Unbox Those Mussels

Keep a few boxes of these frozen mussels in garlic butter sauce on hand for last-minute dinners. Then you only have to pop them into the microwave seven minutes or cook them in a saucepan about five minutes. Their natural juices combine with the garlic-butter sauce to form a wonderful broth--great for dipping bits of warm rustic bread into. The mussels, from Bantry Bay Seafood in Ireland, are free of grit and sand because they are rope-grown. Serve them in a large bowl with fettuccine or linguine and you’ll have a feast fit for a king.

Mussels in garlic butter sauce (1-pound box), $2.89 from Trader Joe’s stores.

Le Haut Chocolat

Cocoa lovers will want to try these new French hot chocolate mixes. Combine them with cream, milk or soy milk to make a soul-satisfying drink. They come in three flavors: Parisienne (dark chocolate, orange peel, vanilla bean and cinnamon), Bianca (white chocolate, lemon myrtle, lavender and vanilla bean) and Aztec Elixir (dark chocolate, ancho and chipotle chiles, vanilla bean, maize powder and cinnamon). Each box makes seven servings.

Vosges Haut Chocolat Couture Cocoa, 16-ounce box, $17.95 from Julienne, 2649 Mission St., San Marino. (626) 441-2299.