Made in NH Expo

My friend Hillary and I decided to go to the Made in NH Expo last weekend. It was extremely crowded, but at the same time really great! We tried a lot of great food that I'd like to blog about.

The first thing we tried was Gak's Snacks cookies http://www.gakssnacks.com/. I had the brownie chocolate chip cookie. These cookies and the inventor were featured on NH Chronicle not too long ago so I recognized them. The cookie was SO YUMMY!!!! It is a healthy cookie, free of peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, dairy, GMO's and trans fat. Even with all of that stuff not in it, the cookie was delicious! They are also organic. A box of cookies is about $4.99 at Hannaford stores in NH. I didn't try the other flavors, but if you want a good snack for your family give these a try.

The next thing that both of us LOVED immediately was the buffalo chicken dip from Freetown Yankee Food Market http://freetownyankee.com/. They had samples served with Chuck's Moose-a-licious Antler Chips (which are antler shaped, gluten free, white corn chips). It had a bright buffalo sauce color and was thick and full of moist chicken. It only lasted 2 days at home. My husband and I devoured it. The lady at the booth said to try it warm, so the next time we get some we will do that. It's a perfect dip for a party!

We also both really liked Good Neighbors Organic products. Hillary purchased the black bean dip and I purchased the tabouli. The tabouli is really good. It's fresh and doesn't have the strong flavor and after taste that I have experienced in the past. It's kind of refreshing, if you can think of tabouli as that.

We decided to take a rest and have a snack so we both purchased a Caesar salad from the Common Man, who had a large booth. My salad came with a crab cake. The crab cake was ok, it wasn't the best tasting crab cake I've ever had, but it was alright. The salad was good though. It had crisp lettuce, grated cheese, and creamy dressing.

We walked around some more and had some kettle corn from White Mountain Kettle Corn http://www.whitemtnkettlecorn.com/. I've had this before. It's really yummy! It's just as good as when you get it fresh at a country fair.

There were many chocolate booths there, some fancy and some simple. We stopped at the Ava Marie Chocolates booth (http://www.avamariechocolates.com/) and tried their Maple Syrup Dark Chocolate Square. There was no thinking, we both got our money out and purchased a package for home immediately after the chocolate hit our tongues. These chocolates were DELICIOUS!!!!!!!! The dark chocolate was perfect, not bitter, just perfect. The soft center had the most minor hint of maple syrup, making it soooooooooo good!! If this store was closer to me I would be a regular customer for sure! It's in Peterborough, which is closer to the Keene/VT side of the state. :( Their website shows that they won the best of NH in 2007. Having tasted several different chocolates at the expo I know why they won that award. Not only was the chocolate the best at the expo it was the most affordable. (just a FYI....my birthday is next month hint, hint, hint ;) )

Hillary and I tried lots of chocolates, chips, dips, salsa and other things as well. I would recommend going to the Made in NH Expo to people who are understanding and can handle being in large crowds. At some points we were packed like sardines.