I just tried my first-ever “Healthy Choice Cafe Steamer” — a fairly new product, I believe. (I can’t find anything about it on HC’s website, but a USA Today article from April introducing the product says there are twelve flavors out.)

I’ve always been partial to Healthy Choice meals, if I’m going to eat frozen, pre-packaged food, that is. Hey, they give me a dessert so what’s not to like?

This one’s a bit different from the HC meals I’ve tried before. It comes in a bowl which claims to “steam fresh in your microwave.” You simply pop the whole thing in and cook: no venting required. Let it sit when it’s done, then lift the inner bowl with the food in it and pour that into the bowl below it where the sauce is, stir and enjoy.

I bought the “Grilled Chicken Marainara” flavor which has a mere 250 calories and 4 grams of fat. (The sodium content is 550mg, around 23% of the RDA.) It’s surprisingly good: the penne pasta and sauce are delicious, the chicken is all white meat and, although there’s not much broccoli, what’s there is good. Despite being 30 cents more than, say, a Lean Cuisine, it tastes better, too. The pasta’s not mushy and the chicken actually looks like what it claims to be.

The thing is, I couldn’t help wonder what I’m supposed to do with the steamer basket. It basically looks like a small plastic colander, complete with vent holes. I tend to dislike products that are over-packaged, but I don’t see any way Healthy Choice could accomplish the steaming effect without using this bowl.

Still, I hate the thought of just throwing it away. Then I noticed that the steamer bowl’s right about the same size as the base of a 9-inch flower pot. Heck, I’ve got plenty of those, many without the little trays that go beneath them. Sure enough, I checked and it fits!

That’s one flowerpot which will no longer be marring my deck with loose dirt. Nine more to go.