Cheese kabobs are a festive way to serve different cheeses at parties, and are a fun family snack (and save the calories and carbs of bread and crackers). Buy blocks of different-color cheeses that can be cut into 1-inch cubes. Put 3 different cubes on a skewer or jumbo toothpick, alternating with a fruit (melon ball, grape or berry) or veggie (grape tomato, broccoli floret or zucchini cube). Create a variety of different skewers and arrange them in an inverted half watermelon or winter squash on a tray, or in a large round loaf of crusty bread. You can also arrange the skewers in a shallow vase or an ikebana (Japanese floral arrangement) dish.
Check out the Nibble’s Cheese Glossary for more information about cheese.
Granola and nuts = crunchy sweetness.
Photo by Emily Chang | THE NIBBLE.
Nature Valley has ported granola into a very crunchy line of Granola Nut Clusters: bite size, 100% snacks that are an alternative to candy and other sweet treats. While they are made of nutritious nuts and honey, whole grain oats, canola oil and other better-for-you ingredients, there’s also a lot of sugar—catering to the American palate that’s been trained to want more sweetness than other flavors. The sweet, crunchy nuggets certainly more than please.
The strongest nut flavor (and least sugariness) came from Nut Lovers, a combination of cashews, peanuts and pecans. Roasted Almond and Roasted Peanut tied for second, with Roasted Cashew trailing in third, the mild cashew flavor overwhelmed by the sugar.
Granola Nut Clusters can also be used to garnish a dish of ice cream.
No ice cream machine is needed here, just very ripe fruit and a quart of vanilla ice cream (No Sugar Added ice cream works fine, too). Lightly purée (don’t liquefy) 3 cups of peaches, berries, stone fruit or bananas. Scoop the ice cream into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat it with the paddle attachment for 2 minutes, until soft. Add the fruit purée and blend for 1 minute. Transfer the mixture back into the original ice cream container (plus another container for the excess), and return the ice cream to the freezer for 2 hours or more. It will taste just like long-churn, homemade ice cream!
Cheese producer Sargento has declared August National Panini Month. It’s National Sandwich Month, so why shouldn’t panini, Italian sandwiches, share the glory?
To celebrate, we’re bringing you eight delicious recipes, courtesy of Sargento and Chef Jason Denton. If you don’t have a panini maker, you can use an electric countertop grill or a gas grill. There’s everything from tuna to mozzarella, tomato and pesto (a Caprese salad on a sandwich!) to ham and Swiss with fig jam. Dig in!
It’s National Lemonade Day, so whip up a pitcher. The ratio is 1 cup of fresh-squeezed lemon juice, 1 cup of water and 2/3 cup of sugar for a tart lemonade—you can add more sugar to taste. However, we prefer not to sweeten the lemonade at all since quite a few people prefer calorie-free sweeteners or even honey. We provide a bowl of superfine sugar (it dissolves more easily than regular table sugar) plus Equal or Splenda, some fine artisan honey and a bottle of agave. If you’re using a glass pitcher, slice a small orange, a large lime and a lemon as décor. Add a sprig of mint to each glass, plus a notched strawberry to the rim. We also make ice cubes from lemonade so it doesn’t dilute the drink, and keep them in a color-coded iSi Orka ice cube tray.
