Hershey's Kissables. 65 cents per 1.5-oz or $3.19 per 14-ounce bag.
Bonnie: Carolyn doesn't like it when I share my love of candy. She thinks dietitians are sub-human, that we eat only fruits, vegetables and high-fiber, low-fat grains, never veering off the path of healthy foods for an instant.
Boy, is she wrong. We like candy just like everyone else; we just enjoy it in moderation.
I particularly like M&M's, and Kissables are no M&M's. These kiss-shaped, candy-coated chocolates are obviously meant to imitate M&M's but fail miserably. The coating is thicker and crunchier, and overwhelms the chocolate.
I can't imagine anyone liking Kissables more than M&M's. But if you do, they are at least no worse nutritionally. A 1.5-ounce bag of either provides just over 200 calories, with about 20 grams of fat, or enough that everyone — not just dietitians — should eat them no more than once every other week.
Carolyn: Hershey's probably came up with the name for this candy from the expression, "He is so cute, I could kiss him." These color-coated mini Hershey's Kisses are cute, all right, but in a playful rather than a kissable way. They look like the colorful playing pieces of a kids' game.
They're even better for eating. They're like M&M's, but with a much bigger hit of the distinctive chocolate of a Kiss (to directly contradict my favorite M&M-loving dietitian) because Kissables are bigger. So Kissables will hold the greatest appeal for Hershey's Kisses fans.
Where I think even Bonnie will agree with me is about how much an improvement they are on Hershey's old M&M's rip-off, Hersheyettes.
Dole Selections of the Season Spring Garden Salad Kit. $3.69 per 5-ounce bag.
Bonnie: We received the first of Dole's new seasonal salad kits a bit too late to tell you about it, as each variety is on the shelves for only a couple of months. The second kit, Spring Garden, is a delightful blend of baby lettuces, chopped almonds and just the right amount of refreshing raspberry balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
I rarely use all the dressing in salad kits because it usually drowns the greens. Not this time. Dole added just enough. This salad would make a great accompaniment to roasted chicken, broiled fish or seared pork chops. Just don't wait too long to buy it, as it will be available only from March through May.
Carolyn: The modern food industry's ability to provide sweet corn, fresh strawberries and so many other perishables 12 months a year is good in many ways. But it's also killed some of the anticipation and excitement attendant to the current season's harvests.
These Selections of the Season salads are Dole's attempt to bring some of that excitement back. They feature ingredients appropriate to the season and also supposedly use foods at their peak freshness.
I find it hard to believe that greens that have been picked, washed and packaged on the West Coast can taste fresh-picked on the East. That's why I'm attributing the wonderful taste of the greens in this Spring Garden mix to their quality and variety. They're good enough to almost totally carry this salad (although the raspberry vinaigrette and toasted almonds are definite pluses).
I'm the first person to buy a store brand when the quality is good. But bagged salad is one case where special blends from brand names like Dole's Selections of the Season Spring Garden are definitely worth my extra green.
Post Grape-Nuts Trail Mix Crunch. $3.49 per 17-ounce box.Bonnie: This new Grape-Nuts cereal reminded me of the Kellogg's Raisin Bran Crunch TV commercial where the employee can't hear that he's been fired because of the deafening crunch of his cereal.
Post Grape-Nuts Trail Mix Crunch is just as noisy! It's also delicious and nutritious. One small half-cup is an excellent source of whole grains, offering a hefty 5 grams of fiber, with a modest 10 grams of sugars (modest, considering that some of those sugars are from the cereal's raisins).
Considering that Raisin Bran Crunch has 1 less gram of fiber and double the sugar, is there any question as to which noisy cereal with raisins I recommend?
Carolyn: Why are Grape-Nuts called that when they contain neither grapes nor nuts? It's because Grape-Nuts inventor C.W. Post thought the repetitive baking and shredding of the cereal turned its starches into grape sugar, and because the cereal's hard nuggets reminded him of nuts. (Some people think it was C.W. Post who was nuts, but that's another story.)
I'd say they're more like pebbles. The only other Grape-Nuts spin-off, Grape-Nuts Flakes, goes to the opposite extreme. They're so thin, they get soggy in milk in three minutes.
As for texture, Grape-Nuts Trail Mix Crunch is being billed as something in between. If so, it escaped my aching teeth. More noticeable is the way this cereal has been gussied up with the more broadly appealing raisins, nuts and honey. But there is not enough of this stuff to make it granola-indulgent.
The new ingredients also don't integrate that well with the Grape-Nuts nuggets. The honey and brown sugar actually covers up Grape-Nuts' main asset: its distinctive taste. (As far as I'm concerned, it's the only reason to do all the jaw work.)
Nice try, Post. But I'm thinking heartier Grape-Nuts flakes with nuts and raisins would have broader appeal.
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