We have long been a fan of Superseedz, the best pumpkin seeds we’ve ever had.

Now, the line has added organic varieties (photo #1).

Editor’s Note: Those seeds growing inside a thick-skinned squash are safe from surface pesticides, but consumers want what consumers want: the word “organic” on the package.

The flavors include:

 
Eat them from the bag, toss them onto cottage cheese or yogurt, pasta (photo #2) or grains. Garnish salads and, with the new Dark Chocolate Sea & Salt flavor, garnish cupcakes and other desserts.

In addition to the crunchy great taste, you’ll be adding protein, magnesium and iron.

Don’t overlook the regular line:

 
Allergen-friendly, Superseedz are gluten free, nut free, egg free, dairy free, fish and shellfish free and soy free (except for the curry flavor). They have up to 9g of protein per ounce, and provide 15% RDI of iron and zinc.

For guilt-free snacking, see them all at Superseedz.com.
 
 
2. AQUASANA CLEAN WATER MACHINE

If you prefer filtering your tap water to purchasing water—whether to please your palate or to eliminate contaminants—you may have tried a Britta or ZeroWater pitcher filtration device, or even a larger countertop unit.

But if you’re kitchen-space-challenged as we are, you have neither space in the fridge nor on the counter top for one—without sacrificing something else.

Thanks to Aquasana, we no longer have that limitation. The company, which specializes in water filters for sinks and showers—plus handsome individual water bottles with built-in filters—has come up with a space saver countertop unit that nicely hugs the side of the kitchen counter next to the fridge (photo #3).

The Clean Water Machine has the same Aquasana professional filtration system that keeps the good minerals dissolved in your tap water (calcium, magnesium, potassium). It filterd out 99% of asbestos, chlorine and lead, and 96% of 62 other harmful contaminants, including pesticides and pharmaceuticals.

Just 4.5 inches wide and 17 inches long, the Aquasana Clean Water Machine dispenses a gallon of filtered water by the glassful or the pitcherful, and includes a glass carafe (photo #4) to bring to the table.

The device is electric, and claims to remove “10x more contaminants than leading gravity pitchers.”

Instead of slowly trickling through the filter via gravity, Aquasana’s electricity-driven motor filters a half gallon in a minute.

Two filters, each making 320 gallons of clean water, are included.

 
Aquasana Clean Water Machine is available in black or white, and is sold at retailers including Costco, e-tailers and from the company website.

The list price is $129.99 ($124.99 at Costco), but today the Aquasana website offered us a 30% discount on anything.

[1] Superseedz: one of our favorite snacks and garnishes, available in snack and family packs (photo courtesy Superseedz).

[2] Superseeds as a garnish: Add crunch, flavor and nutrition (photo courtesy Superseedz).

[3] The space-saving Aquasana Clean Water Machine fits snugly against the fridge (photo courtesy Aquasana).

[4] You can bring the built-in pitcher to the table, or fill the graceful carafe, included (photo courtesy Aquasana).

[5] and [6] Leonardo’s Pizza Sauce (photos courtesy Leonardo’s).

3. LEONARDO’S PIZZA SAUCE

The majority of commercial pasta and pizza sauces are made with average tomatoes—those with no natural sweetness (they’re cheaper for the manufacturers).

As a result, the sauces are are typically sweetened with sugar or corn syrup, resulting in hidden sugar that no one needs, plus a sauce that often tastes sugary.

Many Americans have grown to accept that everything from mustard to vinaigrette has added sugar. Personally, we dislike sugary notes in savory food, and eschew the practice of adding sugar.

When we find an NSA (no sugar added) brand that tastes really good—like a tomato sauce should—we give it a shout-out.

In 1990, Leonardo’s Pizza began as one pizzeria in Burlington, Vermont. It got so much attention, People’s Choice Awards, professional and Yelp reviews, that it opened more pizzerias in New England.

When home-baked pizza began trending, Leonardo’s bottled their sauces for home cooks, in:

 
Pizza sauce is typically thinner than pasta sauce, so it spreads evenly and flatly on the crust (chunkier sauce is designed to cling to strands of pasta). Leonardo’s aims to give you the best:

“We hunt for the most delicious vine-ripened tomatoes. We gather the finest cheese we can lay hands on. And we combine them with extra virgin olive oil and selected spices. This produces intense flavors, setting a strong foundation for your homemade pie.”

We had fun pairing the sauces:

Buy the sauces online from Leonardo’s, or from these retailers.

Here’s what you get when you combine three salad concepts:

 
It’s a Wainer Salad (photo #4). Created by the creative folks at Sid Wainer, a gourmet produce distributor, it demonstrates how you can combine favorite ingredients from different dishes to create something new.

Sure, people have been substituting lobster for the chicken to make a Lobster Cobb Salad; but how about substituting romaine or frisée for the iceberg lettuce?

We have a list below of salads for your mashup; but first, the Wainter:

All three of these salads have been popular for decades—even centuries. Two are American creations, one is French.
 
 
COBB SALAD

Cobb Salad (photo #2)was created in 1937 at the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood: an on-the-fly assembly of whatever was in the kitchen one late night.

Owner Bob Cobb was scrounging in the kitchen’s refrigerator for a snack for himself and Sid Grauman, proprietor of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. He compiled a plate of romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cold breast of chicken, hard-boiled egg, chives, blue cheese, bacon and some watercress.

The original French dressing used was synonymous at the time with vinaigrette—the standard salad dressing of France.

Over time, a sweet, decidedly non-French, orange-colored vinaigrette (from ketchup, not a very French condiment) appeared in the U.S. and Canada. It’s what “French dressing” is today. To make it, combine 1/4 cup white wine vinegar, 1/3 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup ketchup, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 teaspoons paprika, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, a pinch of salt. Our mother halved the sugar and threw in a clove of garlic.

But we prefer the original vinaigrette, or even better, a chunky blue cheese dressing.

The salad created on that long-ago evening was so delicious, that Sid Grauman came back the next day and asked for a “Cobb Salad.” It went onto the menu, and never left. (The restaurant was destroyed by fire in 1987.)

Here’s more of the history of Cobb Salad.
 
 
SALADE LYONNAISE

Cooked eggs on salads have long been part of French cuisine. The most noteworthy:

 
 
WEDGE SALAD

Wedge Salad (photo #3) began to emerge in the 1950s, when restaurants offered hearts of iceberg lettuce salad with creamy dressings. The head was cut into quarters and plated with a slice of tomato for color.

Homemakers were fans, too, because iceberg heads were sold fully trimmed, with little waste, and had a longer shelf life in the fridge. It was easy to cut into wedges or slice into shreds. The lettuce’s crunch was very popular, if bland-tasting (solution: lots of dressing—like creamy blue cheese).

Thanks to the retro food movement of the past decade, iceberg has returned to restaurant menus beyond its steakhouse stronghold, and the hearts of lettuce salad are now known by a trendier name: wedge salad. Bacon was added, because bacon has become a garnishs of choice.

By the way, iceberg lettuce was a mutation, discovered in the late 1800s. Here’s the history of iceberg lettuce, and more about wedge salads.
 
 
WHAT’S YOUR SALAD MASHUP?

[1] Parent #1: Salade Lyonnaise, a French frisée salad with lardons (here’s a recipe from Saveur).

[2] Parent #2, a Cobb Salad, invented at the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood (here’s the recipe from La Creme De La Crumb).

[3] Parent #3: Wedge Salad (here’s a recipe from Little Broken).

[4] The Sid Wainer fusion: a slice (not wedge) of iceberg lettuce with blue cheese dressing and bacon from the Wedge Salad, cubed chicken from the Cobb Salad and a poached egg from Salade Lyonnaise.

[2] Chocolate sprinkles make the spider “hairy” (photo courtesy King Arthur Flour).

[3] Wilton makes the smallest eyes we’ve found. These are from Target (photo courtesy Wilton).

Along came a spider and sat down beside her—and she ate him!

This eye-catching chocolate spider cake from Go Bold With Butter doubles as a table centerpiece and dessert.

The ingredients are easy to find. Chocolate chocolate sticks for the spider legs and candy eyeballs can be found at kitchen specialty stores and online.

You also use use Pocky, the Japanese chocolate-covered biscuit sticks that have good distribution at grocery stores and international markets.

Prep time is 30 minutes, cook time is 50 minutes.
 
 
RECIPE: CHOCOLATE SPIDER CAKE

Ingredients For 8-10 Servings

For the Chocolate Frosting

 
For the Spider Cake

 
Decorations

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the frosting. Combine the heavy cream and chocolate in small microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 45 seconds and stir. Return to the microwave and heat again for 20 seconds. Let the mixture stand for 2 minutes; then whisk together until smooth. Place in refrigerator to firm to spreading consistency, about 1 hour.

2. MAKE the cake. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Combine first six ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk together. Add the milk, melted butter and vanilla and beat on low until combined. Scrape down the bowl and add the egg; beat again until well incorporated.

NOTE: If you want to use the rest of the cupcake tin to bake more cupcakes, plan ahead for your batter of choice.

4. PLACE the chocolate sprinkles in a bowl. Cut the cupcake in half and cover top portion with chocolate frosting (bonus: you get to eat the other half of the cupcake). Place 8 candy eyeballs on top of the frosting. Use a spoon to cover the cupcake with chocolate sprinkles. Gently shake off excess and set aside.

5. PLACE the cake on a large serving platter. Cover the bowl-shaped cake with chocolate frosting, then cover frosting with chocolate sprinkles. Apply more frosting to the back side of the cupcake to attach the “head” to the “body.”

6. GENTLY INSERT three chocolate sticks, standing upright on each side of spider body (do one side at a time). Use leftover frosting to attach a second chocolate stick, creating three sets of spider legs on each side. Insert two short chocolate stick “legs” on either side of spider head. Use frosting to attach two additional short chocolate sticks to legs, creating segmented front legs.

7. SLICE and serve, but only once your guests have applauded the finished cake.

If you love caramel apples but are cutting down on sugar, make your own with sugar-free caramels.

Werther’s makes delicious sugar-free caramels in regular and chocolate-flavored. Pick up a few bags and get dipping!

You can use the same recipe with regular caramels.
 
 
RECIPE: SUGAR-FREE CARAMEL APPLES

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. INSERT the wooden sticks into the stem end of the apples. Cover a large plate, baking pan, or tray with waxed paper. Lightly grease the paper with butter.

2. COMBINE the caramels and water in a large saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until the caramels are completely melted, stirring constantly.

3. DIP the apples in the melted caramel, spooning additional caramel over the apples if necessary to coat evenly. Place on the buttered paper and allow the excess caramel to drip off.

4. SCRAPE pooled caramel from the bottoms of the apples for neatness. Garnish as desired, then place on a prepared serving plate and refrigerate for 1 hour.

[2] Werther’s makes sugar-free soft chewy caramels and chocolate-flavored chewy caramels (photo courtesy Werther’s Originals).

 
You can also host a candy apple party!
 
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

[2] Take a bite!

[3] Where would dessert be without the incredible, edible egg? (Photo © The Egg Farm.)

Check out the different types of eggs in our Egg Glossary.

See the different types of custard in our Custard Glossary.

World Egg Day was established in 1996 and is celebrated on the second Friday in October.

Since the dawn of the hunter-gatherer, eggs have played a major role in feeding mankind around the globe. They one of nature’s highest quality, and most affordable, sources of protein.

Since this is a global celebration, we’re featuring one of our favorite global recipes with eggs.

No, it’s not egg drop soup (we published an egg drop soup recipe last year). It’s a favorite Cantonese dessert made with eggs: Hong Kong egg tarts.

Walking around the streets of Hong Kong or any Chinatown elsewhere, you’ll see these popular tartlets* through the windows of bakeries.

Whenever we hit New York City’s Chinatown for a dim sum brunch, we look forward to a dessert of Hong Kong Egg Tarts. We like them so much, we buy extras to take home.

The recipe is below.
 
 
THE HISTORY: WHAT ARE HONG KONG EGG TARTS?

Egg tart, dan tat in Cantonese, is sweet tart pastry crust filled with egg custard. It’s essentially fusion food, since custard was created in northern European dairying countries.

Hong Kong egg tarts (also called Chinese egg tarts, but that’s too nonspecific a term given the variety of regional cuisines), are related to Portuguese egg tarts.

The concept arrived in Hong Kong during the 1940s—from, some sources believe, the neighboring island of Macau, which had been colonized by the Portuguese.

According to more likely sources, the egg tart first appeared in Guangzhou (Canton) in the 1920s [source].

There, the local chefs, inspired by western fruit tarts, filled tart pastry with egg custard. As butter was very costly, they used lard crusts instead of making puff pastry.

At the time, there was tough competition between department stores in Guangzhou. To attract customers, the chef of each department store would invent a new dim sum or dessert weekly; hence the initiative that produced these first Chinese egg tarts.

A few decades later, in the 1940s and 1950s, many chefs migrated to Hong Kong and brought the recipe with them.

Portuguese egg tarts—pasteis de nata—scents the custard with cinnamon, in a puff pastry crust. Here’s a recipe.

Both versions taste best when freshly baked and still warmed. Even when we warm the take-out tarts we bring home from Chinatown, they’re a shade less heavenly than those we eat on the spot.

Yet, they’re so easy to make that they can be whipped up to serve regularly at brunch, or with tea and coffee breaks.

In fact, we’re making them both on Saturday and Sunday to serve at brunch. We’ll double the recipe but only cook half on each day.

If you have a source for very good tart or tartlet shells, you can substitute them. The texture isn’t “Hong Kong,” but the overall taste is good.

You can buy Clearbrook Farms’ tartlet and mini-tart shells at Sur La Table, Walmart and elsewhere. We always keep a few boxes in the pantry. You can fill them with berries, pudding, cream cheese and preserves, ice cream, etc. when you need a quick dessert or teatime treat.
 

This recipe was sent to us by The Incredible Egg (the American Egg Board), via All Recipes.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the confectioners’ sugar and flour in a medium bowl. Blend in the butter with a fork, until the mixture comprises small crumbs.

2. STIR in the egg and vanilla until the mixture forms a dough. The texture should be slightly moist. Add more butter if the dough is too dry, or add more flour if the dough seems greasy.

3. SHAPE the dough into 1-1/2 inch balls. Press the balls into fluted tartlet molds to cover the bottom, extending the dough higher than the sides of the molds. Use this technique to place the dough into one tart mold, then tamp it down with an empty mold.

4. PREHEAT the oven to 450°F.

5. COMBINE the white sugar and water in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil. Cook until the sugar is dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and cool to room temperature.

6. STRAIN the eggs through a sieve, and whisk into the sugar mixture. Stir in the evaporated milk and vanilla. Strain the filling through a sieve, and fill the tart shells.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown, and the filling is puffed up a little bit.
 
 
*TARTS VS. TARTLETS

To be completely accurate: