When it comes to breakfast, I’m a grab and go sort.  Mornings are a challenge enough, juggling to get the kids ready and get to work.  I need fast.  Easy.  Tasty.  I vacillate between assorted Weight Watchers breakfasts sandwiches, fruit or oatmeal.  When I spied the new Lean Cuisine Breakfast Paninis in the freezer section of the grocery store, I grabbed one, ready to add something new to my morning mix.

First, their take on panini.  I’m sorry, but no matter what “special” cardboard is being used, or however many origami techniques you use to fold the box, you will never be able to recreate a real panini with frozen bread in your microwave.  Bread in the microwave, base case, has always been a challenge.  Getting it crispy or panini-style, even more so.  So once you give up the illusion that you might get a panini from your microwave, and lower your expectations, you can easily stave off disappointment.

Lean Cuisine has two versions, a Denver omelet style and a Sausage, Egg and Cheese.  I went with the latter.  The microwave worked its magic in just a few minutes, after, of course, turning the box into a magic tray and using the crisper cardboard.  One bite and I was overwhelmed by sweetness.  Overwhelmed.

I flipped the box over to read the description on the front.  “…sweet maple sauce … cinnamon-flavored multigrain bread…”  Yup, that would do it.  It’s written smaller than the “Sausage, Egg and Cheese” title, so I hadn’t read it.  I finished it because it was breakfast,  I was hungry and I didn’t want to waste it.  But I didn’t like it.  Not one little bit.  The sweetness is just so overpowering you barely taste anything else.  Cheese?  There was cheese in there?  Yup, mozzarella.  Barely could tell.

I love that it’s relatively healthy at 5 grams of fiber and 280 calories.  I love the price point (it was on sale for $2 when I bought it last week).  But I really hated the taste.  I’m sorry, Lean Cuisine, but I’m going to have to stick with my regular breakfast rotation and you’ve missed the cut.  Next!

A while back, a PR rep asked me if I wanted to try out Weight Watchers English Muffins and I said yes. As someone who is in a seemingly never-ending battle with weight loss, I wanted to give these babies a shot and see if they could perhaps give the old standby English muffins a run for their proverbial money.

The variety I chose was wheat. Now, I confess, I never eat English muffins without butter, jam or something on it. These were no exception. I toasted them and had them with homemade strawberry jam and later baked them with marinara and cheese for a quick English muffin pizza lunch.

All in all, they were pretty good. They aren’t quite as fluffy or nook-and-cranny filled as traditional English muffins, but they are tasty. And really, other than the package reminding me that of their point rating (Weight Watchers Points, that is), they really don’t feel like a diet food.

Not bad.

They were introduced as a new flavor this year, joining the ranks of their already popular Blueberry and Double Chocolate varieties.  They clock in at 3 points, which is perfect for a snack or a grab-and-go breakfast.  They have 180 calories each and come individually wrapped, which is perfect for sharing … or rationing.

But how did they taste?

The good news is that they are quite thick and dense, so it definitely goes a long way to filling you up.  I (and my fellow taster) thought they were a little on the sweet side, but I found that if I split it in half and toasted them with a little speck of butter, I liked them a bit better.

Am I going to crave these anytime soon?  No, probably not.  But they’re good to have on hand for when time is short and you just don’t want to have to think.

As soon as I put the bag on the table, the waitress exclaimed, “You’re on Weight Watchers?  I love those pecan candies!  They’re so good!”  We both looked at her – she was probably in her mid-60s and must have been 110 pounds soaking wet.  We didn’t ask, but hope that she’s on WW for just maintaining, because if she needs to lose weight, we’re all in trouble.

When I saw how excited she was about the Pecan Crowns, I offered her one and she was thrilled.  Honestly, you’d have thought I was giving her $50, so seeing her reaction was a good way to starting our sampling.

The nut and caramel clusters are coated with smooth and creamy milk chocolate.  I tend to shy away from caramel-type confections because I’m not a big fan of picking caramel out of my teeth hours later, but in this case, the caramel was not the ultra-sticky kind, which is a good thing indeed.

The candies did not taste like “diet” treats and were actually quite pleasant.  They had just a touch of an aftertaste, but not so much that it detracted you from enjoying the overall experience.  The candies are one point for each piece, so it’s not something you’re going to want to inhale too quickly.  I’m not sure I’ll get a craving for these any time soon, but for satisfying a sweet craving without the guilt, they are just fine. 

As we left the restaurant, we added a few more of the candies to the billfold for the waitress, and spotted her beaming as we made our way to the door.  It’s all about the little things, isn’t it?

The GOOD: The egg whites were not watery, but firm like they should be.  The bread remained fairly soft, which is sometimes a challenge when heating up bread in the microwave, and the cheese held everything together nicely.

The BAD: I gotta say … this one was just ok.  Not bad, but nothing to rave over either.  Just eh.  Not a heckuva lot of taste, and I ended up adding a bit of ketchup to it.  When wrapped in a paper towel and microwaved (as directions instruct), the cheese comes out of the sandwich and ends up binding the paper towel to the sandwich.  So that makes your first order of business to remove the little bits of paper towel stuck to the muffin.

MONEY MATTERS: Weight Watchers Smart Ones Morning Express sandwiches retail for approximately $4.49 for a package of two, and can be found at your local grocery store.

The MOM VERDICT

Cate says: Like I said, just ok.  I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to seek this one out again, but if it was the only thing to hold me over from dawn to dusk, I could stomach it.  Gosh, that does make it sound horrid, doesn’t it?  Like I said, just ok.

Miss the review of the other varieties?  Go on and check out the Stuffed Breakfast Sandwich and Breakfast Quesadilla.

Have a favorite of your own?  We’d love to hear about it!

The GOOD: I love me a good quesadilla, though I can’t say I’ve ever had one for breakfast.  No matter, once you stuff it with traditional breakfast items, it’s a concept that’s easy to swallow.  In just 2 minutes and 15 seconds, a hot, guilt-free breakfast can be yours.  I loved the extra cheesiness of this one from the first bite.

The BAD: The “vegetables” would refer to the green and red bell peppers.  In this sandwich, with the cheese sandwiching everything together, you really can’t make out the vegetables’ presence, but for those of you that just push your veggies around on the plate and don’t eat them anyway, this could be a good thing.  As with the Stuffed Pocket Sandwich I reviewed last week, you wouldn’t know there was turkey bacon in this if you didn’t read it on the box top.

MONEY MATTERS: Weight Watchers Smart Ones Morning Express sandwiches retail for approximately $4.49 for a package of two, and can be found at your local grocery store.

The MOM VERDICT

Cate says: Even though there are minor critiques on this one, I actually really liked it, and looked forward to having the second one the following day.  In this sandwich, unlike the stuffed one, the eggs were not watery, so the cheese was the perfect consistency to hold everything together.  The quesadilla got a little crispy around the edges, and it kept me full until lunch time.  Mission accomplished.

Miss the review of the other varieties?  Go on and check out the Stuffed Breakfast Sandwich.

The GOOD: I love the stuffed pocket concept of this, as it truly does make it a grab-and-go choice in the morning.  I also loved the bread portion of it – something different from the usual muffin variety when it comes to breakfast sandwich choices.  After it was heated up, the bread didn’t get all chewy, as bread sometimes does when heated in the microwave, so that was a definite bonus.  The sandwich innards was very cheesy, and I do love me some cheese.  I also liked that this was egg whites, as opposed to the whole egg; you know, good for lower cholesterol and such.

The BAD: You have to like green peppers.  Although the taste of them in the sandwich isn’t overwhelming, the smell of them whilst the sandwich was heating up certainly was.  The eggs were a teensy bit watery, and when mixed with the cheese, it made the cheese a little bit … grainy, just a weird texture.  Bacon?  There was bacon in this?  Had I not seen it mentioned on the package, I never would have known.

MONEY MATTERS: Weight Watchers Smart Ones Morning Express sandwiches (say that three times fast!) retail for approximately $4.49 for a package of two, and can be found at your local grocery store.

The MOM VERDICT

Cate says: Although I loved the pocket-ness of this, and the taste of the bread, and the fact that I didn’t need to worry about too many calories or too much fat, I didn’t like it enough taste-wise to want to have it again.  In fact, I gave the second one to a co-worker who is on Weight Watchers.  That being said, there are a few other selections in the Weight Watchers Smart Ones line and I’ll be giving them a try too, so stay tuned to The Voice of Mom for more Morning Express reviews.