Healthy Choice entrees light on flavor and substance

Healthy Choice Steaming Entrees. Chicken Romano Fresca, Garlic Herb Shrimp, Honey Balsamic Chicken, Lemon Herb Chicken, Portabella Parmesan Risotto, Roasted Chicken Verde, Rosemary Chicken & Sweet Potatoes, and Sesame Glazed Chicken. $2 to $2.49 per 8- to 9.5-ounce package.

Bonnie: These eight new Healthy Choice entrees steam-cook to create a light lunch. Yes, the press materials suggest this for lunch, not dinner — and I agree, as there's not much food in any of them. Most also offer little flavor, tasting like "diet" food.

The Rosemary Chicken & Sweet Potatoes, Chicken Romano Fresca and Lemon Herb Chicken are particularly bland. The Portabella Parmesan Risotto and Sesame Glazed Chicken had decent flavor, but both would have been more filling with more vegetables. In fact, I suggest the makers of Healthy Choice double the veggies in each and be less prudent with spices; both suggestions would improve the flavor while keeping these a healthy choice.

Carolyn: Healthy Choice seems to have worked hard to make these new Steaming Entrees aesthetically appealing to their female demographic. First and most noticeable is the boxes' novel vertical orientation and the trays' curvy (like the women who buy them) shape. The entrees contain attractive cuts of brightly colored vegetables, rendered even brighter by the microwave steam-cooking.

Unfortunately the cliche that looks can be deceiving is true in this case. Light sauces on the Chicken Romano Fresca, Lemon Herb Chicken and Rosemary Chicken & Sweet Potatoes are also light on flavor.

The tasty exceptions are the entrees that are essentially rehashes of dinners that Healthy Choice already makes: the Sesame Glazed Chicken, Honey Balsamic Chicken, and Portabella Parmesan Risotto are reminiscent of Healthy Choice Asian Inspired Cafe Steamers Sweet Sesame Chicken, Cafe Steamers Chicken Margherita, and All Natural Entree Portabella Spinach Parmesan, respectively — all of which offer lots more food for only a little bit more money. Buy these smaller versions only if you're on a strict diet. Skip the other varieties altogether.

Rold Gold Hard Sourdough Pretzels. $2.99 per 14-ounce bag.

Bonnie: Visitors to my BiteoftheBest.com website have been begging Kellogg's to bring back All-Bran Fiber Drink Mix, Breyers to bring back the original made-with-ice cream Viennetta, and Kraft to start making a decaffeinated Starbucks pod for its Tassimo machine — all to no avail.

So I was thrilled to learn that the power of the people can still work: Frito-Lay's Rold Gold Hard Sourdough Pretzel was discontinued in 2008 and has just returned to shelves in response to consumer demand.