For a vegan-friendly snack or side dish, pick up a bag of Season's Choice veggie fries.

The fries come in black-bean or ranch flavors and are made with at least seven different vegetables. A 10-ounce bag is just under $5.

Aldi's Simply Nature legume rice is vegan and gluten-free.

Each $3 box of rice is made with either legumes or chickpeas and lentils and can be used as a base for lunches or dinners.

Aldi's selection of gluten-free products is getting bigger this month with liveGfree fettuccine and linguine.

Each refrigerated 9-ounce pack is $4 each and can pair nicely with olive oil or your favorite pasta sauce.

This month, Sundae Shoppe is releasing two flavors of no-sugar-added gelato. For just under $4 a pint, you can choose between the flavors fudgy cookie dough or chocolate peanut butter.

It's never too early to start planning Valentine's Day surprises for your significant other. To start, pick up a package of Moser Roth's macarons, which are set to arrive at Aldi in early January.

Each pack contains 10 Belgian-chocolate macarons with decorative toppings — all for only $4.

The end of peppermint-bark season may be drawing near, but you can still enjoy other flavors of bark from Aldi this month.

One bark has a white-chocolate-style base and strawberries-and-cream toppings, and the other has a milk-chocolate-style base with red-velvet-cookies-and-cream toppings.

Each 5-ounce bag of bark is $4.

Prepare a warm, festive drink using Choceur's filled heart-shaped hot-cocoa bombs that are only $2 each.

Choose between a white-chocolate-strawberry cocoa bomb filled with milk-chocolate chips and marshmallows or a milk-chocolate one filled with milk-chocolate chips and marshmallows.

Mama Cozzi's Pizza Kitchen is one of Aldi shoppers' favorite brands, and this January, they can enjoy new flavors of its wood-fired pizza.

The pizzas are available in a five-mushroom blend with white, portabella, shiitake, crimini, and roasted mushrooms or a Greek-style pizza with garlic sauce, chicken, black olives, artichokes, red onions, and mushrooms.

Each wood-fired pie is $5.

For a unique dinner side or a tasty appetizer on game day, pick up the Season's Choice waffle fries slated to arrive at Aldi in mid-January.

The fiery-hot sweet-potato waffle fries can pair well with chicken wings and ranch or blue cheese — and the chili-lime waffle fries could be a unique base for "nachos."

Each 16-ounce bag is $4.

Aldi has plenty of options for a Valentine's Day dinner at home this year, including Priano heart-shaped ravioli filled with Parmigiano Reggiano and truffle.

Each pack of pasta is $4.

Those who'd be happy to eat pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner may love the Mama Cozzi's Pizza Kitchen breakfast pizzas.

They have biscuit crusts and come in two different flavors: sausage and cheese or pork belly, bacon, onion, and pepper.

Try one or both for $5 each.

Whether you're hosting a party or just want delicious appetizers with dinner, you may want to pick up Appetitos crab rangoon to keep in the freezer.

Each 6-ounce box has crispy wonton wrappers stuffed with a cream-cheese-crab filling and costs under $4.

For game day or other festive gatherings, serve Fremont Fish Market shrimp-queso and cheddar-bacon-scallop bites.

The frozen bites can be heated up or air-fried in just a few minutes, and they come in 11-ounce bags for $5 each.

The Super Bowl is scheduled for February 9, and why not bring Appetitos breaded cheese curds to the party?

Set to be available at the end of January, the curds feature Wisconsin cheese and a crispy, golden brown breading — perfect for enjoying as-is or with a wide selection of dips.

Grab a box (or two) for just over $4 each.

From habanero wings to ghost-pepper chips, I'm always looking to test my tastebuds, and I love food with a bit of heat.

Buffalo cauliflower lets me indulge that craving without consuming anything too heavy or calorie-dense. It's also surprisingly easy to make.

Coat some florets with a tablespoon or two of oil, season with salt and pepper, then toss in your hot sauce of choice. Cook in the air fryer until crispy.

When I frequented the drive-thru, I always got chicken nuggets. It's fitting, then, that the day I decided to get in shape, I bought a 20-piece as my "last supper" before driving straight to the gym.

Although I still grab fast food on occasion, I now make crispy chicken tenders at home. This way, I can use less oil and control the ingredients.

First, I use a knife to remove any tendons from the chicken. Then, I season the strips and coat them with flour, egg wash, and breadcrumbs. They go in the air fryer until golden.

Fries are easy to prepare in an air fryer and even easier to enjoy. Plus, you can season them with any spices you want.

I alternate between making regular fries and sweet-potato fries. The sweet potatoes require some muscle to chop — and take extra time to crisp up — but the effort is worth it.

To make these, I coat my potato strips in oil, air-fry them until crispy, then salt and season to taste.

Haddock, cod, and salmon all turn out great in the air fryer.

When cooking a white fish, I like to coat it in breadcrumbs — just like the tenders — and air-fry until golden brown. For a better bite, make sure to season your flour and breading.

I love pairing my crispy fish with air-fryer fries for a lighter version of fish and chips.

An oven is great for heating up frozen pies, but an air fryer excels if you're making your own pizza. You can really be creative with your crust by using English muffins, naan, or other bases.

On this day, I made air-fryer pizza using a baguette as my base. In an oven, that bread would have toughened up, but after a few minutes in the air fryer, it became flaky and crispy.

I topped my pizza with turkey pepperoni and basil, though it's also super easy to customize.

I couldn't stand Brussels sprouts growing up. The smell was offputting, the texture was slimy, and other vegetables were simply more appealing.

Now, they're my favorite green alongside broccoli — and the secret is preparing them well.

Although I enjoy sprouts baked, roasted, or sautéed, I love them air-fried. Season them generously, air-fry them until crunchy, and you have a great midnight snack.

Plantain chips are one of my favorite snacks to get at the grocery store. I wouldn't call them healthy, but I find them to be a slightly lighter alternative to potato chips.

To make my own version at home, I started air-frying banana slices.

First, thinly slice a firm banana. Toss the slices in oil and salt, then air-fry them until they brown up. Set them aside to cool, and you'll have a sweet-and-savory snack that resembles chips.

Our first taste of fairy-tale magic was the epic hike to All Saints' Abbey. The trail starts at the parking lot for the Allerheiligen Waterfalls, which are breathtaking in their own right.

After scaling the side of the falls, we followed a river through the forest, past a farm and a seemingly out-of-place Romanesque sculpture.

Eventually, we found the ruins of an abbey, which we were free to explore. It was easy to imagine the structure that once stood here — and to dream of adventures our favorite fairy-tale heroes might encounter on a particularly foggy day here at the ruins.

I loved that the hike took us high up a mountain for spectacular views of the valley, then back down to the parking lot.

The Black Forest is known for many things, including its eponymous cake.

The chocolate sponge cake, with layers of whipped cream, is rich and moist, but the sour cherries and accompanying taste of the Kirschwasser (a brandy made from sour cherries) keep it from tasting too sweet.

I'm more of a savory guy who enjoys his pork schnitzel, but the Black Forest cake ranks high on the list of things I ate while abroad. You must try it if you ever visit.

Baden-Baden is a spa town on the northern edge of the Black Forest. Although it is a German city, it's known for its Roman-Irish baths.

Visiting its Friedrichsbad spa was one of the most adventurous things we've ever done. On most days, we had to get completely naked with a bunch of tourists and locals in order to enjoy the steam rooms, saunas, cold-water plunges, and other thermal treatments.

Once we got over the initial strangeness of being nude with strangers, it was a really relaxing experience.

We also visited the Caracalla Spa next door, which seemed better for families: Everyone wears their swimsuits, but you still get to enjoy the thermal waters. It's almost like an indoor water park.

Baden-Baden was a great starting point for our hike to the Hohenbaden Old Castle. The stunning ruins are on a mountainside and overlook Baden-Baden, the Black Forest, and the sprawling farm land to the east.

It took us about an hour to hike from the city center to the castle, which we were free to explore at no cost.

We went to the city of Triberg for two reasons: to see its famous cuckoo clocks and the waterfall.

We ended up arriving later in the day, so we had to skip the waterfall. This was fine since we'd seen several waterfalls that morning during our hikes for free, and we would've had to pay to see the one near Triberg.

Instead, we browsed the shops and saw some cuckoo clocks, but overwhelmingly, we felt like this city inside the Black Forest was mostly a tourist trap with a lot of souvenir shops.

It reminded us of shopping in Tennessee's Gatlinburg — definitely a fun time, but not quite the authentic German experience we were hoping for.

We missed out on hiking southern certain trails and seeing Lake Titisee because our home base was in Baden-Baden, the northern end of the long, narrow forest.

That made it challenging to see the southern end of the forest and still make it home before dark. If we ever go back, we plan to stay in Freiburg im Breisgau to explore the southern region.