Find out what our Community Users are saying about the latest salad dressings, snack packs and more in your local grocery store.
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 &150 and don't forget to send us your Hot Dish!
Spray-On Salad Dressing
Our Community users are posting rave reviews for the new Wish-Bone Salad Spritzers salad dressings. The newfangled dressings come in a handy spray-pump dispenser, and 10 sprays have only 10 calories, for a POINTS value of 0 per serving.* Community Users praised all three flavors: Balsamic Breeze Vinaigrette, Italian Vinaigrette, and Red Wine Mist Vinaigrette. "I have the balsamic variety and I absolutely love it!" says one Community User. "I've always just used a little dressing, but this way I can control it without having to the fork-dip thing." Another Community User reports that the spray dressing "covers [salads] better than regular dressing." Others are finding delicious ways to use the sprays in more than just salads, like one Community User who sprayed cauliflower, broccoli, green beans and baby carrots with the Italian-flavored dressing before roasting them. Their compact size also makes these dressings portable: "I take a bottle with me whenever we go out," says another Community User. "You never know when you might stop somewhere to eat, and I don't want to be stuck guessing at high-fat dressings."
Seriously Sweet Snack Packs
If you're looking for a chocolate or peanut-butter fix, our Community Users have just the thing: new Snacksters packs from Hershey's, with a POINTS value of 2 per pouch.* A mix of puffed cereal and sweets (either Reese's Pieces and peanut-butter chips, or chocolate-chip cookies and milk- and dark-chocolate chips), the single-serving snacks are getting the thumbs-up from folks who've tried them. "I got my chocolate fix for not a high POINTS value," says one Community User. Another suggested mixing the contents of the pouch with 1/2 cup of low-sugar cereal to increase the volume without adding too many calories, and someone else tried them on top of reduced-fat, low-sugar ice cream with a little chocolate syrup: "Presto—an awesome sundae!" They can be hard to find at the grocery store, with some chains putting them near the cookies and others near the granola bars, but our Community Users insist they're worth the search!
Gum That Makes a Splash
Many Community Users say they rely on sugarless gum to help them resist snacking temptations and eating when they're not hungry. And now they're excited about two new flavors of gum: Trident Splash in Peppermint with Vanilla and Strawberry with Lime, each with a POINTS value of 0 per piece.* One Community User who tried the Peppermint with Vanilla flavor described it as "a peppermint-coated gum with a liquid vanilla burst in the center. It's sugarless, but SO sweet that it's like a piece of candy and the flavor lasts forever!" Others love the fruit flavor of the Strawberry with Lime variety. Fans of both report keeping it handy in their purse and in their desk drawers—and one Community User says she even takes some along for a snack during the movies!
A Teddy-rific Treat
Yes, there's another newcomer to the ever-expanding range of snack packs of 100 calories each. Community Users have reported finding boxes of Nabisco KidSense Teddy Grahams Cubs Fun Packs on grocery-store shelves. "How good are they!" raves one Community User. "I was so excited to open that little pack sitting on my desk all day." With a POINTS value of just 2 for the pouch,* Community Users are enjoying a portion-controlled taste of their childhoods.
*POINTS values based on manufacturer's nutritional information. These items have not been nutritionally tested by WeightWatchers.com.
Got a favorite new food find that you'd like to dish about? We're all ears. Join the discussion on our Food Talk message board or email us at hotdish@weightwatchers.com. Be sure to include the item's exact name, a brief description and why you think it's a must-have.