Hot Dish
By Diana Kelly | 3/31/2006

Turn to Hot Dish each month for the scoop on new food finds from your Weight Watchers community. We're tapped in to what meetings Leaders and members and Weight Watchers Online subscribers from around the country are finding on supermarket shelves, at local farm stands, in kitchen stores and on restaurant menus. From food-prep helpers that do everything but the dishes to treats that won't take up your entire weekly POINTS® Allowance, this column will be a clearinghouse of delicious news and healthy food ideas served up by all of you. So stay tuned every month for updates about the goods and gadgets that have people like you buzzing – and don't forget to send us your Hot Dish!


New Light Orange Juice
A frequent theme on our Message Boards and in meetings—especially as the weather gets warm—is how to stay hydrated. People who don't love drinking plain water often seek flavorful low-calorie alternatives, and some of our Community Users have discovered a new offering from Ocean Spray that fits the bill: a beverage called Diet Orange Citrus Spray. Just in time for spring, this drink can now be found in the juice aisle and has just 5 calories per unce serving. "It's so good and has a POINTS value of zero*!"raved one Community User.

Get Your Chocolate Fix, In a Stick
Our Community Users can't stop raving about the new Hershey's Sticks, available in milk chocolate, dark chocolate, mint chocolate and caramel-filled chocolate flavors. "They are delicious. You should try them," a Community User suggested. Another user said, "They are great when you need a fix of chocolate, but don't want to splurge on a regular candy bar." One satisfying stick of any flavor has a POINTS value of 1*, but our Community Users recommend consulting each variety's nutritional information when calculating the POINTS values of two or more sticks.

Crunchy Snack Solution
Can't stock your cupboard with enough 100-calorie snack packs? Check the shelves at your local supermarket—they'll probably have a batch of new single-serving snacks from Frito Lay in stock soon. Doritos Nacho Cheese 100-Calorie Mini Bites Flavored Tortilla Chips and Doritos Cool Ranch 100 Calorie Mini Bites Flavored Tortilla Chips are two of the new offerings, and each pack has a POINTS value of 3 per pouch*. After discovering them, one Community User exclaimed, "I thought I'd died and gone to snacky heaven!" Meetings members have been pleased to discover the new snacks, too: "I know I could buy the chips and portion them out myself, but then I run the risk of 'sampling' too many as I go, and they usually end up taking on the flavor of the plastic bag. That's why I love these 100-calorie packs!" In addition to the Doritos varieties, there are also two Cheetos options, which Community Users have declared to be "yummy!" Cheetos Asteroids Crunch Cheese Flavored Snacks also have a POINTS value of 3 per pack*, but the Baked Cheetos Crunch Cheese Flavored Snacks have a POINTS value of just 2 per pouch*.

Multigrain Rice Cakes Are Sweet!

Bored with eating the same rice cakes over and over again? Quaker Multigrain Snacks have come out with Honey Graham Minis and Cinnamon and Sugar Minis (nine mini cakes have a POINTS value of 1*), as well as Cinnamon Toast Cakes and Maple Brown Sugar Cakes (one cake has a POINTS value of 1*). One ecstatic Community User called the Cinnamon Toast Rice Cakes "absolutely fantastic!" Another Community User declared the cakes "one of my favorite snacks when I need something sweet and crunchy. I always have some on hand." Keep an eye on your new treats, warns one Community User: "My kids are eating them all!"

*POINTS values based on manufacturer's nutritional information. These items have not been nutritionally tested by WeightWatchers.com.