Fruit Inspirations inspire some mixed reviews

Weight Watchers Smart Ones Fruit Inspirations. Orange Sesame Chicken, Pineapple Beef Teriyaki, Honey Mango Barbeque Chicken, and Cranberry Turkey Medallions. $3 per 9-ounce frozen entree.

Bonnie: Every once in a while a new product comes along that makes you wonder why someone didn't think of it before, such as these new Fruit Inspirations from Weight Watchers. Considering that 91 percent of women say they're not getting enough fruit, it was a good idea for Weight Watchers to add a half-serving of fruit to these entrees.

Oddly, there wasn't a single orange (or any of the big, white sesame seeds), as was so nicely shown in the box's cover photo, in my tray of Orange Sesame Chicken. It must have been a fluke, as mandarin oranges are listed (at the end of the sixth line of its 12-line list of ingredients), and the other varieties did contain visible fruit.

Both chicken entrees are flavorful, though they would have been more nutritious made with whole-grain brown rice and whole-wheat orzo. The turkey and beef entrees are like bad cafeteria food.

I still commend the concept, one that Weight Watchers frozen-entree competitors would do well to copy. Are you listening, Stouffer's?

Carolyn: I wonder what kind of five-star restaurant cuisine Bonnie must be eating every evening to call Smart Ones Fruit Inspirations Cranberry Turkey and Pineapple Beef Teriyaki entrees "bad cafeteria" fare. Better to get advice about frozen entrees from someone who eats them virtually every evening, as I do. And I say all four of these Fruit Inspirations are delicious, if not quite as innovative as Weight Watchers and Bonnie would have you believe.

All the healthy frozen dinner-makers offer turkey and cranberry dinners, and Lean Cuisine Cafe Classics' zesty Orange Beef Asian entree was one of my very favorite frozen dinners until Stouffer's stupidly discontinued it. But with these Fruit Inspirations, the fruit stars as much (if not more than) their sugar. In the Pineapple Beef Teriyaki, for instance, the pineapple's sweetness is undercut by a hint of spicy heat. The protein in all the entrees, though not abundant, is of high quality and comes in good-size chunks.

The veggie-rice accompaniments are admittedly more ordinary. But the fruit and protein combos are tasty enough to put these on the select list of frozen entrees that I would buy and eat again and again.

Special K Bliss Bars. Raspberry and Orange. $3.49 per box containing six 0.77-ounce bars.