Gourmet Gift of the Day Blog

In this age of low fat and low carb dieting, it is nice to know that some companies realize we still need a potato chip now and again!  Without blowing your diet, you can indulge in this crispy chip - and the entire bag only contains 100 calories!

The Kettle Foods company has been making crunchy kettle chips for years, and they have recently added these baked varieties to their snack line.  Available in three flavors - Lightly Salted, Aged White Cheddar and Hickory Honey Barbeque - these chips are processed differently so they are missing a lot of the fat and calories but none of the flavor!  A case of 24 single serving bags is only $29.99 and can be ordered directly from the manufacturer.

When I was a kid, we always bought a big bucket of sunflower seeds at the start of the summer and brought it with us to each softball and baseball game.  By the time school started the bucket was empty and we had our fill of seeds!  As an adult my tastes are a little more refined, but I still enjoy the salty crunch from a handful of sunflower seeds.  Luckily, I stumbled upon the GIANT Seeds website when I was surfing for gourmet sunflower seeds.  Offered in 5 different flavors including Dill Pickle, Ranch, BBQ, Salt and Pepper and the standard Salted variety, this company also offers Mega-sized European Sunflower Seeds.  Although I really liked the Ranch and BBQ flavors, the Mega size are my new favorite!  The seeds are meatier, with almost a sweet flavor to them.  An extra star for this website - all orders over $18 include free shipping!  My order for the 20-bag variety pack was only $32, and I received more than 8 lbs of sunflower seeds.

With a recipe dating back over 150 years, Ginny Johnson has taken her Great-Grandmother’s southern cheese rings and shared them with all of us.  Each puffed treat is cheesy, salty and delicious!  Perfect for a student away at college, this tasty snack will help them get through finals.  Ginny forms her cheese straws into an “O” to honor the Oakview Plantation in North Carolina where they were created.  Another famous “O”, Oprah’s magazine has selected Ginny O’s Gourmet Cheese Rings as one of their “hot items”.  Order a 9 oz tin for $34.95 and taste what southerners have been raving about for generations!

I look forward to snack time every day!  I’m a firm believer in the calming qualities of a well-scheduled snack break.  And when I’m bored with the same old foods, I surf the web to find new and delicious treats - which is exactly what I found here! Jerry’s Gourmet Jerky has a savory blend of spices in his beef jerky, which does not overpower the meat.  The jerky is not too difficult to chew, and is packed with protein, which makes a good pick me up for the mid-afternoon doldrums.  I tried Jerry’s 4 flavor sampler for $23, and found my favorite to be the Teriyaki.  The packaging is also trendy and colorful, and would make a great gift item for a college student or a snack-a-holic like myself!

Grandparent’s Day is Sunday September 7th, and Holiday Gifts & Gift Baskets has a great item to send to faraway relatives. Their Classic Antique Globe Snack Basket features a variety of gourmet treats that Grandma and Grandpa will both love! For $49 plus $9.95 shipping, the large size includes butcher wrapped sausage, Camembert cheese, gourmet mustard, honey wheat peanuts, white cheddar popcorn, tomato basil pretzels, strawberry and chocolate wafers, English toffee, gourmet coffee and a chocolate bar.

I love ordering from Holiday Gifts & Gift Baskets because you can delay delivery of your gift so it will arrive on the day you choose. If you are a planner (like I am), you could potentially order all your birthday and holiday gifts in one day, and they will delivered throughout the year so you don’t miss a special occasion!

For a crunchy potato chip with an amazing flavor, you must try a bag of Zapp’s Potato Chips. These chips and their creator have been featured in People Magazine, and Oprah Winfrey and Regis Philbin have raved about them on their TV shows. The most popular Zapp’s flavor is the Cajun Crawtator, but I must admit I was scared to try it. I preferred the Salt and Vinegar variety, which was the best salt & vinegar chips I have ever eaten. I love a thick, crunchy, salty chip, and these were all that and then some. With 8 varieties to choose from, Zapp’s will have a flavor for you to savor! The 25 bag sampler pack is only $21.50, and that price includes shipping & handling (there is sales tax only if shipping to Louisiana). The sample pack includes five 2oz bags of their top 5 flavors - Regular, Jalapeno, Cajun Crawtator, Spiky Creole Tomato spiked with Tabasco and Mesquite BBQ.