Vegging Out: Top 10 Entrees :

I'm afraid you're going to have to take today's article with a grain of salt. No, make that a bazillion grains of salt.

I wanted to give you a column about five great-tasting and healthy frozen vegetarian entrees, and five low-sodium entrees. But guess what? I couldn't find any low-sodium ones!

My husband was with me during one of my fruitless grocery store searches. Before we started hunting, he asked me to define "low sodium."

"No more than 20 percent of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of sodium," I said.

Well, forget that. By the time we finished opening every single freezer door, we were shaking our heads in dismay. Most of the frozen entrees -- even the low-fat, low-carbohydrate, vegetarian and reduced-calorie ones -- contained at least 30 percent of the sodium RDA. One even had 77 percent!

The good news is I have a cookbook called The No-Salt Cookbook, by David C. Anderson and Thomas D. Anderson. So instead of five frozen low-sodium entrees, I'm giving you five great recipes from this book.If any readers know where to find low-sodium frozen entrees, please let me know so I can pass that info along. I did find some wonderful vegetarian meals. I'm not vegetarian, but I do enjoy meatless meals on a regular basis.

For those of you who often eat frozen entrees, encouraging news was published in Medical News Today. The article reveals results from a research project conducted at the University of Illinois at Champagne-Urbana. The research was funded by the company that makes Uncle Ben's bowls.

For eight weeks, two groups of overweight and obese men each had to follow a 1,700-calorie diet. One group made their own meals according to the Food Guide Pyramid, while the other group ate Uncle Ben’s bowls.

The second group lost more weight: an average of 16.3 pounds versus 11.2 pounds.

The researchers conclude that part of the reason for the increased weight loss is the frozen entrees offer easy portion control. Of course, the trick is to make sure the package contains only one portion and that you don’t follow up a Lean Cuisine with a slice of chocolate cake and wash it down with sugary soda.

Frozen vegetarian entrees, in alphabetical order:

Amy's Chili & Cornbread
Nutrition: 340 calories, 6g fat (2.5 saturated), 10mg cholesterol, 680mg sodium, 59mg carbohydrate (10 fiber, 14 sugars) and 11g protein.

Why I like it: The chili, which is made with organic black beans, is spicy without being too hot. The corn bread, made with organic corn, is delicately crumbly, moist and pleasantly sweet, while the organic rice is firm without being hard. I enjoy crumbling the corn bread over the whole thing and mixing the rice into the chili.

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