Kitchen Scoop Blog

What I’m pondering now:

Reading the news lately, it’s hard to get a handle on exactly what’s happening with supermarket food costs. Prices for dairy, meat, fruits, vegetables and bread have all fallen steadily over the past eight months, according to a Labor Department‘s price index of food sold to be eaten at home – but only by a total of 1 percent. (Click here for that complete report.)

However, over at the Agriculture Department, experts are saying prices for “food at home,” a category that includes purchases at grocery stores, convenience stores and farmers’ markets, will rise 2 to 3 percent this year, beginning as the economy recovers. Last year, the department said, prices for food at home rose 6.4 percent, the highest jump in nearly 20 years.

And an economist for Wells Fargo told the New York Times that the energy savings grocers got so far this year has largely played out, and therefore prices will start to rise. (Click here for this full report.)

When our recipe for Strawberry-Feta Side Salad ran in the newspaper, Desperation Dinners reader Louise Hyson raised this concern:

“Are you saying people should use the so-called prewashed baby field greens as they come from the plastic shell? Are you aware of some cases of salmonella or botulism (I'm not sure which it was) from using them unrinsed at home?”

We love Indian food. But in an attempt to stretch the family budget we’ve been cutting back on restaurant dining, and this limits our access to the curries, pilafs and other exotic fare we enjoy at our favorite Indian eateries. So we started to wonder if cooking Indian food at home could fit into our busy weeknight schedules.

Preparation time, it turns out, wasn’t the obstacle. Surprisingly, it was the same issue we faced when eating out: Expense. Based on a survey of three mainstream Indian cookbooks, the average recipe uses between six and 10 herbs and spices (either fresh or dried). Unless you already have a well-stocked spice cabinet, purchasing them will quickly add up.

If you plan to cook Indian food often, this might not be a problem in that many recipes rely on the same seasonings. If you just want to experiment, our best solution is to find a store that sells spices in bulk, and buy only the amount you need for the recipe. (There’s no need to pay $4.50 for a jar of turmeric when you only need a quarter-teaspoon!) Many upscale specialty markets sell spices in bulk, as do some larger supermarkets.

Anyone else have ideas for managing spice-intensive recipes?

This steakhouse favorite is considered a side dish in a restaurant but our recipe for Overstuffed Twice-Baked Potatoes makes a filling entree. As we get older (read rounder), we don't need a steak to go with the loaded baked potato.

But is it realistic for a regular weeknight? Yep. You can make our Overstuffed Twice-Baked Potatoes in under 25 minutes. Well, that is, with a couple of tricks.

From Guest Blogger Liza Bennett Gyllenhaal, who also took these photos:

At the end of most summers in the Berkshires, my cherry tomato vines hang so thick and heavy with ripe, red cargo that their metal supports sway under the weight. Not so this unusually damp, cool season. By early September, already getting word of frost warnings a few counties north of us, I finally gave up hoping for a miracle (or at least a decent stretch of 90-degree heat and some uninterrupted sun) and harvested the sorry crop of mostly marble-sized tomatoes. With a tomato blight wiping out so many of the professionally grown plants in the area, however, I prized even this meager yield and vowed to make the most of it.

As so often happens in nature, the dark clouds and rain that stunted one corner of the garden turned out to provide a silver lining, or — as in the case of my chard— a vibrant spectrum of color in another. This is only the second year I’ve grown rainbow chard, but I’m already deeply enamored of this sturdy, reliable, workhorse of a leafy green vegetable that also happens to be both beautiful and versatile. My seedlings thrived through our gloomy July. Stood firm during the hurricane downpours of August. And now, in early September, form rows of deep green and magenta plume-shaped leaves that look something like a chorus line of fan-fan dancers, swaying above their red, orange, pink, and gold-tinted stalks.

Rainbow chard is like spinach, only more sophisticated and showy.

What I’m pondering now:

Sales at Whole Foods stores are slipping so the grocery chain is changing gears: After 15 years as a gourmet destination, The Wall Street Journal reports that the grocer is returning to its original mission as a destination for natural foods and healthy living.

Cheap will also be the new norm as Whole Foods pushes value meals that feed a family of four for $15. Even though more people are cooking at home rather than dining in restaurants, Whole Foods is finding that people are trading down from premium meats to weekly discounted deals. Costco and Trader Joe’s, which Whole Foods ignored two years ago, are now considered key competitors. Have any of you tried these value meals? I’m curious.

Meanwhile, over at Sam’s Club:

Last week this price club giant reversed a longstanding policy and began offering its own discount coupons. Sam’s still doesn’t accept manufacturer’s coupons, however. My guess – that’s a mistake that won’t last much longer if the recession does. What’s next? Empathizing with their employees?

Pig out:

Now might be a good time to start watching for supermarket deals on pork and stock your freezer.

Guest Blogger Debbie Moose says:

I am crazy for figs. Most of the time, this love is like being back in high school, infatuated with the football quarterback, and longing for even the tiniest glance.

Figs are old-fashioned plants not widely installed in suburban yards. They sprawl as they grow and need sun, which I have little of in my yard. On the rare occasions that I can purchase figs, they’re priced like gems.

This all means that I must beg for figs from friends, neighbors and perfect strangers, (often little old ladies with giant fig bushes who want to talk for half a day while I’m trying to pick; but I will do a lot for figs).

Even with shameless pleading I usually end up with a handful of figs here, a few there; enough for a scanty bag in my freezer by late summer. Barely sufficient for a few precious jars of jam. The past few seasons here have been particularly hard on my devotion, when drought withered most fruit crops including figs.

But this year - whoa. I have declared 2009 The Year of the Fig.

Just in time for back-to-school and back-to-bake sale season, have we got a cookie recipe for you!

“When remodeling my kitchen a few years back, I actually designed the whole project around my favorite oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe,” said Margie Fendley of Summerville, S.C.

That’s what Margie told us, but we have to admit we were a bit skeptical. Re-doing the whole kitchen over one recipe? How did that work exactly?

Sometimes I feel like I need a degree in Italian to shop the supermarket pasta section. You’ve got your farfalle (bow ties) and your piccolini (mini farfalle). And then there’s the ruote (wagon wheels); conchigliette (small sea shells); spaghettini (thin spaghetti); and pasta all'uovo (egg pasta). I may be confused, but I’m not complaining. Pasta rescues me weekly, and it's all too easy to get into a rut -- same old noodle, same old sauce.

Choosing a different shape of pasta to toss with a favorite sauce will give a new look and feel to dinner with no extra work for the cook. Factor in the flavored or colored pastas and you’ve got even more fun. During a recent stop on the pasta aisle, I counted 12 shapes in tri-color pastas alone.

Whether it's a Labor Day picnic or poolside chat, wraps are quick to make, convenient to transport and easy to eat. Wraps are simply sandwiches whose fillings are tucked inside a flour tortilla -- like this Turkey Provolone version. You can buy the flour tortillas plain or flavored with various combinations of sun-dried tomatoes, herbs and vegetables.

The only thing you need to know to make a wrap is that it's the fat in the tortilla that makes it pliable enough to bend around the ingredients. (So don't substitute fat-free flour tortillas.) More specifically, the fat needs to be warm. A quick zap in the microwave does the trick.

As for fillings, anything goes. Take a lovely, light green spinach tortilla flecked with garlic, fill it with plain-old deli ingredients -- or even leftover, sliced grilled chicken -- and somehow the result doesn't end up ordinary at all.

Whether you're headed to the park or out to the back deck, wraps make a flexible, stylish meal. We'd love to hear what's in your picnic basket this Labor Day. To tell us, click here.