Instead of listening to whining about the type of princess party, you can turn this book over to the princess and see which direction the party motif takes as this book is written for young readers. Let them leaf through the options before you ever even get involved!

Depending on the season of the party or the pretend party, they can figure out which recipe will be perfect for all the princesses in attendance! Beery has the menu and party ideas all compacted together for the ultimate “P” party. Chapters are divided into the following themes: Snowflake, Spa, Garden Fairy, Mermaid, Enchanted Pony, and the most recognizable one, the Pink Princess party.  This book provides an opportunity to teach young children how to follow a recipe and understand basic measurement principles.

If you are thinking winter themed events then the snowflake one may be the perfect solution as Meringue Cookies will accomplish more than just a response to a themed party. What is not to like about learning how to make meringues! If it’s anxiety about a party favor, then Beery suggests going the rock candy route with a wearable, and edible, crystal candy necklace.

As long as there are princesses, there are opportunities for fun, adventure cooking.

With the increasing number of Vegan followers and those who subscribe to meatless days or think about healthier options, here’s a good primer: Color Me Vegan. What’s particularly enjoyable about this book is its color-coded emphasis on eating healthy; eating vegan. The recipes are easy to follow and attractive to lure you into trying something new. Those who just want the burst of color will be able to tweak the recipe to accommodate the omnivores.

Now that everyone has written about Gluten-Free and its mainstream numbers, the cookbooks are popping out of the printers.  Here’s one (125 Gluten-Free Vegetarian Recipes) that includes recipes for vegans although the combination of being G-F and V can be challenging at times. The highlight of this book is the straightforward approach from writer, Carol Fenster, who has an impressive history covering special diet needs including earlier gluten-free cookbooks: Would you believe her earlier 1,000 Gluten-Free Recipe cookbook! The 125 G-F recipe book will be available in July.

Neither a Vegan nor a Gluten-Free approach to vegetables, but one that considers how time starved we all are: The Best 30-Minute Vegetarian Recipes makes it easy to approach the summer heat with quick solutions to a healthy meal. Most of the 150 recipes are low in fat and in sugar. When the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers are market ready or ready to be picked from your own garden, the Gazpacho recipe may prove a perfect summer favorite.

I have to leave the vegetable track for a moment and consider the importance of good bread to accompany all these veggie recipes. As we’ve watched foods come into vogue, we recognize the return of a once-popular piece of kitchen equipment: The Bread Machine. Prices have dropped on this handy kitchen accessory due to its formerly untrendy status so this is a perfect item to add now and awaken the family to the delicious morning aroma of  just-baked bread. The Artisan Bread Machine with its 250 recipes fits the ease-of-use bill. Nothing’s better than combining artisan techniques into the workhouse machine! Add to that the summertime availability of delicious tomatoes (atop a foccaccia) and the desire to serve a healthy pizza lets you add your fresh vegetable toppings to the wonderful crusts from the bread machine.

These are just some of the many new cookbooks worth your summertime lolling pleasure. Relax with an iced coffee, and find the perfect solution to any meal period. Enjoy.

Besides ample room to negotiate the aisles, what else is new in this brightly lit environment? Where does one begin? Maybe with the fact that they have a butcher on site. That works for me as the profession has been slowly facing the death knell. To help the butcher have a bold presence, there’ll be no shortage of great aromas as the meat department has its own smoker for ribs and brisket, a Kosher selection, and dry-aged meats.

The fish and seafood counter may remind you a bit of the way hotels are reaching out and getting away from the front desk concept. In this department, the staff will come out from behind the counter and help you select your items. The more personalized, interactive, approach is something that will be evident throughout the entire store.

Name a department and put them to the test. They’ve got you covered. Start with take-away, prepared foods. You’ll be swimming in possibilities from the hot 850 degree pizza oven that promises a Neapolitan selection in 90 seconds to the new Arepas section for your cornmeal cake. Too daring, then step over to the burger and hot dog station. Some other changes right there: An organic salad bar. Now that takes the guesswork out of decision-making! They’ll even have smaller, more affordable prepared salads in the cases.

As for what’s truly different: Cooking Rockville promises to take the guesswork out of “How do I prepare this food, ingredient?” They have a staff of cooking coaches ready to assist in an inviting space with a wall of spices and grains as a backdrop!  This area should help more shoppers take the next step into adventuresome, reality cooking, what they call CIY, Cooking It Yourself. They’ll champion you.

The company seems focused on addressing an age-old problem: Affordability. They are conscious of what’s involved for every shopper and stress their new focus: competitive everyday prices, over 2,000 sale items per month, and plenty of weekly specials. When you add that up and throw in the emphasis on fresh, organic, and local,  you have followed the Market to its next step.

It’s always fun to go to a new grocer or restaurant preview. This outing was no exception. Yes, Whole Foods has shown that shopping does not have to be dull. Always fun to see new departments stretch the possibilities and respond to the latest trends.

Grab a basket. It’s opening day!

Upton Sinclair (The Jungle) started the dialogue about humane animal and slaughtering conditions early in the 1900s, and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) laid the cornerstone for the 2000′s, and now here we are at Earth Week 2010 still searching for healthy meats. Some nutritionists quickly chime in and say that the phrase, healthy meats, is an oxymoron as we need to limit our beef input significantly or eliminate such consumption. Let’s say we understand but recognize the reality includes beef. What are the best products to purchase? Where’s the beef? Maybe that’s not the question we need to ask, but whose beef is this?

In this age of numerous and ongoing beef recalls, food safety must be paramount in our decision-making.

If you purchase limited quantities of beef, then it is easier to justify your expenditures from top purveyors. In many instances, you will be surprised that their prices are not so-called, out of line. Many of these suppliers are individuals who trek to the farm markets to sell their prize products. The grass-fed movement has finally taken off, and for many it is the answer to the most humane question. If Wagyu or Kobe Beef meets your budget, then that natural route has a number of suppliers. As for organic and humane, consider a farm that specializes in such meats, such as Virginia’s Ayrshire Farm.

To help you locate who has the best beef for your money and to understand the range of beef possibilities, consult Local Harvest or Eat Wild, both of whom have devoted discussions and extensive lists of  suppliers who can provide the top-quality meats.

Sustainable, organic, humane: All words we need to consider when we have a beef discussion. Whether you purchase directly from the farm, visit a farm market, or spend your beef dollars at a grocer who purchases this top quality, this is the week you should organize your thoughts and ready your commitment.

It does not take rocket science to analyze what food establishments whether they be cafes, full-service restaurants, quick shops, or grocers are doing to capture our attention and our food dollars. We have to eat, and it seems we continue to figure out ways to economize the approach.

Restaurants have special dining out nights and chains, even those with just a few locations in a city, have frequent diner cards. Sometimes those benefits get extended into doubling or tripling their value on certain slow nights, that used to be translated as Mondays but midweek is starting to look a lot like a Monday! All this in an attempt to reward the faithful and expand the inner circle of loyalists.

These are just like frequent shopper cards which offer a reduced price on set items to the loyalists. Just scan and save is their mantra.

Does it work? Does it fill the tables? Depends who you ask and the price point of activity. The dollar:value equation becomes the heart of the analysis. Most people like a deal.

As for newspaper inserts, some weeks the number of coupon books weighing down the delivery is astounding, as in 4-5 different coupon catalogs. So it should come as no surprise that we ended the decade with increased coupon usage. The question always remains: Will the consumer trade up to a brand with a cents-off incentive and a doubling-off strategy from the market or stay with the new shopper’s friend, the house brand?

Then there’s the whole social media approach to couponing regardless if it’s for a restaurant or a grocer. If you become a Facebook fan, give over your email, or join their special mobile coupon connection, you will be inundated with money-saving offers. You name the service or the business, they want your fan loyalty and in turn, you will be rewarded, or turned off. You decide.

Clipping still has its friends, but new strategies are making more immediate inroads.

Smart eating has an infinite fan base.

The problem is a global one. We can do all this wonderful work domestically from our top-tier US chefs, but the issue does not get resolved if only a few of the world’s major players are on the program. This week we had good news in the sustainability column from Target and Safeway: Target, with help from the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch guidelines, will no longer buy and sell farm-raised salmon. They plan to sell only wild-caught Alaskan salmon.

By following this road, they hope to contribute to keeping the ocean cleaner, free of pollutants from the myriad of factory fish farms. This is all part of Target’s growing emphasis on the food side of its business. Safeway turned to the marine conservation group, FishWise to have them help set up a stronger sustainability policy. They will no longer sell red snapper, monkfish, or grouper until there is a proven ample supply of these fish. They will also concentrate on providing traceability information. This latter fact is part of a growing food trend that says, tell me everything you can about a product. Give me its roots; its history.

Here’s a little primer of connections that can serve as a fish road map: A new Pocket Guide is available.

As more companies get on board, we are more likely able to sustain our supply and enjoy fresh fish.

–Johnson & Johnson recall expands.

–Whole Foods One Day price knockdown sale–it’s Friday. Today: Extra large shrimp, $7.99–normally $15.99.

One positive; the other expanding negative news.

Not for gluten-free products: The mark-up is significant. Finding the tasty ones (Glutino) and other snacks (Lundberg) make shopping a little less of a challenge. Interesting that Glutino just adjusted its product packaging, giving more prominence to its label. If grocers would just figure out where to place the G-F line (does it go in a section of an aisle by itself or does it comingle with similar products?), we could shop without so much interweaving among the aisles.

As for new packaging and heightened awareness, General Mills boldly showcases the term “Gluten-Free” on many of its familiar products. The big news is the introduction of its new website to help us broaden our G-F knowledge base: Live Gluten Freely. They have taken the guesswork out of a lot of label reading.

One can only hope that other large manufacturers will follow suit and do a product listing of G-F items and help us shorten shopping time.

Now if one of them would only do something about the pricing, more people might feel comfortable about making the healthier switch!

Hello, can you hear me?

What’s the real deal? Why were prices so high in the first place? The honest answer is: Because they could be. People were more flush with money, they had jobs, bills were getting paid, and high grocery prices were an almost accepted fact of life. Now with all the additional coupons from grocers and manufacturers, we are in a different world. The worry is that economic signs are improving and grocers will return to their old ways.

First, you need to be a member. Membership loyalty cards, those pesky things that are all over your keychain, are often necessary to get the savings. Most chains let you type in your phone number rather than make you carry the 500-lb assortment of ways you are trying to save. Whether a club card, card saver, or whatever it’s called, it is the modus operandi of the shopping universe.

Wegmans came up with a response to consumer anxiety this past Sunday when their senior vice president of consumer affairs Mary Ellen Burris turned her weekly column into a road map of good economic strategies. She recognizes they have seen changed buying habits, house-brand shopping, and greater focus on less expensive prepared foods. They stress they are committed to maintaining their prices and remain focused on how many items are less expensive now than they were in ’08.

A new volley was tossed out today, food circular Wednesday, as Giant Food introduced its new point-based savings plan: Each dollar is a point, 250 points is 5 % off a future order (800 points earns a 20% off reward). They call it the Holiday Reward Coupon of Your Choice.

The gloves are off. May these strategies serve as the model for other grocers as we are far from being out of the woods. The holiday’s are coming, and we all appreciate that beef, pork, chicken, bread and dairy are less expensive than they were.

We are different diners, shoppers, and cooks. We will not go back to those spendthrift, carefree days of accepting high prices. We need the incentives to continue, and the grocers to recognize that the early part of the decade exhibited behavior we no longer can afford to stomach.

Price spikes need to stay off the shelves.

These marketing changes are a direct result of what they’ve learned from surveys and studies. In a recent study it was found that consumers believe they have cut back effectively but still not enough. They plan to spend even less on groceries this coming year. Price remains the strongest determinant of a purchase. In a poll of over 6, 000 people, almost 40% said they spend less at the grocers than they did 12 months ago and almost 80% said they would happily switch products for a better price.

In a survey conducted by Wegmans, they learned that almost a third of respondents said they are preparing more meals at home and relying less on take-out and restaurant meals. To help shoppers figure out the actual cost per serving, the East Coast grocery chain added that information to their list of readily available recipes.

Whole Foods continues to add coupons and specials; concepts that were less prevalent a year ago. They’ve even added a section called “Three Under $3.” Pretty impressive.

More coupons, more specials, more discounts: Welcome to the grocer who plans to survive!

We’ll keep talking.

Here’s a simple way to test the concept and put more money into the grocery bag: Buy some store brands instead of some national brands. According to a Consumer Reports blind taste test (October 2009 issue) of 29 food products, 23 store brands  tasted as good or better than the more expensive national brands. They found this to be true with Costco’s (Kirkland) Organic Salsa, Target’s Archer Farms Chewy Soft-Baked Cookies, and Wal-Mart’s Great Value Whipped Topping. These three store brands beat out Old El Paso, Pepperidge Farm, and Kraft respectively.

No need to be shy about trying the store brands– the savings can be impressive, and many grocery stores are confident in their in-house branding approach that they offer a money-back guarantee if customers are not pleased.

In another Consumers Reports study just released, they ranked and rated 18-high fiber cereals and found 7 distinct products noteworthy including Kirkland’s Signature Spiced Pecan Cereal (Costco) which cost 33 cents a serving and proved a flavorful fiber choice. Archer Farms (Target) High Fiber delivers 10 grams of fiber a serving, and Wal-Mart’s Great Value Raisin Bran is considered a strong choice for raisin bran purists.The others were all national brands: Kashi GoLean Crunchy, Kellogg’s Raisin Bran Extra, Post Shredded Wheat Spoon Size Wheat ‘n Bran, and Barbara’s Bakery Ultimate Organic. Cereal can be costly, but you should be able to find sales either in a store’s circular ad or part of the Sunday newspaper coupons. Now that you have the fiber list, you can clip or do online grocery coupon savings.

There’s money in these aisles. Especially when someone else does the taste-test homework.

Fish and seafood selections are often the core of heated dialogue. Knowing which fish to eat and determining its sustainability: Is it wild, farm-raised, US waters, etc creates a complicated conversation.

A handy pocketsize guide from the Monterey Bay Aquarium takes the guesswork out of the equation. Each section of the country has its own regional seafood watch. A so-called “best choice” fish has high availability and is caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways. The guide also has updated recommendations for some of the most popular fish choices such as shrimp, cod, and tilapia.

Greenpeace recently issued its annual supermarket report card (“Carting Away the Oceans,” a retailer scorecard) for fish.Some grocers improved, but Trader Joe’s , a progressively smart chain, still fails in the sustainable seafood category, but plans to make adjustments and follow the guidelines from Monterey Bay Aquarium.

In other grocer/sustainability news, Wegmans took marlin off the menu in response to the national campaign to prevent the fish’s extinction. Giant Food partnered with the experts from the New England Aquarium to make certain they are following sustainable practices. These are significant changes; all welcome news.

No single program can change everyone’s eating habits, but the ongoing program from The Humane Society, the Canadian fish boycott (The ProtectSeals Network) encourages chefs, grocers, and shoppers to avoid Canadian fish until the fishermen stop clubbing and killing seals for the highly prized fur. A quick tip: Avoid crab legs from Canadian waters.

We worry about so many issues: Overfishing, under supply, extinction, and mistreatment. All these considerations help us narrow our choices into smart decisions.

It’s doubtful if shoppers will return to their anything goes routine anytime soon. Too many unanswered questions about income, health care, and overall cost of items: It’s still the economy. Even in the midst of increased at-home meal preparations, the focus remains on what is purchased. How much did it cost? Could you have gotten a store brand? Why are two products with identical ingredients so different in price? These are the issues driving consumers to find the lowest prices for the foods they want, and with the increase in store brands, some of this shopping strategy has become easier.

Look at Costco and its house-brand, Kirkland. They’ve been strong contenders in private labeling for years and continue to expand the product line.

In the U.K., Brits are enjoying a real price war. Nothing like this has broken out to that extent yet in the U.S., but we do have multiple players making the same pitch: We have lowered prices on XXXX items (hopefully they mean more than 40 items)! Just this week Whole Foods continued its strong message that they are the go-to store for not just healthy foods, but foods that are reasonably priced. They added coupons to all their e-mail newsletters and have the Whole Deal Value Guide prominently displayed for shoppers to take advantage of immediate savings. They are also promoting “money-saving tips.” This is not the old Whole Foods. They heard. They’re onto something.

Safeway has new banner signs that proclaim they lowered prices on thousands of items. They also moved into personalized coupons, discounts on items you regularly purchase with savings automatically linked to your card. This is in response to Giant Foods‘ earlier aggressive price-lowering strategy that proved successful.

What has taken grocers so long. Was their bubble one that projected things would be fine and everyone would be happy to live the good life again.

Not so fast. These cannot be temporary fixes. The situation has become a permanent lifestyle change. Listening does not end with tiny glimmers of hope.

Keep on lowering.

Here’s mine: Take the Grocery Store Challenge. For all those products you need to have on hand for last minute meals and ease of life, limit the ingredient count to five.

When was the last time you looked at what’s in bread crumbs, pancake mix, syrup, or cake mix? Yes, four random products but each with the same story: Too many ingredients to tally; too many unknowns. If you need to put on your glasses to read what’s in a product, then you maybe should take a pass. Look at the 4 so-called staples, kitchen standards: Each could be made without too much effort, and with few ingredients. They may all be time-savers, but the ingredient list should frighten us into cracking crackers, working with flour, or buying all natural maple syrup.

As we take away the ingredients, we add to the healthy side of eating. What do these words mean anyway? What are all these ingredients?

Read the labels and take the grocery challenge: If there are too many ingredients, return the item to the shelf.

In some respects, I think Haagen-Dazs’s campaign sorted this out for me. Their ads now cleverly say there are actually six ingredients: You add the spoon!

Limit the confusing, unclear items that can help create a column of unknowns.

Join my campaign.

If you think you hear the beverages crying out for attention, you should spend some time in the cereal aisle. So many choices; so many iterations of the basics as in Special K and Cheerios and their long line of cousins (with fruit, nuts, in cereal bars…). Rather than continue to feel neglected, Wheaties is about ready to flex its muscles again and move up to the top of your shopping list. With so many choices, it’s not easy maintaining a consumer’s attention.

The 85-year old brand has a special focused product coming out 09/09/09, a new highly-marketed Wheaties (Watch the Evolution–it’s muscle-power) that appears to be marketed directly (solely?) to men. The Breakfast of Champions will have a new line: “Fuel. Win. Evolve.” Exactly how that’s going to affect my low-fat milk and fresh blueberries is still uncertain.

I love a mystery.

Stay tuned.

Now there is a freshness indicator that will put our anxiety into check. Fresh Direct, the New York City full-service grocery delivery service has adopted a star rating system to help consumers select the best fish for the day they want delivery. The Daily Seafood Rating System (which is similar to their produce rating program) takes the guesswork out of selection and makes meal planning almost effortless. The company believes that more consumers will venture beyond their “regular fish selections” and depend on the rating system to try different products.

There are guides and an abundance of recipes to help us sort through the taste differences and cooking methods (click on the link for recipes) for a broad range of fish. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, a fish rating system will become an industry standard.

Then we can just select the fish and not ask the question.

IBM figured out that they  could wear a newer, more critical hat that has moved them into food safety and monitoring.

The early June study was conducted in the 10 largest US cities with adult grocery shoppers (once or more a month) and revealed even more about the American consumer:

–83% could name a recent food product recall, with the largest percentage citing the peanut butter recall. Yes, we do love our peanut butter.

–49% said they would be leery of purchasing a product after it was recalled.

–63% said that they have changed the way they shop in the past two years because they want better value for their money. Locavore alert: Almost half define the change as a search for fresher foods; 76% want more information about a product’s origin.

What do all these numbers tell us: The consumer is smarter about his money and is seeking out value and quality with a concern for freshness.

With all the food recalls, we are a worried consumer society reaching out to get the latest information about safety. We have lost confidence in our suppliers.

We want to know and are prepared to act based on the information.

On the Ciao Bella front, I found the product at Target. Sorry for the omission, but the Mango Sorbet should not be omitted.

On the grocery smart scanner input, not all is as it seems. Yes, it is definitely fun to get a free item when the price comes up incorrect on the scanner. It is just  a little confusing when the scanner offers you savings on products that do not match your profile. Let me say do not even approximate a match. Some of the offers today were so not for me that I hope whomever is typing in my card number is having fun. So kinks still need to be worked out, but as for fun, I’m still loving the scan and bag approach.

One final note on the grocers. It seems that tracking is so powerful that your absence from the aisles is actually a positive. I just received a survey questionnaire and 4 separate $5 off coupons from Harris Teeter. They miss me. That’s sweet. They wonder why I haven’t been there in a while. No problem. For the coupon savings, they have me at least 4 more visits. I love being loved; especially with a $20 savings.

Life goes on.

Realistically, confusion centers around the importance of antioxidants. It seems if you write high in antioxidants on the label, that almost guarantees high sales! How do these claims get tested? Who monitors reality? My favorite antioxidant claims are on products that are well known antioxidant fighters–fruits already high in antioxidants now jump out of the bins and off the shelves if they have the antioxidant banner.

What are these antioxidants and can we really get enough or the right amount from food? The foods that are naturally high in antioxidants are the easiest to take. If you’re going to concentrate on antioxidants and its benefits, summer is a wonderful season for you with its own natural bounty of antioxidants: BERRIES. Eat up, enjoy, skip the hype; it’s a natural occurrence. On the vegetable side, gardens are just beginning to produce the ultimate summer joy: TOMATOES. Sure there are numerous other foods high in antioxidants, and many antioxidant health claims may actually bear fruit.

Then there’s the whole beta carotene discussion. The old universe said eat your carrots. Limited explanation followed other than the statement: They’re good for you.  Now they are not just carrots but a food high in the all-important, necessary beta carotene, an important antioxidant. Don’t forget when you visit the farm markets, there are other easy choices: beets, cabbage, and kale, for example.

Then there is the new wonder product, the acai berry.  It seems to be touted everywhere. Unclear what it really does for you. It’s possible that no one knows the real answer, but when a product gets so heavily promoted so quickly, it moves into my suspect category.

Foods that promise can only promise more than they can deliver. Great skin, perfect eyesight, immune boosters, anti-aging, diet loss are just some of the claims that are part of the promise universe. We are looking for too many cure-alls.

What works is the same thing that has always worked: Smart eating. Not overeating.

That I am sure of.

There is nothing surprising to hear that comfort foods are still the rage. Why not? Well, maybe a little salmonella scare here and there, but peanut butter and  jelly top many lists. There’s protein and multiple beneficial ingredients, and the price is right. It does not mean we deviate from our brand purchasing, but that in some instances we are more careful. Some studies indicate that in cautious times we are less likely to experiment with a new brand, even a much less costly alternative, and stay with an old friend. M&M’s plain chocolate candy was one strong, popular purchasing indicator from this survey of almost 25,000 consumers.

Candy, of course, is about the reward. Why take a chance on something you’re not certain will provide the boost you need? Hershey’s Kisses, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bars all scored high. Wonder what this says for all the new Dark Chocolates which every company seems to be touting?

Across the aisles in the packaged meat case, bologna is a major winner. Some attribute its recent and continual spike in sales to a return to the foods of our childhood. They worked then and seem to be playing a similar comfort role. Definitely will need to talk healthy foods. Don’t even want to know how to make bologna!

If Mom served what we considered old-fashioned foods such as peanut butter and jelly or bologna sandwiches, we hear the message. It worked then; it works now.

Grocers clearly recognize the new patterns. We see it everywhere. The Wegman family just discussed how shoppers have changed than they were a year ago. The company’s direct price-cutting actions, which greatly impacted their already slim profit margins, earned them new customers and a different approach to marketing their stores. It seems to be working.

Will we return to the shoppers of yesteryear, as in last year?

I hope not. I hope we are smarter now.