The federal government says you should eat at least three to five servings of it per day.
It can go from package to plate in less than five minutes.
Its company's founder was a frozen-food visionary in more than one way.
Bonnie says it's delicious as is — although Carolyn says butter makes it even better.
What is it?
Only the best new food product of 2007, in our humble joint opinion, informed by the more than 153 new products we taste-tested this year.
We will name and explain that Golden Shopping Cart Award winner in a few minutes. First we'd like to build suspense with a list of our individual best-of-the-year product recommendations in this, our annual end-of-year survey and roundup column, now newly improved with a riddle!
Double forks down
1. PediaSure NutriPals Bars and Drinks. Nutritionally fortified flavored "milk" and "marshmallow treats" that Bonnie disliked for their expense and additives, and Carolyn, for their soy smell and taste. In other words, these are no pals o' ours.
2. Flat Earth Baked Fruit and Veggie Crisps. Despite the name, these are made mainly of rice flour and potato flakes and not real fruits and vegetables, which have lots more nutrients, says Bonnie. The fruit ones are as wrongheaded as the original flat-Earthers were, says Carolyn.
3. Tropicana Fruit Squeeze Water. The artificial colors and sweeteners were a turnoff for Bonnie. But Carolyn didn't think these contained enough artificial sweeteners or fruit flavor.
4. Taco Bell Home Originals Bowlz. Big, boring (and misspelled) bowls of rice and beans that should be marketed as vegetarian dishes, as they contained so little meat. As it is, the chicken and steak flavor names are tantamount to fraud.
5. Campbell's Chunky Fully Loaded Soups. These are actually canned meals along the lines of Dinty Moore, fully loaded with calories and fat — but not flavor.
6. Nestea Green Tea Enviga. Carbonated, canned green tea that's supposed to burn calories. Bonnie says the only thing it's sure to burn is your money. Carolyn was burnt about its green tea taste.
Carolyn's favorites
1. Kraft Philadelphia Ready-to-Eat Cheesecake Filling. Lighter, fluffier, more flavorful, more versatile and certainly lots easier than any cheesecake filling I ever made with cream cheese.
2. Lean Cuisine Spa Cuisine Butternut Squash Ravioli. With its restaurant-style pasta and walnut adornment, the kind of dish that gives vegetarianism — and frozen entrees — a good name.
3. Popsicle Slow Melt Pops. Twenty minutes in 90-degree heat and these naturally colored and flavored treats got only a little soft. Now parents of toddlers can serve dessert at the table instead of in the bathtub.
4. Old Bay Seafood Steamers. This new shake 'n' steam "kit" for spicy shrimp is as easy and quick on the front end of preparation as on the back end of cleanup (just throw the bag in the trash).
5. Sipahh Milk Flavoring Straw. These flavor-bead-embedded straws are probably food technology's most important contribution to kids' drinks since juice packs. These are a lot less messy and more fun than the refrigerator-space-hogging syrup alternative.
6. Nestle Toll House Family Size Refrigerated Cookie Dough Tub. At half the cost of Nestle's standard dough packages and a quarter the cost of mall-shop giant cookie (that this tub offers instructions on making), this is a great value for families or other co-habiting cookie monsters.
7. Campbell Condensed Lentil, Italian-Style Wedding and Chicken Mushroom Barley Soups. These resemble ready-to-eat in thickness and good taste, but for $1-per-can less than noncondensed soups.
8. Mr. Coffee Coffee. Don't be misled (as Bonnie apparently was) by the Mr. Coffee machine's low-brow image: These new coffees are smoother and better-tasting than Starbucks, while still having great body and strength — in short, class.
9. Del Monte Fruit Chillers. Real fruit puree that emerges from the freezer with as fine a texture and as true a fruit taste as anything from a $4.50-a-scoop gourmet gelato shop. The best new shelf-stable food in decades.
Bonnie's Favorites
1. Sunsweet Ones California Prunes. Healthy dried plums (aka prunes) made portable and handy with individual wrapping.
2. Near East Whole Grain Blends Original Wheat Couscous. A quick and delicious new way to get one of the three whole-grain servings you should eat daily. Use as a palette to create delicious meals.
3. Eggology On-the-Go Eggs. Fresh, unadulterated egg whites in single-serve microwavable cups for on-the-go folks who are trying to cut down on the fat and cholesterol in whole eggs.
4. Fiber One Chewy Bars. Inulin from chicory root adds a mega 9 grams of fiber (one-third of what's recommended daily) to snack bars that will both curb and satisfy your hunger.
5. Lipton PureLeaf All Natural Ready-to-Drink Unsweetened Black Tea. Bottled ice tea that tastes like the real thing because it's all-natural and is made from brewed tea rather than from concentrate.
6. Annie Chun's Sprouted Brown Rice Sushi Wraps. Do-it-yourself sushi kit with brown (whole grain) rice. Just add wasabi, pickled ginger and your imagination to create something yummy and fun.
7. Kashi All Natural Pizza. Forget Pizza Hut's Meat Lover's. Kashi has topped a whole-grain crust with gourmet ingredients to create a pie that is delicious and nutritious.
8. Island Way Sorbets. Real fruit shells filled with tasty real fruit sorbet. If only these were available in more places.
9. Yoplait Yo-Plus Yogurt. Probiotic yogurts were all the rage this year and might be useful for folks with digestive issues. This is the only one we reviewed that didn't contain the artificial sweeteners I avoid.
And now for the answer to our riddle, which is also our joint 10th pick, and the winner of our 18th annual Golden Shopping Cart Award for a product that was good-tasting, good-for-you and on-trend: Birds Eye Steamfresh Frozen Vegetables.
Bonnie: Steaming was one of the big processed food trends of 2007. Among the "steamed" products we reviewed this year were Cascadian Farms Purely Steam, McCormick Seafood Steamer bags and Healthy Choice Frozen Cafe Steamers bowls.
Theoretically, steaming is a good way to prepare food, as no fat is needed and more vitamins are retained. But Birds Eye Steamfresh was the only one of the steamed foods we tried this year that lived up to the process's healthy name. Testing them was such a welcome change from the additive- and artificial-ingredient-laden products I usually have to taste for this column.
Both of the Steamfresh sub-lines that Birds Eye introduced this year contained vegetables and nothing more. That means fresh unadulterated veggies to microwave and season (or not) as you wish. Premium Selects and Singles are a boon to veggie lovers everywhere.
I was thrilled to see my favorite, brussels sprouts, in the Steamfresh Singles line, ready to enjoy in a couple of minutes.
Carolyn: Birds Eye Steamfresh brings the ease of microwave popcorn and frozen dinners to veggies. You just cook the self-venting bag of premium-sized veggies in the microwave, open it up, and ladle it onto your plates. No vegetable cleaning and cutting, and no need to find, cover and clean a dish or pan.
As good as family-size Steamfresh Premium Selects is, I think the newer single-serve Steamfresh Singles line is even more needed in this age of small households and individual eating schedules. Sure these people could buy single-serve canned vegetables, but these Steamfresh veggies cost about the same and, like most frozen, taste much better.
Throwing a bag of Singles in the microwave for literally a minute is much faster and easier than taking a few veggies out of a big bag — which therefore makes it much more likely that solo diners will eat vegetables.
The only thing I have trouble swallowing about Steamfresh is its baby brussels sprouts varieties. (I'll let the Bonnies of the world enjoy them.)
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