Carrot juice just a hop away

Earthbound Farm Organic Juices. Carrot, and Farm Stand Lemonade. $3.99 to $4.99 per 1.8-ounce bottle.

Bonnie: Earthbound Farm is best known for its organic salad greens, but its delicious new carrot juice and lemonade will soon make it known for beverages, too.

Carrot juice has always been bursting with nutrients. In fact, a serving of Earthbound's contains more than the recommended daily amount of vitamin A. But until trying this brand, I couldn't stomach even a sip of carrot juice. Earthbound's juice is not as thick as others; it tastes like drinking a fresh carrot and is very refreshing.

The lemonade is also refreshing and not too sweet. In fact, it's a tad tart. I like that. I also like that it is made with organic cane juice and not the processed high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener. It provides a 21st-century taste of mid-20th-century lemonade stands.

Carolyn: Earthbound Farm's Organic Carrot Juice tastes like freshly squeezed carrots all right, Bonnie, but that's not something most people are going to want. That's why mainstream juicemakers like V8 blend their carrot-based drinks with fruit juice. Earthbound Farm's version is for serious natural foodies only.

But anyone would like this lemonade, which is slightly more tart than the mainstream refrigerator-case competition. But unless you care about that or the fact that this is organic, Earthbound Farm's Farm Stand Lemonade won't be worth the price over the similar-tasting Newman's Own or Minute Maid.

Zatarain's Ready-to-Serve Complete Meals. Jambalaya With Sausage, Red Beans and Rice With Sausage, Dirty Rice With Pork, Sausage and Chicken Gumbo, and Blackened Chicken With Yellow Rice. $1.99 to $2.39 per 6.5-ounce to 8-ounce pouch.

Bonnie: These five rice-based shelf-stable meals in pouches are the first new products from Zatarain's since Katrina devastated its hometown of suburban New Orleans, where the company has been since 1889.

Normally, I'd go on about these containing too many flavor enhancers and being way too high in fat and sodium, as each portion contains up to 12 grams of fat and 60 percent of the recommended limit for sodium all in one tiny serving! But these are tasty, containing spice blends I've enjoyed on my many trips to Louisiana, and they also provide a way to support a company that supported the community during its time of need.

Zatarain's provided more than 100,000 meals for the needy, as well as financial assistance and temporary housing to more than 300 local employees. It was able to do this in part because Zatarain's is now part of Maryland spice giant McCormick.