I live in Sacramento, California, and for years, when I had a craving for bagels, I was buying them here or here, but I was never quite satisfied.

Then, two years ago my husband and I ventured cross country, and when we stayed here in New York City, we found a great little bagel store right around the corner. I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the place, but I do distinctly remember that they offered vegan cream cheese.

The bagels were the perfect blend of chewy/fluffy, and, needless to say, we ate breakfast there every morning.

Ever since we got back, I’ve been on the hunt for bagels like the ones in NYC. Haven’t found ‘em yet.

Tags: Bagels

As if I haven’t harped on Stevia enough already, there’s one more way I get a lot of mileage from my little Stevia bottle.

Rather than buy a bunch of lemons when I’m in the mood for fresh lemonade, I turn to ReaLemon, which is 100 percent lemon juice from concentrate. I get it at my local Co-Op (although I know they also carry it in just about every grocery store). It’s packaged to look like a real lemon in a cute yellow plastic bottle.

To make my version of what I like to call Lazy Lemonade, I add ice to a glass, squeeze the lemon in, add a few drops of Stevia, add water, and then adjust to taste.

I’ve also tried it with ReaLime, and that’s also quite tasty. 

Tags: Lemonade, ReaLemon, ReaLime

Speaking of sugar, there’s one item (besides baked goods) in which Stevia will not do, and that is the highly addictive phenomenon known as Kettle Corn.

If you’ve never before tried this sweet-and-salty popcorn made with granulated sugar, salt, and oil, walk–no, run!–to your nearest fair, amusement park or open air market, where you will most likely find a Kettle Corn vendor preparing the delicious stuff.

In the close but no cigar vein, you can also find Kettle Corn in the microwave popcorn section of your local supermarket.

Or DIY with one of these recipes:

Kettle Corn
Sweet and Salty Kettle Corn

But to me it’s kind of like salads and/or sandwiches, both of which always tastes better when someone else makes them. You haven’t ad Kettle Corn until you’ve bought it freshly made and piping hot from a vendor.

Tags: Kettle Corn

If, when you think of sweeteners, immediately you start humming “Pour Some Sugar On Me”, you’re not alone.

Generally speaking, there are two types of sweeteners, nutritive and non-nutritive. Among the nutritive are sugar alcohols, honey, fruits, and syrups (including maple, sugar beet, corn, cane, golden, barley malt, Molasses, brown rice, and agave).

Non-nutritive sweeteners include Acesulfame potassium (also known as Sunett), Alitame (also known as Aclame), Aspartame (also known as Equal or Nutrasweet), Saccharin (also known as Sweet ‘n’ Low), and Sucralose (also known as SucraPlus and Splenda).

The rule of thumb is that natural is always better than synthetic sugar, however, white refined sugar has been linked to obesity, diabetes and tooth decay.

Over the years, I’ve gone from using the blue packet, to the yellow, and, finally, I’ve landed on Stevia, or “sweetleaf,” an herb that has no calories and provides a natural sweetener that’s concentrated (It’s about 30 times sweeter than sugar!).

I get mine at my local Co-Op, where it’s sold in a tincture bottle. It’s convenient enough that I bring it with me when I’m dining out to sweeten tea and coffee. I’ve even used a drop or two in recipes in the past, but I don’t recommend baking with it, as baking recipes need the bulk granulated sugar provides.  

Tags: Stevia

Just when you though it was safe to go back in the water…

Oh, wait. That’s another story entirely!

But fans of fresh tomatoes can now rejoice as the U.S. government declared late last week that tomatoes are back on the market.

That being said, an APB is still out on hot peppers, including fresh jalapenos and serranos, and any dishes that may contain them, such as fresh salsa. Another possible suspect is fresh cilantro.

While all fingers originally pointed to tomatoes as the culprit of the recent salmonella outbreak, which has sickened 1,220 people in 42 states since April 10 (the latest illness reported was July 4), today’s tomatoes in fields and stores are safe to eat, according to Dr. David Acheson, the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety chief.

The even better news is that there are 288 days until Cinco de Mayo–surely all of this will be figured out by then!

Tags: Tomato Recall

On July 1, Starbucks announced it was closing 600 stores in the U.S and expects to open fewer than 200 new company-operated stores in the U.S. in fiscal 2009.

Click here for the list of stores that will close by the end of July. Closures will continue into FY09, and the determination of each store’s closure date will be dependent on several operational and contractual factors and events.

Each month, after closure dates have been communicated to all affected partners, Starbucks will post a list of the stores that are scheduled to close during that month.

Stay tuned…

Tags: Starbucks Closures

When it comes to tomatoes, all are most definitely not created equal.

And if you’ve ever had an heirloom tomato, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Right now, my local Co-Op is overrun with big, beautiful heirloom tomatoes in all shapes and sizes.

According to Wikipedia, the list of heirloom tomato varieties includes:

Big Rainbow – One of dozens of large fruited yellow tomatoes with red swirls, having a mild, sweet flavor.

Blaby Special – A red fruited cultivar grown in the village of Blaby in Leicestershire until just after World War II.

Black Krim – A dark red to brown cultivar often cited in seed catalogs as being from the “island of Krim” in the Black Sea, better known as the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine (Crimea is known in Ukrainian as Krim).

Continue Reading »

Tags: Heirloom Tomatoes

To me, cherries are the best fruit ever. They’re fun to eat, good for you, and sweet enough to be considered a dessert. In fact, one cup of cherries is only 87 calories, and is a good source of choline, a nutrient in the B vitamin family.

Other stone fruits are equally tasty and offer their own unique benefits.

According to the USDA National Nutrient Database, one cup of sliced apricots is 79 calories and had both vitamin A and beta-carotene. One medium nectarine is only 62 calories and a good source of potassium. One medium peach is a mere 58 calories and also contains potassium and vitamin A. And one cup of sliced plums is 76 calories and contains vitamin A.

Stone fruits are everywhere right now–at the grocery store, at the Co-Op, and even highlighted on some restaurant menus.

Now that you know my stone fruit obsession (cherries)…what’s yours?

Tags: Stone Fruit

When you get tired of barbecued corn, try this Corn and Tomato Salad recipe from Sunset magazine (I’m not sure what month/year, but I would guess summer!).

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cups fresh corn kernels
2 cups cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup slivere4d fresh basil leaves
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
salt and pepper

Instructions
1. An average ear of corn yield about one cup of kernels. To remove the kernels, with a large sharp knife, cut off and discard the stem end of each ear down to the kernels. Pull off and discard the husks and silk, then rinse the ear. Hold each ear upright and shear off the kernels close to the cob.

2. In a large frying pan over medium high heat, cook onion in olive oil until limp. Add corn ands stir often until corn is just tender to bite.

3. Pour mixture into a large serving bowl and add tomatoes, basil and vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste.

4. Serve warm or at room temperature.

This salad doesn’t usually last long in my house, as we have it both for lunch and dinner and then fight over who gets the last delicious bits of it. I also serve the salad with warm tortillas just to round out the meal.

Tags: Corn and Tomato Salad, Sunset magazine

The newly-launched channel Planet Green is taking “Bam!” to a whole new level with Emeril Lagasse in the new show “Emeril Green”. The show, which airs Monday through Thursday on Planet Green, will focus on seasonable, sustainable food and will be shot on location at Whole Foods.

Six episodes will debut on Monday, July 14 from 8-11PM (ET).

To find out how to watch Planet Green channel where you live, click here.

Tags: Emeril, Planet Green