Coffee creamers make a critic cringe

Coffee-mate Seasonal Coffee Creamers. Gingerbread, Peppermint Mocha and Eggnog. $2.19 per 16-ounce container.

Bonnie: Call me Scrooge, but I don't understand why anyone would want to muck up her freshly brewed coffee with these sweet, holiday-themed, additive-laden nondairy creamers. One tablespoon contains a plethora of chemicals, twice the calories and slightly more fat than an equivalent amount of half-and-half, which is the creamer I use and will continue to use throughout this holiday season.

Carolyn: You ARE a Scrooge, Bonnie. Because only a Scrooge wouldn't understand wanting to bring a little holiday cheer into the everyday. That's what these new seasonal coffee creamers do. The mocha made the peppermint bearable in the Peppermint Mocha even to this mint-hater. The Gingerbread made coffee taste a bit like chai spiced tea. But the Eggnog was my favorite by far.

You complain that these have too many calories — but a drink made with this Eggnog creamer will have a lot fewer calories than real eggnog, and also probably a lot fewer calories and fat than similarly flavored drinks at coffee shops. (Who can say no when they ask, "Would you like whipped cream on that?") These creamers' sweetness means only that I have to use less of my own sugar and thus save some money.

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Stonyfield Farm YoBaby Plus Fruit & Cereal Yogurt. Apple & Cereal. $2.99 per package of six 4-ounce cups.

Bonnie: I like YoBaby organic whole-milk yogurt. I like YoBaby Plus Fruit & Cereal Yogurt even more. This new YoBaby is four parts yogurt mixed with a single-part blend of apple puree and organic cereal grains, including oats, flax, rice and bran. The grains are ground and mixed into the apple puree on the bottom of the yogurt container, making them more palatable to toddlers.

In addition, this nutritious yogurt is fortified with almost half the daily iron that toddlers need. That's a good idea, because half of American toddlers do not eat enough iron-rich foods. So consider YoBaby Plus an easy and convenient way to help combat iron-deficient anemia while providing a good source of calcium. I highly recommend it.

Carolyn: Yogurt with sweet fruit on the bottom or cups of granola cereal add-ins on the cup-top have long been on the market. But Stonyfield YoBaby Plus Fruit & Cereal is the first to blend the two and then top them with deliciously rich whole-milk yogurt.

My only question, very similar to the one I asked when I first tasted plain YoBaby: Why is Stonyfield Farm marketing this stuff solely to babies?

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