Tuesday, July 31, 2012 at 4:00AM 
Ah, August. Time for those dripping hand-held fruits – peaches, nectarines and yes, tomatoes. Ingredients this fresh are best left unadulterated and that’s great, because I sure don’t feel like cooking. Hmmm, it’s as if Mother Nature knew exactly what I needed....
Monday, July 30, 2012 at 4:01AM 
By Sandy Hu
Cue the music! Toss the confetti! Release the balloons!
Special Fork bloggers reached a milestone recently, having each written 100 blog posts. We launched our Special Fork blog on June 1, 2010, and we have blogged nonstop, every weekday, ever since.
If you’re new to our site, you may not know that “Special Fork” is the name of the one mismatched fork in my family’s utensil drawer. My son Chris, a child of few words, would quietly bring it to the table, swapping out his dinner fork for this Special Fork, as an indication that dinner that night was a winner. He kept up this ritual until he went to college.
Special Fork is all about solving the daily dinnertime dilemma, what to cook now, at 4 p.m. Dave (my son and partner) and I picked a mobile website as the way to communicate answers to reach people in transit. You whip out your smartphone and go to www.specialfork.com (this is a website, not an app) to make your dinner selection from our database of recipes. Create a digital shopping list to buy the ingredients on the way home from work. Email the recipe to your home computer to print out when you return and you’re ready to cook! All our recipes take no more than 30 minutes of prep time; cooking time may be extra.
Friday, July 27, 2012 at 4:00AM 
Clouds of fluffy whipped cream will dress up even the simplest of desserts, like a bowl of sliced summer strawberries. All you need is heavy cream, some sugar to sweeten it, and an electric mixer. If you don’t have an electric mixer, you can use a wire whisk and a strong whisking arm.
Colleen shows how easy it is to whip the cream, demonstrating the difference between softly whipped and stiffer whipped cream, and providing a few tips for prefect results. You can customize whipped cream by adding a flavor extract such as vanilla or almond, a liqueur or some citrus zest.
Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 4:00AM 
Ben and Nick live for sweets, especially strawberry milkshakes, but there's a fine line between enjoying an occasional treat and overindulging. After years of worrying about too much sugar, we’ve found a healthier alternative with most of the sweetness the boys crave coming from summer strawberries.
Our goal was to find a healthy indulgence…a dessert that didn’t leave us feeling guilty. We tried many different types of homemade smoothies, but they just didn’t compare to soda fountain shakes. This simple shake is so delicious, they don’t even miss the real deal.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 at 4:00AM 
By Lori Powell
About 100 years ago, the string bean had a makeover and was newly uncloaked as a stringless wonder. A very good thing since it was considered laborious to de-string.
Since then, the humble bean has gone on to new heights of popularity. Farmers are growing unusual varieties with exotic names in abundance. I've highlighted three below (see photo) after buying them at the Union Square Greenmarket in New York City.