size but hey, maybe it doesn't come out of a can for once and it's actually decent quality.

Well....yes and no. I've tried two entrees thus far and while the entree itself was not bad, the side of cornbread, each time, was horrible. Usually cold (cold corn bread is the worst!), dry, falling apart. Basically a train wreck of an accompaniment. (side note, first time I've ever used that word)

The first dish I tried was the goulash. I really wasn't sure what goulash is or what it's supposed to look like. I mean heck, she set it down on my plate and my first thought was "oh. chili mac."

It looks like chili mac to me! Frankly, it tastes like it too. Okay so I guess it's chili mac with a fancy name. Unsatisfied with my own conclusion, I took to the almighty Google for some clarification. Turns out goulash is, at least from what I found, pretty much exactly as what was in front of me. It might be missing some herbs and spices but overall it looks...just like this. So I guess they nailed it in that regard.

The cornbread however, while it looks great in the picture, was horrible. I think I had two bites (one to try it, the second to see if it really was as bad as I thought during the first bite) and then I was done with it.

Would I order it again? Probably...not, and the main reason was the price. I think it was $9.99 and for the same price I could get a huge bowl of chicken fettuccine alfredo instead.

NEXT!

Next up, (well not in the same day I mean these are spaced out) I tried the chicken and dumplings. You know who has really good chicken and dumplings? Cracker Barrell! You know who has mediocre chicken and dumplings? This place...

...it almost looks appetizing.

...it almost looks like chicken helper, too.

I'll give it to T/A. They tried. They really tried. It almost hit the mark. 

That deceptively enticing cornbread is just sitting back there just calling out for you to try it. Don't do it! The cornbread is supposed to have bits of bacon mixed in with it which, you know, cornbread really is fine on it's own. Adding to it to try and make it better usually ends up making it worse. I'm sure when Jiffy was coming up with the recipe they tried variations and finally realized, "you know, people just really like our plain cornbread" so they left it alone.

At one location it was a bacon cornbread, at another location they were out of bacon (*gasp* out of bacon?!) and the chef took the liberty of mixing in green onion which...I don't know why. It wasn't very good either. That begs the question, do these cooks even try what they're making? I doubt it. 

So yeah, that's two of the homestyle comfort foods T/A is offering lately. The other choices really haven't appealed to me in the slightest (ham and beans? ugh, no thanks) so I've pretty much shyed away from trying anything else.