True, but Mother’s Day falls a scant two weeks after Easter. You need a gift strategy.

As far as gourmet chocolate goes, Anna Shea creates chocolate “haute couture”: beautiful, artisan-crafted and hand-decorated chocolate designs.

This may be the best-looking box of chocolates we’ve ever seen. And beyond impeccable appearances, each piece is delectable.

Each jewel-like chocolate is handmade and then hand-painted (that’s edible paint, of course) with a design that evokes the flavor of the delicious ganache inside.

If Mom loves a box of fine chocolate, she’ll be delighted to receive a box of Anna Shea chocolates—whether for Mother’s Day, as a thank-you for Easter dinner or for no occasion in particular.

TheNibbleGourmetMarket.com, created in response to the many requests we get from readers for gift recommendations, has just launched. It includes our favorite gift items—something for everyone, from $15.00 and up.

It makes a charming centerpiece, not just for Easter but year-round.

If you can’t get to a Williams-Sonoma store, head to your nearest crafts store and buy the materials to make your own basket arrangment.

Then head to the candy store to fill the basket. It doesn’t need to be with blue robins’ eggs. There are plenty of delicious Easter egg candies that can fill the basket—until people catch sight of them. So make sure to buy refills!

Our two-pound loaf disappeared in a week.
Photo courtesy Tillamook Cheese.

Here’s a wonderful everyday cheese to head up the celebration: Tillamook’s Monterey Jack cheese, voted America’s Best Monterey Jack Cheese at the 2011 United States Champion Cheese Contest. (The company’s Colby Jack–a blend of two cheeses–was also a winner, taking Best In Class honors.)

This Monterey Jack’s fresh, buttery flavor and creamy texture are spot-on. Its meltability gives it the versatility to work with just about anything – it’s a Jack of all trades in the kitchen. Here are 25 suggestions from Tillamook and THE NIBBLE:

Ideas With Shredded Monterey Jack

1. Wrapped with potatoes and eggs in a breakfast burrito.
2. Mashed into potatoes with butter.
3. Melted in an omelet with vegetables.
4. Stuffed into grilled peppers.
5. Paired with sausage and mushrooms in a breakfast strata.

6. Mixed into salads—try grilled chicken, green chile, avocado, tomato and romaine, with a side of tortilla chips.
7. Mixed into mac and cheese, by itself or in combination, like in this three-cheese recipe.
8. Made into cheese soup.
9. Sprinkled atop tortilla soup, or used as a garnish for other soups (try corn chowder with shredded Monterey Jack and crumbled bacon).
10. Baked atop enchiladas; in fajitas, tacos and other Tex-Mex favorites.
11. Rolled into meatballs.
12. Grated onto garlic fries.
13. Sprinkled onto roasted vegetables.
14. Melted into cheese fondue.
15. In a baked potato.
16. On a pizza (try a Buffalo Chicken pizza, blended with crumbled blue cheese—here’s the recipe).
17. In a manicotti recipe with salsa (try this chipotle manicotti).
Ideas With Sliced Monterey Jack
18. Layered on a ham or turkey sandwich, or any favorite sandwich.
19. Grilled between sliced bread for a superior grilled cheese sandwich.
20. Fried on an egg sandwich.
21. Broiled on bread with a slice of roast beef.
22. As a snack right out of the package.
23. As a general garnish.
24. On a cheese board.
25. With a glass of white wine.

Don’t think that a two-pound loaf is too much. Between recipes and snacking, it might last a week. Other sizes are available, including 8-ounce chunks, 12-ounce slices, and 1- and 2.5-pound loaves.

Along with the pears, we also had on hand jars of the new flavors of The King’s Cupboard dessert sauces: Bourbon Caramel, Chocolate Crème De Menthe and Chocolate Irish Cream. Voilà!

POACHED PEARS RECIPE

Ingredients

Preparation
1. Combine first five ingredients in a 4-quart saucepan. Bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to a simmer and add pears to the poaching liquid.
3. Simmer pears for 30 minutes or until tender when pierced with a fork.
4. Remove pears and chill standing upright for several hours or overnight (we keep them in the poaching liquid to infuse more wine flavor).
5. To assemble, place pears on individual serving plates. Warm chocolate sauce in microwave (start with 20 seconds). Spoon sauce over pears. Garnish with mint leaf or berries.

Alternate Sauce
Instead of using chocolate sauce, you can reduce the poaching liquid to one cup, and spoon over the pears. Garnish with crème fraiche, crumbled blue cheese or blue cheese ice cream.

Alternate Recipe
A related dish, Poires Belle-Hélène (in English, Pears Belle-Hélène), combines a poached pear and chocolate sauce with ice cream and slivered almonds.

Of all the healthy nuts, walnuts are the
healthiest. Photo by J. Eltovski | Morguefile.

Pistachios are just one of seven healthy nuts recommended by the USDA for daily snacking.

The “Magnificent Seven” healthy nuts include:

 
You can have one or one-and-a-half ounces per day—as a snack, in salads and yogurt parfaits and mixed with rice and other grains. There’s a place for nuts in every meal of the day.