Chung’s White Meat Chicken Egg Rolls
A great balance of chicken and vegetable flavors inside a perfectly crisp wrapper make these one of the best choices in the freezer section. 155 calories, 4 g fat, 425 mg sodium,
5.5 g protein. A 12-ounce box of 4 is $3.49 at Smart & Final.
Whole Foods Market Potato & Pea Samosas
These crunchy triangles filled with authentically spiced vegetables are nearly as good as freshmade. A cilantro dip would be a great addition. 75 calories, 3 g fat, 160 mg sodium, 2 g protein. A 7.5-ounce box of 8 is $2.69.
Marin French Cheese Baked Brie en Croute
Wrapped in bread dough, this multi-serving round of Brie comes fully baked and ready to warm. It’s messy to cut — but every crispy, creamy bite is divine. Cut into eight pieces, each one has 140 calories, 10 g fat, 230 mg sodium, 6 g protein. A 10.5-ounce round is $14.99 at some Whole Foods and Lucky stores.
Tres Latin Foods Shredded Pork & Pinto Bean Pupusas
Boldly seasoned, shredded pork and creamy pintos are stuffed inside a thin layer of masa, making for a memorable, tasty bite. These require careful cooking, as the dough quickly turns dry and tough. 130 calories, 4.5 g fat, 220 mg sodium, 6 g protein. A 10-ounce box of 4 is $5.99 at Whole Foods.
Trader Joe’s Chicken Spring Rolls
That these rolls are salty and crispy is a good thing, but they have too much sesame and soy. 100 calories, 4 g fat, 280 mg sodium, 5 g protein. A 9-ounce pack of 5 is $3.99. Southern cheese straws get a new take from James Beard award-winning food writer Janet Fletcher, who uses leaf-shaped cookie cutters to make appetizers that are whimsical and delicious.
Southern cheese straws, those classic, ribbonlike Southern party noshes, are a natural for holiday get-togethers. They’re quick, delicious and a perfect complement to pretty much any libation, whether it’s cocktail, wine or bubbles.
There’s actually some debate over how to achieve the pastry’s signature look, with Southerners lined up in opposing camps, the roll-and-cut-into-straws crowd vs. the extruding-cookie-press contingent. But the genre gets a fun twist in the hands of James Beard award-winning food writer Janet Fletcher, who uses small leaf-shaped cookie cutters to make appetizers that are both whimsical and delicious.
A cheese guru, Fletcher has written multiple fromage-centric books, as well as her Planet Cheese blog (www.janetfletcher.com) and free newsletter, where this particular take on the classic canape first appeared. It’s a riff on a recipe from Fletcher’s friend T Beller, an Alabama native who runs the Verve Napa Valley tour company. Beller calls cheese straws “a cure for anything and everything.”
There are two keys to making a perfect cheese straw, Fletcher and Beller say. First, use a really good cheddar. The recipe calls for a pound of the stuff, so make sure you’re using delicious cheese. (Fletcher favors a Grafton Village 2-year cheddar.) And second, don’t let these brown in the oven or the cheese will burn and taste bitter. Ici owner Mary Canales has shuttered both of her Berkeley gourmet organic ice cream shops.