Bush's Boston Recipe Baked Beans. $1.09 per 16-ounce or $1.59 per 28-ounce can.
Bonnie: I love beans. They're delicious and nutritious. And for canned beans, Bush's quality is tops, with its beans being nice and firm, rather than mushy. This new Boston Recipe with molasses and brown sugar is tasty, but just a tad too sweet for my liking.
If you feel the same way, or just prefer making your own, try this Boston Bean recipe adapted from my now out-of-print "Beans" cookbook:
Cook 4 ounces coarsely chopped salt pork or slab bacon in an ovenproof casserole until browned; set aside. Discard all but a tablespoon of fat from the pan. Add 1 chopped onion; cook, stirring, until golden. Add 3 cups cooked, drained navy beans (or rinsed and drained canned navy or great Northern beans), 3/4 cup water, 1/4 cup light molasses, 1 tablespoon light brown sugar, 1 teaspoon dry mustard, and some salt and pepper. Then bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the reserved salt pork. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven, uncovered, 20 to 30 minutes, until bubbly and the top is crisp.
Carolyn: There was a time when B&M meant canned Boston baked beans just as surely as Xerox stood for copying machines. Multiple resales have apparently weakened the B&M franchise to the point that Bush's, a Southern canned bean company, feels emboldened making this Northern specialty.
How does Bush's compare to the B&M standard-bearer?
Surprisingly well, especially with the changes that have come from B&M's new owners, although there are still significant differences between the two products. Bush's Boston baked beans aren't as mushy as the competition, but these firmer beans swim in a thinner sauce. Bush's uses tiny pieces of pork instead of salt pork — a signature ingredient for B&M until recently. But the biggest difference is the bigger molasses-to-brown sugar flavor of Bush's, making these less sweet. If you think these are too sweet, Bonnie, then don't even go near B&M.
Tyson Fully Cooked Heat 'N Eat Ingredient Meats. Grilled Chicken Breast Strips, Fajita Chicken Breast Strips, Southwestern Chicken Breast Strips, Roasted Diced Chicken Breast, Seasoned Steak Strips and Teriyaki Pork Strips. $3.49 per 6-ounce resealable pouch.
Bonnie: It's true that these new fully cooked chicken, beef and pork strips can help you get dinner on the table quickly. But is it a dinner that you'd want to eat? Not me, as I prefer my meats without the salty off-taste from the flavor enhancers Tyson uses, and without the preservative sodium nitrite (normally found in cured meats) found in all of these.
On the plus side: All these selections are either low or moderate in fat. The chicken has 3 grams of fat per 4-ounce serving; the steak and (limited availability) pork, 6 grams and 5 grams, respectively.
I recommend skipping these, visiting Tyson's Web site (www.tyson.com), and clicking on its FoodWise Learning center. There you'll find tips for seasoning, marinating, basting and cooking fresh meat without the additives Tyson uses in these fully cooked ones.
Carolyn: These Tyson Fully Cooked Ingredient Meats can make preparing the meat portion of your meal as easy as picking up a package of Oscar Mayer bologna. In fact, these are essentially 6-ounce pouches of already cooked-and-cut, thick-and-meaty pieces of chicken, beef or pork ready to put into a casserole, stir-fry, salad or sandwich. It's a beautiful yet flawed concept.
The Southwest-themed meats aren't seasoned strongly enough to flavor additional ingredients. That being the case, I think Tyson should offer unflavored varieties and leave the seasoning to us. Fewer varieties might also increase the chance of being able to find my favorite one in the supermarket.
Even the plain varieties are saltier than home-cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts. But I'm willing to overlook that small flaw in place of defrosting, skinning, boning and/or begging someone in the supermarket meat department to package me comparably small portions.
Jolly Time Mallow Magic Microwave Pop Corn. $2.29 per 8.8-ounce box containing two popcorn bags and two marshmallow pouches.
Bonnie: Products like Mallow Magic Microwave Pop Corn make me really hate this food-tasting job. I dutifully popped one bag while kneading the packet of marshmallow-flavored topping to drizzle over it. Once it finished popping, I grabbed a few hot kernels hoping for something decent-tasting before slathering on the gooey marshmallow icing. Imagine my surprise and disgust to find that the kernels were already sweetened with the artificial sweetener Sucralose.
Why Jolly Time would sweeten popcorn that's about to be topped with sugary marshmallow, I can't say. What I can say is that I had far from a "jolly time" trying it.
Carolyn: I too was surprised by Mallow Magic, Bonnie. Not by its sweetness — with the marshmallow topping, I expected that — but by its delicious saltiness and greasiness. Mallow Magic is actually only a little bit of marshmallow creme stirred over a mess of fake-butter-soaked, salted popcorn to create a snack somewhat like Rice Krispies Marshmallow Treats but better. Not being a big marshmallow fan, I approached this new product with almost as much dutifulness as Bonnie. As it turns out, however, I needed every ounce of willpower not to eat the entire bag.
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. Jolly Time is also behind the super-buttery, super-delicious Blast O Butter microwave popcorn. But Mallow Magic's Nutrition Facts make Blast O Butter look like health food. Mallow Magic is also very messy. (If you have kids, have them eat it in the back yard and hose them down afterward.)
At least it's not as weird as Orville Redenbacher's Cinnabon Microwave Popcorn.
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). Each week they critique three new food items. © Universal Press Syndicate