Kettle Bakes Pita Chips

Bonnie: In the past decade, commercially made pita chips have become a popular snack food. They're generally lower in fat and calories than potato chips and lower in sodium (though higher in fat) than pretzels. Kettle Bakes Pita Chips fit that description.

Athenos Pita Chips, which we recently reviewed, contain more fat and sodium than Kettle Bakes Pita Chips and are packed with additives that Kettle Chips don't have. That's why I recommend Kettle over Athenos.

Kettle Bakes Pita Chips aren't bad-tasting for a commercial chip. My homemade chips, from whole- wheat pita bread, are tastier and offer the benefits of whole grains. Athenos offers a whole-wheat chip, but it contains a hefty 5 grams of fat per 11-chip serving and lots of sodium. Neither of these Kettle Pita Chips is made using whole-wheat flour. The labels list "wheat flour," but that's not a whole grain. The word whole would need to precede wheat for that to be the case.

Carolyn: Kettle Bakes Pita Chips is a rare case of a natural-food- company product that's tastier than the mainstream competition. We reviewed Kraft's Athenos Pita Chips only a couple of weeks back and the Garlic version in particular is quite good. But these Kettle Bakes are better, mainly because of their thinner, more potato chip- like texture and addictive saltiness.

I couldn't imagine eating more than a few of the chunky and bland Athenos Original Pita Chips without a dip, for instance, whereas I had to stop myself from finishing the bag of Kettle Bakes Pita Chips in one sitting. And if that isn't the true test of a snack, I don't know what is.

Kellogg's Organic Cereals

• Rice Krispies, Frosted Mini-Wheats, and Raisin Bran

• $3.69 per 10- to 15.3-ounce box.

Bonnie: You can now eat Kellogg's Rice Krispies, Frosted Mini-Wheats and Raisin Bran and feel good about how you're helping the environment.

These new organic versions of popular Kellogg's cereals contain no pesticides, artificial preservatives or artificial ingredients, which makes you wonder what's in your non-organic cereal bowl. Best of all, these have neither high-fructose corn syrup nor BHT, a preservative added to the packaging.

Although I do recommend these, I have a couple of caveats. First, the taste and texture are different from the non-organic versions. The flakes in the Organic Raisin Bran, for instance, are harder and don't soften as quickly in milk. Also, Organic Rice Krispies contains 40 percent less iron than the regular.

Carolyn: Rice Krispies has joined my list of most unlikely organic foods (right after Pam vegetable- oil spray). After all, Snap!, Crackle! and Pop! wear a baker's hat, a stocking cap and a military hat, respectively - not a forest-ranger cap in the bunch. Perhaps it's because Rice Krispies was the easiest of Kellogg's cereal portfolio to make organic.

Certainly it's the cereal that seems most unaffected by organic sourcing. The taste, texture and sounds of Organic Rice Krispies are virtually identical to regular.

As Bonnie suggests, Organic Raisin Bran and Organic Frosted Mini-Wheats have slightly different textures and tastes. Organic Raisin Bran is a little more grainier and tougher. The Mini-Wheats variety tastes less sugary and therefore much closer to Life cereal, if Life had the heft of shredded wheat.

Keebler Sandies Shortbread Fudge Drops

• $3.59 per 9.5-ounce package

Bonnie: Keebler followed the dark-chocolate new-product phenomenon with the introduction of its popular Sandies cookies with fudge centers. The new Fudge Drops are small, with two equaling one standard-size Sandie in terms of nutrition and size. The Fudge Drops, though, contain no trans fats. The other varieties still do, something I'm sure Keebler will soon change.

If Keebler is making changes, I also suggest making the packaging resealable and making the cookies taste better. As they are now, these are mediocre, not at all worth their 140 calories, 7 grams of total fat and 3.5 grams of saturated fat per four mini-cookie serving.

Carolyn: For a big commercial brand, Sandies Shortbread cookies are surprisingly rich and delicious. I particularly like the Cinnamon Swirl and Chocolate Chip & Pecan varieties. That's why I eagerly ripped opened this bag of new Sandies Shortbread Fudge Drops.

My previous experience with Sandies and the picture on the package had me imagining mini Sandies with a well of rich, delicious chocolate on the upscale order of Pepperidge Farm. But these are more like lowbrow Keebler Fudge Shoppe. The cookie base tastes and bites like a cheap sugar cookie rather than shortbread and is topped with an equally cheap-tasting chocolate. I'll beat you back to the supermarket for the infinitely more satisfying Sandies Chocolate Chip or Pepperidge Farm Milano, Bonnie.

Bonnie Tandy Leblang is a registered dietitian and professional speaker. Carolyn Wyman is a junk-food fanatic and author of "Better Than Homemade: Amazing Foods That Changed the Way We Eat" (Quirk).