food and nutrition

Springtime, summertime, whenever. It's always Blueberry Muffin season. Try this take on the classic.
This recipe for All-American Blueberry Muffins comes from Vanoni Farms of Somis, Calif.

1-1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cups butter or shortening
3 eggs
3 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Barbecue season is here. And that means seasonal warnings about the potential links between grilling and cancer. With just a little work, barbecuers can mitigate the threat. Take the safe-grilling quiz.

1. Heterocyclic amines (HCA) form on meat (including beef, pork, poultry or lamb) when this high-protein muscle compound in the meat is mixed with amino acids under intense heat:

Springtime, summertime, whenever. It's always Blueberry Muffin season. Try this take on the classic.
This recipe for All-American Blueberry Muffins comes from Vanoni Farms of Somis, Calif.

1-1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cups butter or shortening
3 eggs
3 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

WHO: Ebonie Aice, 33, a stylist at Simply Raw salon on Busch Boulevard, Tampa.
WHAT: Macaroni and cheese.

We don't need the changing of seasons or the smell of smoldering coals to alert us that barbecue season is near -- the influx of new barbecue books is always the first sign.
With a growing trend toward comfort food and traditional recipes, and the economy pushing cooks back into the kitchen, these tomes are as popular as ever.

In her recently updated and provocative cookbook, "Glorious One-Pot Meals," Elizabeth Yarnell writes, "It has been said that there are only nine cooking methods on this planet: saute, fry, bake, broil, grill, slow-cook, braise, boil and steam."
But Yarnell makes it 10 with her process for "infusion cooking," a term she's actually patented.

"Brewing is the extraction into water of desirable substances from the coffee bean, in amounts that produce a balanced, pleasing drink."
"On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen" by Harold McGee

Linda Watson wants to reduce greenhouse gases -- one pot of beans at a time.
The 53-year-old Raleigh, N.C., woman has developed a cooking method that she hopes will help people eat healthy, low-cost meals that use less energy, send less waste to the landfill and create a smaller carbon footprint. She preaches her method on her Web site, www.cookforgood.com.

Growing up in California, Zack Gross got to taste his share of fish tacos.
"Out there, everybody has a fish-taco recipe," the owner of Z Grille in St. Petersburg, Fla., said. "But the secret is fresh fish."

Food-frugality experts tend to agree on a list of basic approaches to saving money on groceries:
-- Plan meals ahead of time, check what you have in the refrigerator and pantry, then make up a shopping list and stick to it.
-- Don't shop hungry.
-- If possible, don't shop for food with kids. It's easier to avoid impulse buys that way.