A kitchen scale can be a welcome gift.
Photo courtesy Eat Smart Products.

While you wouldn’t give one to just anybody, if you have loved ones who are always voicing their need to take off a few pounds, they’ll love you for hearing them and helping them achieve their goal.

A kitchen scale is not just a “diet scale”: It’s very useful for weighing recipe ingredients, not to mention calculating postage, for those of us who still use snail mail.

The EatSmart line offers economically priced multifunction home scales, perfect for everyday tasks. They include a Calorie Factors Book making it easy to achieve goals such as portion control and calorie counting.

The EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale shown in the photo comes in black, burgundy chrome, white with a chrome top or all-white.

Check out the line at EatSmartProducts.com.

Delicious and addictive (you can’t help but want another cup…and another), there’s a good reason to steer clear of the egg nog bowl: the calories.

Our survey of five supermarket brands showed 190 to 230 calories per tiny four ounce portion. That’s without the rum and brandy, not to mention the vanilla ice cream added to many party egg nog recipes. Have a cup or two and you can easily consume 1000 calories.

So, you might want to taste just a spoonful (or none at all) of the real thing, and celebrate with one of our four diet egg nog recipes.

Diet egg nog is not the same richer-than-rich experience; but it’s a the first step toward a new years’ resolution to eat a healthier diet!

Tomorrow: Egg nog recipes with lots of calories.

Until then, here’s the history of egg nog.

Handmade candy canes are available in five
flavors. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE
NIBBLE.

Most of us are used to sugary candy canes with intense mint flavor.

But Laughing Moon Chocolates turns out artisan candy canes that dial down the sugar and the intense flavor, reinterpreting the candy cane as an elegant confection.

Even better is the flavor selection: Cinnamon, Maple, Peppermint, Spearmint or Wintergreen.

They make delicious party favors (tie one up with the napkin for Christmas dinner).

Candy Canes are available in different shapes and sizes. A 6″ candy cane in the traditional shepherd’s crook shape is $4.50.

Laughing Moon can create candy canes in the shape of initials or hearts.

Order online at LaughingMoonChocolates.com.
Check out the history of candy canes, plus six ways to use candy canes.

We don’t know how it happened, but all of a sudden we noticed gnarly coffee and tea stains in our coffee cups.

Scrubbing with Comet and many runs through the dishwasher did not help. So we turned to the Internet for advice, and found tips from HowToCleanStuff.com, a highly informative site.

So if you share our problem, struggle no more: Here’s how to remove stubborn coffee and tea stains from your cups.

1. WASH the cup, using some elbow grease and a brush to remove any surface stains that may be present.

2. MIX a paste from these options:

 
3. WET the stained areas of the cup and apply the paste with a soft cloth.

4. SCRUB the surface until the stain is removed.

DENTURE CLEANER OPTION

Instead of a paste, pick up some denture cleaner like Polident. Simply fill the cup with water and add a cleaning tablet. Soak until the stains disappear. If your cups are badly stained, you may need to take a second pass.

We also use Polident to lift red wine stains from the bottom of decanters.

BAR KEEPERS FRIEND

Bar Keepers Friend is available in powder, like Comet and Ajax, or pre-mixed into a tube of paste.

1. COVER the stained area with the paste. Wait about five minutes, but do not let the paste dry on the cup.

2. SCRUB vigorously with a cloth scouring pad (not metal). Add more Bar Keepers Friend directly to stains as needed.

3. RINSE well under water. Discard the scouring pad.

4. WASH the cup with your regular dish soap or run it through the dishwasher.
 
Our cups are sparkling white again! Problem solved!
  

Chai & Mighty is one of four flavored hot
chocolates from gourmet producer Lake
Champlain Chocolates. Photo by Elvira
Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

For Hannuakh, Christmas or other occasion, gourmet hot chocolate is a delightful gift during the chillier months.

What makes hot chocolate “gourmet?”

Higher quality ingredients, for starters: the cocoa powder or chocolate shavings are better to start with.

Second, gourmet hot chocolate comes in delicious flavors that make the gift extra special. We tried these, from Lake Champlain Chocolates, a fine producer of chocolates and confections:

If you don’t want flavors, try:

 
If you don’t want sugar, try:

 
Buy them online at LakeChamplainChocolate.com.

Purchase three or more tins by December 9th and enjoy a 15% discount.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COCOA & HOT CHOCOLATE

Yes, there is a difference: Here it is, along with related terms such as Swiss hot chocolate.