Too busy to make a nutritious dinner?

Sierra Soups (below) are a meal in a bag. Loaded with beans and vegetables, they�re hearty, healthy and easy. Jo Ann Sorrenti inherited the recipes for these all-natural, vegetarian and vegan soups from her mother. You can add meat if you wish.

Bread dippers

Sprinkle a spice blend onto a dish of olive oil. Allow to sit at room temperature for half an hour.

Napa Valley Meritage Herb Rub. Inspired by Napa Valley itself and loaded with fragrant lavender and rosemary, this rub is also ideal for flavoring lamb, chicken, salmon or beef.

Many meat rubs can make great dippers with olive oil or mixed with sour cream, particularly if they are made with spices such as ginger, mustard, onion, garlic, white pepper and herbs.

Serve with bread for dipping in oil or chips for dipping in sour cream, along with a full-bodied red wine!

Pozo Mountain Chuck Steak

What could be better after a long day than to come home to the welcoming aroma of a roast in the crock-pot?

Nick Ranch certified organic grass-fed chuck steak (below)
1-4 cloves garlic
1 large onion
3 ribs celery
22 baby carrots
1 medium bell pepper, sliced
2 medium squash, sliced or chunks
Cilantro, a handful, chopped

Oil inside of crock-pot. Turn crock-pot on low. Season chuck steak with fresh ground pepper and sea salt. Place steak in bottom of crock-pot. Crush garlic cloves with side of knife, discard peel. Drop garlic on top of seasoned steak. Cover with sliced onions. Add celery, carrots, bell pepper and squash. Lightly grind sea salt and pepper over the vegetables. Cover with lid. Cook for about 8 hours until roast is fork tender.

Serve with brown rice or wild rice from Fall River Wild Rice.

What's new

If you really want to celebrate a special occasion, here are two products, new to SavorCalifornia.com, which will help you do it in style!

Golden Star Tea (below)
Tennis Skirts Desserts (above)

Hot chocolate

In the summer, we drizzle it over ice cream, but in the winter, a couple of generous spoonful of chocolate sauce in a cup of hot milk is the perfect antidote to the winter blahs.

Desperately Seeking Chocolate. The DS Hot Fudge Sauce is a creamy blend of premium dark chocolates. Also, Ginger Habanero Fudge and Caramel Cream.

Fudge is my Life. Five delicious flavors use no corn syrup, just all natural sugar and honey. Dark, Orange, Mint, Mocha and Ginger.

Robert Lambert. Based on the chocolate sauce from Robert�s Fantasy Chocolate Desserts, the flavors include Ginger Pear, Coconut Dark, Raspberry Rose, Malted Milk and Extreme Vanilla Bean.

Quotable

The dinner table is the center for the teaching and practicing not just of table manners, but of conversation, consideration, tolerance, family feeling, and just about all the other accomplishments of polite society except the minuet.

-- Judith Martin
�Miss Manners�

Natural Products Expo West

For the first time, Savor California will have a booth at this show March 14 - 16 at the Anaheim Convention Center. Please visit us in Booth 5611 to taste products from:

Mrs. A's Salsa Buena
Oat Cuisine (above)
SnackMasters Jerky
Vignette Wine Country Soda

Wine and Food Tasting

On February 16, attendees at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition Tasting had the opportunity to taste many, many wines -- all award winners in the largest and most prestigious wine competition in the United States.

It was an exceptional opportunity to experiment with food and wine pairings, because 35 of the gourmet food and beverage companies on SavorCalifornia.com offered samples and products to purchase. Vance Sharp�s Sharp Cellars had won a number of awards for their wines; paired with Vance�s Sonoma Sausages (above), they were a big hit.

This event always sells out, so it�s a good idea to mark your calendar for next year and purchase your tickets in advance.

Winter Fancy Food Show

Twenty Savor California companies showcased their products at the Winter Fancy Food Show held in San Diego this year, including Sparrow Lane (above).

One prized comment was from Catherine Bergen of Tulocay's, herself the proprietor of a beautiful booth filled with NASFT trophies. She seemed to sum up the reaction of many to the Savor California booth: �CONGRATS on your success. Your booth was the most buzzing in the whole show.�

Bill Carvalho of Wild Planet said, "Your booth has sizzle!"

At the New York Fancy Food Show, we hope you will visit the Savor California Booth #480.