Is a dish lacking something you can't pinpoint? Try a tiny bit of salt if you must, but don't forget the secret weapon tucked in the fridge or lolling on the counter.

Vitamin Water has been in the news lately with some contretempts over the caloric content of their brightly colored, somewhat nutritious beverages. So it's fortuitous timing that they're coming out with 10-calorie versions of several flavors. Up for the dietetic treatment are Energy (tropical citrus/yellow), XXX (acai-blueberry-pomegranate/magenta), Multi-V (lemonade/white) and Essential (orange/orange).

Can you tell the difference between the 25-calorie bottle and the 125-calorie bottle? Well, the Essential lo-cal version is, weirdly, sweeter than the original, while the Multi-V is about the same. Along with the lighter revisions. Vitamin Water has also come out with two new standard-calorie flavors: Tranquilo (tamarind-pineapple/chartreuse) and Sync (berry-cherry/lavender).

As we approach December, I start to crave the diversity of fruits available during the rest of the year. I get tired of seeing apples and pears. So, what I look forward to is the citrus season when you can find vibrant gorgeous oranges full of vitamin C. From December to early spring, markets are full of seasonal citrus fruits to fulfill your fruit needs and your sweet tooth.

While oranges taste perfect on their own, they can add a unique sweet and citrus tang to some of your most simple dishes. And, the citrus fruits that one may not necessarily want to eat plain, such as lemons and limes, create tasty salads and enhance flavors in poultry and fish.

Below are 8 citrus recipes to try:

1. Lentil stew with oranges
2. Orange, arugula, and Kalamata olive salad
3. Mahi-Mahi with blood orange, avocado, and red onion salsa
4. Orange tart with orange cream and pistachios
5. Orange chutney over pork chops
6. Citrus Slaw
7. Blood orange chicken
8. Roast lemon vinaigrette

What are some ways you like to add a citrus tang to your meal?

So do you believe we're in a recession? Retailers sure seem to, especially specialty retailers. In the kitchenware store, the season's usual large bundles of roasting pans and pie plates, while still available, are being supplemented by smaller displays of beckoning trinkets for inexpensive shopping fixes. If one is a classic movie fan, one remembers Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffanys -- wherein, broke but shopping, they consider a platinum dream from a CrackerJack box as well as a silver telephone dialer. More practical (and, at around thirteen bucks, more economical) is the Microplane Multi-Citrus Tool, and I have to admit that I have succumbed.

As most slashfoodies know, zest is the outer skin of a citrus fruit, used as a flavoring agent in everything from sauces to baked goods, as well as a garnish. The zest contains a high concentration of the oil of the citrus fruit, which contributes a highly concentrated burst of both flavor and aroma. As experienced eaters know, there is no substitute for fresh zest -- a lemon pound cake, for example, will simply taste better if you add fresh zest. As experienced zesters know, the challenge while zesting is to get just that outer layer of skin without getting any of the white pith that separates the flesh of the fruit from the skin.

Not everyone looks forward to the cooler weather of fall, and I'm one of them. I really prefer warmer temperatures, but I do look forward to fall food. All of the different squash dishes, puddings, and citrus flavors are so welcome that I can almost forgive the chill in the air. I've been searching for different fall influenced bread recipes and I think I've found some good ones. Check them out and you be the judge.

1. This fig and anise bread sounds so amazing, I'm planning on making this one soon!
2. What could be more fall than a pumpkin bread pudding?
3. It seems more difficult to find a pumpkin yeast bread, but I found one amid all the quick breads.
4. Chestnut rye is a little more unusual of a flavor, but that's what makes it special.
5. Sweet potato rolls deserve a place on everyone's fall table.
6. This cornbread from the Homesick Texan may not be strictly fall, but the cornbread dressing you can make with it sure is.
7. Orange yeast bread is also more rare than its quick bread cousin.
8. Sure cranberry is usually paired with orange, but why not let it shine on its own?

For me, the presentation of a dish is critically important. Here's a trick for turning orange peels into beautiful serving bowls for almost anything you can create.

We're taught that in general, color is more desirable than white in food. This hasn't necessarily been the case for cauliflower, which belies its white color with a nutrition profile similar to its cruciferous siblings, broccoli and cabbage. Cauliflower is high in vitamin C and cancer-fighting antioxidants.

However, thanks to selective breeding (not genetic engineering), cauliflower in different colors are available. They taste the same as white cauliflower, but are just, well, more fun on the plate. Scientists are also claiming that they might be healthier for you than white cauliflower because of the benefits from the compounds that give the vegetables the color.

Healthier than white or not, if its being colorful makes you and your family eat it, that's all the better!

Every year when I was growing up, there would be one Saturday in late November or early December when my mom would pull out a bowl of oranges and jar of whole cloves and announce that it was time to make pomander balls. The pungent smell of orange zest paired with clove is one the aromas that makes me instantly think of childhood, Christmas and baking.

Yesterday afternoon, I stopped by a local produce stand with no particular shopping list, just a desire to refill my fruit bowl and get something green. I bought a pound of brussels sprouts, two sweet potatoes and a bag of oranges because they looked so fresh and good. Wandering around my apartment this morning, trying to avoid starting in on the tenth revision of my thesis the thought struck me that an excellent way to avoid school work for just a little longer would be to make a pomander ball.

Grabbing my jar of whole cloves, a bowl and the most spherical orange, I set to work. There was something deeply satisfying about inserting the cloves into the orange and being greeted with that smell that takes me back to childhood. I always create a pattern with the cloves, working until it looks like a series of longitude lines around the orange, but you can do it any way you like. The trick I'd like to share is to make sure you poke the clove holes with a toothpick or skewer first instead of using brute force to muscle the blunt end of the clove into the fruit. It makes it a whole lot easier and much kinder on the fingers.

All the comments I've gotten on the Autumnal Casserole post have led me to believe that there are a lot of you out there looking for alternatives to the traditional Thanksgiving side dishes. So I thought I'd post another one of my favorites. This one originally came to me via 101 Cookbooks. Heidi found it in Artisanal Cooking by Terrance Brennan. It is a sweet potato puree that is flecked with vanilla and orange zest and it so good that you might think it belongs in a pie instead of along side your turkey.

I first made it two years ago to take along to my family's Thanksgiving buffet. I put the bowl down on the table and got hijacked into a conversation with my aunt. When I finally got back to the table half an hour later, the bowl was nearly empty. Last year I made it for Christmas dinner. While we were waiting for my dad to carve the turkey, my mom and I stood in the kitchen together and scraped the bowl of the food processor clean with our fingers, just so as not to let any of this puree go to waste.

Give up your sweet potato casseroles and try this puree. It will convert even the most devoted of the mini-marshmallow fans.

Last Christmas, my mom decided that she wanted to make a batch of scones on Christmas morning. She looked through her cookbooks and scoured the internet, finally settling on a Cranberry-Orange scone recipe (I believe she got it off the internet, but I don't know the source). That morning, she quickly stirred up the batter in order to get it in the oven before the turkey needed to go in. When it came out, there was a line of people waiting for the scones, as they had filled the house with a hypnotically good smell.

This is the perfect recipe for a busy morning, because as long as you have buttermilk (you can also fake buttermilk by stirring a tablespoon of lemon juice into a cup of milk) on hand, all the other ingredients are fairly ordinary. You can even mix all the dry ingredients together the night before you want to bake them to hurry things along in the morning.

Way back in 2005, Cybele reviewed Orange Creme Hershey's Kisses at Candyblog. The orange-flavored white chocolate kisses didn't last too long at the time, but Hershey's has just re-released them, labeled as a "limited edition" offering for their year-long 100th anniversary celebration.

The original review noted - and I completely agree - that these chocolates taste a lot like orange creamsicles in the way that they blend orange and vanilla. The chocolate has a tempting orange scent and melts into your mouth smoothly and easily when you bite into one. Unfortunately, these kisses also have an almost overpowering sweetness to them that makes it difficult to eat any more than one at a time without having something to wash them down with.

The concept for these kisses is a good one. I'd try mixing these up with dark chocolate kisses (or other dark chocolates) for some variety and to subdue the sugar.

The bag makes no mention of how long the release will last, but I wouldn't be surprised if they stick around at least until Easter at the beginning of April.

Although it is still cold in many parts of the country, temperatures here in Southern California shot up to almost summer-like highs over the past few days. The sudden heat has cause me - and many others - to turn away from hot soup and "comfort food" cookbooks and turn back to salads and other cool, light fare. This salad is idea for moving from winter into spring, although you could make it all year round, because it incorporates fresh oranges, dried cranberries and salty-sweet candied nuts, all of which are frequently used in late fall and winter dishes and desserts. These sweet salad components are on a bed of mixed baby greens and diced avocado. I dressed the whole salad with a heavily vinegar-based dressing (a citrus flavored vinegar mixed with a bit of oil, salt and pepper) to enhance the brightness of all of the components.

Chocolate and orange is a combination that you either love or hate. For some, the slight acidity of the citrus works really well with chocolate, both milk and dark, while others find the tastes to be dissonant. Fanny, from Food Beam, was a member of the latter camp until she decided to try making Bill Granger's Chocolate and Mandarin Cake. The cake is a nearly flourless chocolate cake, made rich with ground almonds and a bit of mandarin orange zest. There isn't enough zest to make the orange flavor overwhelming, although the bright flavor does come through the deeply flavored cake and is helped along by serving the cake with slices of mandarin. The only thing that Fanny doesn't share is what motivated her to go against her usual inclinations and try the recipe in the first place. Whatever her reason, it seems like it was a success.

I'm not sure how cold it is where you are, but here tonight it's supposed to be around 9 degrees (and with the wind, etc, etc it's even colder). So we need something to keep us warm. You could try tea, you could try soup, maybe sitting in front of a fireplace. You could even try cutting open the carcass of a large dead animal and crawling inside, like in one of the Star Wars movies.

Or, you could make a hot alcoholic drink. If you're alone, you can make a Hot Toddy. If you're having a party with thirty of more people, you could make a Hot Cider Punch. Either way, you'll warm up quick. To paraphrase the Campbell's commercial: "Warm up to alcohol, booze is good food."

There have been plenty of California blood oranges in the markets lately, so this is the second week in a row that I've made this very simple blood orange salad. The basic version that I make at home and usually see in restaurants includes blood oranges and thinly sliced red onion, garnished with cracked pepper and good olive oil. I added some torn Italian parsley and, this time, some thinly sliced hearts of palm. If you're unfamiliar with hearts of palm, the flavor is mild and fresh, a bit like an artichoke, and the texture is similar to barely cooked asparagus. As the name implies, these are the edible cores of the cabbage palm. You'll generally find them canned, among the other canned vegetables. As they're fairly mild, they work well with the acidity of the oranges and the richness of the olive oil. This is a great way to start a number of different menus, but I think it works particularly well as foil to richer dishes like stews or braised meats.