Hot Pockets Panini. Bruschetta Chicken, Steak & Cheddar, and Deli-Style Ham and Swiss. $2.99 per 7.5-ounce box containing two frozen half-sandwiches.
Bonnie: I've never been a fan of Hot Pockets, and these new panini sandwiches did nothing to change my mind. Their flavor and aroma — and I use those words loosely — are reminiscent of hot sandwiches served on airlines back in the days when they served hot food. In other words, off-smelling, odd-tasting and totally inedible.
But if you are someone who eats Hot Pockets, let me share some info about the nutritionals. According to the nutrition facts panel, Hot Pockets considers a single serving to be half a sandwich. Meaning for the info on the side panel to be accurate, you'd eat only half of what you heat in the microwave.
Here's the nutrition info based on the whole sandwich that most people will eat: a hearty 420 to 460 calories, a substantial 1,160 to 1,320 milligrams of sodium, a modest 2 to 4 grams of fiber, a hearty 22 to 24 grams of protein and a surprising 14 to 16 grams of fat (of which 5 to 9 grams are saturated), considering these contain low-fat or imitation cheese.
Carolyn: I've got to admit that I like frozen dinners a lot more than frozen sandwiches, especially ones from Hot Pockets. But the packaging on these Hot Pockets Paninis made them look so appealing, I actually looked forward to trying them. And these products largely lived up to their pictures. (Yes, Bonnie is all wrong about these!)
The Bruschetta Chicken seems the most upscale, thanks to the herbs embedded in the bread and sauce. With its caraway-seeded rye bread base, the Deli-Style Ham and Swiss is almost too strongly flavored. I actually liked the plainer Steak & Cheddar best: It smells and tastes like a Philly cheese steak, while containing a fraction of the fat and calories in the real thing.
The bread on all three is tons tastier than the cardboardy starch that encases your typical Hot or Lean Pocket despite — or maybe because of — a lack of grease (although I have to believe the grill marks are strictly cosmetic).
In fact, the only thing I didn't like about these (and the one thing Bonnie and I agreed on) is the fallacious implication in the nutrition facts that half a sandwich is a full serving — even while the box gives microwave heating instructions for the whole sandwich and says that the crisping sleeve needed to cook it cannot be used more than once.
Tostitos Scoops! Hint of Jalapeno. $3.99 per 9.5-ounce bag.
Bonnie: I liked both Tostitos Scoops! and Baked Scoops! for their bowl-shaped chip that holds a heaping tablespoon of salsa or guacamole and for their clean ingredient list. Both the original and Baked Scoops! contain just white corn, oil and salt. (Baked Scoops! has less than half the fat of the original.) I was looking forward to testing this new version for those reasons and because I love jalapenos' heat.
The chips do have a little heat, although not enough. They also contain monosodium glutamate, artificial flavors, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate and more: In other words, Hint of Jalapeno's list of ingredients is not clean. My advice: Stick to the original or Baked.
Carolyn: The maker of Tostitos isn't kidding when it says its Scoops! tortilla chips contain a "hint" of jalapeno. The "heat" is so subtle, it's easy to miss. The blandness makes the cuplike shape of Hint of Jalapeno's Scoops! all the more appropriate, because you need to dunk them in some spicy cheese sauce or salsa to make them worth eating.
Cascadian Farm Organic Granola. Dark Chocolate Almond, and Fruit & Nut. $4.59 per 13.5-ounce box.
Bonnie: These two new Cascadian Farm granolas follow the typical granola formula of sweetened rolled oats and other grains, dried fruit and nuts. One variety includes dark chocolate with no dried fruit; the other has raisins, cherries, cranberries, and sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Both are organic, contain a full serving of whole grains and could make a decent breakfast on occasion, or as a topping for yogurt, ice cream or a lower-sugar, higher-fiber cereal such as bran flakes.
I say not regularly, as they are a bit sweet, with 14 grams of sugar in a three-quarter-cup serving. Sugar aside, I do recommend either, as they're both full of a variety of vitamins and minerals from the fruits, seeds and nuts.
Carolyn: I can understand why Special K, Chex and Life are putting chocolate in their cereals. Those are mainstream brands bought by people naive enough to think that a few studies touting the antioxidant benefits of chocolate justifies eating the stuff for breakfast (if they even need such justification). You would think people who buy organic food brands would know better. If Cascadian is trying to win over us junk foodies, it is going to have to put a lot more chocolate in the Dark Chocolate Almond. As it is, the chocolate announces itself less through taste than the unappetizing tan hue of the milk in your cereal bowl.
This junk foodie actually preferred Cascadian's other new granola flavor: the Fruit & Nut, the rare not-so-heavy granola, thanks to an abundance of crisped rice and pumpkin and sunflower seeds, which also dominate the taste.
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