“Taste the bold lime flavor,” beckons the entire back side of the new, limited edition Wheat Thins.

Fans of Wheat Thins, those crunchy little cracker squares from Nabisco, might note that lime and salt are also flavors of that popular drink, the Margarita. In fact, we received two boxes of Wheat Thins from the manufacturer, along with two Margarita glasses (we enjoyed them with a beer, instead).

Wheat Thins are one of the few foods we enjoyed in grade school that are still on our grocery list. We like them instead of chips with a beer, with soups and salads (use them instead of croutons), and as a better-for-you snack, with or without a nonfat yogurt dip.

Wheat Thins are made with whole grain flour. Each serving of 14 crackers (30g) equals 20g of whole grains. That really helps toward the 48g RDA recommended by the USDA (more about whole grains).

Nutritionists recommend that we consume at least 3 servings of whole grains daily. It’s fun when Wheat Thins is one of those servings.

Not only do they understand what a portion size is; some foods appear to be much healthier than they really are, with much more salt and sugar than you’d like. Dr. Wendy Bazilian, nutritionist and author of The SuperFoodsRx Diet: Lose Weight with the Power of SuperNutrients, shared some tips on understanding nutrition labels.

1. Look for real ingredients—words you recognize. Avoid artificial dyes, preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils (trans fats) and MSG.

2. If you have food allergies, look at the bottom of the ingredient list. The eight most common allergens—milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and/or wheat—are required to be highlighted in a separate line, such as, “Contains milk and soy.”

Read those labels for portion size as well as salt, sugar and fat grams.

The servings per container line indicates how many servings there are in the entire package. Many portion sizes are much smaller than are logical; you may note that the serving size is half a cookie or energy bar; for beverages, it can be half of a 16-ounce bottle or a 12-oounce can.

So if the serving size is half a cookie and you eat two cookies, you’ll be eating four times the calories, fat, protein, carbs and other nutrients. Do the math before diving in. As to what to do with the other half of a can of soda, especially when you’re on the go and can’t pour half in a glass for someone else…the choices seem to be to consume the extra calories or toss the other half.

5. Choose better-for-you frozen meals. Many prepared meals are packed with fat, sodium and sugar. Look for real ingredients: whole grains, whole foods,* lean proteins, vegetables and fruits. Keep the calories under to 400-600 per servings and aim for 450 mg or less sodium per serving, 600 mg as an absolute maximum. Dr. Bazilian, by the way, is a consultant to CedarLane Frozen Foods, an all-natural line that is modest in calories and low in sodium.

Dr. Bazilian advises to add something fresh and whole on the side when you enjoy a frozen meal—some baby carrots or cherry tomatoes as a starter, a green salad, an apple or grapes for dessert.

May 18 is World Whiskey Day. If you’re not normally a whiskey drinker, why not take a vacation from the tequila and vodka and sip a glass of:

 
Whiskey is a spirit, or alcoholic distillate, made from a fermented mash of grain or malt and aged in barrels. The brown color comes from barrel aging. Each different type of whiskey is distinguished by the type of grain (barley, corn, rye) used in the fermentation process, as well as the distinct distillation and aging process.

A shot of Irish whiskey with a wee wedge of lime (photo © Jameson).

Whiskey sales have skyrocketed in the past year, in both the U.S. and abroad. In the U.S., bourbon and Tennessee whiskey led the growth. American whiskies also accounted for 70% of the total U.S. spirits exports for 2012.

See all the different types of whiskey in our Whiskey Glossary.

If you don’t want to drink a glass, use whiskey in a recipe. It adds dimension to sauces for meats and in desserts like cake, ice cream and mousse. You can even make a whiskey vinaigrette: Add a tablespoon to any recipe.

 
WHISKEY VS. WHISKY

Canadians spell “whisky” without the “e,” as do the Scots and most other countries except Ireland and the U.S.

Scholars can’t determine why the “e” was dropped by the Scots many centuries ago. One theory is that the Irish made whiskey first and pronounced it with a broad “e.” When the Scots began to make it, they dropped the “e” to differentiate their product.

A 1968 directive of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms specifies “whisky” as the official U.S. spelling, but allows the alternative spelling, “whiskey,” which most U.S. producers prefer.
 

OLD FASHIONED COCKTAIL RECIPE

Here’s an easy way to enjoy World Whiskey Day: with a classic Old Fashioned cocktail. The recipe is courtesy Maker’s Mark.

The first documented use of the word “cocktail” dates to 1806; it combined liquor of any kind with sugar, water and bitters. As cocktail styles evolved, this early recipe became known as the Old-Fashioned. Later, it evolved into a particular drink made with American whiskey.

Ingredients

1. MUDDLE 1 orange slice, 1 maraschino cherry and the sugar in a rocks glass.

2. FILL the glass 3/4 full of ice. Add bourbon and splash of club soda.

3. GARNISH with additional orange slice and maraschino cherry.
 
 
A BRIEF HISTORY OF WHISKEY

Distillation was discovered in the late eighth century by an Arab scholar known as the Father of Modern Chemistry, Abu Masa Jabir ibn Hayyam (?-803 C.E.). He wondered what would happen if he put wine into an al-ambiq, a round vessel like a tea pot with a tall spout on the top, and boiled it.

The vapors rose through the spout, were collected and condensed, creating the world’s first distilled alcohol. In fact, since the al-ambiq was often used to boil powdered antimony into a liquid called al-kohl (used to make the cosmetic kohl), the liquid became known as alcohol and the al-ambiq became the alembic still, which remains in use today.

The distillate was originally used as medicine, and remained a secret process, ultimately shared with the monks in Spain for medicinal purposes. Some orders created their own special distillations, such as Benedictine and Chartreuse liqueurs.

As for our word whiskey: The Scotch uisce and the Gaelic uisge, pronounced ISH-ka, became usky and then whisky in English.

Here’s more on the history of whiskey.
 
 
MORE ABOUT WHISKEY

BETTY or BROWN BETTY

A betty is a crisp (see below) topped with buttered bread crumbs or bread pieces instead of streusel or another topping. Later recipes also use graham cracker crumbs (see the history of the graham cracker, which postdates the Brown Betty).

In some recipes, sugared and spiced fruit, usually diced apples although any fruit can be used, are placed in alternating layers with the crumbs and baked, covered, to the consistency of bread pudding.

A cherry raspberry cobbler. Photo courtesy USACherries.com.

The dish and name date back to colonial times, but the original “Betty” is lost to history; the brown refers to the brown sugar in the recipe. Here‘s a brown betty photo.

COBBLER

A cobbler is a cooked fruit dish, but the topping is different from other cooked fruits with toppings: It’s crowned with cooked lumps of dough. The dish got its name because the lumps of dough resembled cobblestones. In contrast, a crisp or crumble has a crumb topping.

Although some might see the cobbler as a crustless pie or “spoon pie” (a fruit pie with a filling so juicy it should be eaten with a spoon instead of a fork), it is often classified as a cake. Fruit is baked in a baking dish or casserole, then shortcake batter or biscuit dough is dropped onto the fruit before it goes into the oven.

Today, people tend to call everything a cobbler. But remember: a cobbler has a dropped pastry dough top instead of a crumb top.

CRISP or CRUMBLE

A crisp is a deep-dish fruit dessert made with a crumb or streusel topping and baked. The British term is crumble.

The next three relatives are in the spoon pie category.

GRUNT

A grunt is a spoon pie with biscuit dough on top of stewed fruit (fruit which is steamed, not baked). It’s a stovetop variation of the baked cobbler. Here‘s a photo.

PANDOWDY

A pandowdy is a spoon pie with a rolled top crust that is broken up to allow the juices to come through.

SLUMP

A slump is a spoon pie topped with biscuit dough or pie crust, which can be baked or steamed. It can be made upside down.

Now go bake a cherry cobbler and celebrate National Cherry Cobbler Day!

SEE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF PASTRY IN OUR PASTRY GLOSSARY.

Tribe Everything includes roasted sesame seeds, minced garlic and onion, poppy seeds and some teeny red bits that may be bell pepper.

The company tested dozens of different seed combinations and roasting types, seeking the perfect mix of smooth and crunchy textures. The result delivers a big pop of flavor; we could only wish for twice as much topping.

So after we had polished off all the topping, we sprinkled more of the same spices from our cabinet on the remaining hummus. It’s a trick we’ll use again and again on plain hummus.

Tribe’s Everything Hummus will be on shelves through August, followed by the next to-be-named Limited Batch flavor.

Hummus Is Hot

Have you noticed the explosion of hummus at the grocer’s? With a steady stream of new consumers coming into the fold and current consumers buying more, hummus is no longer an exotic product. While national household penetration remains relatively low at around 20%, it is high among those seeking healthier ingredients and snacks.

You can use hummus as a dip, a spread, a condiment or a side. With the broad selection of flavored hummus available, it never gets boring. And it couldn’t be easier to take the top off of the container and set it in front of family and guests.