03:31 PM CDT on Wednesday, April 26, 2006

The Lunch Ladies, our taste-testing gurus, talked with readers about eating healthy on the go.

Moderator: Lunch Ladies Gretchen and Kimberly are ready to take your questions now.

Lunch Lady Gretchen: Yippee! Our first chat! Hey, Kimberly, I liked your "corner" in the newsletter today. If y'all didn't catch it, here's the link.

Tara: Do you have any suggestions for healthy on-the-go breakfast foods? I'm always stressed for time in the mornings and I often end up eating crackers in the car on the way to work or running into 7-Eleven. Since my breakfast is either pure sugar or starch I find myself starving by 10 a.m. which leads to more snacking on junk foods.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: How about bananas, yogurt smoothies or low-cal breakfast bars? I like the Yoplait Light Smoothies. Or if you have time to zap something in the microwave just before you dash out of the house, try the Lean Pockets breakfast sandwiches. Here are links to some of our breakfast reviews:
www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/fea/breakroom/lunchladies/stories/090804brlunchladies.f4a8d6a3.html
www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/fea/breakroom/lunchladies/stories/100604brlunchladies.28e301b.html
Lunch Lady Kimberly: I always have a hard time adding protein to my breakfast, so I usually keep some smoked salmon that's pre-packaged at the store on hand and eat a little of that with my oatmeal in the morning. It's fast and efficient.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Leave it to the gourmet, Kimberly, to keep smoked salmon on hand!
Lunch Lady Kimberly: Well, at least you don't have to cook it and it's sort of breakfasty — you know, bagels and lox. Plus, it tastes good.

Wendy: Hey, have you guys reviewed AMY's frozen health food products yet?
Lunch Lady Kimberly: Gretchen and I both love Amy's Palak Paneer. It tastes great and is really low in calories. I've eaten that dish so much that I kind of burned out on it. Gretchen says she usually waits to buy them on sale. The Ladies are big fans of Amy's products and have reviewed them. We will link to those reviews in our next newsletter.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Another great Amy's meal is the veggie enchilada meal with black beans.

S.O. Deuhm: In today's reviews, the Seeds of Change meals had a lot of salt. Are there low-salt frozen meals for vegetarians?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: That's a good question. I've noticed that most frozen meals are high in sodium. We'll do some research on that and maybe do a future review.

Wendy: Why can't the frozen food manufacturers come up with a Lean Cuisine-WW size pizza with a good thin crust??? The California Kitchens white spinach pizza is really good, but needs to be in a WW size portion.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Lean Cuisine's Traditional pizzas (not the French bread or deep-dish) have sort of a thin crust. Have you tried those? My favorites are the pepperoni and the roasted veggie.

Cabbage: Most memorable frozen food lunch?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Well, memorable in a bad way would be Laura's Lifestyles. It was like eating garbage. Shudder.
Lunch Lady Kimberly: The best frozen meals I have tried were the Seeds of Change dishes we just reviewed. The worst were Laura's Lifestyle bowls of muck, where I was actually worried for my health.

Sandy: You ladies did a review of low fat/low cal frozen ice cream treats one can find in her local grocery store and I can't find the list. It's been awhile back. Can you tell me which was your favorite? I've been craving frozen ice cream treats recently, but don't want to pack in the pounds!
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Yes, we've tried several frozen treats in the past. Here are a bunch of links to past reviews.
Frozen fruit bars
Fudge bars
Ice cream sandwiches
I have a couple of other favorites that we didn't try in those reviews: Dryer's Whole Fruit bar in strawberry and the Giant Fudgy Bar from No Pudge.

S.O. Deuhm: Have you ever just backed away from a meal in a restaurant?
Lunch Lady Kimberly: Not in recent memory, but we reviewed Taco Bueno once and I was fairly repulsed by the giant tater tot in the potato burrito. That's not food.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Kimberly was very upset by Taco Bueno. She's just not a fast-food girl.
Lunch Lady Kimberly: Fast food is fine from La Madeleine or Pei Wei.
Lunch Lady Gretchen: OK, now we have a Lunch Ladies disagreement. I don't think Pei Wei or La Madeleine can be considered "fast food." It's "fast casual."

Moderator: Ladies, I have a question. I know your goal is healthy eating, but if you're ever in the mood to "break the rules," what's your favorite indulgence?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Unfortunately for my hips, I "break the rules" more often than I should. My favorite indulgence is pizza of any kind: homemade, delivery or even $1.50 Party Pizzas. My stomach is growling just thinking of it. And I can polish off a jar of peanut butter if you leave me alone with one. Sad.
Lunch Lady Kimberly: Cookies. I love them. All of them. You can keep your pies, your cakes, your creme brulee, just give me the cookies.

twilkins: Have you ever reviewed the precooked refrigerated meals like Hormel pot roast?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: We haven't done a review, but I've tried some of them myself at home — not the Hormel pot roast, however. I've tried the turkey pan Roast from Jennie O. Good, but not remarkable.

twilkins: Have you ever nuked a dinner and decided that it looked or smelled too bad to try?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Yes, but if we're reviewing it, we have to try it anyway. Believe me, there have been times when we wanted to just dump the meal in the trash.

S.O. Deuhm: Many Tex-Mex restaurants use papitas as fillers in the meat....a tater tot — well, that's like getting the ring in the Christmas pudding! What an honor!
Lunch Lady Gretchen: I'm laughing! I'll try telling her that next time.
Lunch Lady Kimberly: Ha! Maybe a ring out of the gumball machine.

Moderator: Kimberly, you're a triathlon runner. Do you eat special foods to gear up for a race?
Lunch Lady Kimberly: I usually dilute some kind of sport drink with water so I can get some electrolytes in my system but not so much sugar. If it's a long race, like three hours or more, I will sometimes eat a couple of Fig Newtons. I'm not really racing, just participating.

Moderator: Ladies, what about snacks — not meals, just treats that are healthy. Any favorites?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: I'm in love with the Jell-O sugar free caramel pudding. It's so rich! And only 1 Weight Watchers Point. Plus, you get some calcium.
Lunch Lady Kimberly: I love, love, love the Greek style Fage Total yogurt. It's low in calorie and tastes great if you mix in a little fruit.

Moderator: OK, we have time for just one more question.

S.O. Deuhm: Does either of you smoke? I heard there are food writers who smoke like chimneys. How can they taste food?
Lunch Lady Gretchen: Wellll, since my mom doesn't know how to chat online, I'll be honest. I'm a social smoker and indulge if I'm having a beer or three. I don't do it often enough to hurt my smeller, I guess.
Lunch Lady Kimberly: Bleh. No, I hate smoking. It's disgusting.

Moderator: That's all the time we have with the Lunch Ladies today. Thanks, Ladies, for joining us!

Lunch Lady Gretchen: This was fun! I hope we'll have another chat soon. Bye everyone!

Lunch Lady Kimberly: Thanks for chatting, folks! It was great. If you have any more questions, feel free to e-mail us later, and remember — nothing good can come from a giant tot.