Whenever my husband and I go on vacation (or really, any time we know we’ll be away from home for a few hours), we pack some Odwalla bars just in case we get hungry. Odwalla (pronounced Oh-dwa-la) is a juice company founded in Santa Cruz, Calif., in 1980 and is now headquartered in Half Moon Bay, Calif. [...]

There’s been a lot of talk about gluten lately, and I know that reducing gluten intake is one of the goals in this book, but with all the talk, I still don’t understand what the big gluten deal is. I know that those afflicted with celiac disease have gluten intolerance, but what does that mean exactly? [...]

When I got married, one of the gifts I received was the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, Limited Edition. At the time, I thought, “How cute, a retro cook book!” Little did I know just how handy it would be. First of all, it’s spiral bound, so I can remove a page if I [...]

If you’ve ever worked in a restaurant, you’re sure to enjoy the short-lived but hilarious television show “Kitchen Confidential”, based on the bookof the same name by Anthony Bourdain. While I found the book to be long-winded at times, and extremely graphic in parts, the show was a dark sitcom starring the very talented Bradley [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]