"food and cooking" news and stories

Just because it's homemade doesn't necessarily mean it's any heathier or better for you, but still, the novelty of re-creating things that we normally buy at the store is fun. Then again, I've always thought that storebought items were originally made in the home kitchen, and were made "convenient" by mass producing them for stores. After that, we just forgot how to make macaroni and cheese and soup at home, right?

Nonetheless, if your kitchen isn't too hot to fire up the oven, try your hand at these recipes for: Hostess Cupcakes, Almost Oreos (faux-reos?!), Pepperidge Farm's Orange Milano Cookies, and Little Debbie's Oatmeal Creme Pies. We've seen a giant homemade sno-ball before, and I'm sure I've seen a recipe for Twinkies somewhere, too.

Have you ever ingeniusly re-created a storebought food at home? Let us know!

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I've learned now that the beauty of pesto that it is simple. The flavor of the pesto itself relies on nothing more than the extreme freshness of the ingredients, and heck, you don't even have to use any major appliances to make it (mortar and pestle works better than a Cuisinart, I've heard), let alone cook the actual pesto.

Since the pesto is simple, using it is simple as well. All you have to do it toss it together with some cooked pasta, throw in some grilled chicken, and you're good to go.

The idea for a bulgogi burger came to me last summer when I was thinking about entering a burger grill-off/competition. Little did I know that the "Bulgogi Burger" is already a standard menu item on fast food burger joints in Korea. I was slightly disheartened, since my idea wasn't original, and scrapped it for the competition.

But I never forgot about making it myself. I've never actually tried a bulgogi burger in Korea (it's been about 15 years since I've been there), and decided that I didn't want to know how it is made in tha' Motherland. I wanted to come up with my own. Besides, someone also told me that many "Bulgogi Burgers" are not burgers at all - they are real pieces of bulgogi slapped between the buns. Who knows? I didn't care.

Most pasta salads are simply dishes of mostly pasta that are served cold, thus making it a "salad." However, this dish is mostly vegetables, including lettuce, with only a little bit of pasta to satisfy the carb cravers. There's no meat in it, though it would probably make a pretty good main dish if you add grilled chicken or shrimp.

Who didn't love popsicles when they were a kid? I know that I did. They were sweet, refreshing and turned your tongue bright colors - a crucial popsicle feature for kids. After a while, I acquired a set of plastic popsicle molds and moved away from the neon, ice-cream truck offerings. I would freeze sodas, fruit juices and, occasionally, stuff them full of semi-soft ice cream (so I could eat if off a stick). With summer coming up, I think it's a good time to relive those childhood memories and start making some popsicles at home. Popsicle-making is also a great activity to do with your kids, since they can pick out their own flavors. For the neon tongue look, take a tip from Elise and add a few drops of food coloring to the frozen popsicles. This mold will make 10 pops at a time and comes with 50 sticks, though it's not hard to find more at craft stores when you run out.

Want some recipes? Try:

• Make your own pudding pops
• Make popsicles with fruit juices
• Strawberry margarita popsicles (nonalcoholic)
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Popsicles

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