Wednesday, June 21, 2006
A bumpy road
ORRVILLE -- Smith Dairy Products Company is taking Rocky Road fans through the looking glass with its new Ruggles premium ice cream Bumpy Road flavor. Ice cream lovers are familiar with Ruggles Rocky Road, but now they can try the flavor's "mirror image," Ruggles Bumpy Road. While Rocky Road has a rich chocolate ice cream base and a creamy marshmallow swirl with chocolate covered almonds, Bumpy Road throws it in reverse: it has a marshmallow ice cream base with a fudge swirl and chocolate cookie crunchies. The new product is in stores now.
Scoop-alicious
Three of Haagen-Dazs' new ice creams earned raves from Chicago Tribune testers. Super-rich Mayan chocolate gets an added spark from cinnamon. They also liked two in the lower-fat Light line: caramel cone (vanilla ice cream, caramel and ice-cream-cone pieces) and vanilla caramel brownie. A pint is $3.90-$4.30.
A silver lining
Make grill cleanup easier with these disposable aluminum grill liners from CleanBBQ. The 12-by-20-inch sheets are sturdy yet flexible, and especially helpful when you're mopping or basting on messy sauces. Just be careful with the sharp edges. A pack of 12 costs $10 at Home Depot stores; by mail, a pack of 20 costs $18 at cleanbbq.com.
Keep your picnics safe
Just in time for summer picnics, the Partnership for Food Safety Education has updated its fightbac.org Web site. The site's purpose is to educate consumers about food safety and prevent food-borne illness.
The basic motto is "Clean, Separate, Cook and Chill," which means hands and surfaces should be washed often; fruits, vegetables and meats should not be cross-contaminated during preparation; food should be cooked to proper temperatures; and fresh foods should be chilled as soon as they are bought, while leftovers should be refrigerated within two hours.
Feel like a winner?
Allrecipes.com, a Web site for home cooks, offers its first America's Top Recipe contest. Grand prize: $10,000. Submissions accepted online or by mail until midnight July 7. Visit allrecipes.com/contest for details.
Eat beans, help pets
Proceeds from a children's book published by the Bush's Baked Beans company will go to the American Humane Association. The paperback book, which sells for $3.95 plus two proof-of-purchase receipts or labels from a Bush's product, tells a story about animal loyalty using the Bush mascot, a golden retriever named Duke.
To order, send $3.95 plus receipts or labels along with your name, address with ZIP code, e-mail address and check or money order to P.O. Box 5501, Kalamazoo, MI 49003-5501.Also, for more about Duke, visit bushbeans.com/dukestails. Young children will enjoy the site.
Parental guidance
"See Dad Cook" (Clarkson Potter, $16.95) comes to the aid of guys who can assemble furniture and fix a lawn mower -- but feel powerless in a kitchen occupied by hungry children. Author-chef Wayne Harley Brachman keeps the prose clear and breezy ("Quesadillas are perfect for mass feedings," he aptly notes) and delivers 125 recipes that aren't so much fast and quick as they are streamlined and instructive.