food and nutrition

I've been stewing.

Recently I was in Orlando, Fla., for the American Culinary Federation convention. One night I had an absolutely wonderful meal at Seasons 52, a Darden upscale, healthy/seasonal concept. And then I went to the ludicrous Ice Bar for a drink. Yes, a bar made of ice in which you try to look suave in a huge zip-up snowsuit in a 27-degree room.

Even though biscuits are among my favorite foods, I rarely order them in a restaurant.

Instead, I make them myself.

Rich Vargo is refreshingly honest in explaining why, back in 1995, he got his first boat.
"Like everything a guy does, it helps us get women," he says, laughing.

A Garden Vegetable Chopped Salad recipe comes from reader Lyn Wood of St. Petersburg, Fla. This is a quick and easy salad to put together, and the possibilities are endless. This is the recipe Wood sent, but you could certainly make it your own by adding your favorite vegetables. One thing I would do to this salad is increase the amount of bacon. It adds a delicious crunch.

Summer is tomato time. So take this quiz about all things tomato.

1. The United States, which has a $2 billion tomato industry, is second only to which country in production:

a) Italy
b) France
c) China

2. In 1965, which state adopted tomato juice as its official state beverage:

a) Ohio
b) Florida
c) Alaska

Ingredient obsession can be a good thing. Sometimes a certain ingredient pops up again and again in a store, in a restaurant or in your pantry. If you keep tasting it and cooking with it, you soon know enough about it to bore your friends at dinner.

The bride said she wanted cookies, not a cake.
From photography to flower arranging, friends pitched in to make this wedding special, and I volunteered to bake. When she asked for cookies, I was sure she was just trying to take it easy on me. So I talked her up to cupcake-sized mini layer cakes. There would be two flavors, and they would look like tiny wedding cakes.

Dear Lynne: Do you know how to make those fruit waters that you can get in some Hispanic restaurants? They make mango and watermelon and a pretty red one. They seem pretty simple, but I expect they are harder than I think. -- Michael in Los Angeles

Company's coming for a Fourth of July cookout.
Odds are, burgers are on the menu. Unless you are feeding the whole neighborhood, puh-leez don't settle for preformed patties, frozen or not. When you select the meat (it doesn't always have to be beef) and form the patties yourself, you get to control the quality of the meat and portion size while customizing the flavors.

We made these tasty enchiladas with leftover chicken and fresh spinach, but the dish would work just as well with steak, shellfish or mixed vegetables. Pan-frying instead of baking halves the prep time. The recipe comes from "Robin Rescues Dinner," by Robin Miller (Clarkson Potter, 2009 paperback).

PAN-FRIED CHICKEN ENCHILADAS WITH SPINACH AND CHEESE