SUPERMARKET SAMPLER : FLAVOR FRONTIER IN MUFFIN WORLD.

Byline: Carolyn Wyman & Bonnie Tandy Leblang

Hostess Mini Muffins - Bubble Gum and S'Mores; 79 cents per 2.4-ounce bag containing six muffins. Also available in four-bag box.

Bonnie: Hostess has gone from the laughable to the ridiculous with the introduction of bubble gum-flavored mini-muffins. The smell alone will be enough to stop some people. Although more palatable, the S'Mores flavor tastes nothing like the campfire treat.

We don't have the space for me to describe the hundreds of tastier and more nutritious ways to get the 300 calories provided by a bag of either one of these.

Carolyn: Not since Hubba Bubba Soda has a food company done anything so conversation-provoking as these new Hostess Bubble Gum Mini Muffins. They're pink and contain tiny bits of what appear to be Bazookalike gum that are too small to blow. The taste is actually not as sickening as you might expect - especially if you forget about the bubble gum (admittedly not an easy thing to do) and think tutti-frutti.

The S'Mores flavor is tame by contrast. And Bonnie's wrong: These do deliver the S'Mores flavor, if not the real thing's simultaneously contrasting textures of sponge, goo and crunch.

Fantastic Foods Healthy Complements 100 Percent Natural Side Dishes - Hacienda Spanish Rice Pilaf, Four Grain Pilaf With Wild Rice, Roasted Garlic & Red Pepper Couscous, Royal Thai Couscous, Risotto Classico and Tuscany Mushroom Risotto; $2.19 per 5.6- to 6.4-ounce box.

Bonnie: Fantastic Foods Healthy Complements are better than most side-dish mixes. But they're still not good enough. Instead of a plethora of chemical flavor-enhancers and additives to heighten the flavor, these new grain-based ones rely on yeast extract, which naturally contains the flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate to which some folks react adversely.

And despite being grain- and vegetable-based, they contain only a meager 2 grams of fiber per serving toward the recommended daily 25 to 30 grams. That's because they're based on low-fiber grains (white, not brown rice) and contain very few vegetables.

You could make healthier complements to your main meal by making a brown rice pilaf with fresh tomatoes, peppers and onions; or, boost the fiber content of one of these by serving it with lots of broccoli, spinach, peas, tomatoes or other fiber-rich veggies.

Carolyn: Fantastic Foods Healthy Complements is Lipton rice for health foodies. In other words, these are complicated, supposedly healthy side dishes in convenient, 20-minutes-from-box-to-table form.

Some are a lot better than others. The Spanish rice was too ordinary. The plain risotto tasted as salty and fake as any big-name brand.

Healthy Complements was my first experience with couscous. I don't know if it's true in general, but here it tastes like a cross between rice and pasta. The Thai version tasted quite good, though also quite Indian.

My favorite, the Four Grain Pilaf, was even more foreign (at least in the sense of being strange to a junk foodie). It's a real potpourri of textures and flavors, including one grain I have never knowingly eaten before (triticale). Fortunately, the Four Grain Pilaf was different and good-tasting. At twice the price of Lipton, that's the only way Healthy Complements are going to get compliments from me.