Our first encounter with the company was via their Veggie Wedgies: apple, broccoli, carrot and cauliflower sliced to look like French fries. You bake them in the oven. Each serving provides more than half of a child’s Daily Recommended Value of fruits or vegetables.

The company’s Puffets are kid-style souffles in banana, black bean, carrot and other favorite flavors.

And now, the specialists in getting kids to eat their fruits and veggies have launched Peas of Pie, a pizza pie with veggies hidden in the crust.

They really are hidden. We saw an occasional wee speck of broccoli and carrot in the crust, but nothing kids would notice. The crust, a bready style, will fool every one of them.

And, those hidden veggies, plus the tomato sauce, count for 1-1/2 servings of veggies.

The pizzas are available in cheese and pepperoni.

Learn more on the company website.
  

Mix different juices to create your perfect
blend. Photo by Jaclyn Nussbaum | THE
NIBBLE.

Anyone with an electric juicer has experienced combining different fruits and vegetables into a glass of juice.

We don’t have a juicer, but we recently discovered juice mixology when we received a shipment of Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice Company—wonderful, pulpy juices that taste fresh-squeezed.

 
If you find yourself with a juice that’s too sweet or too tart, try juice mixing.

And the process of trying different proportions in your mix is fun.

Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice Company is a fifth-generation, family-owned Florida enterprise. The company produces all-natural, fresh pasteurized and fresh frozen juice* products to acclaim, both at home and abroad.

First, the finest fruits from Florida groves are hand-selected. But that’s not all it takes to make great juice. The company’s “secret” is in the squeezing: The fruit is gently squeezed so that there is no bitter taste from the peel oils. It takes more time, but you can taste the difference.

The company calls its products “gourmet pasteurized” juice. We agree.

*The bottled juices, in the refrigerator case, are pasteurized to ensure a shelf life of up to 26 days. Frozen juices don’t need to be pasteurized.

Just substitute low-cal, crunchy lettuce for tortilla wraps, sandwich bread, pita and even rice.

For example, Asian dishes that typically pair with rice can be eaten in lettuce wraps instead of with rice. We were first served romaine leaves for this purpose at a Vietnamese restaurant in Paris, many years ago. Today, we regularly go out for Korean barbecue, where meat, pickles, garnishes and condiments are rolled into a romaine leaf and eaten. It’s so delicious, it’s hard to believe it’s so low in calories.

Lettuce wraps are also a sneaky-fun way to get the family to eat more low-calorie lettuce. A .17 ounce/5 gram lettuce leaf has 1 calorie; two pieces of extra-thin-sliced bread have 90 calories.

What Types Of Lettuce Should You Use?

Just about anything works: leaves of Boston lettuce, iceberg lettuce, red leaf lettuce, romaine, napa cabbage, Chinese cabbage (bok choy) and radicchio. Pick the largest head with pliable leaves (you can blanch cabbage leaves to make rolling easier).

Save calories with lettuce wraps instead
of bread. Photo by W.S. Mahar | IST.

Wash and dry the leaves well in advance of serving. They will stay crisp in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

What Should You Put In Your Lettuce Wraps?

 
Wrap Sandwich Recipes

The easiest way to serve wraps to anyone old enough to fix a sandwich is to keep the filling and the lettuce wraps separate and let people roll their own.

 
SANDWICH TYPES

How many types of sandwiches can you name? See our Sandwich Glossary.

There are more sandwich recipes in our Gourmet Bread Section.
  

If you bake biscuits, cakes, from-scratch pancakes, muffins, quick breads and scones, you’ve no doubt used baking powder.

Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent that is used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of these types of baked goods. When it makes contact with a liquid (like the liquid in a batter), it releases carbon dioxide gas, causing bubbles that expand (“leaven”) the mixture. Hence, a light and fluffy cake, or a scone that isn’t leaden.

Yeasts also produce this kind of reaction, but bring their signature “yeasty” flavors with them. They taste great in bread and in yeast cakes, but not in a conventional cake or muffin.

Here are some things you may not know about baking powder—but should—along with a recipe for homemade baking powder (easy!).

Aluminum In Baking Powder

Baking powders are available both with and without aluminum compounds. Sodium aluminum sulfate is added to some baking powders to create the “double acting” effect. This is a convenience for the baker, since it delays the expansion of the batter for 15 to 20 minutes, without losing the leavening power. This means that the batter doesn’t have to be rushed into the oven shortly after the baking powder is added.*

This is particularly important in commercial baking, where many pans of batter can be lined for a period of time before going into the oven. But it isn’t critical for home baking.

*Double acting baking powder reacts to the liquid and heat in two stages. The first reaction takes place when the baking powder makes contact with the batter, and reacts with the liquid to produce carbon dioxide gas. The second reaction takes place when the batter responds to the heat in the oven (the gas cells expand, causing the batter to rise).

There are two reasons to avoid baking powder with aluminum. Some people with finely-tuned palates perceive a tinny aftertaste. But more importantly, scientists are pursuing a possible link between aluminum consumption and Alzheimer’s disease, attention deficit disorder, bone degeneration, kidney dysfunction and even Parkinson’s disease.

Baking powder without aluminum costs a bit more than standard baking powder. But it’s worth it. You should notice an improved flavor in your baked goods.

Baking Powder Can Go Flat

If you don’t bake regularly, chances are that you’ve had the same can of baking powder for years. Over time, it can go flat. To test if your baking powder is still good, add a teaspoon to a half cup of boiling water. If you see a bubbling reaction, the baking powder is good. If not, toss the powder, recycle the can and buy more when you’re ready to bake again.

Reduced Sodium Baking Powder

Given that baking powder’s principal ingredient is sodium bicarbonate,† a standard baking powder can deliver a lot of hidden sodium. One muffin, for example, can contain almost 20% of the Recommended Daily Allowance of sodium.
†Sodium bicarbonate is the base, cream of tartar is the acid, and corn starch is the moisture-absorbing agent that prevents the powder from reacting with moisture in the air.

So if you’re watching your salt intake or just prefer healthier ingredients, look for a reduced-sodium baking powder.

They’ve been around for a while, but have produced baked goods that are less light and fluffy.

The Rumford brand has just launched a new formula that is quick-acting, is used in the same amount as regular baking powder and produces baked goods that are light and fluffy. It contains 52% less sodium than conventional brands. And it’s aluminum-free.

If you can’t find it locally, you can purchase it from the company’s website.
Make Your Own Baking Powder

If you don’t use baking powder often, it might make more sense to make your own baking powder and have one less item cluttering the shelf.

For one tablespoon of baking powder, thoroughly combine:

 
Since this baking powder is not double-acting, as soon as the batter or dough is mixed, put it into the oven. As explained above, the baking powder starts to react as soon as it makes contact with liquid.

If you’re not going to use it immediately, you can store it (or any excess) in an airtight container if you add:

 
However, given the low cost of the ingredients and the premium on space that most of us have, you can just toss the excess and mix a fresh tablespoon the next time you bake.
  

On the one hand, the one slice per person they set for the half price offer may seem restrictive. On the other hand, how many flavors of cheesecake would you try at 50% off? The last time we shared two flavors of the uber-rich dessert at Cheesecake Factory, the Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake did battle in our stomach with the Key Lime Cheesecake. Our groan for the remainder of the evening was, “Why did we eat all that?”

So, dismiss thoughts of how many non-dessert-eating friends might want to join you for lunch, so that they can order a half-price piece of cheesecake for you.

Instead, get out your springform pan and bake your favorite recipe or try a new one.

If you’ve never had cheesecake with a sour cream top layer, we urge you to try our mother’s cheesecake recipe. We grew up on it, and while we’ve had hundreds of other cheesecake recipes since then, we always return to it.

1. Get the recipe.
2. Invite friends, family or neighbors over to celebrate—in one day. Cheesecake gets better with a day of aging.
3. Start baking.
4. Save us a piece!

Find more of our favorite cheesecake recipes.