A nutritious home plate Sometimes even the best messages need a visual aid to strike home. Makit Products Inc., which offers a means of transferring kids' photos or artwork onto dinnerware, now is featuring a Portion Control Plate to help fight childhood obesity. Six different designs divide a plate into the right proportion of proteins, fruits, vegetables and grains. Plates start at $14.99, with rates for ordering multiples. For more information, visit www.makit.com.
Breadville USA to MN The Bread Bakers Guild of America is hosting one of its national baking schools in Minneapolis April 9-10. The two-day class at the General Mills Culinary Center in Golden Valley will feature Dan "Klecko" McGleno, master baker and CEO of Saint Agnes Baking Co. in St. Paul, teaching "Blue Ribbon Baking: a Decade of State Fair Baking." McGleno will cover hand-dipped pretzel breads, South African sourdough, Old World potato bricks, Polish mother doughs, and red wine and black pepper biscotti. Cost is $315 for guild members, $395 for nonmembers (includes a 12-month guild membership). To register, visit www.bbga.org and click on Breadville USA. Deadline is March 24.
Managing mangos When Baking Central recently shared a tip for slicing slippery mangos, Pampered Chef consultant Laura Martin of Plymouth wrote to say that the culinary ware company has just come out with a Mango Wedger in its spring line. The stainless steel blade resembles an apple corer, but is more oblong to mimic the shape of a mango. "You cut a small piece off the top and bottom to create a flat base," Martin said. "Then standing it on a cutting board, you just center the Wedger and push it straight down the length of a ripe mango." We live in marvelous times. The wedger is $14.50. Visit www.pamperedchef.com for more information.
Will weed for food Vegetable seed companies are seeing an uptick in orders as more consumers turn to home gardening to offset expected increases in food costs from inclement weather and rising gas prices. W. Atlee Burpee & Co. said that it saw a 30 percent increase in sales of seeds and plants during the 2009 recession, and expects the trend toward "growing your own" to continue. The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts the overall food inflation rate will rise by 3 percent this year, adding about $20 to the average monthly food bill for a family of four.
KIM ODE
