The new high fiber soup family from
Progresso. Photo by Erika Meller |
THE NIBBLE.

• Chicken Tuscany with lots of Great Northern Beans, was a favorite, enhanced with a dash of sea salt and some fresh sage from our window plant.
• Chicken Vegetable, possibly the most popular flavor of the group for most consumers, didn’t ring our bell as much. The broth tasted strongly of the green beans in the soup.
• Creamy Tomato Basil was sweet and comforting, but we have to give it the thumbs down because the sweetness came from added sugar. If you don’t mind sugar added to your savory foods, it’s very appealing, but we think that the practice has contributed to America’s obesity and diabetes woes. It’s one of the things we keep an eye out for when we buy packaged foods.
• Homestyle Minestrone was also “Nibble-ized” with a spoonful of fresh-ground Parmesan cheese that we keep in the freezer for exactly this purpose. (if it’s ground very fine by the store—not shredded—it freezes well).

• Find reviews of our favorite soups, plus recipes, in our Gourmet Soups & Stocks Section.

Roll goat cheese in your choice of coatings; here, cocoa and hazelnuts. Photo courtesy of Romanicos.

Pick four or five coatings with varied flavors and textures—finely chopped pistachios, macadamias, almonds or walnuts; black, white or toasted sesame seeds; shredded coconut or sweet curry powder; Hungarian paprika and garlic powder; a mixture of fresh herbs; unsweetened cocoa powder (you can add a pinch of ginger); or other favorite flavors. You can layer flavors as well—cocoa and nuts, for example.

The coating process works best on waxed paper. Arrange the “truffles” on a plate. They’ll look like a beautiful box of bonbons—and each topping will make the chèvre taste different.

• Like your goat cheese straight? Here are two Top Pick Of The Week, award-winning producers: Cypress Grove Chevre and Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery.
• Learn more about goat cheese.

• Charleston Cookie Company’s pecan chocolate chip cookies (a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week)
• Daphne pecan tarts, frozen and ready to defrost and serve (another Top Pick)
• Lula Belle’s yummy pecan toffee
• And a pecan brownie recipe from chocolatier Chuck Siegel of Charles Chocolates.

 
See the rest of the November food holidays.

This Southern belle makes wonderful pecan
toffee with your choice of dark, milk or white
chocolate. Photo courtesy Lula Belle.

Single malt or blended, preserve your
favorite whiskeys with a preservative
spray. Photo: CanStock.

• You can buy wine protection sprays at most wine and household products stores or from Amazon.
• Learn more about fine whiskey: how Scotch differs from Bourbon, Tennessee and Canadian whiskey, rye and Irish whiskey.

We were not disappointed! Warm from the oven, we proudly served our eight handmade, individual-size flatbreads, highly seasoned with a “Mediterannean” herb mix of basil, bell pepper, chile, fennel, garlic, marjoram, onion, oregano, parsley and thyme. Once they cool down they get a bit dry (like pita), but can easily be warmed in the microwave. After two days of storage in our Fresh Vac food storage containers, they still warmed up nicely.

While there are recipes aplenty to make flatbread from scratch, don’t underestimate the convenience of a packaged mix. It was easy, delicious and impressive! We mixed the package ingredients into a dough with some olive oil and water, kneaded it briefly, let it rise for 30 minutes, divided and rolled the dough into eight flat pieces, brushed the tops with olive oil and sprinkled them with the seasoning blend. The flatbreads baked for six minutes and cooled for a few minutes. Aside from the rising and cooking time, prep was no more than 10 minutes, using one bowl and one cookie sheet.

Impress your friends and family with home-baked flatbread. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

• Buy Canterbury Naturals flatbread mix online.
• Discover the many different types of bread in our Bread Glossary.
• Try this tzatziki recipe (cucumber yogurt dip) with your flatbread.