Seafood Steamers for the Microwave. McCormick Lemon Garlic, McCormick Garlic Butter and Old Bay. $2.89 per .53-ounce to 1-ounce pouch containing seasoning and steaming bag.
Bonnie: How do you ruin fresh seafood? By coating it with the goo made by mixing either one of McCormick's new Seafood Steamers seasonings packets with water and steaming them in the plastic bag in the microwave. Follow the directions to a T — which I always do when testing — and there will be way too much seasoning (read: salty), and the fish will be overcooked.
If you're a savvy-enough cook to estimate the proper amount of this sauce to use and the right cooking time for the thickness of your fish, then using these Steamers might result in something edible. But anyone that knowledgeable in the kitchen probably wouldn't buy this product.
The best of the three is the Old Bay. It contains the fewest ingredients, and instead of adding water, you just shake and steam, resulting in a decent Old Bay-style flavor. You still need to be careful of overcooking.
Instead of buying these, I suggest tossing your seafood with some of your favorite seasonings or even the Old Bay from the bright yellow can (it doesn't contain the maltodextrin or silicon dioxide found in the Steamers version) in a bag designed for the microwave such as Ziploc's Zip 'n Steam.
Carolyn: Seafood is one of the few foods that cooks as well (or better) in the microwave as in a conventional oven. In other words, it's the perfect candidate for microwave cooking-bag treatment. But with a name like Seafood Steamers, I expected these bags to feature light, powdered seasonings, not the heavy sauces you create using McCormick's Steamer seasonings and water. That makes these both messy and indulgent. For those who are looking for this kind of rich, creamy seafood sauce, the Lemon Garlic is particularly delicious and distinctive.
The Old Bay Steamers is more my expected conception of microwave-steamed seafood. The Old Bay shrimp I made with this was spicy, dry and probably much better for me nutritionally (I'm guessing, Bonnie) than the McCormick's Steamers sauces. Because it requires no mixing — you just shake the shrimp with the Old Bay in a bag — the Old Bay is as easy and quick on the front end of preparation as on the back of cleanup (just throw the bag in the trash).
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Crystal Light On the Go Enhanced Beverage Mixes. Lightly Lemon Hydration, Berry Splash Hydration, Wild Strawberry Energy, Cherry Pomegranate Immunity and Blueberry White Tea Antioxidant. $3.29 to $3.49 per box of 10 packets. Also available in 14-packet box.
Bonnie: Crystal Light is jumping on the let's-add-nutrients—to-everything fad with these new enhanced drink packets. Like the original On the Go sticks, you just pour the crystals into a pint-size (that's 16 ounces) bottle of water.
The Lightly Lemon Hydration and the Berry Splash Hydration contain electrolytes (potassium and sodium) and added vitamins; the Cherry Pomegranate Immunity just the vitamins. The Blueberry White Tea Antioxidant has antioxidants from the white tea and added vitamins. The Wild Strawberry Energy has vitamins and caffeine. Each also contains the much-less-desirable artificial sweeteners, preservatives, colors and other chemicals.
Carolyn: Crystal Light is the chameleon of diet drinks. That brand offers mixes mimicking orange and grapefruit juices, iced tea, lemonade and now enhanced waters like VitaminWater and Propel. I, for one, have nothing against stuffing drinks with vitamins and herbs, especially if when, as here, they don't come with any apparent downside — like more calories or bad taste.
In fact, the Energy, Immunity and Antioxidant varieties deliver the strong flavors of strawberry, cherry and blueberry, respectively. The Energy also packs a powerful wallop of caffeine — 120 milligrams per bottle, or the same as drinking two cups of instant coffee.
Why Crystal Light decided to color the Antioxidant's blueberry-flavored white tea deep yellow instead of blue, I can't say. But it created a real battle between my eyes and my taste buds. The Lightly Lemon Hydration and the Berry Splash Hydration, with their promised "splashes" of lemon and berry, are as well-named as they are weak-tasting.
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Breyers Double Churn 100 Calorie Cups. Cookies & Cream, and Vanilla Fudge Swirl. $3.99 per box of six 4-ounce cups.
Bonnie: Breyers Double Churn 100 Calorie Cups provide portion control for people who think a pint of Ben & Jerry's is single-serve. Each cup, as the name implies, serves up only 100 calories, with a very modest 2 grams of total fat (1 of which is saturated). But what about taste?
With the added ice-structuring proteins and the so-called "double churning," these are better in both flavor and texture than regular low-fat ice creams. But they're still mediocre-tasting and aren't worth 100 calories to me.
Carolyn: "Double-churning" is the best thing that's happened to dieting ice cream lovers since the birth of the Skinny Cow brand. And the best thing that ever happened to double-churned ice cream for those same calorie-conscious snackers is getting these new portion-controlled cups of it.
At least that's what I thought after trying Breyers big and satisfying Double Churn Vanilla Fudge Swirl 100 Calorie Cups, which are similar to but much bigger and richer-tasting than the cheapo convenience-store ice cream cups with their rubber-banded wooden spoons. (As for taste, Bonnie seems to be comparing these to Haagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry's, and that's not fair.)
I was less impressed with the Cookies & Cream variety, probably because it includes cookie wafers but not broken whole cookies with the delicious cream filling.
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. For previous columns, visit www.supermarketsampler.com, and for more food info and chances to win free products, visit www.biteofthebest.com. © Universal Press Syndicate