If your idea of grown-up Halloween does not include costume parties, how about a chocolate and wine tasting?

For years, THE NIBBLE has been updating its highly-regarded wine and chocolate pairing chart. You can use it to prepare a memorable Halloween tasting.

While our chart is quite extensive, your tasting can be as simple as four or five chocolate bars. John Scharffenberger, who got his start as a wine maker, shares his own favorites to pair with Scharffen Berger dark and milk chocolate bars:

 
The educational fun of a tasting is to be able to compare and contrast different wines with different chocolates, and decide what you like best. That’s more important, after all, than any expert opinion.
  

Quinn Popcorn, developed by a young husband and wife team following all the bad press on microwave popcorn. They:

 
In their better-for-you, better-for-the-environment version, you pop the kernels in the microwave, then blend them in a bowl with the oil and seasonings provided in separate packets. It’s a feel-good product, currently available in six microwave flavors:

 
For those who need a boost to get on the kale bandwagon, start with a bag of this popcorn with tiny flecks of green, salted with a bit of sweetness.

The company calls these two flavors “Farm To Bag.” Each bag has a batch number for complete transparency, a first in the snacks industry.

The line is Certified Non GMO, Certified Gluten Free and whole grain (23g per serving, with 39 calories).

To learn more or buy online, visit QuinnPopcorn.com.

Here’s another fun idea for Halloween, courtesy of Certified Angus Beef. They’ve added ground beef to refrigerated biscuit dough, to create a snack, first course or light lunch for kids and adults alike. Adults: These go great with beer!

RECIPE: SPOOKY SPIDERS GROUND BEEF BISCUITS

Ingredients For 8 Servings

Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 375°F.

2. COOK the ground beef and drain the excess fat. Add taco seasoning and water, simmer for 5 minutes and set aside.

3. SEPARATE the dough into 8 biscuits; place each biscuit into the well of an ungreased large muffin tin. Press the dough firmly into bottom and up the sides of each cup.

4. Divide the crumbled ground beef evenly into the dough cups. Top the meat with some ketchup or barbecue sauce and sprinkle with cheese. Place two olive slices on the top of each biscuit for the eyes.

5. BAKE for 20 minutes, or until the biscuit edges are golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes; remove from the muffin cups. Stick four pretzel sticks into each side of each biscuit cup for the legs and serve.
  

Now, we’re moving on to two fall flavors: Caramel Apple Swirl Bread and Pumpkin Spice Swirl Bread, both available for a short time this fall.

They make delicious toast and French toast. As toast, they combine the crunch of toasted bread with the sweetness of a breakfast pastry.

Check the store locator to see where you can find them.

And if you can’t find the seasonal specialties, content yourself with the year-round swirls: Cinnamon Swirl, Raisin Cinnamon Swirl, Brown Sugar Cinnamon Swirl and 100% Whole Wheat Cinnamon Swirl With Raisins.

Our goal is to keep an eye out for other seasonal swirl breads, a fun new way to “eat seasonally.”

But we still wanted roast pork.

So we were happy when Crofter’s Organic sent us an easy recipe that beginning cooks learn: a pork roast glazed with a jar of apricot jam. How could we resist? We called the butcher and had a pork roast delivered that day.

The apricot jam glaze trick can be used on any meat roast, and it’s tasty and easy. But today’s tip is to be sure that the glaze has more than one-dimensional sweetness—beyond just apricot jam. The fruity glaze in the recipe below is done the right way, with counterpoints of bitter (such as herbs and zest), pungent (such as garlic) and tangy (such as mustard, which also supplies heat).

You can also use the glaze with chicken, duck or lamb.

We enjoyed our pork roast with sides of quinoa (you can use any whole grain); cubed, roasted butternut squash (we roasted it along with the tenderloin); and a mixed green salad with dried cranberries and slivered almonds.

Oh, how delicious! Photo of a glazed pork roast courtesy Crofters Organic.

RECIPE: APRICOT GLAZED PORK TENDERLOIN

Ingredients

Fruit spread contains less sugar than jam,
jelly, marmalade or preserves. Photo
courtesy Crofters Organic.

1. BLEND all ingredients except wine and pork in a food processor or blender. Place the tenderloin in a cast-iron pan and spoon the mixture over it. Let sit for 1/2 hour at room temperature.

2. HEAT the oven to 400°F; place the pan in the middle of the oven and sear for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°F and continue to cook, 25 minutes per pound.

3. REMOVE cooked tenderloin from the pan and let rest. Meanwhile…

4. DEGLAZE the pan with 2 tablespoons of white wine. Drizzle over sliced tenderloin and garnish with fresh rosemary.

Check on the company website for coupons for Crofter’s spreads.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JAM & FRUIT SPREAD?

Crofter’s makes both apricot jam and apricot fruit spread. The difference is in the level of sweetness. Savory recipes like roast pork don’t need the extra sugar, so you can use fruit spread rather than jam.

Jam consists of chopped, crushed or puréed fruit cooked down with sugar—a recipe as old as refined sugar. Fruit spread began to appear in the 1970s as a reduced-calorie product, made with alternative sweeteners such as juice concentrate.

There are distinct differences between chutney, conserve, jelly, jams, marmalades and the rest of the sweet spread category. Take a minute and take a look.
 
MORE WAYS TO USE THE JAM OR FRUIT SPREAD

Breakfast

 
Lunch

 
Appetizers/Snacks

 
Dinner

 
Dessert