[1] A delicious winter sangria made with the season’s blood oranges (photo © Salt And Wind).

[2] There are three varieties of blood orange. This is the rosiest, the Moro (photo © Gelson’s Markets).

[3] The Tarocco variety is less rosy, but just as delicious (photos #2 and #3 © Good Eggs).

[4] Blood oranges also create beautiful upside-down cake. Here’s the recipe.

Blood oranges lovers: It’s high season for the luscious, rosy orbs. Blood oranges are available between October and May, with their prime season right now: February and early March. Select those that are firm to the touch. They’ll keep in the fridge for two weeks.

The red color comes from the presence of the antioxidant anthocyanin, which creates a red, blue, or purple color, depending on a variety of factors from climate to soil. The darker the color, the more anthocyanin in the fruit or vegetable.

These are the compounds that are thought to help prevent cancer and heart disease. (Here’s more about antioxidants.)

Blood orangeslook exactly like regular oranges on the outside, but their inside flesh is a deep rosy red color, and the flavor is a cross between orange and raspberry—some people call them “raspberry oranges.”

There are three main varieties:

 
The Tarocco and Moro varieties are now grown in California. Buy them up and go bloody crazy.

 
 
RECIPE: BLOOD ORANGE SANGRIA

This recipe is from Chef Aida Mollencamp. Prep time is just 5 minutes, plus at least 4 hours to chill.

You can squeeze blood oranges, and many markets also sell ready-to-drink blood orange juice.
 
Ingredients

National Pizza Day is February 9th, and August 24th is National Waffle Day. Americans don’t need a reason to enjoy their favorite foods (pizza ties with burgers on different surveys [source]).

This savory waffles recipe is a celebration food on either holiday. It was developed with a gluten-free baking mix by Pamela’s Products. The Pancake & Baking Mix (photo #3). The gluten-free mix is made with premium ingredients like cultured buttermilk and almond meal and has 8 grams of whole grains per serving.

You can also use a conventional pancake mix (with no sugar added) or baking mix. The waffles can be customized with each person’s favorite toppings.

> The history of waffles.

> The different types of waffles.

> The history of pizza.
 
 
RECIPE: PIZZA WAFFLES

These waffles reheat very well, so make a double batch and freeze some for a quick and easy meal later.
 
Ingredients For The Waffles

 
Ingredients For The Filling

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the filling. Cook and crumble the sausage; drain and chill. In a medium bowl add all shredded cheeses and mix well. Chop the pepperoni and slice the green onions; mix well with the cheeses. Add chilled, crumbled sausage and black olives. Mix all together and chill.

2. MAKE the waffles. In a large bowl, whisk together the Baking & Pancake mix, and all herbs and spices.

3. SEPARATE the yolks from the egg whites. Beat the egg whites with vinegar until stiff. Chill.

4. COMBINE in a large measuring cup or small bowl the pizza sauce, milk, and egg yolks; mix with a fork until well combined. Mix into the Baking & Pancake Mix and stir until smooth, with no lumps. Prior to combining stiff egg whites into the batter…

5. PREHEAT the waffle iron to medium-high. Add the cheese and meat mixture to the pancake mixture and mix until well incorporated. Fold the egg whites into the waffle mixture. It takes a little time for the whites to incorporate. Keep folding until there
are no more streaks of white.

6. BAKE immediately in a well-sprayed waffle iron. Once cooked; keep warm in a 200°F oven, on a rack on a sheet pan, or serve. Serve with the optional ranch dressing for dipping.

7. TO FREEZE: Let the waffles cool on the rack. Wrap in individual wax or paper bags, place in a plastic bag, and freeze.

8. TO REHEAT: When ready to eat, thaw the waffles on the counter as the oven pre-heats to 300F°F. Once up to temperature, put the waffles on a rack on a sheet pan and reheat for 8 to 10 minutes. They will be crisp on the outside and delicious on the inside.

> Here’s another recipe for pizza waffles using strained tomatoes, from Colavita.

 
THE YEAR IN PIZZA HOLIDAYS

Whether you get takeout pizza or make your own, mark your calendars for:

[1] In this pizza waffle recipe (below), from Pamela’s, the flavors are baked into the waffles (photos #1, #2 and #3 © Pamela’s Products).

[2] No syrup or sauce needed: All the flavor is baked inside (however, if you want to dip, use ranch dressing or marinara sauce).

[3] Pamela’s Pancake & Baking Mix.

[4] These pizza waffles take a slightly different approach: Store-bought pizza dough is used for the crust, and your favorite pizza ingredients go on top. Here’s the recipe (photos #4 and #5 © Emily Ellyn).

[5] In this recipe, the waffle hot from the waffle iron is top with marinara sauce, parmesan cheese, and any other favorite toppings. It’s not as need to eat, but we like both versions.

[6] You can also celebrate National Pizza Day with America’s favorite pizza: pepperoni (photo © Mountain Mike’s).

When it comes to entertaining it can be hard to accommodate all diets, and often gluten-free options are limited. Now, with an ever-expanding selection of prepared frozen snacks by Feel Good Foods, everyone can enjoy indulgent treats and have new options for any day of the week!

I first discovered Feel Good Foods in my quest for a tasty version of the potstickers I enjoyed as a child in the midwest, whose family ate Chinese and Italian food almost exclusively.

Feel Good Foods’ gluten-free chicken potstickers have a texture and taste that are a great stand-in for the Hunan dumplings I grew up on; their ground chicken blends perfectly with the fresh, bright flavors of scallions, cilantro, garlic, and ginger.

And preparation is simple; just add a bit of water and a drizzle of oil to a nonstick pan.

The brand also offers potstickers for vegetable lovers and pork fanciers. All three varieties—chicken, pork, and vegetable potstickers—contain a packet of dipping sauce.

I suggest trying the dumplings with your own favorite sauces, especially if you’re feeding a crowd. I usually combine equal parts wheat-free tamari and white vinegar with a few drops of sesame oil.

My other favorites from the Feel Good Foods snack lineup include their:

 
Feel Good Foods’ broad and carefully curated menu of snack options is the secret weapon for hosts who want to take their snacks and appetizers to the next level—especially for big game days, when the assortment of food is half the fun.

Other snack selections include:

 
Find them in the frozen aisle.

See the whole lineup at Feel-Good-Foods.com.
 
Enjoy!

— Georgi Page-Smith
 
 
________________

*Nuoc cham is a salty, sweet, and tangy Vietnamese dipping sauce made from fish sauce, garlic, lime juice, sugar, chiles, and vinegar. You can find it in the Asian products aisle of your market or in Asian food stores. Here’s a recipe to make your own.

[1] Chicken potstickers (all photos © Feel Good Foods).

[2] Chicken potstickers. There are also pork potstickers and vegetable potstickers.

[3] Truffle mac and cheese bites.

[4] The line has three different types of cheese bites.

[1] A patty melt with fries (photo © Spread & Co. | Austin).

[3] This patty melt at Spread & Co. in Austin, Texas places the beef patty on thick brioche, with pimento cheese caramelized onions and pickles, plus a “secret sauce” (photo © Spread & Co.).

[3] This recipe uses swirled marble rye bread and adds Dijon mustard (photo © Land O’ Lakes).

[4] A vegan patty melt made with the Impossible Burger (photo © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

February 7th is National Patty Melt Day. A patty melt is a type of melt sandwich. A melt sandwich is one that has a filling plus melted cheese; otherwise stated, it’s a grilled cheese sandwich with added ingredients. The sandwich is grilled or fried until the cheese is melted. It is served warm. A melt may be served as a traditional sandwich or an open-face sandwich.

There are different varieties of melt sandwiches:

 
 
THE UPDATED PATTY MELT

 
What’s the difference between a grilled cheese and a melt?

With a melt, the cheese is an auxiliary ingredient to the main item: chicken, ham, grilled vegetables, ground meat patty, roast beef, tuna, turkey, vegetarian patty.

Both grilled cheese sandwiches and melts are made on grilled bread, using a frying pan, griddle, or panini press. Grilling toasts the bread while simultaneously melting the cheese.
 
What’s the difference between a cheeseburger and a patty melt?

The patty melt is served on grilled, buttered bread instead of a roll. The cheese is always topped with caramelized onions.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE PATTY MELT

According to Eater Los Angeles, the patty melt was created in 1932 by Tiny Naylor, a Los Angeles restaurateur with a coffee shop in Hollywood that evolved into a restaurant chain.

Some sources say the patty melt appeared in the 1940s, while others date it from 1930 to 1959.

Tiny Naylor’s served the patty melt as an alternative to the standard cheeseburger (and it’s more labor-intensive, by the way).

Even if Naylor did not invent the patty melt, food writers agree that Naylor and his family helped popularize the sandwich in their respective restaurants, Tiny Naylor’s and Du-par’s [source].
 
 
> The different types of sandwiches.
 
> The history of sandwiches.

Envy apples are now in stores. We laid in a stock of big, juicy ones at Trader Joe. And for the week leading up to Valentine’s Day, we’re going to have our “apple a day” coated in caramel and white chocolate. White chocolate tinted pink, that is. So pick up ingredients and have fun making this recipe for yourself, and for all your special valentines.

Thanks to Envy Apples’ ENZA Turners & Growers for the recipe.

Want some additional choices? Check out these sweet recipes for Valentine’s Day.

> The history of Valentine’s Day.

> The history of caramel apples and candy apples.
 
 
RECIPE: SWEETHEART CARAMEL & CHOCCOLATE APPLES

This recipe makes for apples, but we increased it to make a dozen. For better flavor, we substituted Guittard white chocolate chips instead of white chocolate candy coating. We’re simply not fond of the flavor of candy coating (the benefits of which are less expensive and meltier).

You can wrap the apples in cellophane and tie with a bow, or place them in individual gift bags.

In addition to serving whole apples on a stick, you can first cut the apples into wedges then serve on smaller popsicle sticks, lollipop sticks or skewers.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. WASH the apples and press a popsicle stick into the stem end, deep into the middle of the apple. Set out an empty bowl for sprinkling the apples.

2. MICROWAVE the caramels and sweetened condensed milk in a small bowl in 30-second intervals until they start to melt. Then melt in 15-second intervals until smooth and warm, stirring as needed. You don’t want the caramel mix to be boiling hot and super loose, just warm enough to be able to coat the apple. The hotter it is, the longer it takes to set and the more likely it will drip off the apple.

3. DIP each apple and rotate them so that all sides are coated, then let the excess drip off. Place the coated apples onto a flat surface (e.g. a cutting board or a baking sheet) lined with parchment paper. To speed up the process, place the coated apples in the refrigerator to chill more quickly. Meanwhile…

4. MELT the candy coating or white chocolate in 15-second intervals until warm, with no clumps left. Stir in food coloring drop by drop to get your desired color.

5. DIP the caramel apples into the warm white coating or chocolate and let the excess drop off. Hold the apples over an empty bowl and immediately coat with sprinkles (or decorate as desired).

6. RETURN the apples to the parchment paper and allow the chocolate/coating to set. Serve as desired.
 
 
> MORE CARAMEL APPLE & CANDY APPLE RECIPES

[1] “Sweetheart” caramel and chocolate apples (photos #1 and #3 © Envy Apples).

[3] A jar of Valentine sprinkles mix. A broad selection of designs are available in bulk (photo © The Baker’s Party Shop).

[3] Envy apples are a cross between Braeburn and Royal Gala apples. Here’s more about them.

[4] White chocolate melting wafers (photo © Santa Barbara Chocolate).