Fabulous Foods Website Spotlight

I've decided from time to time that I will share with y'all some of my favorite food stores & websites. There are so many!!

Every year, I look forward to the Nutcracker Market here in Houston. Now if you're asking, "What's the Nutcracker Market?" you are SERIOUSLY missing out. It is a HUGE Christmas marketplace put on my The Houston Ballet the 2nd weekend of November every year. Reliant Center is filled with rows & rows of booths with people selling everything - food, clothes, jewelry, crafts, Christmas & home decor, etc. It is every girl's shopping dream come true.

A few years back, my mom joined me in an adventurous day of shopping at the Nutcracker Market. It was that day that we discovered what has become on of our favorite places to shop for gifts online: Cherry Republic.

Based in Glen Arbor, Michigan, this blurb from their website describes them best:

Welcome to Cherry Republic, North America's 4th largest country and the land of Life, Liberty, Beaches & Pie. Across our borders you will discover over 175 Cherry products on sale! Founded on our joy of life with cherries, our mission is to pass on to you the many ways to have fun with cherries! From our famous dried cherries, chocolate covered cherries, jams or cherry salsa we have great gifts or pantry fillers for you.

They have everything you can imagine made with cherries. A few of my favorites include:

Cherry Salsa - It is a perfect blend of sweet & spicy with a unique flavor. It is great served with tortilla chips or poured over cream cheese & served with crackers.


Rain Orchard Crunch - This is a mix of caramel corn, dried cherries, almonds & pecans. I may or may not have eaten an entire can in one day.




Cherry Ambassador Mix - Dried cherries & cranberries mixed with pistachios & macadamia nuts.



White Chocolate Boomchunkas - These cookies are DELICIOUS! They have dried cherries, rolled oats & chunks of white chocolate. CR also has chocolate, dark chocolate, coconut & chocolate pecan Boomchunka cookies, but the white chocolate are my favorite.


They also have tons of great gift boxes (or you can create your own). I often order these as Thank You, Birthday, Mother's Day & Valentine's Day gifts.

And to top it all off, they package up your selections in a cute box filled with crinkle paper and decorated with a pine cone, birch bark & cedar. They also offer flat rate shipping (which is usually great unless you only need to order 1 item). Right now they are even offering $5 flat rate shipping for Valentine's Day.

I highly recommend you visit their site the next time you need to order a gift for a friend (or just want to buy yourself a treat). Or come with me to the Nutcracker Market next year - Nov. 11 - 14, 2010. I'm sure they will be there again next year.

P.S. Unlike many other blogs, I was in NO WAY compensated for this post. I just truly LOVE this place & wanted to share it with my friends.