Supermarket sampler, September 27

Bonnie Tandy Leblang and Carolyn Weiman

Published September 27, 2006 at midnight

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Seeds of Change Spicy Yucatan Frijoles & Vegetables

• $4.49 per 10-ounce frozen entree.

Bonnie: Regular readers of this column know that I don't eat frozen entrees for dinner. But that could change (at least occasionally) now that Seeds of Change's delicious Spicy Yucatan Frijoles & Vegetables entree with brown rice and tofu is in supermarket freezers.

The flavor combination of these well-seasoned chiles, smoked tofu, roasted corn and black beans danced in my mouth. Even the tofu tasted good. I also like that it's organic.

One serving provides 340 calories, 5 grams of fat (only 0.5 grams of it saturated), 14 grams of protein and a whopping 10 grams of fiber. This is one of a select few frozen entrees that I've enjoyed enough to highly recommend.

Carolyn: Corn, black beans, onions, rice and pepper: These ingredients are now fairly standard for a Southwestern-style frozen dinner. But the seasonings on this new Seeds of Change offering are anything but standard.

Here the Southwestern spicy ones are accented by an undercurrent of the kinds of spices I associate with Christmas (like cinnamon and coriander). In other words, the taste of this is unusual and interesting enough that I don't even mind that it's tofu.

But if the folks at Seeds of Change hope to get anyone who's not already in the health-food fold to buy this, they need to change their packaging. The current one shows tofu and a very wrinkled chile (looking more like a prune or rotted eggplant), and words like frijoles that I had to look up. This dinner is too good to limit its audience in these ways.

Beer Nuts Snacks

• Spicy & Hot Peanuts, and Bar Mix

• $1.99 to $2.69 per 4.25-ounce to 6.75-ounce can

Bonnie: Beer Nuts got their name about 70 years ago, not because they contain that brew but because the company realized that people who are drinking beer want to nibble something. That original something was sweet and salty peanuts.

Now this line of nibbles includes this new Bar Mix and Spicy & Hot Peanuts. The Bar Mix consists of peanuts, roasted corn and sesame sticks, and it's chock-full of additives. A 1-ounce serving is 160 calories, but it's so addictive that I bet most folks will consume at least twice that.

The Spicy & Hot Peanuts are more natural, spiced with chipotle peppers, soy and garlic in lieu of the Mix's long list. The company calls these peanuts with attitude; I call them yummy and worth trying.

Carolyn: Beer Nuts used to mean sweet 'n' salty redskin peanuts. Now it means almost any nut-containing snack that might make you drink more. These include sweet 'n' salty cashews, and now spicy peanuts and a snack mix packaged in cardboard beer cans sized for a car's cup holders - complete with a "General Public" warning that "consumption of Beer Nuts impairs your ability to carry on a conversation without your mouth full."

The Spicy & Hot variety is that rare hot snack that is deliciously spicy without being punishingly hot. I highly recommend it. The Bar Mix is a fairly standard snack blend of plain peanuts, sesame sticks, mini pretzels and roasted corn mixed with an extraordinarily large number of unidentifiable edible, hard snacky things.

Green Giant Simply Steam Seasoned Vegetables.

• Broccoli & Carrots, Garden Vegetable Medley

• $1.99 per 8-ounce box

Bonnie: I like Green Giant Select. They're premium frozen vegetables with nothing added. These new Simply Steam seasoned vegetables are second best, at most. They're lightly sauced vegetables for two that steam in their packages and are ready in 5 minutes.

The Garden Vegetable Medley contains too many additives, including gums, preservatives, artificial flavor and artificial color. The Broccoli & Carrots contains fewer additives and is better.

When you can, steam fresh vegetables, or buy Green Giant Select. And if you want to dress them, add some herbs and a little butter or olive oil.

Carolyn: The new steam-in-bag microwave technology is creating a lot of excitement in the produce industry - excitement not justified by Green Giant Simply Steam. These two new frozen veggies in sauce are only slightly more convenient than standard Green Giant frozen boil-in-bags and, in at least one case, also are not as good-tasting.

Specifically Simply Steam saves only about two minutes and the bother of cutting a hole in the bag. On the positive side, these bags hold their square shape after cooking and are a lot less messy than standard Green Giant frozen.

The problem is the vegetables that Green Giant has chosen to put into the Garden Vegetable Medley: It's mostly sugar snap peas and potatoes (which I consider more of a starch than a vegetable). It also has way too much sauce, even for me.

You'd think it might have occurred to someone in Green Giant's marketing department that consumers who are attracted to the word "simply" and the idea of steamed veggies would be looking for something a lot more, well, simple.

These consumers will get a lot more of what they're looking for in the Broccoli & Carrots variety, with its good-size chunks of veggies and light garlic sauce. But we'll have to wait for another variety to fully realize the potential of steam-in-bag.

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).

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