Bonnie: Tubes debuted as a delivery method for food in 1998 with Yoplait's Go-Gurt. But it wasn't until this year that the tube trickle became a flood. Tubes nowadays dispense kid and adult yogurts, regular and organic applesauce, Jell-O and now, Jolly Rancher Portable Gel Snacks and Hershey's Portable Pudding. The gel snacks are gelatin that has been flavored like watermelon and green apple Jolly Rancher candies. A serving is only 60 all-sugar calories. The Hershey's might be enjoyed by chocolate pudding lovers who usually purchase theirs pre-made and don't mind the aesthetics or the high price of eating foods out of a tube as much as I do.
Carolyn: The rising popularity of cookies and snack cake desserts is probably not so much because Americans have lost their taste for pudding and gelatin but because of how ill-suited these gloppy foods are for today's on-the-go lifestyles. These new tubular snacks are ConAgra's attempt to deal with that problem.
Jolly Rancher is one of two brands of gelatin tube snacks. I think Jell-O brand has a smoother consistency and stronger flavors. Hershey's is also one of two brands of pudding in a tube, but it's the only one needed given how tasty it is.
What we really need from some company now: a drinkable pudding or gelatin for adults who need to keep at least one hand on the steering wheel.
Healthy Choice Mixed Grills Frozen Dinners With Dipping Sauce. Chicken With Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce, Chicken With Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, Chicken With Ginger Sauce, Chicken With Barbecue Sauce, Steak With Zesty Steak Sauce, and Steak With Teriyaki Sauce. $3.50 per 13- to 14-ounce box.
Bonnie: The folks at Healthy Choice tout these new Mixed Grills as the first "healthy" frozen meals to satisfy men's appetites. I wonder what men they know, since the hungry few trying these for me felt they were more of a snack than a satisfying meal. Their description of these as super-size airplane meals is apt especially as regards to taste and should ring a bell with anyone who remembers when airlines served meals.
At 350 to 450 calories a piece, these still are much more satisfying than the many Lean Cuisine, Smart Ones or Healthy Choice entrees that contain fewer calories than a plain bagel.
Carolyn: I've long railed on Healthy Choice dinners for their lack of flavor. It's a complaint that was mitigated somewhat by the Healthy Choice Bowl offerings with their interesting sauces that you heat separately and then mix in with the other food. But these new Mixed Grills find Healthy Choice back to its old boring tricks. These are Hungry Man-size portions of starch, vegetables and meat along with a dipping sauce in its own container so that — like the Bowl packets — you can use as much or as little as you like.
The problem is that most of these sauces are commonly available in the pasta sauce, condiment or Oriental food aisles of the supermarket. And who can't make some rice or pasta and then throw a piece of meat or chicken and some cut-up vegetables on a grill and serve it alongside a jarred sauce?
When I buy frozen meals, I try to buy ones that would be hard or impossible to make myself — such as lasagna, chicken parmigiana or an interestingly flavored stir-fry.
Goya Salsita Hot Sauce. Smoky Ancho Chile, Tangy Arbol Chile, Plenty-Hot Jalapeno Chile, and Pure-Fire Habanero Chile. $1.39 to $1.49 per 8-ounce bottle.
Bonnie: Goya's new line of Salsita hot sauces offers us a chili education. The distinct flavor and heat intensity of various chilies is quite apparent when trying these — if you can handle heat. These Salsitas offer that in four levels: hot, hotter, very hot and the hottest, from the ancho, arbol, jalapeno and habanero chilies, respectively.
Other than their sodium, which is reasonable for a condiment, nutrition is really not a consideration with these. Flavor and heat are.
Carolyn: The name Salsita led me to believe these were a new line of hot-sauce-based salsas spiced with specific chili varieties. Salsita is actually Spanish for "little sauce," and has no connection to the tortilla dip known as salsa. Goya's Salsitas are actually hot sauces based on chilies of various colors, flavors and, most important, degrees of heat.
The Salsita heat scale ranges from the fairly mild and smoky ancho (commonly rated 3 on the heat scale of 1 to 10) to the aptly named Pure-Fire Habanero (commonly rated 10 plus). The most popular hot sauces in this country are cayenne-based (7 to 8) or tabasco-based (8 to 9). Salsitas' unique contribution to the supermarket is its milder varieties. Despite Goya's renown with Hispanic consumers, Salsitas will probably find their biggest fans among Anglos who find Tabasco, Frank's and Texas Pete's too hot to handle.
Bonnie Tandy Leblang is a registered dietitian and professional speaker. Carolyn Wyman is a junk-food fanatic and author of "Jell-O: A Biography" (Harvest/Harcourt). Each week they critique three new food items. © Universal Press Syndicate