I’m about six hours away from vacation, and I’ve just about finished all the work I needed to do before I leave. Needless to say, I’m in a giddy mood. As a result, I decided to dedicate this blog entry to a few odd new products and some of the weirdest cookbooks I’ve received of late.

We’ll start out with Kraft’s new brainchild, Macaroni & Cheese crackers. The box you see here came shipped in a much larger box that, when opened, made crunching noises. I swear it’s true.

We tried the crackers and found them to be rather good, actually. They are a bit like noodle-shaped Cheez-Its with a powdery cheese coating on the outside. Within a half hour, they had been polished off by two of my co-workers. On the other hand, it was about 4 p.m. in the afternoon, which is generally munchie-time in the Features Department.

Next up: Those crazy kids over at McCormick are at it again. This time, they’ve developed new black pepper blends that are infused with the flavors of Worchestershire or Smokehouse, depending on which you choose.

McCormick recommends the Smokehouse flavoring for burgers and the Worchestershire blend for steak. They even include a marinade recipe on the back of the Worchestershire blend: 3 Tbsp. each of oil, water and red wine vinegar, mixed with 2 tsp. each of the pepper and minced onions and 1/2 tsp. of salt. Sounds pretty good!

Not to be left out, the folks at KFC have developed a new flavor called Smoky Chipotle Crispy Fried Chicken. It is only the third flavor to be introduced at KFC since the restaurant was founded 65 years ago, a spokeswoman said.

Now, on to the cookbooks.

Have you ever wanted to know how to make more than 100 recipes with pretzels? Anyone? Anyone?

Well, I’m going to tell you about “The Pretzel Cookbook” by Priscilla Warren anyway. This book contains dozens of recipes for homemade pretzels, soft pretzel sandwiches and snack mixes using storebought pretzels.

Here’s a quick-hit recipe: Combine 1 cup crushed pretzels, 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. dried thyme on a platter. Then dip 4 (6-oz) catfish filets in melted butter, dredge in the dry mix and bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 15 minutes.

My next favorite cookbook is the “Low GI Family Cookbook.” It’s fun for the whole bunch of ya! But seriously, this book does contain lots of helpful meal planners and recipes for those who want to manage their consumption of unhealthy carbohydrates. This book is by Dr. Jennie Brand-Miller.

Last but certainly not least: “660 Curries” by Raghavan Iyer. Why, just six more curry recipes and Iyer would’ve had a devilishly good book!

It looks pretty awesome anyway, especially to someone like me, who enjoys curry dishes. I cannot imagine that anyone would be able to actually make every recipe in this book. But hey, the first person who responds to this blog entry and says “I want them!” can have all three of these zany books.