SMORGASBORD: New wave meals . . . 100-calorie snacks, etc.

New wave meals

Two freezer-to-microwave products that steam foods in the bag earned tasters’ approval, with fresh and balanced flavors and terrific texture.

Birds Eye Steamfresh Meals For Two ($7-$8 per 24-ounce bag) deliver main-dish options including grilled chicken marinara and shrimp pasta primavera. Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers vegetable sides ($2.20-$3 per 12-ounce bag) include broccoli and cheese sauce and sweet corn and butter sauce.

They’re at various grocers; www.peapod.com carries Steamers only.

100-calorie snacks

If you thought that the rush of new 100-calorie products is coming to a well-deserved end, think again.

It seems that the 100-calorie floodgates have opened even wider, as new 100-calorie versions of snacks from Frito-Lay and General Mills are on store shelves.

At one discount supermarket, a five-pack of new 100-calorie bags of Doritos, which contain 0.68 ounces each, is $2.19 (64 cents an ounce).

If you are familiar with General Mills’ various Chex Mixes, you might be interested in Chex 100-calorie packs. The big Chex Mix bag at one discount supermarket is $2.28 (26 cents an ounce). The 4.9-ounce six-pack box of Chex 100-calorie bags is $2.29 (47 cents an ounce).

Use your imagination

Do you think you have a million-dollar recipe in you? And does it involve refrigerated crescent rolls? Then, you should enter the 44th Pillsbury Bake-Off, which will take place April 11-13, 2010, in Orlando, Fla.

The rules tend to change a bit from Bake-Off to Bake-Off, and this time around is no exception. This year, contestants must enter online (deadline: April 20) after registering at pillsbury.com. Recipes have to fit one of these four categories: Breakfast and Brunches; Entertaining Appetizers; Dinner Made Easy; Sweet Treats.

Further, the recipes have to use two ingredients from a long list, with one of them being a core Pillsbury product such as pie crust, biscuits, pizza crust or flour. The second ingredient can come from the long list of sponsor products, which includes Hershey chocolate, Smucker’s ice cream toppings and Jif peanut butter.

A couple of tips: Judges have loved sweets that gush in the center ever since the triumph of the Tunnel of Fudge Cake, and they give major props to creative repurposing. One year, the big winner used salsa as a base for a Moroccan-inspired dish of chicken and couscous and added some raisins and cinnamon.

Go to www.pillsbury.com for details.

Pour it on

These colorful measuring pours help cooks accurately measure olive oil and other liquids straight from the bottle. They come in 1-teaspoon, 1-tablespoon and 1- and 2-ounce measures; each fits bottlenecks ¾- to 1-inch in diameter; a flap keeps contents covered.

They’re $6 each, or $16.50 for a set of three, by mail from Lee Valley Tools, www.leevalley.com (click on the “gifts” tab) or (800) 871-8158.

Tags: features, smorgasbord, food