Half &half for people cutting calories and/or
fat. Photo by Jerry Deutsch | THE NIBBLE.

Our milk of choice is Special Request Skim Plus from Farmland Dairies. It adds additional milk protein to skim milk; the result tastes like 2% milk instead of 0%. It’s costlier because of the expense of the milk protein, but it’s more than worth it.

One cup of Farmland Special Request Skim Plus Milk contains 110 calories, no fat, 11 grams of protein and 405 milligrams of calcium. It’s not only lower in calories, but more nutritious than whole milk, which contains 149 calories, 8 grams of fat, 8 grams of protein and 302 milligrams of calcium found in whole milk. (Regular skim milk has 80 calories/cup; the extra calories in Skim Plus come from the added protein.)

Farmland Dairies dairy serves the East Coast, but other regional dairies have similar products. Try “super skim” and see how much more enjoyable milk-drinking can be. If you do live in the area, here’s a $1.00 coupon to try any of the products (good through October 31, 2010).

But Farmland Dairy’s FFH&H is made only from skim milk and milk, enhanced with vitamins A and D. It really tastes good! As with the Skim Plus milk, more milk protein and calcium are added to create creaminess. The MSRP for a quart is $2.99.

Milk-Buying Tips From Farmland Dairies

• Make the dairy case your last stop before checking out. At the checkout counter, have milk packed next to other refrigerated or frozen foods to keep it cool.

• Don’t leave milk in a hot car while you run other errands. Fifteen to twenty minutes in a hot car is enough to raise the temperature of a carton of milk ten degrees and shorten the storage life of the milk.

• Refrigerate milk as soon as you get home, before you unpack your other groceries.

• Keep your refrigerator temperature at 40°F or lower. As the refrigerator temperature goes up, the storage life of milk goes down.

• After opening, ultra-pasteurized milk and all other milk products should be consumed within approximately seven days, regardless of the “sell by” date. Once the carton is opened, the air that is introduced contributes to spoilage and effectively voids the “sell by” date.

• Temperature control is critical: One degree will affect freshness. Don’t leave milk standing out on the counter. If you leave it at the table (in the carton, pitcher or carafe), put it in a dish of ice.

But our mother—who makes the fluffiest scrambled eggs—reminds us that we left out one important tip:

• Eggs at room temperature will take in more air than cold eggs. If you don’t have time to let them come to room temperature, put the whole eggs in a bowl and cover them with hot water for five minutes.

• Add a tablespoon of milk per two eggs. (Half and half or cream will make richer eggs—but scrambled eggs in butter are, in our opinion, rich enough.)

For fluffier scrambled eggs, beat in lots
of air. Photo by Zsuzsanna Kilian | SXC.

• Don’t salt the beaten eggs (salt toughens eggs); wait until they have set in the pan before sprinkling with salt.

• If you have herbs, add them to the mix. We love snipping tiny bits of chive into our scrambled eggs. And if you have any shreds of smoked salmon to add… (Fade in Fred Astaire singing, “Heaven, I’m in heaven….”)*

Find more egg recipes and tips in our Eggs Section.

*From “Cheek to Cheek” by Irving Berlin.

Instead of mayo, make potato salad with
bacon vinaigrette. Photo by J.Java | Fotolia.

Given America’s desire for all things bacon, put German Potato Salad on your menu. Made with bacon and onions or scallions, it can be enjoyed hot or cold.

Here‘s the recipe.

Find more potato salad recipes.

By the way, in Germany this dish is just called “potato salad” (or Kartoffelsalat).

Taking a page from the adage, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” we decided to make the chocolate bars more alluring by turning them into chocolate bark with our favorite inclusions (the professional word for mix-ins).

Nuts, dried fruit, candies and other chocolate can be mixed in. We adore pistachio nuts and happened to have a supply of Guittard’s superior chocolate chips (dark, milk and white chocolate chips plus butterscotch, cappuccino, mint—available at Chocosphere.com).

It’s a long weekend—enough time for you to become a chocolatier, and to bring the [chocolate and] fruits of your labor to a Memorial Day party.

You don’t need a pile of chocolate bars—just 14 ounces of quality chocolate. See the recipe and start chopping!

If you’re attending parties this weekend, bring some as a gift to the hosts.

This version has raisins, sultanas, cashews,
crystallized ginger and orange peel. Photo by
Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

Treat family and friends to jalapeño
poppers. Photo courtesy SurLaTable.com.

Last month there were 49,000 Google searches for the term “jalapeño poppers.” Evidently, the cheese-stuffed chiles have become so popular, there’s a market for popper racks.

Developed by Steven Raichlen, author of The Barbecue! Bible and How to Grill, this stainless steel, dishwasher-safe device makes it easy to impress your friends with poppers and anything else you can think to do with it. It comes with a chile corer that makes removing the membrane and seeds a snap.

The only problem is that the stainless steel rack holds only 18 chiles. We can easily demolish a large portion of that. Guess we’ll have to get a second rack for guests.

While we’re at it, we’ll pick up another two popper racks as summer house gifts for our favorite grill masters.