[2] For a crunchy snack, pick a lite-dressing salad kit (photo courtesy Dole).

[3] Crunchy roasted chickpeas are an alternative to nut (photo courtesy The Good Bean).

[4] Popcorn is a favorite whole-grain snack (photo courtesy Pop Secret).

Low in calories and good for you: We looked for 10 snack foods that would help our goal to eat better at work, where it’s too easy to succumb to ubiquitous empty-calorie foods. Our criteria:

 
For an item like salad that require some refrigeration after more than a few hours, use an ice pack to keep the bag chilled.

1. BONE BROTH. Nutritious, nourishing, packed with protein, bone broth staves off pangs of hunger. You can buy individual containers in four flavors from Pacific Organic (phoro #1). If you have a fridge at work to keep open containers, choose a family size from Pacific or Kitchen Basics. If you don’t have a microwave at work, heat it at home and bring it in a thermos. Here’s more about bone broth.

2. INSTANT MISO SOUP. Love the miso soup at Japanese restaurants? Buy instant soups from Sushi Chef, Kikkoman or other manufacturer. You get a packet of miso paste to mix with hot water, and a packet of freeze-dried veggies and/or tofu that plump up in the hot soup. While instant soups are known for their salt content, it’s no worse than polishing off a bag of chips. If you don’t need to cut back on salt, you can fit a cup into your daily consumption.

3. PRE-PACKAGED GREEN SALADS. You have no excuse for avoiding salad when all you have to do is tear open cellophane. Dole and Fresh Express both make light versions of Caesar Salad (photo #2). If your favorite mix doesn’t come with a light dressing option, keep a bottle of low-calorie dressing at work—along with a large bowl and a fork. One of our favorite snacks: a cole slaw mix with light cole slaw or ranch dressing.

4. NO SUGAR ADDED HOT CHOCOLATE. When you want a sweet treat, take a packet of low-calorie hot chocolate mix to the water cooler and whip up a cup. If it isn’t sweet enough for you, add a half-packet of non-caloric sweetener. While most people use individual packets of Nestlé or Swiss Miss, we buy Swiss Miss No Sugar Added in the bulk can, better to adjust the level of intensity.

5. APPLES & ORANGES. These fruits can last a couple of weeks or longer without refrigeration. An apple a day keeps the candy bar away; an orange a day keeps the cookies away.

6. NUT OR ROASTED CHICKPEA PACKETS. The FDA recommends that an ounce of nuts a day can be part of a heart-healthy diet. You get 32 whole almonds in an ounce! Try them raw or toasted; you can toss either in chile powder, garlic or other spice. Blue Diamond and Planter’s, among others, have individual portion sizes; and beyond nuts there are roasted chickpea packets from The Good Bean (photo #3) and others.

7. NUT BUTTER SQUEEZE PACKETS. Almond, hazelnut and peanut butters ub individually-portioned packets make a tasty snack, plain or with an apple. Check out the varieties from Justin’s.

8. BABY CARROTS. A snack favorite, no effort required. Eat them plain or with Greek yogurt. If you can pull together mixed crudites (celery sticks, radishes, broccoli florets, etc.), so much the better.

9. TOMATO JUICE. Not tomato juice cocktail, but the real deal. Check the label to see there’s no added sugar. Keep a bottle of Worcestershire sauce on hand and add a few shakes. Our favorite brand is R.W. Knudsen. It’s a great snack combo with a side of baby carrots.

10. POPCORN. If you have a microwave at hand, pop this whole-grain snack from scratch. Orville Redenbacher and Pop Secret (photo #4) have individual microwave packets). Otherwise, pre-popped does nicely. Go for plain popcorn and flavor as you wish with black pepper, chili flakes, garlic powder, etc.

11. OLIVES. Full of heart-healthy olive oil, these tangy bites are delicious even without a Martini. Gaea packages different varieties in resealable snack packs: black or green, plain or flavored with chile and pepper or lemon and oregano.

If we’ve missed your favorite better-for-you snack, let us know!

The first ribs we remember were spare ribs, a childhood favorite at Chinese restaurants. Then, came barbecue joints and baby back ribs.

More recently, country-style ribs have become the “it” rib; and they’re not even ribs. They’re cut into rib-like shape from a pork chop

An article in The New York Times praises this inexpensive cut of pork for slow cooking. Others love them for grilling, with plenty of barbecue sauce.

Country-style ribs are the meatiest of all the pork ribs, giving you more bang for your buck—especially because they’re also the least expensive ribs (for now). As a bonus: They’re leaner, because they were originally a chop.

Country-style ribs are a combination of lean white meat and rich dark meat. True country style ribs are cut from the loin, either from the rib end or the sirloin. Most butchers then cut the slab into fingers, with or without the bone.

However, with the growing popularity of the cut, there are also “fake” versions labeled “country-style ribs.” These are cut from the pork shoulder. They’re full of fat and worse, collagen, which makes them gummy unless they first cooked at 200°F. Before you buy, look at the meat carefully; if they seem fatty, ask the butcher if they’re a shoulder cut.
 
 
HOW COUNTRY-STYLE RIBS WERE CREATED

The cut is actually a chop, but butchers had difficulty selling it. Coming from the ends of the loin, the chops didn’t look as lean and smooth as the chops cut from the center of the loin.

The meat typically ended up in sausages, or mis-labeled, hidden at the bottom of packages of loin chops.

Sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s, a Chicago-area butcher, Cliff Bowes, took advantage of the popularity of ribs by butterflying these less attractive chops, fashioning them into strips that resembled ribs.

Country-style ribs were born. Yet, they haven’t gotten as much PR as their cousins, spare ribs and baby back ribs (see the chart below).

If you’re a rib person, or just want to dig into meaty chunks of pork, give them a try. For starters:

[2] Traditional country-style ribs have a slender section that curves along the bottom (photo Melina Hammer | The New York Times).

[3] Braised Country-Style Pork Ribs With Chipotle (photo Melina Hammer | The New York Times).

Illustration courtesy The New York Times.

[2] This “pared down” cassoulet takes just one hour! Here’s the recipe from The View From Great Island (photo © The View From Great Island).

[3] The original cassoulet pot shape, with slanted sides. It is the source of the word “casserole.” Here’s the detailed history of cassoulet (photo © French Country Food).

[4] The only bean to use for cassoulet: haricot blanc, more commonly known in the U.S. as the cannellini bean (photo © Tanya Shkondina | iStock).

There’s a blizzard covering the East Coast today, turning our thoughts to warm comfort food. How about a cassoulet?

If not today, January 9th is National Cassoulet Day (caa-soo-LAY).

Cassoulet (cass-oo-LAY, photo #1) originated* in the south of France, a balmy area that doesn’t have to deal with snow.
 
 
CASSOULET HISTORY

According to French Country Food, the forerunner of modern cassoulet dates to the medieval period. A rustic dish, the stew that simmered for a long time over the fire.

Legend has it that during a siege of Castelnaudary, threatened with famine, the townspeople and peasants pooled what they had—bacon, pork, sausages and beans—to make a stew to feed the soldiers defending the city.

While many dishes evolve over time, today cassoulet remains a rich, slow-cooked casserole packed full of fatty meats: pork sausages, pork skin (rind), duck or goose, and other meats, such as mutton.

Then there are the beans. For the past few centuries this has meant white beans (haricots blancs, or cannellini in Italian, photo #3)—never substitutes.

The original beans, however, were broad beans (fava beans). That’s because the genus of beans to which haricots blancs belong is a New World variety. It wasn’t until the 16th century that the beans were brought back to Europe from Mexico and Peru.

Still, the dish was simply another stew recipe until the first commercial production started in Castelnaudary, in 1836 (the town claims to have originated the recipe for cassoulet).
 
 
IT GAVE ITS NAME TO ALL SUBSEQUENT CASSEROLES

The dish used to slow-cook cassoulet is named after its traditional cooking vessel, a deep, round, earthenware casserole dish with slanting sides—i.e., the cassoulet.

The three main towns of the Languedoc† have their own variation on the meats in the recipe.

 
In recent times, some cooks have exchanged the fatty meats for chicken or salmon, and cooks have added their own touches: breadcrumb topping, for example, more root vegetables to increase the vegetable balance, or using only duck meat.

You can find many cassoulet recipes online; here are a few.
 
 
CASSOULET RECIPES

 
 
DON’T WANT TO MAKE CASSOULET?
TRY THIS TASTY CANNELLINI RECIPE.

This Florentine recipe is by Judy Witts Francini of Divina Cucina.com. It was sent to us by Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo New World Specialty Food, one of America’s bean experts and purveyor of the finest artisan beans.

You can make a large amount of beans, then portion them and freeze them in plastic freezer bags. Add them to add to soups; use them as a base or side for dinner; or serve as a side with breakfast eggs. Beans are great protein, packed with nutrients.

Tip: Spread the roasted garlic cloves on toast.
 
 
TITO’S OVEN-ROASTED BEANS BY JUDY WITTS FRANCINI

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PLACE all the ingredients except the salt in the baking dish; cook at 350°F until the beans are tender. Depending on the beans, this can take 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Stir the beans once or twice during the cooking time.

The olive oil will create a crust on the top layer of beans. This adds some texture, much like cassoulet. But it can also dry that top layer, which is why you want to stir.

2. SALT the beans at the end of the cooking time, and serve.

*Many cuisines have similar recipes, slow-cooking beans and meats in a covered vessel.

†Languedoc-Roussillon was a former province in the south of France; its capital city was Toulouse. In January 2016, the former French regions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées were combined into the new region of Occitanie, named after the historical region of Occitania.

  

January 3rd is National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day.

Here’s a history of the popular bonbon, adapted from an article by Esther Martin-Ullrich which appeared in Candy Favorites.

Chocolate-covered cherries, more formally called cherry cordials, are a chocolate shell filled with a cherry and sugar syrup, plain or flavored with alcohol.
 
IT BEGAN WITH THE CORDIAL

The word “cordial” derives from the Latin “cor,” heart, and referred to a medicinal tonic, which was believed to stimulate the heart and improve circulation.

This medicinal use of the cordial continued through the 1400s, when it arrived in England. There, cordials were taken after a big meal to settle the stomach and aide digestion.
 
THE BIRTH OF CHOCOLATE-COVERED CHERRIES

Cross back over to France: In the 1700s, a confection called griottes (gree-OAT) appeared in the Franche-Comté region of eastern France. Cherries were a local crop, and long-stemmed sour griotte cherries were enrobed in chocolate with some of the local kirsch (cherry brandy).

The concept was brought to America, where the term “cordial” was used to describe a particular type of strong liqueur. It was made by crushing whole cherries, including the pits, and steeping them in a sugar syrup with a bit of alcohol.

The mixture was strained to become a sweet, thick, syrupy alcohol with a strong fruity flavor. Intense and very sweet, it was used (as grenadine is today) to make a mixed drink, or sipped in small amounts as an after-dinner beverage.

However, chocolate lovers were not to be disappointed.
 
CHOCOLATE CHERRIES IN AMERICA

Liqueur chocolate cherries, like those made in France, became a popular treat in America. While cordial candies could be made with other fruits, cherries were—and continue to be—the most popular.

[2] Homemade chocolate-covered cherries from Taste Of Home.

As the concept evolved, varieties were made without liqueur, substituting a sugar syrup flavored with cherries, similar to modern chocolate-covered maraschino cherries. The pitted cherries were cooked in sugar syrup instead of alcohol.

Today’s chocolate-covered cherries can be made:

 
It’s your turn: Go out and find some chocolate-covered cherries to celebrate.

[2] Prefer green tea? Compare different brands of Dragon Well, Gyokuro, Sencha, etc. (photo courtesy Kanaya Tea).

[3] The winner of our first round (photo courtesy Harney & Sons).

Cold enough for you? There’s a reason that January is National Hot Tea Month.

How about a nice cup of tea? Tea Association of the USA shares expert information for making that perfect cup of tea.

4 RULES FOR A PERFECT CUP OF TEA

The Association’s Four Golden Rules for a delicious cup of hot tea:

 
For the best flavor, preheat the teapot with a little hot water prior to use, and cover your teapot with a cozy (or a tea towel) to retain heat during the brewing process.

While guidelines are provided, you can adjust the time, temperature and amount of tea until you find your perfect pot.
 
SPECIAL GUIDELINES FOR GREEN TEA

 
SPECIAL GUIDELINES FOR OOLONG & WHITE TEA

For oolongs and white teas, use water that’s between 180°-190°F. The larger and more delicate the leaf, the lower the water temperature should be. While black teas need much hotter water for proper extraction, boiling water will scorch a delicate white tea leaf.

Oolongs need to steep a bit longer than white tea: Steep oolong for 5-7 minutes and white tea for 3-4 minutes. As with black and green teas, you can modify the times according to your own personal tastes.
 
 
FOOD FUN: HAVE A TEA TASTING

That’s what we did on New Year’s Day. We gathered 12 brands of English Breakfast* tea (use whatever style you like) for a three-part tasting:

We tasted four of the teas, first black, then with milk or whatever addition the taster liked.

We’ll be tasting the next four this weekend at brunch, the final four the following week. We’ll culminate with a taste-off among the three group “winners.”

It’s fun, and it lets us make the best purchasing decision [for us], going forward.

 
VISIT OUR TEA GLOSSARY & TEA INDEX FOR MORE ABOUT TEA.
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*Note that English Breakfast is a blend of different teas, and each manufacturer has its own “recipe.” The same is true with flavored teas, like Earl Grey. With single-origin teas such as Assam, Ceylon or Darjeeling, you get the pure tea and can more easily compare quality.