Craig snacks

This post should not be confused with my wife Merikay's recent posts about home cooking for healthy eating.  I decided to guest-blog on her site about some snacks that I really like, weeks before she met her new doctor who talked her into losing weight via a healthier lifestyle.  I'm eating better along with her, but there's no way that such concerns will make me totally reject the three great snacks below.  All three are available from food chains that are pretty widespread.

The first is Safeway's White Chocolate Blueberry, a fairly thin bar of white chocolate that includes what the ingredient list calls "blueberry granules’.  I've always loved white chocolate, but in this case Safeway (actually Lindt) has outdone any other candy I've ever had.  The bar size and foil wrapping are identical to those on Lindt-branded chocolate bars.  What's magical about the granules is that they have little or no water content but bear all of the goodness that people love about blueberries.  They may also cost less than similar Lindt-branded bars (my lousy memory makes me waffle about this claim).

My second heavenly snack is Archer Farms Dill Pickle naturally flavored Cashews, available at Target stores.  At first mention you might think this is a joke or total novelty, but the flavor scientists of the world have been busy creating what I think of as "synthesized flavors".  Frito-Lay and other snack makers have been introducing interesting and sometimes strange flavors of classic snacks for years now, but most of them are (to my taste) overstated and tend to overwhelm the taste of the basic product that people have come to love.

Not so with these cashews.  The dill pickle taste is unmistakably good, but is subtle enough that the wonderful flavor of cashews comes shining right through.  OBTW, please ignore this whole recommendation if you don't like both dill pickles and cashew nuts...

Merikay tells me that my third recommendation has already been introduced to the RV blog world by Rick & Paulette's RV Travels.  Trader Joe's sells these amazing Scallops Wrapped in Uncured Bacon with Brown Sugar Glaze.

Like many things that include scallops, they're a bit pricey but to my taste they're worth every cent.  The word "succulent" definitely applies, also "sweet", "juicy", plus if you leave them in the oven a little too long, "carbonized".

Finally, I really have to praise Merikay's new wonder bread.  It's a shame that that Holsum Foods spread this name so widely when we were little, because she really has hit upon a terrific-tasting recipe for healthy bread that deserves the name.  Those of you who were put off by several unfamilar ingredients or "we don't have a bread machine" are really missing the best-tasting bread in the world!

Bon appetit,
Craig MacKenna