Chex Mix: Cheddar

A mix of 3 kinds of Chex cereal (corn, rice, and whole wheat I think) small pretzels and chees crackers, all covered in a cheese powder that turns your fingers orange. Great cheese flavor, crunchy from the pretzels and crispy from the Chex. These make a substantial amount of noise as you eat them. They taste really good and have 60% less fat (4g instead of 11g) than regular potato chips. That doesn't make them a health food, but as quick and tasty snacks go, it is pretty good. They don't give up the flavor when they reduce the fat either. These are one of my favorite snacks and this is my favorite flavor of Chex Mix. (130 calories; 4g fat; 22g carbs; 2g protein; 14% sodium; per 30g serving (about an ounce))

Healthy Choice: Meat Loaf

Meat loaf with Brown gravy, Mashed potatoes, Green beans and an Apple Cranberry Crisp for desert. One of Healthy Choice's Complete selections. This microwave meal has a bit of everything, a nice slice of meatloaf smothered in gravy with mashed potatoes on the side. The meat loaf has reasonable amount of texture, and an ok flavor, the gravy really is needed to make it complete. The potatoes were smooth and had a nice flavor, but they did dry out a little in the microwave, mixing them with the gravy made them better. The green beans came out pretty good, they still had a little crunch and flavor, but as with many healthy choice vegetables they were flat and could use some seasoning. Overall, theis is a pretty good tv dinner and I will ad it to my eat regularly list. (300 calories; 8g fat; 40g carbs; 15g protein; 25% sodium; 6 weight watchers points)

Cheez-It Twisterz: Hot Wings & Cheesy Blue

Each little snack stick is made up of two pieces twisted together. Each piece is a different flavor. The stick itself is a crunchy cheese cracker, like cheez-its then there is a flavor coating on the outside. It is a little bit spicy and a little bit smooth and creamy, with lots of cheese flavor. These things are addictive, I sometimes avoid getting them because I can go through half a box without thinking. They are very good and are among my favorite snacks. Fat wise, they are better for you than potato chips, but are firmly in the snack food category, you can't even pretend they are healthy, so eat them in moderation. (140 calories; 6g fat; 19g carbs; 2g protein; 12% sodium per 17 crackers which is slightly over an ounce)

Lean Cuisine: Fiesta grilled chicken

One of Stouffer's Lean Cuisine Cafe classics. Seasoned and grilled chicken tenderloins with santa fe style rice and beans. There wasn't much chicken, but it was flavorful, with lots of spices on it. The chicken was slightly hard, but not unplesantly so. There are red and yellow bell pepers with the chicken and they came out a bit soggy.

The rice and beans were pretty basic, not many beans, lots of rice, with a little redness due to tomato, but not much flavor from that. There was a reasonable amount of cheese melted across the rice, which was a plus and some flavor, but I couldn't quite identify what it was.

The cooking instructions were disapointing, 50% power for 7.5 to 10 minutes. that is too large a range to consistently get right and the 50% power makes it take to long.

I was mildly disappointed in this, I was really hoping for it to be better and the presentation was good, but the taste, though not bad, just didn't hold up. I will probably get this again at some point, but it won't be high on my list. (250 calories; 7g fat; 27g carbs; 19g protein; 25% sodium; 5 weight watchers points)

Almond Joy

Sometimes you feel like a nut. Almond Joy Candy bars are a hunk of gooey shredded coconut with an almond on top, covered with chocolate. Why is it gooey? who knows, probably sugar syrup of some kind. They are sweet, and very coconutty. The chocolate adds a little flavor, but there really isn't that much chocolate so it doesn't overpower anything. Then there is the almond, I really don't think it adds much. Most bites don't have any almond in them and even the ones that do, all you get is a hard crunch, you can't taste the almond over the other flavors. If you would rather not have the mostly superfluous almond, you could get a Mounds Bar instead, it is the same candy bar, sans the almond. If you really like sweet coconut give this a try, but don't get it expecting lots of chocolate or almonds.

Odwalla Bar: Super Protein.

This food bar has 16 grams of protein and 8 essential amino acids. It is crisper and harder than most other odwalla bars, although it isn't cruchy. There is a touch of sweetness, but not much in the way of identifiable flavors. The primary source of protein is soy, there is soy protein, soy nuts, soy butter, soy oil, soy protein crisp rice, and soy lecithin. The other major ingredients include grape juice concentrate, rasins, and date puree.

This energy bar is more like a Cliff bar than a power bar, but I didn't care for it all that much. I'm sure that if your primary concern is getting protein, this is a good way to get it, but I prefer the other, softer, more flavorful odwalla bars. (230 calories; 4.5g fat; 31g carbs; 16g protein; 7% sodium; per 2.2 ounce bar)

City Lights of China: Tangy Beef, Szechuan Style

City Lights is a chineese restaurant. I ordered the "Tangy Beef, Szechuan Style". Thin slices of beef in a spicy brown sauce. I got it as a lunch special, so it came with rice (steamed, fried, or brown), soup, and spring roll. The sauce was the highlight of the dish. It is fairly thick and very flavorful, it is also fairly spicy, but not overwhelmingly so. The beef didn't seem to have much taste, and what taste it did have was outshown by the sauce. The combination was good, and I would get it again. I was somewhat expecting it to be like Szechuan beef with shredded meet and carrots, but it wasn't like that at all (I guess that is why it was "Tangy Beef, szechuan style", not "szechuan beef")

I also had the hot and sour soup, which was also very good, lots of stuff floating in it, too much to try and name them all. The spring roll was pretty good as well. It came out so hot that I didn't eat it until I finished everything else and it was still hot.

City Lights of China serves good chineese food and is located at 4820 Bethesda Ave., Betheda, MD. They also have a location in Dupont Circle.

Odwalla Bar: Superfood

The first thing I noticed about this energy bar is that it is green.
It is a soft and chewy food made with organic rolled oats, date puree, rasins,
and grape juice conentrate. That is what gives it the fruity sweet flavor.
If you've never had an odwalla bar, it is similar to a Cliff bar but
chewier, and I think, much better tasting than a power bar.
Its claim to being a super food comes from it having Spirulina, a type
of cyanobacteria with high amounts of protien and lots of essential amino
acids, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals.

Overall this is good, and if you think spirulina is a good dietary supplement,
then this is a good way to get it. I like some of the other odwalla food
bars better. (230 calories; 4g fat; 43g carbs; 4g protein; 5% sodium; per
2.2 ounce bar)

Odwalla Bar: Cranberry C Monster

Odwalla food bar with 250% of you daily Vitamin C requirements. This is a soft, somewhat chewy energy bar, Mainly organic rolled oats with lots of cranberries in them. You get a single bar in the package and it is one serving. The bar itself as a little sweetness, but not very much and they didn't oversweeten the cranberries at all. You can taste the cranberry in every bite. and the cranberries have the tart, slightly acidic flavor that real cranberries have. If you have never had an odwalla bar, then it is something like a Cliff bar, but a little softer and much different from a power bar. Lots of calories, lots of carbs. I like this flavor, but if you don't like cranberries you probably wont. (220 calories; 3g fat; 44g carbss; 4g protein; 3% sodium; per 2.2 ounce bar)