Jif Peanut Butter & Honey Creamy. $2.19 per 18-ounce jar.
Bonnie: Peanut butter's origins go back to the late 1800s, when a physician ground peanuts into a paste as protein for people with poor teeth who couldn't chew meat, at least according to the Peanut Advisory Board. And protein isn't all peanut butter has to offer. Like other legumes (peanut is a misnomer), peanuts are packed with vitamins and minerals. So I looked forward to testing this new peanut butter with a touch of honey.
When I opened the plastic jar, I thought I might see streaks of honey throughout the peanut butter. Wrong. At the very least, I thought the peanut butter would be fragrant of and taste like honey. Wrong again. Jif's new Peanut Butter & Honey is sweeter than regular Jif, with a teaspoon more of sugar per serving. But you'd have to have a very good imagination to conjure up any honey.
Carolyn: Jif has always been the sweetest national peanut butter brand. That's why it's always been my favorite. This new honey-flavored Jif is sweeter still, but only slightly more than regular Jif.
This is probably for the best — any more sweetness and there'd be no need for jelly or Marshmallow Fluff, and we wouldn't want that! In fact, if not for the distinguishing and cheery yellow label, I would have thought I was eating regular Jif.
Bigelow Vanilla Chai. $2.99 per 1.64-ounce box containing 20 tea bags.
Bonnie: Chai (rhymes with tie) generally refers to an Indian black tea spiced with cinnamon, cardamom and cloves and infused with milk and sugar. In Hebrew — pronounced with a hard, guttural "ch" — it's also the word for life and the number 18.
To this spiced tea, Bigelow has added the nontraditional vanilla flavoring. Unfortunately the vanilla used is artificial and tastes so, at least to me. That aftertaste might not be as noticeable if you drink this chai the more traditional way, with added milk and sugar.
Carolyn: I'm not a big fan of chai nor of Bigelow's other vanilla-flavored teas. And yet there's no denying that Bigelow has hit upon a nice combination here in vanilla chai.
All the flavors come on strong, but the black tea is the strongest. In fact, Bigelow Vanilla Chai delivers more true tea taste than any of the mixes or bottled chai drinks I've tried, General Foods International Coffee's Chai Latte included. And unlike most of the competition, Bigelow also leaves it up to you whether to add sugar or milk — and if so, which kind.
Amy's Indian Frozen Entrees. Samosa Wraps, Mattar Paneer and Palak Paneer. $3.79 per 10-ounce tray.
Bonnie: I've eaten my share of Indian food, both in India and in Indian restaurants in the United States, but I'm truly a neophyte when it comes to traditional Indian foods. I found these vegetarian dishes quite tasty, rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals, and modest in calories. Two of these use paneer, a soft unripened Indian cheese, pressed so it has the texture of tofu, while the Samosa wraps actually contain tofu. Both the paneer and tofu are excellent vegetarian sources of protein.
My only complaint: I wish Amy's had individually wrapped the Samosa Wraps, as one dipped in mango chutney is more than enough for an enjoyable light meal.
Carolyn: The audience for Indian frozen food is probably pretty small. The audience of Indian entrees starring squares of paneer cheese is smaller still. Even I, who like Indian food with meat, avoided trying these new Amy's Indian entrees for weeks, mainly because I mistook the cheese for tofu. (Why Amy's would want to make such a beloved food look like such an abhorred one is beyond me.)
The sauces in both the Mattar Paneer and the Palak Paneer and their side dishes of chaa masala (curried chickpeas) and rajmah dal (featuring kidney beans) were interesting and spiced just right. And the basmati rice has a lot more flavor than the regular white used in other frozen dinners. (Stouffer's Lean Cuisine is starting to use brown rice and wild rice. Why not basmati, too?) But I couldn't get past that tofu-looking cheese.
The cheeseless Samosa Wraps were better. In Indian restaurants, these potato-and-pea-stuffed pieces of dough are usually fried and served as an appetizer. But these are baked and sandwich-size. Think Indian taco or Hot Pocket. These have a nice flavor but are quite dry. And given their size, they should come individually wrapped (one point on which Bonnie and I agree).
Bonnie Tandy Leblang is a registered dietitian and professional speaker. Carolyn Wyman is a junk-food fanatic and author of "Better Than Homemade: Amazing Foods That Changed the Way We Eat (Quirk Books). Each week they critique three new food items. © Universal Press Syndicate