Myself and my colleague at The Amazing Blog, Lucy, somewhat stupidly challenged ourselves to a lengthy period of abstination in the lead up to Easter. And so arrives the first day of Lent, and with it 40 long and looming days without chocolate. Tensions in the office are high, tempers are short; nails bitten to the quick. And with it only being day one of forty, it's anyone's guess how the next few weeks will pan out. However, in giving up chocolate, there's a whole world of savoury delights ready and waiting to be tried, and, luckily for everyone in the office a box of Dipnation arrived on my desk today.

Founded in 2009, Dipnation was set up by Jeremy and Juliet Williams, and Juliet’s brother Patrick Gilmour. Inspired by the variety of dips available overseas and bored at the lack of choice in the UK market, Jeremy and Juliet decided to fill a niche alongside Patrick, who with his background in chefing, was able to create scrumptious recipes to appeal to a primed UK consumer.

Since its conception the family-run business based in Fife has built up a strong customer base of local Farm Shops and Delicatessens thanks to its fresh ingredients and delicious flavours. It has also won them numerous stars in the Great Taste Awards and a nomination in the Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards.

The Chunky Dips are made with a base of crushed cashews and real Parmesan shavings; we tried ours with Kettle Chips, which made the perfect afternoon snack. With dips like these, who needs chocolate?! Available online and from a number of independent retailers.

There is just enough time before Easter to slip in another chocolate blog I think! I have got a taste for the good stuff and the only chocolate egg I want this year comes from the artisian chocolatier Dermarquette, are you listening Easter Bunny???

Dermarquette’s delicious chocolates are handmade using the finest and most ethically sourced ingredients - don’t you think there is something infinately more satisfying about high quality chocolate? Maybe we will even need to eat less of it...not promising or anything!

For a bit of over-stated sophistication and class (sure there is an oxmoron in there somewhere) we are going for the limited edition Glam Egg. The incredible, space-age design is made up of 6 hand painted multi-flavoured caramel mini eggs between two segments of a chocolate egg. A further six caramel eggs are nesting in the base of the main egg, which is made with 71.1% dark chocolate with a delicate coating of pure white chocolate velvet that adds a unique luxurious texture. The caramel mini eggs flavours are inspired by the Great British Orchard: