Add a dash of Mrs. Dash to any savory dish.
Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

Mrs. Dash sodium-free seasoning blends add great flavor to food the healthy way. Regardless of what you choose to prepare for lunch or dinner, there’s a Mrs. Dash Seasoning Blend to make it more flavorful. With 15 different varieties to choose from, you can cook up a month of meals using each blend only twice! (The line is certified OU kosher.)

Grab the Italian Medley to punch up your spaghetti and meatballs, shake some zest onto your bland chicken breasts with Lemon Pepper or reach for the Hamburger Grilling Blend to add some kick to your patties.

Because Mrs. Dash seasonings are salt-free, all-natural mixes of herbs and spices, they help limit salt intake. Since February is Heart Healthy Month, we’ll take a momentary break from writing about all the great foods you can eat to remind you that too much sodium in your diet can increase blood pressure, potentially leading to stroke and heart disease. Kids also need to cut the salt, before they develop bad eating habits.

PRIZE: Mrs. Dash Salt-Free Seasoning Blends

• All the seasoning needs of one person will be solved for the winner of the entire line of Mrs. Dash seasonings. Blends come in 15 flavors, including the four grilling blends, so you can use them for every meal. Approximate retail value: $46.00.
• To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our Salt, Seasonings, Herbs & Spices Section and enter your email address.Learn more at MrsDash.com.

   

Moon cakes are traditional, but few people would choose them over Burdick Chocolate’s exquisite chocolates and confections, in keepsake wood boxes tied with a red and gold “good luck” ribbon and a gold wax “good luck” symbol.

• Bonbon lovers will relish a special chocolate assortment created for the New Year: ganache infused with the flavors of Asia. Take a bite of Plum Wine Brandy, Lemongrass, Green Tea, Mango, Ginger, Cashew Sesame, Lapsang Souchong chocolates and more. ($20.00 to $63.00)
• For a bit less chocolate intensity, there are chocolate macaroons, which is the gourmet’s version of a moon cake ($24.00) and chocolate-dipped fruit ($22.00 to $44.00).

Read our review of Burdick Chocolate, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.

Celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year with
special sweets. Photo courtesy BurdickChocolate.com.

[1] Spiced cherries with wine and vinegar (photo © 34° Foods).

[2] George Washington in uniform (portrait by Gilbert Stuart).

Leading up to next Monday, we begin a week of cherry tips in honor of our first president, George Washington.

No cherry trees were cut down to create these tips!

The Father of our Country was born on February 22, 1732 on his family estate off the south bank of the Potomac River in Westmoreland County, Virginia. (When he was 3-1/2 the family moved to Mount Vernon.)

If your cherry repertoire is limited to pies, preserves and chocolate-covered cherries, you’re missing out on savory expressions of the cherry.

Try savory cherry condiments available from cherry specialist Chukar Cherries.

You can buy (or make your own) cherry balsamic vinaigrette, cherry chipotle barbecue sauce, cherry salsa and curried cherry chutney.

And try this recipe for spiced cherries. Serve them as a condiment with cheese or with charcuterie and pâté instead of—or along with—gherkins (make enough for gifts).

The spiced cherries work as both a savory condiment with hot and cold meats and sandwiches as well as a dessert sauce on ice cream or sorbet.

Or, add them to a pound cake with some whipped cream to celebrate George Washington’s Birthday on February 22. Don’t forget the candle!

You’ll have to wait until June, though, for fresh cherries to begin to arrive.

When Washington’s biographer, Parson Mason Weems, made up the “Father, I cannot tell a lie” myth about young George chopping down the treasured cherry tree, he should have thought ahead and picked a fruit that would be available in February!

By retreating to one of our favorite diet dishes—Asian Chicken Salad—for the next several meals.

We make it in less than 5 minutes, thanks to:

• Dole Cole Slaw Mix (shredded cabbage and carrots)
• Perdue Short Cuts Carved Turkey Breast (restaurant secret: lots of that “chicken salad” out there is made with turkey, which allows for larger chunks of poultry)
• A few shakes of our SoyCha soy-based salad dressing and marinade (or other dressing made from canola oil, vinegar, tamari sauce, sesame oil and salt.

This takes less than 90 seconds to throw into a bowl and is delicious as is. But for more complexity, we take another two minutes to add:

• A sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds
• Chopped green onions (scallions)
• Some fresh orange segments, from a bounty of Cushman’s Honeybell oranges, received as a gift (they’re very, very juicy and come with a plastic juice-catching bib!)

SoyCha salad dressing/marinade and its
spicy sister. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky |
THE NIBBLE.

• Optional garnish: crispy noodles saved from Chinese take-out

SoyCha, from Palcha Products, is also a great marinade for meats and fish and a dressing for a fusion Chinese noodle dish (otherwise stated, toss your favorite pasta with it) or rice salad (or heck, potato salad, string bean salad, you-name-it). We’ve tried it with spinach salad and cole slaw, and used ChiliCha to make a spicy beef salad.

ChiliCha has a nice spicy kick—noticeable but not fiery. We enjoy it in as a dressing for the Asian Chicken Salad. Tipsee Sesame is a gluten-free version, made without soy paste, which contains wheat. Now, we’d wish for a sugar-free version. There are only 3g of sugar per two-tablespoon serving, but the less hidden sugar in our diet, the better. We need to balance ourselves out on the days that we’re not facing down all those chocolates, cookies and brownies.

Enstrom’s sugar-free toffee so delicious,
you won’t believe it’s sugar free (and kosher,
too). Photo courtesy Enstrom.com.

• Take a look at our calorie-free Valentine’s Day gifts.
• If you missed out on chocolate because you’re on a sugar-free diet plan, take a look at our favorite sugar-free chocolates. They’re not calorie-free, but they’re a real find for people who can’t have sugar.

And Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us at THE NIBBLE.