Would a gherkin by any other name taste as sweet?  I certainly hope so.

No matter how modern the holiday relish tray may become, you will still sit at centre stage of the crystal tray.

Your sweet crunchiness hits the spot every time, and your tiny diced up bits do lovely things to tuna and ham salads, and my hot dogs would be empty without your relish.

Let us all raise a pickle to the man who first sweet brined a tiny cucumber!

*crunch*

Convenience foods get a bad rap a lot of the time, and a goodly amount of it is justified.  Costs more than homemade, nutritionally dubious value, etc, etc.

But, there is also something to be said for being able to pop something out of the freezer and into the toaster oven for 10 minutes and have a quick snack.  And some are just downright crack-in-a-box.  I absolutely LOVE Stouffer’s French Bread pizzas, always have.  I will admit an everlasting fondness for La Choy’s frozen “egg rolls” – which bear no resemblance to any egg roll I’ve ever gotten from a Chinese restaurant, but I love them anyway, and they bring back nice memories from when my Mom made them when I was a kid.

Additionally, these products can give you some more insight as to HOW to make them on your own, with better ingredients, lower cost and that satisfaction that comes with conquering a new dish.

Which all brings us to today’s convenience food that I should probably feel guilty for buying, but I don’t.  El Monterey Chicken & Cheese Flour Taquitos.

I’ll admit – it was an impulse purchase – they were on sale, I made the mistake of not eating before I went to the market, and my reaction when I saw them was, “Ooooooooooo!  Taquitos!!!!”  And they’re not too bad – defrost a couple in the microwave and pop them in the toaster oven for 12 minutes, add some sour cream and taco sauce and you’ve got a good snack.

The only other time I get taquitos is at the local Tex-Mex place, and if you asked me to recreate them, I’d be stuck.  But having these here in the house, where I can take a look at the ingredients, really look at how they’re put together, I actually have a fighting chance at recreating something along these lines.

So, when this box is done, I’ll likely be making up a big batch of homemade ones and freezing them and having my own taquitos.  (I should also give homemade French Bread Pizzas a whirl sometime, too.)

The next time you feel guilty for buying a frozen quick snack food, don’t.  Think of it as a starting point to making your own version that’s even better.  Take the time to look at them, how they’re made, and see if you can’t make a big batch of your own to freeze for those days when you want something quick.

If you like ham, and you like green onions – get yourself over to Just Bento today and check out the Ham Negimayaki recipe & pics that have been posted.

I’ll have to give this a whirl myself sometime, because it just looks great.  Thing is, I don’t remember ever having anything like this when I was in Japan, but it’s also been a very long time since I was there, and I wasn’t exactly a foodie at the time.

Dijon Popcorn Chicken

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into nugget size of your choice
~ 2 cups Italian Style Breadcrumbs
~ 1 cup Grated Parmesean Cheese
~ 3 T Mayonnaise
~ 3 T Country Dijon Mustard

Combine Mayo & Mayonnaise in one bowl. Breadcrumbs & Parmesan Cheese in another bowl. (I usually add a few more spices – a bit of oregano, basil & garlic powder.)

Dredge the chicken pieces in the mayo/mustard, then in the breadcrumbs. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-20 minutes. (Depends on the size of the chicken pieces, how accurate your oven is, etc. The good news is that it is really hard to overcook these.)

I usually bake them on a wire rack to prevent stickage.

Yield: 36 nuggets/pound for me.

Per Nuggets: 33 Calories; 1g Fat (36.2% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 2g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 9mg Cholesterol; 94mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

Insanely easy instructions after the jump.

Mayo, sweet relish, diced ham. (I actually used about 2.5 cups when all was said and done.) Yes, I am a Hellman’s gal.

Little food processors are SO freakin’ handy. (Hazard of moving: I don’t know where my Cuisinart mini is. The Black and Decker worked fine, though.)

Half a dozen pulses later, it should look like this:

Dump into your favorite mixing bowl (in my case, Mom’s old stainless steel, complete with the dent in the bottom that I probably put there when I was a kid.) The mayo actually looked nice for the photo until the spatula tried to leap out of the bowl. Start w/small amounts of mayo until it’s the consistency you want – easier to add more, I’ve never had luck with getting rid of excess mayo…

Sweet relish – again, small amounts until it tastes the way you want. I like a lot of it in mine.

Pop into a container and put back in the fridge to get chilled down. If you’re a nice person, you can tell your brother that there is ham salad to be had. If you’re not, then keep it a secret.

The fun bread!

And serve and snarf. :)

- At least somewhat healthy.
- Batch size that is big enough to last a couple days, but not so much that I am staring at the fridge thinking, “Dear lord, I haven’t finished that YET?”

My usual standbys are a half-sandwich, cheese & crackers, or veggies & salad dressing. All fine snacks, but they’re getting a little old and I’m in the mood for some different things. I rarely eat chips anymore, unless I’ve got a specific dip I’ve got a craving for. (Which is probably a good thing, since they’re not exactly at the top of the “great for you” list.)

Right now, the black olive tapenade & roasted red pepper hummus recipes I snagged at Sanderling have a lot of appeal. Will be brainstorming, cooking, photographing & reporting the results.

On an unrelated note, Add More Wine got a nod from DCBlogs.com yesterday, from the Five Guys post. Welcome to those coming here from there!