Food

By Lauren Passell for HowAboutWe

Jay Gabler just rounded up this list of the 10 most awkward appetizers, and he is 100% correct. Is it a coincidence that almost all of them are foods usually associated with dates? Bruschetta, I believe, is a popular item to be shared at a wine bar or something. OR A PICNIC! I don't know! But on second thought, I have to agree. Things could get a little awkward. The "little heap of tomatoes stacked precipitously on a chunk of dry bread that's too big to eat in a single bite-so you bite it in half, and all the tomato chunks fall off" IS awkward.

Related: 10 Things They Never Tell You About Marrying A Chef

Oysters, we are told, are an aphrodisiac. But the entire idea is completely disgusting when you think about it, and it's unlikely that you'll be able to eat them with grace, no matter how much a lady you may be.

Related: 10 Bad Habits Women Have On First Dates

Nachos, oh don't tell me nachos are on the "no" list. But they are. It's true -- eat

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Is your lettuce withered and shriveled? We'll show you how to perk things up. By Tim Cebula

Nice lettuce is a mighty pretty thing, until it shrivels and withers 'twixt store and salad bowl-or, worse, rots and blackens around the edges. Once opened, even relatively shelf-stable bagged lettuces suffer this fate. And lettuce leaves are prone to nasty bruising when roughly handled. This is among the most delicate of foods.

The main storage problem is usually too much moisture. Wet lettuce spoils faster as water condenses on the leaves and suffocates them. More moisture also means more gases, like ethylene, which speed up ripening and spoilage in fruits and vegetables. But here's the rub: Lettuce needs some water to stay crisp-otherwise leaves dry out and droop.

See More of the Most Common Cooking Mistakes

The solution: Keep lettuce moist, but just barely. Loosely wrap a head (or the contents of bagged lettuce) in slightly damp paper towels, and seal in a zip-top bag. Th

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by Kemp Minifie, Gourmet

When you walk into a newsstand and find yourself surrounded by the big, juicy burgers gracing the covers of practically every food magazine, you know Memorial Day and Father's Day are right around the corner. Burgers are so insanely popular these days that they could be topping Mom and apple pie as iconic symbols of America.

See also: 10 Outrageous Pies

But talking beef also brings up some unsavory topics, such as harmful pathogens that may be lurking in the meat. Too many magazines, Web sites, and books gloss over the topic. OK, you may be tired of scare stories concerning the foods you love, but I don't know anyone who relishes a night spent hugging the toilet bowl, or even worse, a hospital bed. So here are the eight essential tips you need to know before you fire up your grill.

1. USE AN INSTANT-READ THERMOMETER

The only way to tell if your burger has reached a safe temperature is to use an instant-read thermometer. Go for the digital ones: They a

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By Emily McKenna, Recipe Developer & Tester for EatingWell Magazine

This Memorial Day I'm hosting a picnic and each of my friends is going to bring a dish. I am in charge of dessert. Lucky for me it is cherry time-the few wonderful weeks in between spring and summer when fresh cherries are available at my farmers' market. (Sweet and tart cherries are also available year-round canned or frozen.)

Recipes to Try: Delicious Cherry Recipes including Dark Cherry Bundt Cake

I've already chosen my dessert-No-Bake Cherry Cheesecake Bars from our article about cherry season in the May/June issue of EatingWell Magazine. This recipe is part bar, part cherry pie and part cheesecake fused into a super-easy, no-bake dessert that will become your go-to for warm-weather picnicking. The best part? You don't need the oven! Here's the recipe:

More Recipes to Try: Greek Yogurt Cheesecake & More Healthy Cheesecake Recipes
Quick & Easy Fresh Fruit Desserts Ready in 15 Minutes or Less

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Smooth and mild, yellow mustard is a North American thing. In other parts of the world, mustards are hotter, darker, and grainier. But what yellow mustard may lack in worldliness and guts, it makes up for in versatility. Yellow mustard is as much at home on a ballpark hot dog as it is on cold cuts or in potato salad, barbecue sauce, salad dressing, or marinades for chicken or pork. To determine which yellow mustard is best, we bought seven nationally available brands and called 24 cooks and editors from America's Test Kitchen to taste them plain and with steamed hot dogs.

Yellow mustard is made from white (also called yellow) mustard seed, which is flavorful but doesn't cause any of the nasal burn of brown or black mustard seed; these last two are used in Dijon, Chinese, and other spicy mustards. Our tasters wanted to actually taste the mustard seed; the two brands they judged to have the most mustard flavor both list mustard seed second in their ingredients. The other brands li

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If I learned anything this weekend it is that wine makes moms happy. And wine popsicles make moms really happy. (Especially my mom, who enjoyed three of these.)

We had the best weekend with lots of family and food. The best combo. THEM and I were very busy in the kitchen for a Mother's Day brunch. We made granola cups, blueberry cake, frittata (coming this week on LTM), and then we had these Wine Ice Pops. They were easy, fun, and delicious. I liked the Sauvignon Blanc/Peach best, but Dean picked the Pinot Noir/Blackberry/Blueberry as the winner. I guess we'll be making both all summer.

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Toddlers are scrappy little things. When they're out there, asserting their tiny independence, there's no end to the number of issues they can pick a fight about. The kitchen table seems to be a particularly beloved battleground, which can be exhausting and exacerbating for you, the personal servant caregiver. But don't worry; there are a few tactical measures you can try to get your little warrior to eat.



1. Know their needs
Toddlers need an average of around 1000 calories a day (depending on the child's age, size, and activity level) - but this is not a checkout-line-magazine diet type of deal! Rather than counting calories, it's much more important to ensure that your child is getting the right combination of nutrients each day. A general guideline for healthy daily intake is the following:

2-3 cups of dairy (could be milk, cheese, yogurt, etc.)
4 servings of fruits and veggies (the recommended serving size at this stage is one tablespoon per year of age)
2 servings of prot

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