Yogurt Burst Cheerios. Strawberry and Vanilla. $3.89 per 12.9-ounce box.
Bonnie: I've lost count of the cereals bearing the Cheerios name. I guess the folks at General Mills figure that if you like regular Cheerios, you might buy one of the new ones. The newest Cheerios, called Yogurt Burst, contains either vanilla or strawberry yogurt-covered and -flavored O's mixed with slightly sweetened plain ones. Because of the yogurt covering, I expected Yogurt Burst to contain a bit more calcium than regular Cheerios; it doesn't. The main nutritional differences? One less gram of fiber and an extra 2 1/2 teaspoons of sugars per ounce. Obviously, original Cheerios is a more nutritious choice.
For folks who like sweetened Cheerios, Yogurt Burst is similar in sugars and fiber to the Berry Burst, Honey Nut and Team Cheerios varieties. The worst of the franchise is Cheerios Honey Nut Clusters, with about twice the calories and 17 times the sugars of the plain.
Carolyn: Don't like strawberry, vanilla or yogurt? You don't have to in order to like strawberry- or vanilla-flavored Yogurt Burst Cheerios. In fact, it's probably better if you don't. These cereals don't taste anything like yogurt or vanilla, and only slightly of strawberry.
As with the other yogurt-flavored items that are crowding our supermarkets, the yogurt in Yogurt Burst appears mainly as the dairy ingredient in frosting (which, as all you cooks out there know, can be made with fat, sugar and a tiny bit of milk). So Yogurt Burst Cheerios is quite a bit like Frosted Cheerios, except that the frosting is only on every other O. That's the only way in which these are healthy. This relative restraint also gives these Cheerios just about the perfect amount of sweetness.
Green Giant Select Vegetables With Chef-Inspired Sauces. Roasted Garlic & Herb, Tuscan Herb, and Parmesan Asiago. $3.99 per 19-ounce bag.
Bonnie: These new Green Giant Select Vegetables feature high-quality frozen vegetables packed with flavor "chips" that melt into sauces purported to be inspired by chefs. Although chefs may have inspired these, I doubt any real ones would make sauces with so many artificial ingredients. The plethora of additives manifest themselves as a horrid chemical smell that's emitted when you mix the sauce and veggies halfway through cooking. (I suggest you hold your breath while doing it.)
Surprisingly, these taste OK, especially the Parmesan Asiago, which doesn't contain as many additives as the others (hmm, think there could be a connection?), especially if you use a few less sauce chips than called for. That way, the veggies are the prominent taste. I like it that Green Giant tells you the number of chips to use when making half the resealable package. Either way — made according to the recipe or with fewer sauce chips — these are modest in fat and sodium. I suggest serving them with plain broiled or grilled fish or chicken.
Carolyn: Green Giant justly boasts about the size and freshness of the vegetables in its Select bagged frozen vegetable line. Now it's crowing about pairing these vegetables with "chef-inspired" restaurant-quality sauces. There may indeed be restaurants serving vegetables in sauces as boring as Green Giant Select Parmesan Asiago and Tuscan Herb, but I wouldn't patronize them. Forget mediocre restaurants: If this Tuscan Herb were characteristic of the food served in Tuscany, its tourism industry would dry up. The Roasted Garlic & Herb is only slightly more flavorful.
Looking for real restaurant-quality food in the supermarket freezer? Try Birds Eye's Voila! Chicken & Sausage Tuscano or Bertolli Dinner for Two Shrimp, Asparagus & Penne skillet meals.
Kettle Bakes Potato Chips. Aged White Cheddar, Hickory Honey Barbeque and Lightly Salted. $2.99 to $3.29 per 4-ounce bag.
Bonnie: These newly revamped all-natural Kettle Bakes chips will save you lots of fat and calories. The entire 4-ounce bag contains only 480 calories and 12 grams of fat, instead of about 640 calories and 40 grams of fat for the same quantity of regular fried chips.
Of course, you'll get those savings only if you eat the same amount of these Bakes as you would regular Kettle chips. Since they are not as good-tasting or as satisfying as the regular, I found myself eating more. By the way, a bag of Kettle's regular chips usually contains 5 ounces, so these are also more expensive.
Carolyn: It's been more than a decade since Kettle introduced its Krisps baked potato chips. Who can fault Kettle executives for wanting to see if there have been significant advances in baked-potato-chip technology since then? Well, I fault them for deciding to go through with this reformulation and relaunch after finding out that there have been no significant advances. One bite of these should be enough for anyone to see that baked chips still aren't worth their reduced calories — especially when compared to delicious regular Kettle chips. (And you can't help but compare them when they share the same name.) The Hickory Honey Barbeque is the best of the three woeful varieties: Its assertive spicing gives it at least a little flavor.
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