I have a confession to make. This year, I did not bake Scott's birthday cake from scratch. It's the fourth birthday confection I've baked for him in the years we've known each other, and it's the first time I didn't start with raw ingredients and a recipe. Instead, I used two boxes of Naturally Nora's cake mix and saved myself a whole lot of prep time. No one at his party had any idea that I hadn't slaved over the cake, measuring flour, beating egg whites and creaming butter. I got a million compliments and as I received each one, I just smiled and said thanks (as I write this, I'm beginning to feel like a 1950's housewife), mentally forwarding them to Nora herself.

The thing is, I don't feel bad about passing off that cake as my own. I did bake it up in the big aluminum pan I inherited from my great-aunt and I sweated over the frosting. It's just not always possible to bake a cake from scratch, and it's awfully nice to know that there's a dependable, natural cake mix out there among all those chemical-laden ones that is just as easy and tastes really good.

So next time you have to make cupcakes for a school party and you find yourself running short on time, grab one of Nora's mixes (they come in five flavors) and let yourself off the hook.

As a kid, I thought that sliced-to-order Boar's Head-brand deli meats seemed like a huge step up from pre-sliced Oscar Meyer. But then a whole world opened up before me of gourmet shops selling heritage ham and restaurants who cured their own salumi. I've partaken of true, two-foot-diameter Mortadella from a shop in Bologna and buttery, beefy pastirma--the original pastrami--from Turkey. When I thought sliced meat, Boar's Head was the furthest thing from my mind.

Unfortunately, my wallet can't keep up with my expensive taste, and I've recently resolved to do most of my food shopping at a regular supermarket instead of gourmet shops. Combine with that a commitment to preparing my own lunch instead of purchasing it out, and I was headed to the old deli section of the store for turkey sandwich fixin's. I stared at the many standard options, all unappealing despite their supposed selling points: no glaze or rub could transform ordinary, mass-produced sandwich meat.

But then a few much smaller specimens caught my eye, all labeled "Boar's Head All-Natural." No nitrates, no hormones, no 17% water added. I sampled one called "Tuscan Style Turkey," swathed through and through with an appealing, and non-artificial mixture of herbs like rosemary and oregano. The meat itself lacked any of that weird slickness found on some sliced meat; in fact, it actually tasted like sliced fresh turkey. Imagine! I took home a half pound (some pictured here awaiting sandwich duty) and have enjoyed every bit. Next I'll try "French Country Style," which throws lavender into the mix. It may not beat something small-batch and handmade and $30/pound, but it will most certainly do.

The Fancy Food Show is starting to become a distant memory, as the demands of regular old work and life push their back into the forefront of my mind. However, there are a few products that continue to stick with me and continue to marvel me with their absolute deliciousness.

One such product is Cocio. It doesn't look like much, in fact it's nothing more than chocolate milk in a bottle. However, it is the best chocolate milk I've ever tasted. It is sweet, but not cloying, thick without being sludgy and every so chocolate-y. It is a Danish product that has been around since 1951 and in that country, is often consumed as street food, in conjunction with sausages (at least according to Wikipedia). It is also all natural, made of nothing more than chocolate, sugar (no high fructose corn syrup here) and milk. If you think of yourself as a chocolate milk connoisseur, this is a product to seek out.

Back when I was in high school, I discovered that you could get maple sweetened candy canes in the health food section of Fred Meyer (a west coast chain of stores that sell groceries, clothes, homewares and just about everything else. I've lived on the east coast for six years and I still miss it). I bought them instead of the traditional ones because I liked the old-fashioned color the maple gave the candy. I also liked the idea of eating something that wasn't filled with lots of artificial colors.

Now there's another way to get candy canes that make you feel incrementally better about eating them. According to our friends over at Green Daily, you can now get organic, vegan, fair trade, GMO-free candy canes. They are made by a company called Pure Fun. They use all natural, kosher, vegan, gluten-free and Fair Trade ingredients and they source their cane sugar from companies that "green cut" it by hand. You can find Pure Fun candy at Whole Foods or online.

Yikes.

Officials are investigating 51 cases of salmonella (in 17 different states) that have been reported from customers who have bought Veggie Booty snacks. The company has decided to recall all lots and sizes of the snack food. And yes that includes all codes and expiration dates. The company name is Robert's American Gourmet.

This is a pretty big recall, since this is something that is probably sold in the store where you shop. Customers are urged to throw away the food if you have it in your home and call the company to get your money back.

The words "all natural" on the packaging of Capri Sun juice drinks have prompted a Florida woman to file a lawsuit against Kraft Foods, Inc., the drink's producer, the Associated Press reported. Assisted by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Linda Rex of Boynton Beach, Fla., claims that the inclusion of high fructose corn syrup is what makes the drink in the little silver pouch less than "all natural." You might remember the CSPI from when they filed and then withdrew lawsuits against Kentucky Fried Chicken over trans-fat use last year, or for their similar actions against Starbucks. A recent press release from CSPI points out that the organization has also challenged 7UP's use of the word "natural." A statement from Kraft says that the "all natural" label was already on the way out and will soon be replaced with packaging that claims "no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives,'' the AP reported. CSPI's always-witty executive director Michael Jacobson, coiner of phrases such as "venti-sized health problems" and "Kentucky Fried coronary," said HCFS "would more accurately be called 'Fresh from the Factory.'"

Since we heard about some chefs who are not exactly following the all-natural philosophy of the "Alice Waters school of cooking" yesterday, it seems only fair to take a look at one of her cookbooks today. The Chez Panisse Café Cookbook has a lot of material on her beliefs, her philosophies about food, ingredients and cooking, and even a few recipes to complement the text. Essentially, the core of Waters' beliefs is that food should be produced as sustainably as possible and served when it as fresh as it can be. Her recipes focus on highlighting the flavor of the ingredients in as close to a natural state as possible.

Chez Panisse Café is not exactly the same restaurant as Chez Panisse. It is actually a somewhat more casual restaurant above the Chez Panisse dining room where dishes are ordered a la carte, rather than as part of a prix fixe. Not that the less formal presentation detracts from the food or flavors. Instead it gives the chefs a bit wider range of dishes to work with, both casual and fancy. The recipes in this cookbook are some of both: Beef Carpaccio with Capers, Parmesan and Anchovies, Roast Pork Loin with Rosemary and Fennel, Meyer Lemon Eclairs and Pizzetta with Farm Egg and Prosciutto.

The popular "un-cola," 7-Up, is now one hundred percent natural. Cadbury Schweppes put the beverage through a slight reformulation to remove an artificial preservative in the drink. A spokesperson for the company said that they expect sales to increase once the ad campaign publicizing the change kicks off next month, as consumers are more interested than ever in healthy products. The TV spots will show cans of 7-Up as fruits and vegetables, being picked from trees or dug from the ground, but the company will not claim that the drink has any specific health benefits.

[Image USA Today]

 

Eggland's Best Eggs have been around for more than a decade, but consumers' ever-increasing awareness of health issues and interest in specialty products is giving the company that produces them a definite sales boost. The reason that the interest in Eggland's Best is growing is that their eggs have some impressive nutritional statistics. They contain 25% less saturated fat, almost 20% less cholesterol and seven times more vitamin E than there is in an ordinary egg. They also have triple the amount of the heart-healthy Omega 3 fatty acids, at 100 mg per egg. These differences from ordinary eggs start by feeding Eggland chickens, which are antibiotic and hormone-free, a patented, natural, all-vegetarian feed.

Eggland's eggs can be used in recipes just like ordinary eggs and are recognizable by an "EB" stamped on each egg. If you want to give them a try, check to see if there is a retailer near you.

There is no widely accepted definition of the word "natural" as far as the Food and Drug Administration is concerned. Many products use the term in their marketing but contain synthetic ingredients and the vast majority of people would support an  official definition. Smaller majorities favored basing the definition on the amount of processing that a product undergoes or how exactly the raw material is altered. The Sugar Association has been lobbying the FDA to adopt an official standard - such as the USDA has for beef and poultry - for some time to try and prevent manufactured sugar substitutes, like Splenda, from labeling themselves as a natural product. "Natural" is defined by the USDA as any product "containing no artificial ingredient or added color and [that] is only minimally processed (a process which does not fundamentally alter the raw product)."