Asian-Style entrees are all-stars

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Apr 9, 2003 | by Supermarket Sampler

Stouffer's Lean Cuisine Asian-Style Cafe Classics Entrees. Sesame Chicken, Chicken With Almonds, and Orange Beef. $2.99 per 8.5- to 9- ounce box.

Bonnie: These three new Asian-style entrees taste more flavorful than most of the frozen entrees we've tested for this column. If you're cutting back on your portion sizes, these would certainly make it more pleasant. But to make this a satisfying and more healthful meal, make sure to add a salad and fruit.

Carolyn: I've been enjoying Lean Cuisine Asian-style cuisine for some time now. I've especially enjoyed its Oriental Style Pot Stickers, Hunan Beef & Broccoli, Thai-Style Chicken, and Chicken in Peanut Sauce -- when I could find them.

That's become easier since Stouffer's repackaged 13 of its existing Asian-influenced entrees and three new ones under this new Asian-style banner. Two of the three new ones will be joining my list of Lean Cuisine all-stars. The Orange Beef is better than most Chinese takeout. The beef is tender, the carrot strips are cooked just right, and the sauce -- oh, the sauce! It's incredibly, wonderfully orange-spicy. It'll be too spicy for some people, but not for me. The Chicken with Almonds is almost as good. It features a sweet Chinese barbecue-style sauce and plenty of almonds.

The Sesame Chicken is the only loser. That's because the chicken is battered and comes out soggy after being in the microwave. I, for one, am not going to take the time to prepare a frozen entree in the oven in this day and age -- especially not when Healthy Choice makes an unbattered Sesame Chicken entree that microwaves up deliciously.

Frito-Lay Twisted Snacks. Rold Gold Honey Wheat Braided Twists, and Cheetos Twisted. $2.29 per 9.5-ounce bag of Cheetos, and $1.99 per 10-ounce bag of pretzels.

Bonnie: As a pretzel snacker, I looked forward to testing these new Honey Wheat Braided Twists more than the new Cheetos. I liked the twists' whole wheat flour, but not the sweetness nor the hydrogenated fat. Most supermarket pretzels contain neither.

At least these pretzel twists are additive-free, containing none of the flavor enhancers and artificial colors and flavors found in these new-shaped Cheetos. To me, it's the additives, not the shape, that make Cheetos twisted.

Carolyn: These two Frito-Lay snacks are literally twisted. Cheetos Twisted look like huge corkscrews but have the same basic taste as regular Cheetos. But to me, Bonnie, these pretzels are the new snack that is also figuratively screwed up.

Rold Gold Honey Wheat Braided Twists are pretzels with a natural, rough-hewn texture and are quite unnaturally sweet. I love sugar as much as the next person (actually probably more). But salty and fatty foods are also tasty and provide a nice change of pace. So why is it that all the snack food-makers lately seem intent on making all their salty foods sweet? Kettle popcorn and honey- and chocolate-flavored pretzels are the two prime examples.

Fortunately, this is only one of many varieties of pretzels that Frito-Lay makes. It's one I will buy only when I don't have a sweet drink to wash down some salty pretzels with.

Bonnie Tandy Leblang is a registered dietitian and professional speaker. Carolyn Wyman is a junk-food fanatic and author of "Jell-O: A Biography" (Harvest/Harcourt). Each week they critique three new food items. (C) Universal Press Syndicate