Flavored butter Tired of spreading just-plain butter on your bagel or English muffin, but not sure how to proceed from there? An outfit called Twisted Foods is happy to bring you Twisted Butter -- tubs of a spreadable blend of butter and canola oil in six varieties: chives and parsley; cinnamon, honey and brown sugar; blueberry, honey and lemon zest; bacon, Dijon mustard and green onion; cilantro and lime; and Portobello mushroom with the garlic and fine herb variety of Boursin cheese. Twisted Butter is at Super Target, where the 7-ounce tubs are $2.99.

Or flavored butter Tired of sautéing your chicken, fish or pork in just-plain butter, but not sure how to proceed from there? Land O'Lakes is happy to bring you Sauté Express "seasoned butter & olive oil sauté starter" -- packs of six 1-ounce seasoned chunks of a blend of butter and olive oil. There are four varieties: Italian herb, garlic and herb, lemon pepper and "savory butter and olive oil."

Each has several seasonings beyond what's named. That last one, for example, contains a "vegetable base" of carrots, celery, onion, yeast extract, salt, sugar, dried potato, dried onion, dried garlic, turmeric and "spice extract." Where Mr. Tidbit found Sauté Express, the 6-ounce packet was $3.49.

More and less Betty Crocker has added to its line of muffin mixes three based on General Mills breakfast cereals: Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Reese's Puffs and Cocoa Puffs. At one store, where the other Betty Crocker muffin mixes (cinnamon streusel, banana nut, etc.) are $2.69, the new ones are $2.99.

Unlike those other Betty Crocker muffin mixes, packages of which range from 15.2 ounces to 18.25 ounces, all three new ones clock in at only 12.75 ounces. Are the new mixes full of pieces of puffy cereal, which weighs less for the same volume? Nope: Neither the packet of the main muffin mix nor that of the streusel topping contains any noticeable pieces of cereal.

That leaves the other reason that the new mixes might contain a smaller amount of mix: They're new, and pre-downsized. (The 15-ounce mixes used to be 18 ounces.)

AL SICHERMAN