Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Cereals. Golden Honey Nut, and Roasted Nut & Honey. $3.99 per 10.8- to 14.1-ounce box.
Bonnie: Crunchy Nut is one of Kellogg's biggest brands in the United Kingdom; now the company is trying it here. A 1-ounce serving of either Crunchy Nut is quite modest in calories (100 to 120), fat (1 gram, with no saturated fats), sodium (125 to 160 milligrams) and sugars (10 to 11 grams). Unfortunately, it's also modest in fiber (with 2 grams) and has no claims of containing any whole grains — the two main reasons to eat cereal.
The Roasted Nut & Honey looks like Cheerios but tastes like Corn Pops; Golden Honey Nut looks like Corn Flakes but tastes like a nutty Frosted Flakes. That means too sweet for me. The Brits love their sugar; we'll have to see if Americans like it as much.
Carolyn: Americans also like their sugar — and their honey and their nuts, Bonnie, judging from Honey Nut Cheerios' current reign as America's most popular cereal. Crunchy Nut's Roasted Nut & Honey O's bear more than a passing resemblance to it, just as Crunchy Nut's Golden Honey Nut flakes resembles America's second-best-selling cereal, Honey Bunches of Oats. But Crunchy Nuts' primary taste is not oats, but corn and the surprising peanuts. (Almond is more common in cereals here.) In fact, in flavor, the Roasted Nut & Honey most resembles Cracker Jack.
Which brings up Crunchy Nut's other two most distinctive characteristics: crunch and sweetness from the cereals' sugary coating. In fact, these are so sweet I expected to see a cartoon character on the back. Instead, it features a scannable barcode that its adult target market can use to link to a video on their smartphones. That does not include me — a stupid phone owner who also thinks these cereals are too sweet.
Temptations Snacks by Jell-O. Lemon Meringue Pie, Double Chocolate Pie, Raspberry Cheesecake, Strawberry Cheesecake, French Silk Pie, and Apple Custard Pie. $2.89 per 11.75- to 13.8-ounce package containing three cups.
Bonnie: If you judge food by its packaging, Jell-O Temptations will certainly be tempting, with its illustrations of luscious berries, chocolate ribbons and apple slices. But I'm smarter than that. I look at both the Nutrition Facts and the ingredient panels before making a buying decision. Each of these contains 100 calories to 150 calories, 2 grams to 5 grams total fat (of which 2 grams to 3.5 grams are saturated), 15 grams to 24 grams sugar and — in the case of two varieties — no calcium, oddly enough for a pudding.
That's because the Lemon Meringue Pie and Apple Custard Pie are basically water and sugar thickened with cornstarch; the former has some lemon oil, the latter some cinnamon. Other than that, they're just additives plus artificial sweeteners, artificial flavor and artificial colors. The other four at least contain some milk, not that I'd recommend them given all their similar additives.
Carolyn: Temptations are Jell-O's attempt to get some dessert-flavor yogurt fans to move to the pudding side of the dairy case. The Temptations line debuted a couple of years ago with 100-calorie mousse-like treats; it now expands to include these multilayer pie- and cheesecake-inspired desserts.
The Double Chocolate Pie, is, in fact, the old Jell-O Temptations Chocolate Mousse on top of ersatz chocolate Jell-O pudding sans crust, thereby rendering the use of the word "pie" either highly imaginative or fraudulent. The also-crustless cheesecakes are like vanilla pudding topped with fruit-flavored Jell-O gelatin.
In other words, like Bonnie, I found these to be pale imitations of the real desserts referenced by their names.
This would be easier to forgive if these new Temptations had only 100 calories. But these are pushing 150, or almost as much as in a 1-ounce bag of Fritos or one really good chocolate chip cookie. I would prefer either, though I'll concede that pudding lovers on diets might feel differently. In fact, I have one friend who has gone on to buy Temptations Double Chocolate Pie multiple times after trying mine.
Applegate Farms Breakfast Sausage. Classic Pork, and Savory Turkey. $5.99 per 8-ounce package containing 10 links.
Bonnie: People who start their day with Applegate's spicy turkey sausage are 92 percent more likely to sing in the shower. At least so says its box copy, which seems a lot more questionable than its contents.
Both these new Applegate precooked sausages are made from animals that have been humanely raised without the use of antibiotics. And the sausages contain no nitrites (not even the vegetable kind!).
The turkey and pork taste fairly similar, so I'd recommend the turkey, as it has only 90 calories and 6 grams total fat (of which 1.5 grams are saturated) per two-link serving to the pork's 130 calories and 11 grams total fat (including 4 saturated grams).
So I'm singing the praises of spicy Applegate Savory Turkey Breakfast Sausage with one caveat: Its lower fat content gives it a tendency to dry out, so be sure not to overcook.
Carolyn:Applegate makes a politically correct version of the precooked breakfast type of sausage I've been enjoying my entire life. I won't waste much time talking about the turkey: In an attempt to give that traditionally bland meat some flavor, Applegate added way too much spicy cayenne. And the turkey's lack of fat means the sausages just sit lifelessly in the frying pan, taking forever just to warm up. Forget them.
In the pork variety, the traditional sage flavor is mixed with ginger and three kinds of pepper for a somewhat more complex, even better taste than my old favorite Brown 'N Serve. It's also as good as my old fave in every other way.
Too bad I'm not rich enough to be able to pay Applegate's 300 percent premium over Brown 'N Serve and other non-natural brands.
Bonnie Tandy Leblang is a registered dietitian and professional speaker. She has a blog (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