Price: $3.49
Serving: 2 pieces, 1.5oz.
Servings per bag: 8
Calories: 130 per serving
Calories from Fat: 45
Fat: 8%, 5g
##Saturated Fat: 25%, 5g
##Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 2%, 5mg
Sodium: 30%, 710mg
Protein: 18g
Carbohydrates: 13%, 39g
Fiber: 4%, 1g
Sugar: 7g
Weight Watchers Points: 3 POINTS

Alexia says: Alexia Garlic Baguette is made in the traditional style with crispy French bread and our own special blend of real butter, robust garlic and spices.

Abi says: Raise your hand if you like garlic bread.

Okay, if you’re not raising your hand right now you can stop reading this review. What I’m about to write is only for people who enjoy eating butter, savory, garlicky bread. If you don’t like your bread that way then feel free to come back tomorrow.

Alexia Foods, makers of the fantastic sweet potato fries and the pretty good but not quite as amazing due to being a pain to cook waffle fries also produce a variety of bread products. Chief bread product is the garlic bread. Not the ciabatta rolls or the dinner rolls or the okay-but-not-amazing cheese focaccia rolls. The reason this garlic bread is so great is three-fold.

Fold 1: Garlic. Each slice comes slathered in garlic butter. And this isn’t one of those loaves that’s split down the center with garlic just in the middle. No, this bread is sliced almost all of the way through and then garlicky butter in inserted into those slits. This would be even more awesome if the butter actually melted completely by the time the bread was browned in the oven. Bread with still-solid butter on it seems gluttonous while bread with melted butter on it seems almost diety.

Fold 2: Surface to interior ratio. The problem with a variety of other Alexia products is that the surface area is so great that by the time it is crispy the insides of the roll are uh, also crispy. This is not good because you end up gnawing your way through a roll and there are crumbs EVERYWHERE. For a great frozen-to-oven bread product: outsides = crispy, insides = soft. The baguette has enough inner dough that this predicament is not an issue.

Thanks, bread!

Fold 3: You don’t have to chop up any garlic.

I like to heat up a loaf to go with a dinner of spaghetti. During the winter it is nice to have those extra carbs. This loaf easily feeds three adults, though really it is plenty for four adults who are not going to make a meal consisting solely of bread. The bummer is that there are two ends and those only have garlic butter on one side. But then, if someone in your party is trying to watch his or her weight, they should probably get the end pieces.

Or just not eat buttery bread.

(As is the case now, you can click on the image to see a HUGE version.)

Ingredients: WHEAT FLOUR, WATER, GARLIC BUTTER (BUTTER, WATER, GARLIC, SALT, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, GARLIC POWDER, PARSLEY, ONION POWDER), YEAST, SALT, DOUGH CONDITIONER (DEXTROSE, WHEAT STARCH, WHEAT GLUTEN, WHEAT FLOUR, ENZYMES, ASCORBIC ACID), WHEY PROTEIN, CITRIC ACID, NATURAL GARLIC FLAVOR.

Price: $3.67
Serving: 6 oz.
Calories: 400 per serving
Fat: 28%, 18g
Cholesterol: 12%, 35mg
Sodium: 27%, 650mg
Protein: 23g
Carbohydrates: 12%, 37g
Fiber: 20%, 5g
Sugar: 2g
Weight Watchers: 9 POINTS

Alexia says: All natural Gourmet Quality Tuscan Style Panini, Grilled Chicken Pesto with Mozzarella on Italian Style Herb Bread made with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Erin says: I love it when things are crispy out of the microwave, each time it happens I feel like a little miracle is occurring in my kitchen. With that preference in mind, I like to try all of the new panini on the market, and couldn’t resist this Alexia pesto one even at the high price of nearly $4.00. Sure, the Lean Cuisine versions are passable but this twice-as-expensive panino should be really good.

The instructions are standard: flip the box inside out and put the sandwich halves on the crisping tray. Be careful not to open up the sides because than you’ll have to do some fancy folding and hope nothing collapses in the cooking process.

The look of the panino is less standard: I don’t often eat things that are grayish green and purple, as those colors usually indicate something that is passed its prime, but I suppose those colors are normal when you’re looking at the results of freezing herbs and vegetables.

And then there’s the steep learning curve required by this meal: following the assembly instructions of making a taco with the crisping tray is a good way to burn your hands (even after the prescribed cooling time). I’m using a spatula next time (even if I have to wash it) because I’d rather save my fingers than endure panini-based pain. And then when I did put together the panino I was depressed because it was so puny! I didn’t pay $4.00 for something about the size of half a sandwich you’d make out of a loaf of regular old bread.

But maybe I’d be saved by the actual ingredients. That’s where high prices come into play, right? Wrong. For all of that green and purple, this sandwich is monotonously bland. In particular, the vaunted herbed bread might as well have been white because the little flecks added zero flavor. Other than the bread the two overwhelming flavors are of sweet onions and microwaved chicken. Delish. Considering the small size of the sandwich, there were too many slimy, overly sweet onions. And the chicken! I’ve had chopped and formed chicken patties that had to be cooked in a little pool of water and had plenty of additives like caramel color that tasted just like this chicken. I focus on the onions and chicken so much because the pesto was visually present, but remained a too-subtle background note. I could taste it a little but wanted a lot more. Alexia could also save me a few calories (this sandwich comes in at 400) by foregoing the cheese: it tasted like air.

Alexia, I do appreciate a sandwich without red peppers (they are few and far between in the frozen food world), but you should include a decent amount of pesto on your pesto sandwich… because now it should be called a grilled microwaved chicken sweet and slimy onion sandwich.

Price: $3.99
Serving: 3 oz.
Calories: 150 per serving
Fat: 9%, 6g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 6%, 140mg
Protein: 2g
Carbohydrates: 8%, 24g
Fiber: 12%, 3g
Sugar: 4g
Weight Watchers Points: 3 per serving

Alexia: The wonderful flavor of Sweet Potatoes together with low sodium content make this Alexia favorite a wonderful and healthy alternative to the everyday fry.

Natalie says: Sweet potato fries are my new obsession. They have the same shape as regular french fry, but are made with the “healthier” sweet potato instead. Finding Alexia Sweet Potato Fries in the frozen aisle at the grocery store made me beyond excited. I picked up the package, thinking they were going to be bad for me but I was in for a surprise. They’re only 150 calories per serving and they are low in sodium.

When I got home, I read the back of the bag in more detail. A “serving” is 12 pieces. Twelve pieces of these seemed small (the size and length is slightly larger than a McDonalds French fry), so I spread out a couple more servings on the cookie sheet. I put a batch in the oven and couldn’t wait to try them. After 16 minutes and turning them over a couple times in the oven to make sure all the sides get nice and crispy, they were ready for me. They came out great, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. They have very light seasoning and the flavor of the sweet potato really comes through. I’ve always had a hard time making homemade sweet potato fries crispy, so I’ll be using these when I’m in the mood for fries. If you’re a sweet potato fry freak like me, you’ll love these!

[If you're an Alexia fan, check out the coupons section on their website. Register there and get a 50¢ off coupon on ANY Alexia product, good until 12/31/2008. Sometimes grocery stores double manufacturer's coupons, so you could get $1.00 off these fries. Also, the registration system doesn't require a real email address. - Ed.]

Price: $3.79
Serving: 8 pieces, 3oz.
Servings Per Bag: 6
Calories: 150
Fat: 7%, 4.5g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 14%, 330mg
Protein: 2g
Carbohydrates: 8%, 24g
Fiber: 10%, 3g
Sugar: 0g
Weight Watchers Points: 3 Points

Alexia says: Fun and flavorful, Alexia’s New Waffle Fries are a delicious interpretation of the European Classic, Pommes Gaufrettes. Lightly seasoned with Sea Salt, Pepper, and just the right amount of onion and garlic, Alexia Waffle Fries make a fantastic snack or a great accompaniment to your favorite entree

Abi says: My original review notes from this meal say only:

Fries of awesome!!!!!!

I am not an egregious user of exclamation points, so you should trust me when I say that these are the best frozen fry products I’ve ever tasted. After lackluster experiences with both the Alexia onion rings and the Alexia potato wedges, I wasn’t expecting such a fun eating experience.

Before we really get into how these taste, you should know that yes, there are about 6 servings in the package and yes, 8 fries will be enough. I know, it doesn’t seem like it will work, but these are waffle fries. They are hefty.

I don’t know how it is for you, but there’s something about waffle fries that makes me feel like a kid again. They are fancifully shaped and somewhat reminiscent of county fairs and boardwalks. Fortunately, these waffle fries are more than fit for adults, too. They were not at all greasy, so you could definitely have some folks over for a movie or drinks night and heat up a pan of these in the oven. Except, you won’t want to do that. No, instead you’ll be wishing that these came in a resealable bag because you’re going to have them with your lunch every day for a week except that you won’t get six servings out of the bag because on Friday you’ll say to yourself “I could eat all of the fries left in this bag, no problem.” And you would be wrong because eating all of them and a corn dog will totally make you sick and you will regret it.

When gorging doesn’t come in to play, Alexia waffle fries are delicious in every context. I tried these plain, with ketchup, dipped in homemade fry sauce and drenched ranch. Flavorful and fantastic alone or with a sauce, I should try sprinkling these with parmesan and forego dipping altogether.

I’m not sure than another frozen fry can ever measure up, but I’m okay with that possibility so long as these fries exist.