Every now and then, I love to have a thread about the new food products that we're all finding and trying in our local stores. Since I found a new product today that I wanted to report on, I figured it was time for this thread again!

New to my local Giant is Haagen Daz Light Ice Cream. It is half the fat and 29% less calories than regular premium ice cream. A 1/2 cup serving will set you back 190 calories and 5 grams of fat. If you're the type that would rather have "the real thing," I highly recommend it. I tried the Dutch Chocolate flavor and it was incredibly good. Wonderful flavor, texture and mouth feel. I would have never guessed it was less ANYthing.

What new products have YOU tried lately?

A new-to-me product is the High-Fiber version of V-8 juice. It has 5g of fiber per 8 fluid ounce serving, rather than the standard 2 grams. As a snack, it should be more filling than the standard version too.

Another way of adding fiber to drinks is to put in some smooth, flavorless, psyllium husk. (e.g. one version of Metamucil) If memory serves Oprah's Dr. has psyllium in his smoothie recipe.

Bump

quote:

Originally posted by BrenauMom:
Has anyone tried the new Kraft Reduced Fat Mayo made with Olive Oil?
I saw it in the store for the first time yesterday but I had just bought Mayo last week so I didn't buy it but it sounds "interesting"

I have some Smart Balance with olive oil and you can't taste the olive oil at all.

Personally, I don't believe the olive oil hype, and don't believe it to be THAT much healthier than canola or soybean oil.

Saturated fats are the "bad" fats in oils and in mayo, too. Polyunsaturated and Monounsaturated fats are both "healthy" fats. From my fridge...

1 TBS:
Full Fat Mayo (made with soybean oil): 1.5 grams sat fat
Canola oil: 1.5 g sat fat
Corn oil: 1.5 g sat fat
sesame oil: 2 g sat fat
olive oil: 2 g sat fat
peanut oil: 3 g sat fat

I'm not sure that Kraft adding olive oil to mayo would change it THAT much (either taste wise or nutritionally)... especially since good olive oil is more expensive than soybean oil... Kraft is probably adding a fairly insignificant amount of olive oil to their mayo. They are adding it MOSTLY for the advertising factor, so they can say, "New!! Mayo with Olive Oil!!!" I'm guessing.

Like ALL oils... olive oil is mostly healthy fats... and it does have some unhealthy fat. And when Paula Dean dumps a cup or two of mayo into a potato salad recipe and says, "We all have to eat our healthy oils!"... technically she is correct and mayo, even full fat mayo, is MOSTLY healthy oil... but because it is so caloric... I'm not sure that any of us should be eating enough mayo or olive oil to reap all of the reported "health benefits" of those healthy oils. I think that a person should choose olive oil if they like the taste. (But, there are times that I don't like the taste of olive oil.)

I've spread a little olive oil on bread for sandwiches... you don't need Kraft to mix it into your mayo if you want the taste of olive oil in your mayo. You can mix it yourself... or just use it straight and use just olive oil and no mayo.

A new-to-me product that has been around for decades; El Yucateco Red Habanero Hot Sauce.

http://www.elyucateco.com

As expected, it is quite hot, but it has a nice pepper flavor, before the heat hits.

According to the manufacturer, the red version is 5,790 Scoville units of heat, and the green version is 9,000 Scoville units.

As seen on "Mexico One Plate At A Time".

Although this is not a new product, I have been drinking peppermint tea and really loving it.
It quiets my appetite when I feel like eating and it is super refreshing.

Has anyone tried the new Kraft Reduced Fat Mayo made with Olive Oil?
I saw it in the store for the first time yesterday but I had just bought Mayo last week so I didn't buy it but it sounds "interesting"

Here's a cool produce concept:

"When it comes to lettuce on the shelf, you can’t get much fresher than this. Within 24 hours of harvest, live leaf lettuce, with dripping roots still attached in plugs of dirt, is being loaded onto trucks and driven to Twin Cities-area grocery stores."

"His advice: Take only as many leaves as they want to eat for each meal, then wash them and pop the bag of lettuce, replete with roots, back in the fridge."

http://www.startribune.com/local/south/17959119.html

http://www.bushelboy.com/lettuce.html

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sheltieguy,

wow, i just had the General Tsao chicken from health choice cafe steamers and it was yummy. i added a bunch of steamed broccoli to raise the veggie portions but it was good. it needed a little salt but i enjoyed it a lot.

i just tried vita muffin (the chocolate ones). they are pretty good. not as sweet as a brownie but i do like them a lot. kind of expensive though.

quote:

Lite Laughing Cow cheese. Swiss flavor. 25 calories each.

This is our go-to instead of mayo on sandwiches & wraps now. We buy all the flavors, though Had the herb on bread, with a slice of low-fat cheddar cheese for creamy, decadent-tasting grilled cheese sandwiches.

quote:

Originally posted by iz:
Mochi Ice Cream. like japanese ice cream bon bons. about 100 calories per bon bon. found them at trader joes but have seen them at asian grocery stores. had the strawberry. very yummy.

The mango and the green tea are really good too.

Dawn

Mochi Ice Cream. like japanese ice cream bon bons. about 100 calories per bon bon. found them at trader joes but have seen them at asian grocery stores. had the strawberry. very yummy.

i like all the Healthy Choice cafe steamers that are based in a cream sauce. the wine-based sauces were without flavor. and i don't eat the beff ones. try the chicken ones in cream sauces. very yummy. less than 300 calories.

Lite Laughing Cow cheese. Swiss flavor. 25 calories each.

quote:

Originally posted by iz:
Health Choice Cafe Steamers are yummy. I had the salmon with dill sauce for breakfast. so so good. i might have to do a drive by tomorrow to get more!

Owww! I love those . The salmon is the only one I have had but I always keep a couple in the freezer. Never tried it for breakfast .

This may or may not be a "new product" but we just discovered it. Uncle Ben's Ready Rice, Whole Grain Brown. You just nuke it for 90 seconds. The package serves 2, perfect for me and dd. Just 3 grams of fat (11%) and only 15 mg sodium. They have other flavors like Teriyaki(sp?), Vegetable, and Four Cheese but those all have over 700mg of sodium.
Dd used the brown rice to make her own version of "fried rice" (we ate at a chinese place Saturday for our Red Hat Lunch) last night and it was great. I don't know everything she put in it but I know it had brocolli and carrots & cumin(sp?).

Health Choice Cafe Steamers are yummy. I had the salmon with dill sauce for breakfast. so so good. i might have to do a drive by tomorrow to get more!

I have been watching the sales on healthy frozen dinners and picking up a couple now and then to keep in the freezer for those nights after work when I don't have the brainpower to do much more than push buttons (or when I'm trying to keep myself from eating something less healthy).

I have been eyeing the new (to me) Eating Right line of frozen dinners. They went on sale last week, so I picked up a couple. I had my first one--the Sesame Chicken--the other day. The box description is "Tender breaded white meat chicken, spaghetti, green beans and bell peppers in a tangy sesame dressing."

The numbers:
370 calories
5g fat
0.5 sat fat
0 trans fat
25mg cholesterol
450 mg sodium
67g total carbs (!!!!!)
3g fiber
19g sugars (!!!!!)
16g protein

My review:

Pros:

The chicken was VERY tender and appeared to be good-quality white meat chicken and not mystery meat that you sometimes see in frozen dinners.

The sauce was yummy and, overall, the taste of the dinner was good.

Cons:
The chicken, which was breaded, was sitting in the sauce, so the breading was soggy. Even though I am a texture nut and this could have ruined the dinner for me, the taste was good enough to keep me eating.

There were almost no veggies--VERY disappointing. There were a couple French-style shavings of green beans and some flecks of red pepper, but the overall effect was of eating chicken and pasta in sweet sauce with no veggies.

As with most frozen dinners I've tried, the sauce is clear at one end of the tray and, when the tray is full, it's very hard to distribute the sauce (in this case, get some of it to the other end where the spaghetti and vegggies were) without making a royal mess. Once I'd eaten about half the meal, I was able to stir it all together more and that helped a lot (I am not all that jazzed about the taste of plain spaghetti).

Would I buy it again? Yes, because there aren't a lot of healthy frozen dinners that I'll eat and I'd know next time that I had to fix some veggies or a salad on the side.

Anyone try new products that they want to share with the class?

quote:

Originally posted by D in St Pete:
Peg, if it were me...I'd add some okra, celery, green or pole beans, green peppers, onions--any or all of that to the leftovers. You could serve it with sliced ripe tomatoes on the side, or black-eyed peas, lima beans, or pole beans. Sugar snaps on the side would be tasty, too.

I was pretty much going to suggest the same thing...

Saute'd peppers, celery, onions... okra... canned tomatoes (or fresh)

Chicken or shrimp would be good with it...

Or alligator meat if you have some in the freezer...

Peg, if it were me...I'd add some okra, celery, green or pole beans, green peppers, onions--any or all of that to the leftovers. You could serve it with sliced ripe tomatoes on the side, or black-eyed peas, lima beans, or pole beans. Sugar snaps on the side would be tasty, too.

Tried the new reduced sodium Zataran's Jambalaya mix last night. It has 1/2 the sodium of their regular mixes but a serving still has 15% of your DV of sodium (before you put whatever meat/protein you want in it). It was quite good and still plenty salty for me. It was yummy.

The only problem was the meal was totally absent of vegetables and for the life of me, I couldn't think of what I would have served with it if I had thought of it before 8pm when I was ladling it into a bowl. Any ideas? I have a bunch leftover...probably shouldn't have 3-4 veggie free meals. Salad is an obvious yet less than favorite choice. Other thoughts?

Peg

Have you seen Diet Coke Plus? It has vitamins & minerals added. I haven't seen any advertising for it and didn't know it even existed. Just happened upon it by accident at Publix over the weekend.

Nutritional Listings for 6 oz:
Cal 0
Fat 0
Sodium 30mg
Carb 0
Protein 0

Niacin 15%
B6 15%
B12 15%
Magnesium 10%
Zinc 10%

I notice just a very slight (almost non-existent) difference in taste.