We love strawberry season! Bushels of fresh, juicy berries find their way into our kitchen each summer. We love to eat them as-is, add them to spinach salads and make delicious desserts and side dishes that feature this delectable fruit.

One of our favorite things to make  with strawberries is a deliciously nutty strawberry dip. This dip, made with chopped walnuts, cream cheese, whipped cream and honey, is delicious when paired with fresh strawberries, as well as other treats like fruit chips, cinnamon honey pretzel grahams, chocolate pretzel grahams and yogurt covered pretzels.

Start by putting an 8 oz. block of softened cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl. Fold in 1 cup of whipped cream, 1 tsp. of vanilla extract, 1 tbsp. of orange juice and 1-2 tbsp. of honey. Finely dice 1 cup of strawberries and stir them into the cream cheese mixture, along with 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts. Cover the bowl and chill the strawberry dip for at least 1 hour.

Serve the strawberry dip with strawberries, sliced apples, sliced pineapple, fruit chips, cinnamon honey pretzel grahams, chocolate pretzel grahams and yogurt covered pretzels. It’s a fantastic dessert for picnics, barbecues and summer parties!

If you want to give the dip a protein boost or a healthier twist, try substituting 1 cup of plain Greek yogurt for the whipped cream. Just remember to add a bit more honey (to taste) to compensate for the tart yogurt. You can also use 1/3-less-fat cream cheese in place of regular. It’s just as delicious, but a little more nutritious!

Are you hosting a summer wedding, shower, or other celebration? Our nutty family loves parties, and there’s nothing sweeter than treating your guests to a candy buffet!  To inspire you, we’ve put together a candy buffet gallery.

If you’re looking for a wedding candy buffet, we’ve got wedding candy galore! With our candy by color selection, you’re sure to find the perfect match for your theme, whether you’d like a classic white candy buffet, an outdoor candy buffet, or a dazzling hot pink candy buffet. We have a large selection of personalized candy favors, too, in case that’s the treat you’d prefer for your guests.

If you’re planning a baby shower, we’ve got you covered, too! Regardless of whether it’s a boy, a girl, or a surprise, our candy buffet gallery has something for everyone: a baby girl shower candy buffet, a baby boy shower candy buffet, and a green candy buffet (and that’s just the start!).

Take advantage of the warm summer months with a spring candy buffet, a summer candy buffet, or a rustic snack buffet. Or, throw a birthday party decorated with a classic birthday candy buffet, a beach candy buffet, or a carnival candy buffet.

Candy Buffet Planning Tips

1. Start with an inspiration board for your buffet – photos of candy buffets that you like, candies, decorations, and fabric swatches.
2. You need about 1/4 to 1/2 pounds of candy per guest, but keep in mind that you should get enough candy for your table to look full and opulent. You may want to draw out a plan for how you will arrange the candy containers on your table.
3. Consider starting with 5-10 different types of candy. More variety of candy adds color and character to your buffet.
4. Don’t forget a backdrop!  For more dramatic effect, you can set your buffet against an interesting wall, in the middle of a room, or outside. Or purchase an interesting fabric and pin it on the wall against which you’re planning to display your buffet.

Check out even more of our candy buffet tips.  And, if you need help designing your candy buffet or candy favors, our Candy Concierge is here to help! Contact our specialists at care@nuts.com or 800-558-6887 for advice and support.

Have a sweet celebration!

Mother’s Day is this Sunday, and we have plenty of Mother’s Day gifts that are sure to please! Our gift baskets, tins and trays are a great way to treat your mom to a special surprise.

Our wide selection of gifts ensures that there’s something for everyone. One of our favorites is the Golden Gift Basket, which is packed with nearly eight pounds of snacks such as cashews, pistachios and chocolate strawberries. Our Overflowing with Love Gift Basket is the perfect Mother’s Day gift, with special treats such as dried kiwi and dark chocolate malted milk balls. The Chocolate Supreme Tin is loaded with premium chocolate-covered nuts and raisins, and the Giant Gourmet Gift Basket is perfect for sharing.

If your mom’s a health nut, we’ve got just the thing! Our All-Natural Gift Basket and Delectable Organic Gift Basket are filled to the brim with treats such as nut butter, trail mix, Energy Squares and natural dried fruit. The contents are as delicious as they are healthy!

We also offer gift tins for those with special dietary needs. Our Sugar Free Tin of Indulgent Treats contains delicious goodies such as sugar-free milk chocolate peanuts and sugar-free yogurt raisins. Our Very Berry Gift Tin, piled with plump dried berries, is certified gluten-free.

If you know just what your mom wants, we recommend creating a custom tray! These trays, which can be filled with up to five products of your choice, are perfect Mother’s Day gifts. Pile yours high with our high-quality dried fruit, nuts, sweets and trail mix. Your mom will just love it!

What will you be giving your mother this year?

May is National Salad Month, and we think that’s just great! We love crisp, cool salads during the warm spring and summer months, and with the right ingredients, salads never get boring. Nuts.com offers quite a few products that can give your salad a flavor and nutrition boost. Hooray!

Salad booster is the ultimate salad seasoning. We love it! Salad booster is made from a mixture of sprouted seeds, savory seasonings, veggies and superfoods such as organic sprouted pumpkin seeds, spirulina, organic sprouted sunflower seeds and white chia seeds. Cheesy salad booster has the same nutritional power as regular salad booster, with the added flavor of nutritional yeast.

Salad topper mix is a classic combination of salad topping such as sunflower seeds, soy beans, imitation bacon bits, sesame seeds, vegetables and spices. We also offer traditional salad toppings such as sesame salad bits and seasoned homestyle croutons. They’ll add a little crunch to your simple salad!

Nuts and seeds can add a little extra nutrition and flavor to salads. Try raw sunflower seeds, raw pepitas and sliced natural almonds. Organic hemp seeds and chia seeds are also both great options for topping salads.

If you like to add a little sweetness to your salad, we highly recommend adding a handful of dried blueberries. They’re great when paired with goat cheese and greens! We also love chopped organic sundried tomatoes. These sweet and salty little tomatoes are grown without pesticides and are certified organic by CCOF.

What are some of your favorite salad toppings?

I love teaching kids about entrepreneurship, and sharing my experiences. Here is a photo of me speaking to students at UAM High School on their Career Day last week. I had a blast!

~ Jeffrey

Today is National Truffles Day! Sweet! We love rich, chocolate truffles. They make a great treat for special occasions, and a wonderfully sweet gift for a special someone.

We’ve written about making homemade truffles, and they certainly are a delicious treat (especially when rolled in finely chopped nuts).  We highly recommend whipping up a batch for your family and friends. However, we also offer some of the best truffles we have ever tasted through Nuts.com!

Our huge, delicious truffles are as beautiful as they are yummy. Each box contains eight tempting truffles, with flavors such as dark chocolate raspberry, milk chocolate champagne and white chocolate. We were blown away by these truffles the first time we tried them, and we promise that they are the most amazing truffles you’ll ever taste. They’re sure to be a hit with your special someone!

If you’d like a truffle treat that’s a bit lighter, we can’t think of anything better than our chocolate rum truffle coffee. Available in both regular and decaffeinated versions, this coffee’s flavor combination of rich chocolate and rum is truly decadent.

What are some of your favorite chocolatey treats? However you plan to celebrate, we hope that you have a marvelous National Truffles Day!

We love candy buffets! They’re an absolutely perfect addition to any big day or party, such as a wedding, birthday party or baby shower.

Sweet candy buffets give your guests a great treat, and with the right design, they can pair beautifully with your party colors and theme. Our candy buffet gallery offers some wonderful suggestions for colors and themes that will make your candy buffet sparkle! Each photo in our candy buffet gallery includes design tips and a list of featured sweets. Dig in!

What could be sweeter for a baby shower than a Baby Girl Shower Candy Buffet, with pink, green and white sweets, or a Baby Boy Shower Candy Buffet, with sophisticated and whimsical treats and colors? A Birthday Candy Buffet, packed with treats like lollipops and rock candy, will please kids (and adults) of all ages. And a classically lovely White Candy Buffet looks just perfect at any wedding reception. It’s the sweetest way for guests to remember your big day!

Of course, you can also design your own masterpiece. Our candy by color section makes it easy and fun to select sweets that pair perfectly with your theme and event colors. We even have some candy buffet tips for first-timers. You’ll have a blast creating your sweet candy buffet with Nuts.com’s premium treats.

You may also want to include candy favors in your event. Our candy favors are available in both ready-to-order and personalized varieties. Check out the favor combinations we’ve put together or assemble your own using our easy personalized candy favors creator. Choose your container, candy, candy color and label for custom candy favors that are just right for your big day!

If you need help designing your candy buffet or candy favors, our Candy Concierge is here to help! Contact our specialists at care@nuts.com or 800-558-6887 for tips and advice.

Have you ever designed a candy buffet? What are some of your favorite themes and color combinations?

Our Energy Squares are a delicious treat that provides snackers with a sweet little energy boost. Made with naturally delicious and nutritious ingredients, Energy Squares are ideal for hikers and sports enthusiasts. They’re transportable and tasty!

Energy Squares are available in a dozen varieties via Nuts.com. Customer favorites include Organic Raw Cacao Goji Energy Squares, Organic Chia Energy Squares and Honey Pistachio Energy Squares. They’re a fantastic component for a healthy diet, packed with whole foods that naturally promote high energy and good nutrition. We definitely recommend Energy Squares as an energy booster for healthy lifestyles!

If you love Energy Squares, you’ll definitely be a fan of our brand-new Organic Date Flax Energy Squares. These delicious Energy Squares are loaded with quality ingredients such as organic dates, organic flax, organic turmeric and organic acai, as well as organic sunflower seeds, organic sesame seeds and organic apricots. Besides being made of 100 percent organic ingredients, Organic Date Flax Energy Squares are certified gluten-free. Pack up a batch and head out into the spring sunshine for a workout!

What are your favorite varieties of Energy Squares? Have you tried our new Organic Date Flax Energy Squares?

Did you know that Monday is National Picnic Day? We plan to celebrate this weekend by heading out with family to enjoy some fun in the sun and picnic treats!

There are lots of fabulous picnic-friendly foods that we just love, but right now the dish that tops our list is quinoa salad. This yummy side is similar to pasta salad, but it’s gluten-free so everyone can enjoy it! It’s a great way to use up leftover quinoa, and it’s simply delicious with sandwiches or barbecue.

Start by combining 1 cup of quinoa with 2 cups of water in a medium saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, then cover the pan and reduce the heat to low. Simmer the quinoa for 20 minutes. Remove the quinoa from the heat, fluff it with a fork and let it come to at least room temperature (or store it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to make your quinoa salad).

Chop up about 2 to 3 cups of the veggies of your choice. (We like to use a combination of red bell peppers, cucumbers and thinly sliced carrots.) Very finely chop about 3 tbsp. of fresh basil. In a separate bowl, mix together 1/4 cup of olive oil, the juice from half of a lemon, a dash of salt and pepper, and two finely minced cloves of garlic.

Toss the quinoa and vegetables in a large bowl. Add the dressing and toss the mixture until it’s evenly coated. Cover the quinoa salad and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. (This allows the quinoa and vegetables to marinate in the dressing and get a really nice flavor.) Right before serving, sprinkle your quinoa salad with 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds or walnuts and 1/4 cup of Parmesan or feta cheese. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

What are some of your favorite picnic recipes?

We’re just wild about the health benefits that almonds have to offer! High in calcium, zinc and protein, almonds are packed with nutritional benefits. Tests have shown that almonds can even lower the risk of heart problems. In fact, a study published by the American Heart Association found that the monounsaturated fat in almonds can help lower blood cholesterol. They’re also a fantastic source of magnesium, vitamin E, calcium, potassium, phosphorus and iron.

Though we do love munching almonds by the handful for a healthy and filling snack, we also enjoy making homemade almond milk. Unlike many brands of store-bought almond milk, homemade almond milk is free of artificial flavors and sweeteners, and does not contain stabilizers that can give the milk a thick, gloppy texture. Homemade almond milk is slightly sweet and quite creamy, with a delicate flavor that pairs wonderfully with cereal, coffee and baked goods.

To start, pour two cups of raw almonds in a bowl and add just enough water to cover the almonds. Soak the almonds for eight to 12 hours, or until they’re softened and plump. Drain the water from the almonds and divide the batch in half. Dump half of the almonds into your blender pitcher.

Add 3 cups of cool water, 1/2 tablespoon of organic agave syrup and 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, if you want to make vanilla almond milk. Blend the mixture until it is mostly smooth, then pour it through a fine mesh strainer to strain out the crushed almond pulp.

Repeat the process with the second cup of almonds. (Most standard blenders can’t handle the full batch at once without making a big mess!)

Store the homemade almond milk in a covered container in the refrigerator. It will keep for four to five days. Make sure to give it a shake before pouring it; because homemade almond milk contains no thickeners or stabilizers, it will separate in the refrigerator.

Most importantly, enjoy!