Blog Posts by Epicurious.com

Epicurious picks the best supermarket deals and pairs them with delicious dishes to impress

Forget dire economic buzzwords-we see the financial crisis in stark relief every time the cashier rings up our weekly groceries. So what can you do? Here are ten food ingredients to make the most of your budget and help fill your family up for less. You'll find hearty pantry staples, inexpensive proteins, and flavor-adders that prove that a little can go a long way. Of course, you'll need to add veggies (choose what's in season where you live for the best buys, or flash-frozen varieties, which are loaded with nutrients) and other fixings to round out meals. Before you even hit the supermarket, be sure to check out our Budget Shopping Tips and money-saving posts in our blog.

1. Potatoes

(73¢ per pound for white potatoes)*

The simple spud sure is versatile: Use low-starch waxy ones, such as red-skinned types, for dishes where they must hold their shape, like potato salad or

Looking to lose weight or just eat healthier in the New Year? Let us help you weigh the many options out there with our Diets 101 series.

We explain the most popular diets-including Atkins, South Beach, Skinny b---- , Flat Abs, the Perricone Weight-Loss Diet, and the Mediterranean Diet-and show you how to choose one that fits your culinary style, health goals, and dieting personality.

We've divided the big "brand name" diets into five categories by concept and explained what you can and cannot eat with each regimen. We've also given each diet a major flavor upgrade, with chef-tested, nutritionist-approved recipes, selected according to each diet's principles.

First up is the Fat-Burning "Flat Ab" Diet. Check back each day for the rest of the diets.

Fat-Burning "Flat Ab" Diets

Diets promising a "flat belly" or " L.A. shape" are popular, but can their approach help you torch calories? Find out below.

The Concept

• The right combination of foods and

Exactly how dedicated are you to the concepts of recycling, scrimping and using all-natural products in your food?

If you're willing to put your money-shot where you mouth is, you'd send away for a copy of the cookbook "Natural Harvest," which goes into stomach-churning detail about how to store, prepare and serve semen as food.

Yes, it has really, erm, come to this.

"Semen is not only nutritious, but it also has a wonderful texture and amazing cooking properties," the book's description goes. "Like fine wine and cheeses, the taste of semen is complex and dynamic. Semen is inexpensive to produce and is commonly available in many, if not most, homes and restaurants. Despite all of these positive qualities, semen remains neglected as a food. This book hopes to change that."

And, yes, it appears to be a real book, and a second edition is already on the way.

Right off the bat, you get a recipe for a cocktail (a White Russian, naturally):

2 oz. vodka
1 oz. coffee

In these videos, The Culinary Institute of America's Chef Shirley Cheng shows us how to make authentic Japanese tuna maki or sushi rolls (the word "maki" means "roll" or "to roll"). Rice seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and kombu (dried kelp); top-quality tuna; and cucumber are wrapped up with thin sheets of seaweed called nori.

Note: "Sushi" does not mean raw fish, as is sometimes assumed, but actually refers to the vinegared rice that is used in maki and other types of sushi, including nigiri (finger-shaped sushi). Cheng demonstrates the basic techniques for seasoning the rice, creating well-formed rolls using a bamboo mat, and slicing perfect bite-sized rounds-with these skills, you can make maki with any filling, including raw and cooked seafood, vegetables, egg, and tofu.

Watch Shirley Cheng make Japanese tuna maki rolls here.

Recipe

Tuna Maki

Epicurious | December 2008

by Chef Shirley Cheng, The Culinary Institute of America

These 12 products-including measurers, plates, scales, and cards-will help you stay in charge of how much you eat It seems that everything these days is super-sized, from our homes and our cars to the food we eat. "Portion sizes have subtly and steadily increased over the past 30 years and are now

Delicious recipes and tips for one-pot casseroles, gratins, soups, and stews

When the wind is howling outside and you're chilled to the bone, reach for a homey casserole, gratin, soup, or stew to warm you up. One big advantage to making our favorite no-fuss one-pot recipes: Clean-up won't be such a chore, so you'll be able to spend more time with friends and family.

Recipes

Great Gratins

Penne and Vegetable Gratin

Crab Meat Gratin

Swiss Chard Gratin

Macaroni and Cheese with Prosciutto and Taleggio

Cozy Casseroles

Sausage and Egg Casserole with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Mozzarella

Cod, Potato, and Fennel Casserole

Bean Burrito Casserole

Vegetable Casserole with Tofu Topping

Sumptuous Stews

Seafood Stew with Fennel and Thyme

Colombian Chicken, Corn, and Potato Stew

White Bean, Butternut Squash, Kale and Olive Stew

Veal Stew with Green Olives and Potatoes

Satisfying Soups

Roasted Yellow Pepper Soup and Roasted Tomato

We all know that the healthiest snacks are unprocessed or minimally processed foods like fruit and veggies, nuts, low-fat dairy products, and whole grains. But sometimes you just have to splurge on something salty, crunchy, gooey, or sweet-or all four of those things at once (pass the kettle corn!). Epicurious editors worked their way through several grocery-cart loads of diet and reduced-calorie versions of popular snacks and came up with the ten tasty treats gathered here. Each one will satisfy your snack-attack without blowing your diet plan.

Breakfast, Snack, or Granola Bar:

Special K Cereal Bars

Per serving (one bar, .8oz./22g): 90 calories, 1.5g fat (1g saturated), 0mg cholesterol, 17g carbohydrate

Frankly, we weren't bowled over by any of the cereal or granola bars we tasted (most were "too sweet or stale, or just plain gross," in the words of one editor), but these were the best by far: a good grab-and-go option that's crunchy and nicely sweet without being

In our recent diet poll, Epicurious editors asked readers to tell us which is the best diet choice: low-carb, low-sugar, low-fat, or low-calorie. The overwhelming answer? Low-calorie, with 41.1 percent of the votes.

They're smart cookies, according to many nutrition and healthy-eating experts. "All diets are about calories, no matter what they're called-they all reduce calories, otherwise you wouldn't lose weight, " says Dr. Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University (the department she chaired from 1988-2003) and author of Food Politics, Safe Food, and the James Beard Award-winning What to Eat.

"A reduced-calorie diet is the only effective diet for weight loss," agrees Monica Reinagel, chief nutritionist for our sister site NutritionData.com and author of The Inflammation Free Diet Plan. "You can eat a low-carb diet, a low-fat diet, or a low-sugar diet, but the only way you're going to lose