sesame seeds

Although desserts are not tremendously popular in Asian cuisine, for a Chinese New Year celebration, there are plenty of options. First there's the traditional Nian Gao, a sticky, sweet gelatinous cake. Then there's the modern spring roll: filled with fruit, fried until a golden, and served with a caramel rum dipping sauce.

Finally, there's this recipe for sweet sesame wonton crisps. Serve with a tart tangerine sorbet for a soft-crunchy balance of textures. Not only is this dish unexpected, but it also symbolizes luck. To check out the recipe, read more

Leftover salmon is great by itself, but if you are looking for a way to cook a whole new meal with it, think about making salmon burgers. Salmon burgers are a nice, healthy alternative to the classic burger. The salmon is mixed with chives, mustard, and soy sauce creating super flavorful patties. Served on a whole wheat bun, this is one scrumptious dinner. For the recipe, read more

I am always looking for quick-fix appetizers that will wow my guests. That's why I want to make these simple figs baked with sesame seeds and almonds. Wow this sounds heavenly. — Zen in the Kitchen via Tastespotting

When it comes to food, I definitely judge a snack bar by its package. The bright golden colored wrapper on the BumbleBar is what attracted me to it (I also like cute names). Many energy bars can include lots of crappy ingredients, but when I flipped this bar over and read the nutritional info, I was pleasantly surprised.

After I checked out the website, I discovered that BumbleBars were designed by a woman (wahoo!) named Liz Ward. She lived in the woods and hiked 8 miles every day. She thought it was a crazy oxymoron that hikers were outside in this beautiful environment, but they were eating foods that harmed the planet (she's against non-organic and dairy based foods). So she developed organic, vegan and gluten-free Bumblebars.

I tried the Original flavor. If you want to take a peek at the picture and the nutritional info, and hear what I thought then read more

You know how much I am in love with Kashi. Their granola bars, their cereal, their oatmeal, their frozen entrées - all are made with whole grains and REAL food. When I buy one of their products, I don't have to wonder if it's good for me - I KNOW it is.

I was excited to try their TLC Original 7-Grain Crackers.

They have such a unique sweet and salty flavor - not at all bland. I love that you can actually see all the grain goodness. This is one healthy snack my mouth is happy about.

They are a delicious combination of whole grains including oats, hard red winter wheat, rye, long grain brown rice, triticale, barley, buckwheat, and sesame seeds. Plus they're made with no hydrogenated oils so they've got no trans fat!

Each serving size of 15 crackers contains 130 calories, 3g of fat, no cholesterol, 160mg of sodium, 22g of carbs, 2g of fiber, 3g of Sugars, and 3g or protein.

Perfect for snacking on their own, topping with cheese, or dipping in hummus, I definitely recommend picking up a box.

Want to see some other pictures? Then read more

I came across this new brand of snack food called FoodShouldTasteGood. Intrigued by the name, I picked up a bag of the Jalapeño chips. I will admit they were on sale too.

The ingredients listed on the back all sound familiar like foods I would have in my own pantry, like: stone ground white corn, non-hydrogenated canola oil, jalapeño peppers, beet powder, sea salt, crushed red peppers. Not much to those chips. I liked that.

All and all the chips were pretty darn good and had a delightful crispiness to them. They were thick enough for dipping into my homemade hummus.

FoodShouldTasteGood also makes Multigrain tortilla chips with flax, sunflower, and sesame seeds, oat fiber, brown rice, and quinoa. I've never heard of a chip with such healthy ingredients before. These were great with cheese.

If you like olives they've got a tortilla chip for you. Want something a little sweeter? They also make a Chocolate tortilla chip. These 2 flavors were just newly released, so they'll take a while to make it to your health food store shelves. But once again I am intrigued.

Fit's Tips: If you can't wait to try those 2 flavors, you can order them online directly from the FoodShouldTasteGood website.