Better Oats Instant Oatmeal. Better Oats Good 'n Hearty Classic, Maple & Brown Sugar, and Apples & Cinnamon; Oat Revolution Classic, Maple & Brown Sugar, Apples & Cinnamon, Cinnamon & Spice; Peaches & Cream, Raisins & Spice, Strawberries & Cream, Cinnamon Roll, and Maple & Cream; Oat Revolution Thick & Hearty Maple & Brown Sugar, and Apples & Cinnamon; and RAW Pure & Simple Bare, Chai Spiced; and Cinnamon Plum Spiced. $1.25 per 5.9- to 7.55-ounce box with five or six pouches, or $1.99 per 12-ounce box with eight pouches.
Bonnie: I just spent 15 minutes on the phone with the publicist for Better Oats Instant Oatmeal trying to get a handle on this huge new product launch. In the interest of space we're discussing only four of these nine new lines of oatmeal, all containing 100 percent whole-grain oats and ground flax seed (for added fiber and omega-3s).
The fruit-flavored ones do contain the eponymous fruit, not colored apples imitating peaches or other fruits as in the Quaker competition. I still found them and the other sweetened ones too sugary with their 8 grams (RAW Pure & Simple Chai Spiced) to 15 grams (Oat Revolution Cinnamon & Spice) sugar per serving. Competitive Quaker's products range from about 4 (Lower Sugar Maple & Brown Sugar) to 13 grams (Mix-Up Creations Cinnamon, Apple & Maple).
I prefer the Good 'n Hearty Classic, Oat Revolution Classic and RAW Pure & Simple Bare for a bowl of almost plain oatmeal, although McCann's Quick & Easy Steel-Cut Irish Oatmeal is still my favorite. The Good 'n Hearty is thicker than the Oat Revolution; the RAW Pure & Simple is organic and contains barley, wheat, quinoa and rye in addition to the oats, but I still like the texture and flavor of McCann's plain Irish oatmeal better.
Carolyn: If there was a larger or more confusing new product introduction in the past decade than Malt-O-Meal's launch of these new Better Oats instant hot oatmeals, I can't remember it. Its nine sub-lines and astonishing 34 new individual products include Oat Heads for kids; Oat Fit for dieters; Lavish and the annoyingly named mmm...Muffins for indulgence; Abundance, a multigrain with real fruit pieces; and Mom's Best Naturals, for those into organic foods. And these are just the sub-lines we did not try for fear of eating our RDA of fiber for the next 10 years in two weeks.
The lines we did sample — the organic RAW, basic Oat Revolution, Oat Revolution Thick & Hearty and the confusingly similarly named Good 'n Hearty — all have a gluier texture than Quaker. The one-option-only cooking directions could have something to do with this: You have to cook them with water in the microwave, whereas I like to make my Quaker with hot water. With Good 'n Hearty, microwaving results in something resembling a flavorless pudding. The flavor and texture of Oat Revolution Thick & Hearty was much better. The texture of RAW was also good, but the flavor was weak. Regular Oat Revolution was the opposite problem, that is, enough sugar but bad texture.
What they all have in common and what makes the Revolution lines live up to their name are added flaxseed, single-serving packets that double as measuring cups, nontraditionally shaped "space-saving" boxes and Malt-O-Meal company's trademark value pricing — although these aren't quite as cheap as you might think. One reason these boxes are "space-saving" is because they contain fewer servings than Quaker. At 25 cents per packet, these are 10 cents cheaper than Quaker and a nickel more than store brands.
Fans of pudding-like oatmeal should try these, but not get too hooked on any one, since there's NO WAY all 34 varieties are going to survive.
Nabisco Wheat Thins Crunch Stix Snacks. Honey Wheat, and Fire-Roasted Tomato. $3.49 per 8-ounce box.
Bonnie: The stick shape had me hoping these new Wheat Thins Crunch Stix would resemble pretzels. They don't. These are just crunchy crackers in a pretzel-stick form. Such a shame, as pretzels are much lower in fat than crackers, including these new Crunch Stix.
A serving of Crunch Stix contains 130 calories and 4 grams fat per ounce, or 30 calories and 4 grams fat more than a similar amount of pretzels — although Stix do have half of pretzels' sodium.
So, whether or not to buy these really depends on whether you're more worried about fat or sodium, and whether you prefer the taste of pretzels or Wheat Thins crackers. I personally prefer the unadulterated taste of pretzels and to keep my sodium in check elsewhere.
Carolyn: I like honey wheat pretzels; I also like Wheat Thins. But I don't like having my expectations disappointed. That was the effect of looking at and then trying these new Wheat Thins Honey Wheat Stix. Like Bonnie, I opened the box thinking I was about to try a new nationally available honey wheat pretzel under the Wheat Thins name. But what I ate were just pencil-shaped Wheat Thins in a Chinese takeout-like box.
Besides Wheat Thins, these most resemble the Honey Butter and Pizza varieties of Pringles Baked Wheat Cracker Stix, which may be selling better than I thought, given how Nabisco is now stooping to conquer.
Duncan Hines Decadent Cakes and Amazing Glazes. Triple Chocolate, and Apple Caramel Cake; Chocolate, and Vanilla Glaze. $2.49 per 10-ounce squeeze bottle of glaze or $2.99 per 20-ounce box of cake mix.
Bonnie: I'm not a bake-from-a-box baker, so these Duncan Hines Decadent Cakes are not at all to my liking. But if you usually bake using Duncan Hines, these richer-than-normal cakes — thanks to added chocolate chunks and fudge, or apples and caramel — could be for you.
What I'd suggest skipping are the glazes. Why buy these chemically laden cake toppings with six to seven lines of ingredients when you can easily make your own with two to four ingredients?
The simplest option it to just add enough of a liquid of your choice (milk, coffee, orange juice or even water) to sifted confectioners' (powdered) sugar to be thin enough to drizzle over a cake. For more flavor, add a little pure vanilla, almond, orange, peppermint or other extract. For a richer glaze, add melted butter.
For those who need amounts and directions: Use 4 tablespoons melted butter, 2 tablespoons milk and a quarter teaspoon of pure extract to 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar. Beat until smooth and creamy, adding a bit more milk if necessary to be the right consistency to drizzle over a cooled cake.
Carolyn: I AM a bake-from-a-box baker, and the boxed mixes I bake with are usually Duncan Hines. But I had "mixed" results with Duncan Hines' two new Decadent Cakes.
None of the three chocolates in the Triple Chocolate variety were rich or abundant enough to live up to the decadent name. In fact, this chocoholic experiences Pillsbury's new Sweet Moments Molten Lava Brownies, and even Duncan Hines regular old boxed brownies, as more enjoyable and indulgent, as well as lots quicker and easier to make. But the Apple Caramel cake was unique and delicious enough for me to make again. It would have been even more indulgent (i.e. better) if Duncan Hines had included a topping of chopped pecans.
Neither of these cakes is helped by the accompanying very un-gourmet and not really new Duncan Hines glazes. They're just slightly thinner canned icing in microwavable squeeze containers.
Bonnie Tandy Leblang is a registered dietitian and professional speaker. She has an interactive site (www.biteofthebest.com) about products she recommends. Follow her on Twitter: BonnieBOTB. Carolyn Wyman is a junk-food fanatic and author of "The Great Philly Cheesesteak Book" (Running Press). Each week they critique three new food items.) © Universal Uclick