Gourmet Gift of the Day Blog

Dating back to the very first Passover, roast lamb is the most traditional Easter dinner you can find.  One of the most tender and perfectly seasoned lamb roasts I have ever eaten came from Omaha Steaks.  The 2 1/2 lb roast was perfectly seasoned with garlic and butter, and came with simple preparation instructions.  The majority of my family prefers their meat done medium-well, but even cooking the roast longer than recommended didn’t cause it to dry out.  It was also nice to receive a boneless roast because we didn’t feel as if we had to pay shipping costs for something that was thrown away.

Currently on sale for $69.99, not only is this the tastiest lamb roast you can find, it is also one of the most reasonably priced!

Not only is Easter a time to overindulge on candy and hard-boiled eggs, it is also a time for me to reflect upon the many blessings I have been given.  One of my most treasured blessings is my family – both my husband and boys and my close-knit extended family.  We love to celebrate together as often as possible, but since my brother moved to Oregon last summer it’s not as easy.  To keep my brother, his wife and son included in our holiday traditions – even though we are separated by two thousand miles – we will order two of the same gift basket and have one sent to them while we share one here at home.  This year we found an Easter basket that will satisfy my sweet tooth, and will provide my sister-in-law with a new coffee flavor to try!

The large basket offered by Holiday Gifts & Gifts Baskets includes a fun Easter-themed basket that is filled with a great variety of snacks for kids and adults.  For $54, we will receive:

• Spring Mix of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans
• Milk Chocolate Bunny
• Pecan Caramel Crunch
• Milk Chocolate Egg
• Berry Good Snack Mix
• Danish Butter Cookies
• Fancy Water Crackers
• Cheddar Cheese Spread
• Dutch Gouda Cheese Biscuits
• Honey Roasted Peanuts
• Eggstraordinary Blend Coffee
• Sparkling Cider

When I’m craving something salty, a handful of pretzels is one of my favorite choices.  I also love going to the State Fair in the summer and ordering a jumbo soft pretzel with extra salt and hot cheese dip.  Until recently I had never experienced a hard rolled jumbo pretzel, but now that I have I think Pennsylvania Dutch Pretzels are my new salty snack addiction!  The pretzels created by Mumma Pretzel Bakery in Lancaster, PA have been hand rolled and baked in an extra-large deck oven since 1923.  The family owned company has been perfecting their recipe for over 80 years, and they have gained national recognition by shipping their Pennsylvania Dutch pretzels from coast to coast.

For my first experience with hard rolled pretzels, I chose the garlic flavor and found that I love to heat them slightly and dunk them in spaghetti sauce.  They are also great by themselves, although I need to keep some gum handy because the garlic flavor is pretty strong!  The 2 lb box arrived quickly and disappeared almost as quickly!  There are 6 hard pretzel flavors available, or you can choose soft pretzels.  A 2 lb box sells for $15.50 plus shipping.

Up here in the chilly midwest, Spring is finally in the air!  I can’t wait until the flowers start blooming in my front yard.  In the spring we spend a lot of time outdoors, and we grill outside from the time the snow melts until it flies again.  Between work, school and being outside, I don’t have a lot of time to bake for my family, so when I can’t find the time to make something myself I turn to one of my favorite websites in order to have sweets on hand.

My son is especially fond of the chocolate covered Oreo cookies offered by Gourmet Cookie Bouquets.  Being a choco-holic, I love them too.  We always order an assortment of white, dark and milk chocolate covered cookies, and this time we ordered them with a bright spring theme.  The cookies will have their delicious chocolate coating, and will also be hand decorated with teddy bears and flowers.  The cookies are so rich and tasty that one is the perfect serving size, so the tin of 16 actually lasts a long time.  The tin can be ordered for $32 plus $8.95 shipping.

Featured in Oprah’s signature magazine, the Sticky Toffee Pudding Company is owned by Austin businesswoman Tracy Claros – who was born in England and began creating desserts at a very early age.  A traditional British dessert, hot puddings have become a favorite of many American diners and the desserts offered by the Sticky Toffee Pudding Company have won national tasting awards!

Tracy’s signature dish – Sticky Toffee Pudding – is a combination of a light, moist chocolate cake baked with sticky dates, vanilla and espresso.  The pudding is then soaked in a buttery toffee sauce and can be served warm, chilled, or at room temperature – although it is most authentic if served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  A 6 pack of individual puddings can be ordered for $30 plus shipping.

My special neice Kassidy loves popcorn!  She also has three brothers and a sister, so I always try to find a special gift that the she will enjoy and still be able to share with her family.  This popcorn tin will be a great gift for them this Easter, because one of her favorite books is Peter Cottontail and the bunnies on the outside of the tin reminds me of that story.  I’m sure my sister will also find a good use for the tin after the popcorn is gone, probably for holding some of the hundreds of toys that the kids have!

I’ve already ordered this tin for them, but I chose a delivery date closer to Easter so it will arrive just in time for their celebration!  All About Gifts & Baskets offers this 2 gallon tin filled with three flavors of popcorn – Kettle Corn, Caramel Popcorn and Cheddar Cheese Popcorn – for just $30.

Forty-five years ago, Mrs. Bellissimo whipped up a sauce in the kitchen of the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY.  This sauce would quickly gain popularity, and is now the world-famous Original Buffalo Wing Sauce.  This sauce has transformed what was once the least desirable piece of chicken into a wildly popular snack food!

The sauce now has taken on a number of personalities – anywhere from sweet to spicy, mild, medium, and the original hot sauce.  Anyone who appreciates Buffalo Wings will enjoy tasting the sauce that started it all.  You can order sauce straight from the Anhor Bar in Buffalo, NY – or you can go for it all and order the wings overnighted to your door!  The sauce sells for $4.99 a bottle (12 oz) or $17.99 per gallon.  Wings can be ordered in multiples of 50 and should be cooked the same day they arrive.

Baby chicks are a big part of the Easter season.  Symbolizing new life, the chick is also a sure sign of spring and warmer weather!  The folks at Cookie Gift Baskets used a baby chick as the basis for their Easter Treat Tower – filled with 16 cookies, chocolates, gourmet popcorn and candies.  The stackable boxes come together to form a cute yellow chick – with his mouth wide open and looking ready for a snack.  The tower sells for $41 and would make a great centerpiece for your dinner table!  The boxes can even be saved to use during next year’s Easter season.

Some of the world’s tastiest cherries are grown in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  So you would expect that some of the world’s best cherry pies would come from the same place – and you would be right!  The pies offered by the Grand Traverse Pie Company combine locally grown Montmorency cherries with a flaky made-from-scratch pie crust.  The pies are then flash frozen to preserve their full flavor, and shipped via overnight or 2nd day air to ensure that it tastes as if you baked it yourself.

These tasty pies have gained nationwide recognition by being featured on both CNBC and The Food Network, and their popularity has grown by leaps and bounds since the company was founded in 1996.  Try a signature “Old Mission Cherry Pie” for $24.99 plus shipping.

The Easter Bunny is on his way, and soon our house will be littered with chocolate eggs, marshmallow peeps and dozens of hard boiled eggs in a rainbow of colors.  Easter is always a fun holiday, we love to get our extended family together for a mega-egg hunt.  The adults take special care to hide eggs that even my 13 year old nephew will have trouble finding, and we use a certain color egg for the younger children – the older kids know they aren’t allowed to “find” eggs of that color.

If you aren’t lucky enough to live near your loved ones, or if other circumstances will keep you apart this year, you can still share a bounty of Easter goodies with them!  This Easter Fun Basket offers candy, toys, games and a cute plush bunny.  All of these items are packaged in a colorful wicker basket for $50 plus shipping.