Could August 4th be our favorite day of the year? It’s National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day.

If you love chocolate chip cookies but not the calories, try this alternative from Good Eggs: chocolate-flecked meringue cookies. They have about 15 calories apiece.

With only three ingredients, you can have them in the oven with just 10 minutes of preparation time.

The quality of the chocolate makes a big difference in this recipe, so don’t skimp. You’ll really appreciate the fine chocolate flavor that melts into your palate.

RECIPE: CHOCOLATE FLAKE MERINGUE COOKIES

Ingredients For 26 Meringues

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 250°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. SLICE the chocolate very thin, using a box grater or a vegetable peeler. You may need to start and stop this a few times because your warm hands will begin to melt the chocolate bar, making the grating or peeling difficult. Set the chocolate aside.

3. BEAT the egg whites on low speed until frothy in the clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (alternatively in a large bowl using a hand mixer fitted with whisk beaters) Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until stiff peaks form when you lift the beaters, 4 to 6 minutes.

[2] Use a semisweet chocolate bar—about 65% cacao—or bittersweet if you prefer. This bar is Guittard Fair Trade chocolate, 64% cacao (photos and recipe courtesy Good Eggs | San Francisco.

5. GENTLY FOLD in the chocolate using a rubber spatula, being careful not to overmix or the meringue will collapse.

6. DROP the meringues by small teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 50 minutes, or until you can lift a meringue off the parchment with a spatula and it doesn’t stick. Let the meringues cool completely on the baking sheet.

7. STORE in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Yoplait’s new French-style yogurt line will have you saying “Oui!” (photo courtesy Oui By Yoplait).

[3] Reuse-A-Pop is a mess-free opportunity for you to make your favorite flavor push-up ice pops (photo courtesy Russbe).

We were probably the last person in New York to buy Breakstone Pineapple Cottage Cheese before they discontinued it. It was the Ascension Of Yogurt Era, and grocers eliminated slower-moving SKUs to give the space to the hot ones.

Now, a new brand called Muuna is offering all the fruited cottage cheese our heart desires (photo #1). The line is lowfat and creamy, with the fruit on the bottom that you mix up, like a carton of sundae-style yogurt.

It’s also rich in protein: 15g of protein per 5.3-ounce cup.

The fruit is not the typical preserves at the bottom of of the cup but actual chopped fruit, in your choice of:

 
There are also two plain options: 2% and 4% milkfat.

The line is all natural, non-GMO, rBST-free and certified kosher by cRc.

Welcome back, pineapple cottage cheese—and hello to you other flavors. You’re our Top Pick Of The Week.
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*See the different types of yogurt.
 
 
2. OUI BY YOPLAIT YOGURT

Our co-Top Pick is the new Oui by Yoplait line of yogurt (photo #2). It’s different from every other container of Yoplait you’ve had.

Eating yogurt from the perky glass jar, you could imagine you’re in France. The jar (repurposeable or recyclable) makes you look cool and in-the-know. And the yogurt does not disappoint.

The company calls it saveur d’autrefois, the taste of yesteryear.

Yoplait’s foray into premium, French-style yogurt (also called custard-style and Swiss-style) is on point, hitting the trending consumer checklist for all natural, non-GMO and reduced sugar products. The eight flavors include:

The line is certified kosher (dairy) by OK.
 
 
3. RUSSBE REUSE-A-POP BAGS

Russbe creates reusable lunch containers, but that’s not a product we have need for.

What we do need, and love, are the Reuse-A-Pops bags for creating homemade frozen juice pops, puréed fruit, yogurt, and other frozen pops.

The push-up bags (photo #3) with zipper seals ensures no messy leaks or spills. Freeze, enjoy, wash, reuse. At $6.99 for 12, you can’t go wrong.

We just enjoyed our first batch: watermelon (from watermelon juice), cantaloupe (from puréed melon) and yogurt-garlic-dill (who says ice pops have to be sweet?). Yum!

We live in a neighborhood where crisp, thin-crust pizza is what grown-ups eat. When people order from Pizza Hut, it’s for the kids.

We have a reputation to uphold, and hesitate to be seen carrying a deep-dish pizza into the building, no matter how much we need that specific comfort food.

But there’s a solution for our cravings: DiGiorno Crispy Pan Pizza, a frozen pizza from the supermarket in its own pan.

The one-inch-plus-deep crispy crust pie, with extra cheese and plenty of toppings, comes in four flavors:

 
We like everything on our pie (or as much of it as we can get). We went for the Supreme: pepperoni, sausage, green and red peppers and black olives.

Now, we just have to clear out the freezer to make room for more DiGiorno boxes.

[2]Melt the mozzarella on a panini press! Here’s a recipe from Cooking Classy.

Every restaurant menu we’ve seen this summer has Caprese Salad on the menu. That’s because July and August deliver the best tomatoes of the year, and a Caprese—tomato, mozzarella, basil and olive oil—will never taste better.

First “discovered” on the Isle of Capri in the 1950s, Caprese Salad became a favorite of King Farouk, and then a summer dish at Italian-American and Continental restaurants throughout Europe and across America. Here’s the history of Caprese Salad.

It’s so popular, you’ll even find Caprese Salad on winter menus—when the tomatoes are hard and have no flavor.

We’ve since made Caprese pasta salad, Caprese pasta (topped with uncooked tomato sauce, ciliegine—mozzarella balls the size of cherry tomatoes), Caprese appetizer bites, Caprese cocktail garnishes and a Caprese with other fruits subbing for the tomato (mango, peach, watermelon).

We’ve even made a vegan version with tofu instead of cheese, and Caprese gazpacho (blender tomatoes with shredded basil, topped with perlini (tiny mozzarella balls—the different sizes of mozzarella).

But we’ve never made ourselves a Caprese sandwich—until now, because August is National Sandwich Month.

RECIPE: CAPRESE SANDWICH

 
Variations

While these stray a bit from the purity of a Caprese, they’re tasty alternatives when you want a bit “more.”

Preparation

1. SLICE the tomatoes and cover with olive oil. Add the garlic and season with salt and pepper to taste. Let sit for 10 minutes or more.

2. SLICE the bread (note: for a picky guest who didn’t like the “wet bread” from the balsamic and olive oil, we toasted the baguette and added a thin slick of sweet butter to the cut faces).

3. SLICE the mozzarella and drain the tomatoes.

4. ASSEMBLE the sandwich: first the basil, then the mozzarella, then the tomatoes. Drizzle with balsamic glaze and serve. We love black olives, so we served them in a ramekin on the side.

For National Peach Month, August, try one of the oldest peach recipes: peaches and cream.

If you read novels or short stories from centuries past, you’ve no There are many ways to make peaches and cream

In a book of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short stories, The Basil And Josephine Stories, he introduces Basil, a fictionalized version of his younger self. One of Basil’s favorite foods: peaches and cream.

Is peaches and cream as simple as it sounds?

Yes, if you have juicy, ripe peaches, waiting to be sliced into a bowl and covered with heavy cream (or in the U.K., clotted cream).

Otherwise, poach or bake the peaches first.

The following recipe has a Southern spin, with bourbon and brown sugar.
 
 
RECIPE: PEACHES & CREAM

Ingredients For 2 Servings

 
Preparation

1. TOSS the peaches with 1 tablespoon brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Set aside until juicy, about 30 minutes (the sugar helps to extract the juices). Meanwhile…

2. WHIP 1 cup heavy cream until it has begun to thicken; then beat in 4 teaspoons brown sugar. Add the bourbon and beat until soft peaks form. Layer the peaches and cream in dessert glasses and top with toasted pecans.
 
 
FANCIER PEACHES & CREAM RECIPES

For more elaborate preparations:

Add caramel sauce, as in this recipe from Spache The Spatula. The peaches and cream are drizzled with vanilla bean-zinfandel caramel sauce.

[2] A fancier approach: jumbo macaron on clotted cream, filled with peaches and vanilla ice cream (photo courtesy Bestia | LA).

Your own take. How else would you present fresh peaches and cream? Let us know!
 
 

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

[2] If you can borrow a tap dispenser, it’s more convenient than pitchers (photo courtesy Flavor & The Menu).

Beyond water, sparkling water and our cache of diet soft drinks, we’re making a few quarts of agua fresca. In Spanish, agua fresca means fresh water; but in culinary terms, the water is combined with fresh fruit juice. The result: refreshing cold drinks that are sold by street vendors and at cafés throughout Latin America.

A traditional agua fresca is an infused, sweetened water, flavored with fruits and/or vegetables. Nonalcoholic and noncarbonated, in the U.S. a similar drink is called a cooler.

Agua fresca is also available bottled, in numerous flavors, and is made from scratch at home.

The recipes can include a combination of fruits or veggies, flowers, herbs and/or spices, cereals, seeds, even almond flour. The result is often a more complex layering of flavors than American lemonade and limeade.

Agua de horchata, a very popular recipe, is made of ground raw rice spiced with cinnamon.

Other ingredients include flowers (hibiscus), herbs (sorrel), grains (alfalfa, barley, oats, rice), nuts and seeds (almond flour, chía). Try incorporating some of these after you’re already pleased with a basic fruit and/or vegetable recipe.
 
 
HAVE AN AGUA FRESCA PARTY

Make a few flavors and supply a choice of garnishes.

Depending on your guests, a choice of clear spirits—cachaca, gin, tequila, vodka—may also be welcome.

 
For a vegetable component, cucumber is the most popular (with lime and mint or pineapple). But you can turn to other juices: carrot juice and apple or pineapple, beet juice and berries, etc.

Keep it light: save the kale and broccoli for the juice bar.

Chill the drinks in the fridge, but also have a supply of ice cubes.

As an on-trend American update, you can substitute coconut water for all or part of the water in your recipe, especially delicious in this pineapple agua fresca recipe with lemongrass.

Here’s the agua fresca recipe template. Unleash your inner mixologist and mix different flavors of juice, to create your own signature recipes.

A melon tap turns any large, seedless watermelon into a keg (or punch bowl, for a younger crowd), ideal for filling with watermelon-based beverages.

Simply hollow out the melon, insert the tap and fill it with your beverage of choice.

A fun element at a gathering, your guests will have a memorable time of dispensing their drinks from a watermelon.

Serve it as a finale to the last event of the summer.

Just fill the watermelon with watermelon agua fresca.

For a hit of alcohol, you can find watermelon-flavored vodka from Smirnoff, Three Olives, Pinnacle (Cucumber Watermelon), UV (Salty Watermelon) and others.

In the fall, you can do the same with a pumpkin and apple cider (and apple vodka, of course).