Love it even more with a sprinkling of your favorite fresh herbs or spices. They add a rush of flavor and aroma with virtually no calories.

Herbs are also very nutritious, adding vitamins and minerals to the meal.

• We love the classics: shredded basil; snipped dill, chive and rosemary; chopped parsley
• To spice it up, try a combination of crushed red pepper and fresh-ground black pepper
• If chives aren’t enough for the onion lovers in your household, use sliced green onion or chopped red onion

You can serve one or more herbs in ramekins and let everyone customize his/her baked potato. While the photo shows a light sprinkling, pile up as much as you like.

Fresh herbs add flavor, nutrition and
no calories! Photo courtesy Wisconsin Milk
Marketing Board.

Substitute nonfat Greek yogurt for the sour cream. It’s very creamy with no fat or cholesterol. Most Greek yogurt is very low in tanginess as well, making it even more like sour cream. Try it!

We can’t wait for Christmas cookies!
Photo courtesy Wisconsin Milk Marketing
Board. Get the recipe.

Then apply to receive a Party Pack from Hershey’s. One thousand winners will receive:

• One Hershey’s holiday apron
• Three packages of Hershey’s Kisses chocolates
• One container of Hershey’s Cocoa
• One box of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix
• Fifteen Hershey’s bakery boxes for guests to carry their favorite cookies home
• Fifteen (15) HERSHEY’S recipe books

Total approximate retail value: $49.50.

To apply, you’ve got to provide your address and answer a brief questionnaire. And you’ve got to do it by 11:59:59 pm EST on November 15, 2010.

• Apply to host a cookie exchange. You’ll also find tips for hosting a party and many recipes.
• See our favorite cookie recipes, including lots of holiday cookies.

Can’t decide between pizza and lasagne?

World Champion Pizza Maker Theo Kalogeracos has solved the problem: he invented the pisagne (pee-ZAH-nyeh).

The concept is really quite simple: Top a pizza crust with lasagne ingredients. Here’s The Nibble’s approach to the recipe:

The pisagne, a lasagne pizza (photo © Theo Kalogeracos).

But there’s good news:

Coming to America soon are a new edition of the cookbook, Theo + Co ~ The Search for the Perfect Pizza, and Theo’s countertop pizza oven, The Pizza Perfector (similar in size to a George Foreman Grill).

Stay tuned! And find more pizza recipes by pulling down the menu in the right column.

Enjoy the seeds as well as the squash (photo © Melissa’s Produce).

As you’re enjoying your winter squash—acorn, butternut, hubbard, etc.—don’t forget to enjoy the seeds, too.

They’re easy to roast, and are tasty and nutritious. They taste like the seeds from another winter squash, the pumpkin.

Here’s all you have to do to enjoy roasted squash seeds as a snack, salad or soup garnish.
 
 
RECIPE: ROASTED SQUASH SEEDS

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

2. RINSE the seeds with water, remove the stringy parts. Pat dry with paper towels and place in a bowl.

4. SPREAD in an even layer on the baking sheet.

5. BAKE for 15 minutes, or until crisp. Remove from oven and cool on the baking sheet.

6. USE or store in an airtight jar.

Use the same process with pumpkin seeds.

Squash seeds are reasonably high in fat (oil) and as a result, calories; but it is good fat, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated, which actually lower disease risk (learn more). They are protein-rich with high concentrations of calcium, folate, magnesium, potassium and vitamin A.
 
> Check out all the different types of squash in our Squash Glossary.

To avoid “same old tossed salad” or mesclun mix boredom, we:

1. Use two different salad greens every day, from a selection that includes baby arugula, dandelion, endive, fennel, mâche, radicchio, radish, watercress and sometimes the ubiquitous yet tasty romaine.

We’re fortunate that our local farmers market has a wonderful grower of the so-called Oriental greens, mizuna, red mustard and tatsoi.

2. Cherry tomatoes (try a red and yellow mix), cut in half, add flavor and color year-round.

3. Next, our chef adds a fruit, typically a julienned apple or Asian pear, or blood orange or grapefruit segments. They really brighten up the flavors!

Your everyday salad can look like
this. Photo courtesy Blu restaurant, NYC.

5. Sometimes there are some luscious pieces of shaved Asiago, Parmesan or other hard cheese; or a ramekin of crumbled goat cheese or blue cheese. You can add whatever you have at hand: hard-cooked eggs, leftover ham or bacon, water chestnuts, etc.

6. Finally, the salad dressing: no heavy dressings, just a light vinaigrette of extra-virgin olive oil (sometimes blended with a bit of nut oil). For variety, we have a lot of flavored oils and vinegars. We love Sonoma Farm infused oils—the Blood Orange is a must—and the infused oils and vinegars from Boyajian (all NIBBLE Top Picks Of The Week). And the juices from segmenting the citrus get tossed in as well.

We’re never bored, and always looking forward to the daily salad. And you don’t need a chef: This is easy stuff!

• Find more of our favorite salad recipes.