You can become the most creative glacier in town with the Zoku Quick Pop Maker from Williams-Sonoma.

It’s easy to create your own customized frozen pops, including cream-filled varieties, in as little as seven minutes.

Use your favorite juices and other beverages (coffee, tea, kefir, smoothies) or fresh fruit purées to make the gourmet pops of your dreams.

Designed to be very user friendly—quick freezing, easy release from molds, reusable plastic pop sticks that have drip guards—Zoku looks to be the best pop-making option we’ve seen.

Why should you give up storage space to a pop-making machine?

It’s easy to make gorgeous ice pops with
your favorite flavors and add-ins. Photo
courtesy Williams-Sonoma.

• You can make gourmet pops in the exact flavors you want, and express yourself artistically in flavors, colors and patterns. (One of our favorites is to freeze cocktail mixes into Margarita Ice Pops and savory Bloody Mary Mix ice pops. Alcohol doesn’t freeze well, but you can try a teaspoonful per pop.)

• You have something new and special to serve guests.

• Things you’d normally drink for health can be turned into pops—from pomegranate juice to probiotic peach kefir.

• You can control for dietary needs—reduced sugar, no sugar or kosher, for example—and allergies.

• Ice pops have fewer calories than ice cream and are fat- and cholesterol-free (unless you elect to make cream pops).

• It’s a fun way to teach the whole family that they can enjoy preparing their own food.

• And thanks to the plastic sticks, there’s no yucky wood flavor that we so dislike with commercial ice pops.

Find more of our favorite frozen treats, plus recipes, in our Ice Cream Section.

What if you’re one of those “Real Housewives Of…” ladies, enjoy cocktails but have to watch every calorie (the camera adds 10 pounds)? With a typical four-ounce Margarita weighing in at 500 calories (the majority due to sugar in the liqueur or the cocktail mix), what’s a housewife do?

If you’re Bethenny Frankel, one of the Real Housewives Of New York (and a natural foods chef), you formulate a lower-calorie Margarita in an episode of your reality series. Then, when the most-asked quesiton on the entire Bravo website is “How to make a Skinny Girl Margarita,” you bottle it and sell it (find locations).

The open-and-serve bottled Margarita is all natural, made of 100% blue agave tequila, flavored with lime juice and sweetened with lower-glycemic agave syrup.

While some “slenderized foods” can pass for almost the real thing (SkimPlus milk, nonfat Greek yogurt and sugar-free ice cream are examples), here you know you’re drinking a Margarita Lite.

Nevertheless, many dieters will enjoy saving 75% of the calories, and Ms. Frankel is to be congratulated for providing a lower-calorie alternative to America’s most popular cocktail.

While we don’t like sugary-sweet drinks, to us, Skinnygirl Margarita is missing a bit of sweetness (although the more we drank it and became accustomed to it, the more we enjoyed it).

So we experimented and found ways to improve it!

Save 75% of Margarita calories. Photo
courtesy SkinnyGirlCocktails.com.

• First we added a packet of non-caloric sweetener. A liquid sweetener would have been better because a white sediment from the fillers in non-caloric sweetener settled at the bottom of the glass. But we really liked the added sweetness and didn’t mind the sediment.

• Next we tried adding more agave syrup. Ms. Frankel might have done the same, but for the desire to keep the cocktail to 100 calories/serving. Agave is a great, low-glycemic sweetener (it has an average glycemic index of 32, half that of sugar). While agave has the same calories as sugar (about 17 calories/teaspoon), it is 1.5 times sweeter—so your calories buy you more. You can spare it: Add another teaspoon of agave to Skinnygirl.

• Finally, we rimmed the glass with sea salt (kosher salt is fine, too). Bingo!

Feel free to add a lime wedge or lime wheel as a garnish. It’s not typical with Margaritas (the salt rim is); but we like it as a virtually calorie-free “extra” to chew on.

Enjoy a colorful asparagus frittata for
breakfast or lunch. Photo courtesy California
Asparagus Commission.

Asparagus season is finally upon us! While asparagus shipped from South America are available year-round, we wait impatiently for the April-June window for fresh domestic asparagus.

We steam fresh asparagus stalks to al dente, so tasty they don’t even require butter (but maybe a squeeze of lemon or lime juice or a pinch of seasoned salt, like Fusion flavored sea salts, or our favorite imported saffron salt from Casina Rossa).

Steamed asparagus are a dieter’s delight—just 27 calories per cup, lots of dietary fiber and high or very high in 15 vitamins and minerals.

Asparagus also work into impressive recipes. Here, we present 11 recipes—something for every meal of the day—courtesy of the California Asparagus Commission.

A chicken sandwich on Deli Flats. Photo
courtesy Pepperidge Farm.

We love bread, and we love companies that figure out how to make it less caloric.

Pepperidge Farm is high on our love list, with new 100-calorie Deli Flats.

We’re not sure that Deli Flats is the best name, because you can make just about anything with this versatile bread: for starters, egg sandwiches, tuna sandwiches, BLTs, grilled cheese, low-cal bruschetta, burgers, toast and toasted wedges for dips and salsas.

But they’re called “rolls” because they’re split in two (they look like very flat English muffins). They’re a perfect alternative to traditional carb- and calorie-heavy breads and are also an excellent source of fiber. One serving—both slices of the roll—is just 100 calories.

Deli Flats are available in three varieties—Whole Grain White, 100% Whole Grain Wheat and 7-Grain. The first ingredient in all three is whole wheat flour.

Pepperidge Farm Deli Flats are available at major supermarkets, grocery stores and mass merchandisers nationwide. Learn more at PepperidgeFarm.com.

See more of our favorite low-calorie breads in our Diet Bread Tricks article.

What a refreshing lineup! Photo by Hannah
Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

Sometimes we disagree with high-falutin’ names given to products. And don’t even get us started on names approved by highly-paid individuals who haven’t bothered to consult a dictionary.

Such is the case of R.W. Knudsen’s Sparkling Essence. Essence of what? Look at the definition of the word, below, and let us know if you have a clue.

Nevertheless, we’re addicted to these flavored, unsweetened sparkling waters made from carbonated spring water. They’re also certified USDA organic.

Sparkling Essence is flavored with blueberry, cucumber, lemon or mint. The flavors are light and refreshing; there are no calories, added sweeteners or artificial ingredients.

The Lemon flavor tastes like lemon-flavored club soda, lemon Perrier and others of the genre. It’s nice, but we’ve had it before. The revelations are the other three flavors, which we’ve never seen in sparkling form: Blueberry, Cucumber and Mint.

Blueberry tastes as if fresh blueberries were infused into the water. Ditto with cucumber. We’re a big cucumber water fan, making our own by adding a sliced cucumber to a pitcher of water. We’ve never had it carbonated; now we’re hooked. In fact, a can of cucumber water with half of a sliced cucumber makes a filling, uber-low-calorie snack.

And anyone who has ever infused the water pitcher with fresh mint will love this grab-and-go version.

In fact, our only complaint about the product, beyond the silly name, is that it’s in 10.5-ounce cans. They’re so good, we drink two at a clip!

Look for R.W. Knudsen Sparkling Essence at fine retailers. Check the store locator on the Knudsen website.

*From the Random House Dictonary:
1. The basic, real, and invariable nature of a thing or its significant individual feature or features: Freedom is the very essence of our democracy.
2. A substance obtained from a plant, drug, or the like, by distillation, infusion, etc., and containing its characteristic properties in concentrated form.
3. An alcoholic solution of an essential oil; spirit.
4. A perfume; scent.
5. Philosophy. the inward nature, true substance, or constitution of anything, as opposed to what is accidental, phenomenal, illusory, etc.
6. Something that exists, esp. a spiritual or immaterial entity.

Five of Inko’s 11 bottled flavors.
Photo courtesy Inko’s.

For those of you with an idea for the next great bottled beverage, be forewarned:

No matter how brilliant your idea is, there’s the marketing conundrum. It’s very, very hard to get your products on the shelf of major retailers. And you probably can’t make a living just selling to specialty stores.

If your product doesn’t catch on in a big way (like Red Bull—which had deep pockets), your distribution will be limited. We’re chagrined that we can’t find Inko’s bottled white teas everywhere.

When we first tried Inko’s, the first (and still the only) beverage company solely dedicated to producing all-natural, ready-to-drink white teas, we were hooked. We don’t buy many bottled beverages because of our personal pledge to limit recycling, but we make an exception for this one.

Now there’s good news for Inko’s:

Two of its flavors— Inko’s Blueberry and Inko’s Strawberry White Teas—are now available in the vending machines and ancillary commissaries of the New York City Public High School system. Not only will a large new audience develop, but the kids are getting a terrific-tasting, healthy beverage.

To improve the nutritional quality of food and beverages available for sale to students at school, the New York City Department of Education has a mandate to improve the quality and nutritional value of foods and beverages that are available for students. With specific regard to beverages, the policy states:

While the regular line is sold in bottles, the vending machine line is (of necessity) in 12-ounce cans created especially for the school program, along with new graphic art to appeal to a younger market. The products are sweetened with a small amount of fructose—better on the glycemic index than sucrose, table sugar.

If you’re involved with your school system’s vending program, give Inko’s a call.

If you’re looking for a wonderfully refreshing, low-calorie beverage, look for Inko’s at fine retailers; if you can’t find it, ask your retailer to bring it in. Or order it online at HealthyWhiteTea.com. Our personal favorites include Apricot, Blueberry, Hint o’ Mint, Honeydew and Honeysuckle—but we’d be glad for a bottle of any flavor.

Hint flavored water makes a colorful,
calorie-free Easter gift. Photo courtesy
DrinkHint.com.

Did you know that after you consume a bottle of water, you can get a second bottle for free?

Just refill the bottle with tap water. You’ll get a second infusion of the flavors still clinging to the inside of the bottle! Some brands even provide a third, milder infusion of flavor.

Then, refill the bottle to carry your regular supply water to give the plastic bottle as much of a life on earth as possible, before it gets recycled.

By the way, sugar-free flavored water is a nice Easter gift idea for friends and family who are on strict diets. Put the bottles in a basket, and be sure to include Hint water, which often gives that third infusion.

Hint water comes in “spring flavors” such as Blackberry, Honeydew Hibiscus, Mango Grapefruit and Raspberry Lime—a total of 10 choices. For a dieter or a healthy eater, they’ll be more appreciated than a bag of colorful jelly beans.

The waters will also be a hit at the Easter dinner table.

Read our review of Hint, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week, and order it online at DrinkHint.com.

Juice with half the calories. Photo by
Jerry Deutsch | THE NIBBLE.

Do you enjoy a glass of juice but not the high calorie and sugar content?

Tropicana has addressed those concerns with Trop50 juice beverages: 50% less sugar and calories. An eight-ounce glass has 50 calories.

We tried two flavors of Trop50: Pineapple Mango and Pomegranate Blueberry.

The juice beverages have a nice, delicate fruit flavor—yes, it’s more dilute flavor than “full test” juice, but a good fruit juice solution for those who have given up this high-calorie, high-sugar, high-carb food.

The products will be welcomed by dieters, carb counters and America’s 20-million-plus diabetics, who have had to give up juice; not to mention parents who are counting their kids’ carbs. While the sugars are still high (11g per eight-ounce glass), Trop50 gives people on sugar quota on the choice to have a glass of juice.

Trop 50 is simple, yet not simple:

You certainly can dilute your own juice with filtered water, but Tropicana’s process adds in natural flavors and PureVia (a brand of natural, calorie-free stevia)—plus vitamin C to ensure that one serving still contains 100% of your daily value of vitamin C.

Trop50 is certified kosher by OK.

One thing to note: It’s no longer a half gallon (64 ounces) but 59 ounces. Contemplation of the day: How much more can companies shrink gallons, pounds (16 ounces of coffee is now 14 ounces), etc.?

It can walk the walk on the grocery shelf, but
can it “taste the taste?” Have a mineral water
tasting party to find out. Photo courtesy
Antipodes.

Whether you’re looking for a zero-calorie way to get through the Academy Awards or a great way to entertain adults and kids in general, water is the way.

Have a mineral water tasting, comparing domestic and imported waters to your local tap water and club soda (with sparkling waters).

It can be a formal sit-down or a walk-around event, open or “blind”—where you mask the water bottles in wine bags so tasters aren’t biased and you reveal the results at the end.

Select up to 12 waters—perhaps six still and six sparkling—and a great time will be had by all. What should tasters look for? See our article, How To Evaluate Water.

A great, 200-calorie pizza fix. Photo by
Evan Dempsey | THE NIBBLE.

Love pizza but avoid it because of the calories? Love pizza but don’t have enough “takers” to order an entire pie? Love pizza and wish you could have it more often? Need something quick to feed the kids?

DiGiorno has a solution you’re sure to love:

New DiGiornio 200 Calorie Portions are individually-wrapped pizza slices that go from the freezer to the microwave when desire calls. Calorie (and carb) watchers know exactly what they’re getting…and everyone gets to eat truly delicious home-cooked pizza.

Unlike warmed-over microwave pizza, these DiGiorno slices emerge with a crisp crust, not to mention fragrant and delicious.

More than 12,000 products are introduced into supermarkets each year. Most don’t sell enough and disappear from the shelf (brown sugar Sweet ’n Low, to recall an oldie).

DiGiornio 200 Calorie Portions deserve to stick around forever! Pick some up on your next shopping trip. (If they’re not in your store’s pizza freezer, ask the store manager to order them.)

In Cheese and Tomato, Chicken with Peppers and Onions, and Pepperoni, the suggested retail price is $3.19. Each package contains two individually-wrapped, three-ounce servings.