Brilliant! I can already taste it in my mouth. Using fresh raspberries ground into a paste is an especially good idea. Monique Volz used multigrain baguette in her recipe, but I'd try it with a sourdough bread.

Link -via Foodbeast

There's nothing better on a hot summer day than some cold homemade ice cream, in your favorite flavors. If you grew up on fluffernutter sandwiches, you'll love this recipe for fluffernutter ice cream! First you cook up a mixture that reminds me a little of peanut butter fudge, then use it in your ice cream maker and swirl in marshmallow fluff and more peanut butter. Get the complete recipe at Hipsteaders. Link -via Laughing Squid

Snack lovers went into a slight panic when Hostess went out of business last year, because that meant no more Twinkies. To me, it meant no more Merita bread, and I still haven't adjusted. But fear no more, Twinkies will return July 15th!

Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo bought Twinkies and other Hostess cakes for $410 million.

Apollo Global Management, founded by Leon Black, is known for buying troubled brands then selling them for a profit; its investments include fast-food chains Carl's Jr. and Hardee's. Metropoulos & Co., which has revamped then sold off brands including Chef Boyardee and Bumble Bee, also owns Pabst Brewing Co.

***

The trimmed-down Hostess Brands LLC has a far less costly operating structure than the predecessor company. Some of the previous workers were hired back, but they're no longer unionized.

When Twinkies return, they will cost $3.99 for a box of ten. Other Hostess products, such as Wonder Bread, were bought by different companies. Link  -via Fark

Okay, we knew on one level that fruits and vegetables are still "alive," because we can grow a new plant from just a piece of celery, carrot, or potato from the produce market. But a new study throws a different light on the concept of "life," as far as plants are concerned.

A study published online today in the journal Current Biology found that store-bought cabbage, lettuce, spinach, zucchini, sweet potatoes, carrots, and blueberries respond to light-dark cycles up to about a week after harvest.

And when the produce was kept on the same light-dark cycle as a predator—cabbage looper moth caterpillars (Trichoplusia ni)—it was better able to resist attacks.

Circadian clocks tell plants when the seasons change due to variations in day length, said Janet Braam, a plant biologist at Rice University in Houston, Texas. But the clock is also critical in plant defenses against insects.

"[Plants] know when the insects eat," said Braam, who is a co-author on the recent study, "so they can prepare a defense in advance."

Thinking about this led me to wonder if scientists can take individual cells from fruit and determine whether they are still alive. And when do they really die? Two weeks in the refrigerator? When we cut them? Or when we cook or eat them? Thinking along these lines can lead to nightmares. Read more about the study at NatGeo News. Link

(Image credit: Flickr user Jean-Alain Le Borgne)

Oreos, marshmallow and Nutella? Sounds good to me. In fact, who decided S'mores require boring old graham crackers anyway?

Link

Imagine waking up and stuffing yourself with giant Oreo cookies. That must be what this healthy breakfast by John and Dana of the Minimalist Baker is like. Their vegan recipe uses coconut flakes for the filling and dark chocolate cocoa powder for the pancakes.

Link -via Bon Appétit

Looking for a perfect drink to celebrate the Forth? Well, nothing says "'Merica" more than red, white and blue with some explosive surprises. In this case, the shot is just Maui Blue Hawaiian Schnapps mixed with half and half, but if you're good at layering, it would be easy to make a totally red white and blue shot and the Pop Rocks sensation is sure to give you a great sensory experience after you imbibe. 

Link Via The Decorated Cookie

Here's a clever suggestion from Oreo's official Facebook page. Freeze crushed Oreo cookies and milk in an ice cube tray and serve them with iced coffee. I may try this, but using chocolate milk.

Link -via Foodiggity

Pssshhh...putting cheese on top of a chicken cutlet for chicken parmigiana -that's so boring and old-school. Why put the cheese on top when you could, instead make chicken Parmigiana meatballs with exploding cheese cavities in the middle? Now they just have to be skewered so we can have chicken parmigiana on a stick!

Link

I could eat a whole plateful of Noami Robinson's banana cream-filled banana split eclairs. You can read her recipe at the link. There's actual banana in there, so think of this as one of your daily servings of fruit.

Link -via Tasteologie

Easy as pie, warm as toast, cool as a cucumber. Designer Christine Kawasaki-Chan created and photographed food similies in actual food! See the rest of them at laughing Squid. Link

Just because you love a particular meal doesn't mean you want to enjoy that meal as a cocktail, but maybe I'm alone here. After all, bartender Phoebe Esmon has created a pho cocktail (for those who aren't familiar, pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup). So what goes into a pho cocktail?

To a base of gin or vodka, Esmon adds lime juice and a light homemade syrup infused with all the essential flavors that build a pho broth: star anise, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, pecan, charred ginger and onions. She then shakes in mint, Thai basil, and cilantro (producing a "lovely shade of pond water," she jokes) and garnishes with her own pickled bean sprouts and an optional float of sriracha.

Thanks, but I'll stick to my chopsicks and soup spoon to enjoy my pho and maybe I'll sip a cocktail on the side.

Link

After tomato plants were taken back to Europe from the New World in the early 1500s, people in various places considered the fruit poisonous for the next two centuries. The reasoning behind the fear of tomatoes came from several sources:

1. Rich people ate tomatoes and then died. Their fancy pewter plates were later found to be the reason.

2. Scientists of the time classified the tomato as a deadly nightshade and a mandrake -both scary terms.  

3. Tomato leaves smell awful, so one researcher pronounced the entire plant toxic.

4. Scary-looking worms infested tomato plants.

An article at Smithsonain's Food and Think blog explains each of these concerns, which lingered far into the 1800s, plus a bonus video containing a scene from Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Link

(Image credit: Flickr user Kicki Holmén)

Pancake artist Nathan Shields is stepping up his game. Not only do his pancakes realistically depict dinosaurs, but one also comes with an articulated jaw!

Why does the pteranodon say, "I know, I know"? Click on the link to find out.

Link

Panna cotta is an Italian gelatin dessert. How did Rhiannon get hers in this visually striking slant? Click on Continue reading to find out.