How much are our economic fears or realities affecting what we do in the grocery store and the kitchen? To gain a sense of how the economy is affecting our actions, I put a poll on my website (http://thescramble.com/) and in the Scramble newsletter. So far, many of those polled said they cook at home more and use more leftovers in their meals. One subscriber who lives in Hawaii, where food costs are especially high, asked me for some suggestions for lowering costs of dinners she makes at home. While I think that cooking at home is one of the best money-saving strategies, there are some ways to make those costs even lower. For those of us who love fresh herbs, one great way to save money is to plant a little herb garden in your yard, window sill, or on your deck, so you can use those instead of buying expensive herbs at the market.

Let me know if you have other money saving tips when it comes to meals.

For a magazine I write for, I needed a healthy preparation for baked apples that could be ready in 30 minutes or less. This one was a treat–if you try it, let me know what you think.

Microwave Baked Apple for One

Prep + Cook = 15 minutes
Serves One

You can make yourself this sweet and delicious dessert, or skip the ice cream and serve it for breakfast—it takes just minutes to prepare and a few more until you have a fragrant and juicy treat.

1 Fuji or Gala apple (or variety of your choice)
3/4 cup water
1 tsp. butter or margarine
1 tsp. raisins
1 Tbsp. granulated brown sugar
1/8 tsp. cinnamon, or to taste
1 – 2 Tbsp. low fat cookies and cream or vanilla ice cream (optional)

Core the apple, removing all the seeds, and peel the top 1/2-inch of the apple. In the core of the apple, put the butter, raisins, and brown sugar and pack it down with your thumb.

Put the water in the bottom of a flat microwave-safe dish with sides, and put the apple right side up, in the middle of the dish. Sprinkle the cinnamon over the opening and top of the apple. Cover the dish with plastic wrap, leaving a small space for air to escape. Microwave the apple on full power for 10 minutes (if you are making more than one, add 10 minutes for each apple), or until it is fragrant and soft to the touch (microwave oven cooking times vary).

Remove the apple from the microwave, put it in a small bowl, and pour about 1 tsp. of the liquid from the bottom of the dish over the apple. Serve it while it’s still hot, with the ice cream.

Just back from a wonderful girls birthday celebration weekend in Manhattan with 6 friends from college days. That city is throbbing with life, but it sucks the wallet dry, for sure. I wanted to share some of the great places we ate, a few among the zillions of wonderful restaurants lining nearly every corridor of the city. What really amazed us was how indulgent the service was and how friendly New Yorkers were to our clearly non-native group of rowdy women.

Here are the restaurants we loved:

For our celebratory dinner, we dined at Hearth (http://restauranthearth.com/) in the East Village, where nearly every morsel was well planned and executed. I particularly liked the beet and brie salad and the olive oil poached salmon.

Great breakfast at Cafe Luka (70th and 1st) with terrific omelettes and fresh squeezed juice.

Real New York pizza at Fratelli Brick Oven Pizzeria & Wine Bar, 1317 1st Ave (between 70th and 71st). The hands-on owner, Mark, couldn’t have been more indulgent and the pizza was thin, crispy and flavorful. We also loved the garlic crisps made out of pizza dough, the risotto bites, and the creamy tiramisu–and the limoncello (an Italian lemon flavored liqueur) went down smooth!

Beyond food, we couldn’t get enough of the DJ at the Underbar ($16 cocktails!) and we were utterly indulged at the fabulous Eden Day Spa (http://www.edenspany.com/08/) in Soho (heated toilet seats and towels, complementary fresh fruit and lunch, hot lava stone massages–need I say more?).

While it’s never easy to make enough time for old friends in our harried lives, it is truly invigorating to spend a couple of days reconnecting to life before marriage and children, no matter how much we love our grown-up lives. Andrew did a fabulous job of keeping things running at home in my absence, and even made his own yummy dinners for the kids: his amazing pizza (as good as any New York pizzeria!) and Celia’s chicken (baked in honey and soy).

If you were stranded on the proverbial desert island, what foods would you long for, or hope to have in endless supply? For my husband, Andrew, I’m sure it would be bagels. My daughter, Celia, would likely choose mangoes. Solomon would probably bring peanut butter. Me? I might have to pick Nutella–that creamy, chocolately hazelnut spread, that I would eat by the gallon if I didn’t fear the consequences. In my healthier moods (i.e. not after 10 p.m.) I might prefer nectarines. What would you choose?

If you have a chance to try this new recipe, which hasn’t appeared in the newsletter yet, please let me know how you like it.

Prep (10 min.) + Cook (60 min.)
6 servings (or 8?)

I am so excited about this new recipe for macaroni and cheese (can we ever have enough?) inspired by a recipe from Scramble subscriber, Katie Ellis. Besides the creamy restaurant-quality texture and taste, the best thing about this recipe is that you don’t have to cook the macaroni in advance—it cooks perfectly in the oven! Serve it with steamed broccoli.

2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
2 1/2 cups uncooked macaroni noodles
1/4 – 1/2 tsp. salt, to taste
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup diced pre-cooked andouille sausage (or other sausage), diced (optional)
3 3/4 cup skim milk (or whatever milk you have)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the butter or margarine in a 2 quart casserole dish and melt it in the oven. Remove it from the oven, add the macaroni to the dish, and stir to coat the noodles. Stir in the salt, mustard, nutmeg, sausage and cheese. Pour the milk over everything and stir gently. Bake it for one hour, uncovered (be sure not to stir it while it’s cooking). Let it cool for 5 – 10 minutes before serving it.

It’s been 2 years since The Six O’Clock Scramble was released, and I’m starting to think about the next cookbook, which probably wouldn’t come out until 2010. I have so many fabulous new family recipes that I’ve developed since the last cookbook went to print, and I want to share them! The publisher, St. Martin’s Press, says they do want to publish another Scramble cookbook, but I need your help. Keeping in mind that my specialty is easy, healthy dinners, is there a theme you would like to see? What about:

Earth-friendly meals? International Flavors? Meatless recipes? Meals and Menus for Casual Entertaining? One-Pot Meals?

Let me know if you have any ideas or if any of these sound perfect to you. Thanks for your help.

Crunch, crunch, crunch–that’s all I’ve heard since my kids got home from school and dug into the Snikiddy Snacks (www.snikiddy.com), a new line of organic snacks started in 2006 by a husband and wife team in Bethesda, Maryland (around the corner from my family). I like the fact that the snacks are relatively low in calories and fat, and are made with all natural and organic ingredients whose names you can recognize. Solomon’s and Celia’s favorite Snikiddy Snacks are the chocolate chippers. Celia also likes the grilled cheese puffs and Solomon likes the pizza pie puffs, but both are a little salty for my palate (as are nearly all snack crackers and chips). My favorites are the Cherry Oaties, which are not overly sweet and taste healthy and natural. None of us are wild about the banana cookies, but they may hold more appeal for toddlers and younger children.

While my first choices for snacks will still be fruit, vegetables, cheese and yogurt, I’ll feel good about serving these snacks to my kids, too! Snikiddy Snacks can be purchased at Whole Foods and many other natural food stores. Let me know how your family likes them.