Knorr Sides Plus Veggies. Alfredo Pasta Primavera; Teriyaki Noodles With Asian Style Vegetables; Roasted Garlic, Olive Oil & Broccoli Rotini; Southwestern Style Rice; Cheddar Rice With Broccoli and Carrots; and Roasted Chicken Rice With Harvest Vegetables. $1.99 to $2.29 per 4.3-ounce to 5.4-ounce pouch.
Bonnie: The good thing about these new Knorr Sides Plus is that each pouch contains two servings of vegetables. At least that's what the manufacturer assures me; it looks like lots less. Knorr says that it measures "the appropriate amount of vegetables per cup. ... Because the vegetables are dried, they take up less volume than their fresh counterparts."
Knorr also touts "no artificial flavors or trans fats." That is true, but these Sides are loaded with flavor enhancers (MSG, disodium guanylate, disodium inosinate), ones that you wouldn't think of adding when making your own rice or pasta with veggies. Those additives are mostly responsible for the 660 to 710 milligrams of sodium in a serving. To be fair, Knorr has been working to reduce the sodium in its offerings, but these are still nowhere near low enough.
Sides Plus are not destined for my shopping cart, but these are still quick and provide more vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and fiber than many other packaged, dehydrated sides.
Carolyn: Bonnie may like the vegetable content of these new Knorr side dishes, but I like their convenience. Before this, serving a packaged rice or pasta side dish meant also having to prepare a meat and a veggie. All you need to complete Knorr Sides Plus Veggies is a small package of precooked chicken, sausage or (if you don't mind waiting in line at the fish counter) shrimp.
In other words, my thumb is way up on the concept and for at least two of the varieties. The Alfredo Pasta Primavera is that rare Alfredo dish that is creamy without being decadently indulgent. Red bell peppers also lend a pleasing sweetness. And the Roasted Chicken Rice is a lot more interesting than it sounds, mainly because of its leeks, although these do not get the front-of-the-package promotion of its more abundant and familiar peas, carrots and corn.
The three varieties that sound more ethnic and interesting — the Southwestern Style Rice, Teriyaki Noodles and Roasted Garlic, Olive Oil & Broccoli Rotini — are ironically much blander than the others mentioned above and are not worth buying. The veggies in the Teriyaki also don't rehydrate completely.
Knudsen's LiveActive Cottage Cheese. $2.59 per multipack of four 4-ounce cups.
Bonnie: Now here's a product I can get excited about! Knudsen now offers individual cups of cottage cheese containing prebiotic fiber. I've been telling you lots about probiotics, the beneficial bacteria that help aid digestion that have recently been added to many products in the dairy case. Prebiotics are the food source for probiotics and also aid digestion.
Each 4-ounce cup contains a decent 3 grams of fiber from the prebiotic fiber inulin, which also has been shown to increase calcium absorption.
Enjoy this snack alone or topped with an antioxidant-rich fruit such as blueberries. By the way, in September the company plans to offer this same LiveActive Cottage Cheese with fruit mixed in. Or enjoy your prebiotic cottage cheese with probiotic yogurt — now that should really keep your system regular!
Carolyn: I should recuse myself from this review. Cottage cheese is one of the few foods I really can't stand and assiduously avoid because of its plastic taste, cottony texture and beady appearance.
In fact, I sometimes wonder if the roots of America's current obesity crisis might be traced to cottage cheese's prominent role in doctor-prescribed diets for so long.
The best thing I can say about this new LiveActive Cottage Cheese is that it doesn't taste any worse than regular cottage cheese, which is to say, it would probably taste fine to anyone who likes the stuff. Just don't serve it to me, please.
Uncle Wally's Smart Portion Baked Goods. Blueberry Oat Muffins, Banana Muffins, and Brownie Cups. $3.49 to $4.29 per 8-ounce to 10-ounce box containing four twin-packs.
Bonnie: Wally Amos arrived at my desk at the New Haven Register in the early '80s sporting a big smile and carrying a basket of warm chocolate chip cookies. I can still remember how delicious those cookies were.
What happened, Wally? When did you give up on quality? These so-called Smart Portion muffins have been sitting in my testing closet for three months now and appear to be as "fresh" as they were on arrival. That's because they're chock-full of additives. Yes, they're made with whole grains, are a good source of fiber and are 99 percent fat-free. But that chemical aftertaste is a killer.
Carolyn: Uncle Wally is joining the parade of portion-control products, I thought upon first seeing his new Smart Portion line of individually wrapped muffins and brownies. He's actually doing much more. These are also whole-grain, low in fat and high in fiber, which lends a bitter taste, especially to the Blueberry Oat Muffins. The oatmeal flake topping is appealing (while all the fiber does is make this two mini-muffin serving very filling), but the Banana is a better match for the bran. It's the best of the Smart Portion's three.
Like many other low-fat desserts, Wally's Brownie Cups overcompensate for a lack of fat with way too much sugar. (Yes, Bon, they're even too sweet for sugar-lovin' me!)
All in all, I think I would have been much happier if Smart Portions were just smaller portions of better-tasting baked goods.
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