uExpress.com: Supermarket Sampler by Bonnie Tandy Leblang and Carolyn Wyman -- (07/18/1999) It has all of regular Country Time powder mix's smoothness, sweetness, economy and convenience but with a darker color and taste. In other words, this is tea-flavored lemonade rather than lemon-flavored tea.

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It has all of regular Country Time powder mix's smoothness, sweetness, economy and convenience but with a darker color and taste. In other words, this is tea-flavored lemonade rather than lemon-flavored tea.

07/18/1999

Bonnie: When I was a newspaper food editor, Famous Amos once came to visit me with a plateful of his delicious chocolate chip cookies. These new packaged Famous Amos cookies aren't nearly as good as that mouthwatering memory, but they're not bad. Nutritionally they contain about 1.5 to 2 grams fat and 35 calories per mini cookie, which makes them slightly fattier ounce for ounce than many other packaged oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies.

Bonnie: This is the weirdest new food we've tried in ages. Seaphire is an emerald green plant that's grown in sea water near the Sea of Cortez that has a crisp, crunchy texture and salty taste. A serving -- defined by importer Melissa's as 3 ounces -- contains a mere 30 calories, lots of vitamin A, some vitamin C and 1,350 milligrams sodium, or half of the recommended daily sodium limit.

Melissa's hopes that you'll use it in lieu of salt in recipes. I'd say there's not much hope of that unless you love the taste of seaweed.

Bonnie: I prefer lemonade made from lemons, iced tea from tea leaves, and lemon ice tea made from both these natural ingredients.

I have to admit, though, I was pleasantly surprised by the ingredient panel of Country Time's Lemonade Ice Tea mix. It contained only sugar, citric acid, instant tea, natural flavoring and colorings, and of course, something to keep the crystals from caking.

Considering that most other drink mixes are artificially flavored and colored, this isn't too bad.

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(Bonnie Tandy Leblang is a registered dietitian and creator of Express Lane Cooking: A Simple Solution to What's for Dinner (Universal Press Syndicate). Carolyn Wyman is a junk food fanatic and author of "Spam: A Biography" (Harvest/Harcourt Brace). Each week they critique three new food items.)