While we’ve tried far too many brands of nuts to make that pronouncement, Bobby Sue’s is certainly up there in the Best Hot & Spicy Nuts category.

All three varieties of Bobby Sue’s Nuts are quite nice if you like a dry-roasted style of mixed nuts that are very crunchy.

 
While the products are not organic-certified (an expensive undertaking), the ingredients–including almonds, cashews, pecans, sugar, egg whites and spices, plus water and salt–are all organic.

Think of them for poker and bridge games and as small gifts and stocking stuffers.

A percentage of each sale goes to the local SPCA shelter.

Ours did, and we can still smell and taste each piece that she lovingly sprinkled with her blend of sugar and cinnamon – a blend she premixed and stored in the type of specialty jar also used to sprinkle grated cheese.

Every morning, it was only two shakes from plain buttered toast to festive cinnamon toast. It’s like a streamlined cinnamon bun.

Use your favorite bread. We’d say go for whole wheat bread, but raisin bread, multigrain, challah and of course, plain white bread work equally well.

1. Mix 2 tablespoons of white sugar with 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
2. Toast the bread, lightly butter it and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.

This comfort food is a delight at breakfast or brunch, or as a snack with afternoon tea (or milk for the kids). And it has far fewer calories than a breakfast pastry, muffin or piece of cake.

Fragrant and luscious, this tasty tea
needs no added sugar. Photo courtesy
Choice Organic Tea.

Lychee tea is highly esteemed in China. Following an ancient process, tea leaves are infused with the succulent juice of the lychee. The lychee is also a symbol of beauty. This tea has delicate woody overtones with a hint of sweet lychee flavor.

Alternative spellings include lichee, litchi and other variations.

We’ve been enjoying Lychee White Tea from Choice, a line of tea that is certified organic and Fair Trade Certified.

Choice Lychee White Tea is available online.

Learn more about Choice at ChoiceOrganicTeas.com.

If you want to send a gift to your mother, grandmother, sister, aunt or other favorite mom, today’s the last day you can order with standard five-day delivery. Tomorrow is possible, but it gets iffy to guarantee delivery by Saturday. (Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 8th.)

We’d like to recommend these exquisite, hand-crafted balls of sugar from Chambre de Sucre.

They are stunning with coffee or tea. Even if Mom doesn’t use sugar herself, guests will long remember being treated to them.

This Sucre Rond (round sugar) is available in 36-piece and 42-piece boxes; square-shaped sugars are available as well.

Use candied rose petals (shown above) or
freeze-dried rose petals as an easy cake
decoration. Photo courtesy Valerie
Confections | Los Angeles.

Just use fresh, candied or freeze-dried rose petals to decorate the sides of the cake. It will be stunning. (Crystallized rose petals are small and crunchy, and not appropriate for this type of decoration.)

You’ll need 2-4 cups of rose petals, depending on the size of the cake (don’t tamp down the petals when measuring them or they’ll bruise).

The only caveat is that you need to use organic rose petals. Flowers sprayed with pesticides should not be eaten.

1. Separate 3 eggs; reserve yolks for another purpose.*
2. Whisk the egg whites in small bowl until white and foamy.
3. Brush egg whites on both size of rose petals with a pastry brush. Sprinkle with superfine sugar.
4. Dry on a nonstick rack overnight.

For more of a rose effect, add a teaspoon of rosewater to the cake batter or frosting.

More rose petal recipe ideas.

*Things To Do With 3 Egg Yolks: Pastry cream—used for éclairs—is delicious with fresh fruit; French custard ice cream; baked custard; crème brûlée; from-scratch chocolate pudding. For savory uses, make Béchamel, Bearnaise or Hollandaise sauces; mayonnaise; thicken soups and/or make Greek avgolemono soup.