A while back when I was rummaging through my pantry

I came upon several bottles of flavored Yoo-hoo that

I had scored from Wal-Mart and tucked away for over a year.

Each of the bottles was covered with a little dust and needed

a pretty fierce shaking, but the contents were very well

preserved and quite tasty. After some Web browsing of a few

unofficial Yoo-hoo Web sites, I discovered these worshipped

“Mix-ups” variety of the famous chocolate drink had since been

put to rest. Now, after a little work in the top secret

“lab,” I’ve come up with a way to clone the flavor of these

bottled products which can no longer be obtained outside of

the ethereal food-world afterlife.

Chocolate-Banana

3/4 cup nonfat dry milk

3 tablespoons Nesquik chocolate drink powder

1 1/2 cups cold water

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon banana extract

Chocolate-Strawberry

3/4 cup nonfat dry milk

3 tablespoons Nesquik chocolate drink powder

3 cups cold water

1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons strawberry extract

Chocolate-Mint

3/4 cup nonfat dry milk

3 tablespoons Nesquik chocolate drink powder

1 1/2 cups cold water

1 teaspoonn sugar

dash mint extract (less than 1/8 teaspoon)

Combine all the ingredients in a blender for the flavor of your

choice in a container or jar with a lid. Shake until dry milk

is dissolved. Drink immediately or chill in the refrigerator.

Makes 1 14-ounce drink.

Here’s a recipe that comes from a challenge issued by

the New York Daily News. They wanted to find out if a

West Coast boy could duplicate the taste of an authentic

New York City knish. But, mind you, not just any knish.

This knish comes from one of the oldest knisheries in the

Big Apple; a place which also takes pride in the low fat

content of its knishes, versus the popular deep-fried variety.

When I tasted the famous Yonah Schimmel knish (the first knish

I had ever sampled), I realized that not only could a simple

clone recipe be created, but that the fat gram count could

come in even lower. The Daily News even went so far as to have

a lab analyze the fat content of not only the original knish

and the clone, but also the fat grams in a street vendor knish

and a supermarket knish, just for comparison. The results are

listed below. If you’d like to check out the original article

that ran in the Daily News, click here.

6 medium russet potatoes

2 1/2 tablespoons low-fat butter

1/4 minced onion

3 tablespoons fat-free chicken (or vegetable) broth

1/2 teaspoon salt, or more to taste

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper, or more to taste

Seasoning blends, chives or pepper flakes to taste (optional)

6 sheets phyllo dough

1. Peel, halve and boil potatoes until tender, 15-20 minutes.

Mash in a large bowl.

2. Saut? onion in 1 1/2 tablespoons butter until translucent but

not brown. Add to mashed potatoes with broth, salt, pepper and

spices. Stir well.

3. Melt remaining tablespoon of butter. Pre-heat oven to 375

degrees.

4. Layer 3 sheets of phyllo dough and cut in half. Repeat with

remaining 3 sheets. Spoon 1 cup of potato mixture on each section

of phyllo, mold into a large ball and position off-center at one

end of strip of dough. Roll ball along the length of phyllo,

folding dough over bottom of filling and leaving some filling

poking through the top. (Trim and discard excess dough.)

5. Brush melted butter over edges of knish to seal the seams and

press down onto an ungreased baking sheet. Repeat with other

knishes. Bake 30-40 minutes, until golden brown.

Makes four knishes.

WOLFGANG PUCK’S PUMPKIN PIE

Yield: 1 servings

Unbaked 10-inch single

-crust pie shell

4 tb Sugar syrup

1 tb Minced orange peel

2 tb Grand Marnier

1 Vanilla bean, split and

-scraped

1 Cinnamon stick

Fresh grated nutmeg

6 Oz. fresh cranberries

2 c Pumpkin puree

1 c Dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 ts Cinnamon

1 ts Ginger

1/2 ts Nutmeg

1/2 ts Cloves

ds Salt

ds Fresh ground white pepper

4 Eggs

1 c Whipping cream

1/2 c Half and half

3 tb Bourbon

Cinnamon ice cream

-(optional)

Wolfgang Puck is a German-born chef who has made his mark here in

California. He has such goldmines as Spago’s in LA and Stars in the

City plus a few more salted away around the globe. This is Wolfgang

Puck’s very own punkin’ pie. How does it stack up against

Grandma’s?

Line a buttered 10-inch pie dish or flan ring with pastry.

Refrigerate for 1/2 hour. Line with parchment paper and fill

with pie

weights or uncooked beans. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes, or until

crust is golden. Let cool. Remove paper and beans.

Meanwhile, in large stainless steel saucepan, combine sugar syrup,

orange peel, Grand Marnier, vanilla bean with scrapings, cinnamon

stick and nutmeg. Bring to boil. Stir in cranberries then reduce

heat and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes or until berries are softened.

Remove vanilla bean and cinnamon stick. Spread mixture in thin

layer on bottom of tart shell. (Leftover marmalade is good served

on side

with smoked meat, fowl or curry.)

In a bowl, combine pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg,

cloves and pepper. Beat in eggs, cream, half and half and bourbon,

Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 375F for 30 to 40 minutes or until

set.

Serve warm with cinnamon ice cream, if desired.

Categories: Polkadot, Menarea, Ground meat, Beef

Yield: 1 Servings

1 lb Ground sirloin (not ground

-chuck)

3 oz Jar of strained beef or

-veal baby food

2/3 c Canned clear beef broth

1/4 c Dry minced onion

1/4 c Hot water

1 pk Regular hot dog buns

Mush together beef, baby food, and broth. Refrigerate, tightly

covered, for a couple of hours. Roll meat into small balls, flatten

and fry in pan on stovetop. Mix together onion and water. Place

approx. 1 tbsp of onion/water mixture in the bottom of the pan. Flip

burger on top of this mixture. Serve immediately after they are

finished cooking. For buns, cut a hot dog bun into pieces that are

the same size as the hamburgers.