Kelloggs All Bran [5 stars]

Suppose you want a heart healthy granola-like ingredient to add to your meals & snacks... Welcome Kelloggs All Bran to your pantry!

Why is All Bran "heart healthy"? A 1/2 cup has 350mg of potassium with only 80mg of sodium and 1g of fat. A heart healthy food has a potassium to sodium ratio of at least 3:1. Kelloggs All Bran delivers a 4:1 ratio, making it a welcome hearth healthy addition to your pantry.

If you are designing a heart healthy diet, some things you can do with All Bran:

1. Mix with oatmeal & bananas for a tasty warm breakfast.
2. Mix with dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, cherries, etc) for a tasty snack.
3. Mix with yogurt & bananas for a tasty chilled breakfast.

Basically, any place you would use granola use All Bran instead and give a heart healthy boost to your recipes.

505 Southwestern Green Chile Sauce [5 stars]

I am a huge fan of green chiles and the Green Chile Sauce from 505 Southwestern does not disappoint.

The sauce is think and chunky enough to use as a regular salsa. It is rated as "medium" but has a taste hotter than your typical medium salsa (but not as hot as your traditional "hot"). I think the rich green chile flavor gives it this "hot medium" feel.

Another bonus of this salsa: it is low in sodium and has zero grams of fat. If you are looking for a heart healthy salsa, the 505 Green Chile is definitely for you.

As far as pricing, 505 runs middle of the pack at my grocery stores: not expensive but not the cheapest salsa on the shelf. It is, though, the best priced healthy salsa in the stores where I shop.

Ocean Spray Cranberry Pomegranate Juice [5 stars]

One of my great finds of the last 6 months... Ocean Spray Diet Cranberry Pomegranate Juice.

Only 5 calories per serving with 100% of a day's Vitamin C. The pomegranate twist gives this a very cool, refreshing taste as opposed to traditional cranberry juice which has a tart or dry aftertaste.

I have also tried the other diet juices from Ocean Spray - take my word for it, stick with the Cranberry Pomegranate selection. The straight "diet cranberry" leaves your mouth dry, the "diet blueberry pomegranate" leaves you wondering where were the blueberries and the "diet cranberry grape" leaves you feeling like you drank super sweet koolaid. But, drink the diet cranberry pomegranate and you are refreshed and your mouth is left cool and happy.

$3.50 for a 64 oz bottle seems to be the going rate at grocery stores in my area (King Soopers and Safeway). But, it occasionally goes on sale for $2.50 - stockpile when you see this price! I have also come across Super Targets selling it for $2.54 - again, stockpile it at this price.

Farmers Market Canned Pumpkin [5 stars]

You may not be aware of this, but the U.S. has been in a great pumpkin shortage since 2009. The primary provider of canned pumpkin in the U.S. has been Libby's and, to put it bluntly, they have NO pumpkin.

This was a major issue for me, as we add canned pumpkin to our dog's natural diet as a fiber supplement. As our stash of pumpkin started dwindling and we heard of the great pumpkin shortage from Libby's, this was cause for concern. How would we maintain the fiber level our Siberian Husky's had become accustomed to ingesting?

Luckily, there is an answer... Farmer's Market Foods is not in a great pumpkin shortage. They have a readily available supply of organic canned pumpkin available on Amazon. The cost comes out to just over $2 a can and you can always get free shipping on this from Amazon.

So, all is not lost Farmer's Market Foods Organic Canned Pumpkin to the rescue. Definitely a 5 star product for those of us in need of pumpkin during the great shortage of 2009-2010.