I overbought clementines during the holidays and am now dealing with a box of withering fruit. As I mulled juicing them, I remembered a charming story from The New York Times magazine last weekend that has inspired me to try a clementine sherbet.

Dining editor Pete Wells wrote about his son Dexter’s fascination with all things culinary — a father-son obsession that has included grinding coffee beans and baking cookies. The father-son chefs had made lots of sorbet during the summer, but Dexter wanted to make ice cream. A food allergy to eggs prevents him from eating real ice cream, but recently while making tangerine sorbet, Dexter insisted on adding cream.

When it was frozen, it reminded me of long-ago Creamsicles and Orange Juliuses at the mall, but it had a bright juiciness I don’t remember from my childhood. What we didn’t eat right away Dexter packed into tiny plastic bowls to freeze for later. He wanted to sell orange ice cream to our neighbors.

Read the story first, then grab your kid and juice some citrus. The Wells family recipe is here. (I plan to substitute a soy milk creamer, although Pete says half-and-half works fine too.) And don’t miss the video demonstration by food tester Jill Santopietro in her latest (and funny) Tiny Kitchen video, posted below.

Not just for drinking. (Tony Cenicola/The New York Times)

No matter how much you imbibe on New Year’s Eve, chances are you’ll have some already-opened bubbly still left over on the morning after.

While mimosas, bellinis and other champagne cocktails are always an option on New Year’s Day, a more-healthful choice may be to use the uncorked bubbly in creative home cooking. Champagne is an excellent accompaniment to seafood and salads, and several Web sites offer recipes for starting the new year in a healthy way.

MyRecipe.com offers seven things to do with leftover champagne, including a 10-minute dish, Scallops in Champagne Sauce.

Chef Bryan Voltaggio from Volt in Frederick, Md., suggests putting leftover champagne in an ice-cream maker. The resulting sorbet will have a bubbly effect and can be served atop raw oysters for brunch. He offers several more ambitious ideas as well at FrederickNewsPost.com.

The Galveston County Daily News offers recipes for a tantalizing dish of Gulf shrimp, curry powder, cilantro and champagne as well as champagne truffles and a champagne vinaigrette.

Planet Green suggests using leftovers to make champagne vinegar.

And Epicurious.com suggests using leftover champagne or any leftover white wine to cook mussels.

The Web has opened up a whole new world for foodies and, as regular readers of the Well blog know, cooking at home can be fun and healthful. There are great cooking blogs, easy-to-search recipe sites and search engines like Google to keep cooks well supplied in new ideas for the kitchen.

But for me, there’s nothing like a cooking demo video to motivate me to try something new. Basic recipe sites help you find new dishes to prepare, but cooking videos go beyond the recipes and are typically packed with tips on techniques and tools. My main complaint is that many Web sites, including my own, don’t do a great job of making videos easy to find.

Here’s a look at a few great places to find how-to cooking videos. If you don’t find what you need here, just do a Google search for a recipe name and include the word “video,” or search for a food on YouTube, where you’ll find more examples of cooking videos.

Gourmet Magazine. I never miss the magazine’s The Test Kitchen videos, featuring food writers and editors sharing simple tips. I’m planning to try this home-made organic ricotta recipe, clearly demonstrated by food editor Gina Marie Miraglia Eriquez. And I’ve already blogged about this great pomegranate deseeding technique in You vs. the Pomegranate.

Tiny Kitchen. I love this new video column featuring New York Times magazine food tester Jill Santopietro. Her last video for a Roquefort and walnut salad took me beyond the recipe. Since watching it, I’ve made only home-made salad dressing and now dress my salads differently. So far she’s only made a few videos, which you can find on the Moment blog, but Tiny Kitchen will make regular appearances on Well in the new year.

The Minimalist. New York Times food writer Mark Bittman has a devoted following to his cookbooks and columns. But his video cooking demonstrations prove his mantra that cooking doesn’t have to be complicated. One of my favorite Mark Bittman videos shows a simple recipe for chocolate ganache.

Bon Appetit. These videos lack the fun production values of some of the others, but they are packed with tips. Check out How to Whip Cream, How to Make Gravy and Knife Skills: Dicing for a new look at some basic techniques.

Epi Video. This site features cooking techniques from around the world, such as this recent post on how to make sushi rolls as well as videos submitted by viewers, including the recent Crunchy Grilled Shrimp Po Boy.

What’s missing from my list? Share your favorite cooking videos by joining the discussion below.

How tough is it to eat healthy on a budget? The advice Web site DivineCaroline gets you started with a list of 20 healthy foods for under $1.

Some items on the list, like oats or eggs, aren’t all that surprising to experienced budget shoppers. But a few, like kale, wild rice or garbanzo beans, may not be regulars in your shopping cart. Not surprisingly, none of the foods on this list are prepared or processed, meaning that healthful eating on a budget will require more time in the kitchen.

For people who don’t see many foods on the list that they would eat, DivineCaroline suggests finding similar foods in the same areas of the grocery store where these are stocked.

Getting the most nutrition for the least amount of money means hanging out on the peripheries — near the fruits and veggies, the meat and dairy, and the bulk grains — while avoiding the expensive packaged interior… Although that bag of 99 cent Cheetos may look like a bargain, knowing that you’re not getting much in the way of nutrition or sustenance makes it seem less like a deal and more like a dupe. Choosing one of these 20 items, or the countless number of similarly nutritious ones, might just stretch that dollar from a snack into a meal.

Here’s the DivineCaroline list of 20 healthy foods for under $1: Read more…

Few meals are more exciting and filled with anticipation than Christmas breakfast. Not only is the meal typically bigger than most daily breakfasts, but for many families, Christmas morning is one of the few times a year the whole family eats the morning meal together.

On the Be It Ever So Humble blog, blogger Mrs. Mordecai recalls a family tradition of eating Christmas breakfast before opening gifts.

We were allowed our stocking and the one, unwrapped Santa gift before breakfast, but we had to wait until after we had eaten (or pretended to) for the rest…. It was hard to wait, but I’m sure it was good for us. And as excited as we were, we usually managed to do at least partial justice to my mom’s homemade cinnamon rolls.

The blog includes a link to baked doughnuts from the 101 Cookbooks blog.

On “The Leonard Lopate Show” on WNYC, chef Michael Lomonaco of Porter House New York recalls how his family began Christmas right after midnight mass. The WNYC Web site offers Mr. LoMonaco’s recipes for both breakfast foods and drinks, including Read more…

A recent post about cooking latkes with less fat generated a chorus of complaints from readers.

“Spare me. I’ll take my latkes fried in lots of oil,” wrote reader VT.

“Whatever happened to ‘Eat, Drink and be Merry?’ ” Zale wrote.

“Is nothing sacred? Have we gotten so carried away with politically correct eating … that we can’t just enjoy the season and the holidays?” queried Gail Abramson.

While it’s true that eating any food in moderation is fine, the track record of most Americans is that we don’t eat in moderation, and the holiday season is typically a time of gluttony. As I wrote last year in Science Times, no holiday eating binge is risk free. Read more…

Potato latkes are a delicious and popular food on the Hanukkah menu. But for people who are health-conscious year round, it’s hard to imagine ingesting fried potatoes, no matter what the occasion.

For me, if I’m going to try something new in the kitchen, I want it to be something I would consider making regularly. My daughter wants to me to make latkes, so I have been searching for a version with a little more nutrition and a little less oil. Here are some suggestions:

Cooking Light offers up a lesson on how to fry a latke with less oil as part of its Modern Hannukah menu. Their recipe for leek and potato fritters uses a combination of cooking spray and just 4 teaspoons of cooking oil. And instead of light sour cream, they serve up lemon-cumin yogurt. Based on the nutrition label provided on the site, this version gets just 28 percent of its calories from fat — not bad for a fried potato dish.

Gourmet magazine suggests zucchini latkes. The recipe uses lots of oil, but it’s an interesting way to introduce zucchni to picky kids. Check out the magazine’s four different Hannukah menus.

The food blog Slashfood suggested a baked-version of latkes that I plan to try. Even though baked latkes often are less crispy (and tasty) than the fried version, Slashfood promises that this one turns out crispier than most.

Aura’s Kitchen also has an interesting baked latke recipe that uses whole-wheat flour and extra onions for flavor.

And over at the Erin Cooks food blog, read about her baked sweet-potato latkes, complete with several pictures of the process.

(Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times)

Last night on the reality cooking show “Top Chef,” food guru Martha Stewart offered advice to the remaining contestants. “Keep it simple, but not too simple,” she told the chefs, who were instructed to make a one-pot dish.

Ms. Stewart said she was paraphrasing the wisdom of Albert Einstein, but her words also reflect the general sentiment of the season. In its annual predictions for food trends, Gourmet magazine this week sees a return to home cooking and a demand for easy recipes.

“If there was ever a time for the return of the casserole, this is it,” wrote the magazine’s editors.

Bon Appetit is offering a week of simple dinners, including fish cakes and vegetarian black bean chili, all for under $100. And this month, the James Beard Foundation newsletter reprinted a basic sugar cookie recipe along with a quote from Mr. Beard, a legendary food writer, calling for holiday foods that are “simple and good to eat.” Read more…

(Philip Greenberg for The New York Times)

As cocktails go, the bloody Mary is easily counted among the most healthful, with its simple combination of tomato juice, vegetable garnishes, spices and alcohol.

But new interest in seasonal and fresh ingredients has led to a makeover of the traditional Bloody Mary, according to “Arrive,” the Amtrak travel magazine. The magazine reports:

“The Bloody Mary is having a big resurgence because it’s fresh, and it really should be made with seasonal ingredients using fresh vegetables,” says Todd Thrasher, the bar guru behind the D.C.-area hot spots Restaurant Eve and Px, a swanky speakeasy. Thrasher ditches commercial juice in favor of fresh tomatoes for his Tomato Water Bloody Mary. The resulting drink is a refreshing, clear Bloody Mary, more like a cocktail than the meal-in-a-glass most people have come to expect.”

Thankfully, the magazine publishes Mr. Thrasher’s enticing recipe, which is also posted below. Read more…

A well-prepared salad is often my favorite part of any meal. Done right, it packs tons of flavor for very few calories. Salads are rich in nutrients, and studies show that eating a salad with a meal helps fill you up sooner, so you don’t overindulge on less healthful foods. There’s even research to show that using full-fat dressing on a salad unlocks more nutrients in the salad than a no-fat dressing.

While I’m not much of a cook, I have honed my salad-making skills over the years to the point that even my daughter and her friends love them. When it comes to kids and salads, I think tearing or cutting the greens into smaller pieces makes a difference. That way every forkful usually contains a better mix of flavors, rather than just a big piece of lettuce.

I’ve also learned that adding fruit to a green salad makes it more tempting to kids. I rarely use tomatoes, carrots or any of the standard garden salad ingredients. In addition to organic greens, we add dried cranberries, pears or apples and then add something crunchy like sunflower or pumpkin seeds, walnuts and sometimes croutons. We usually add a little crumbled cheese, and depending on what else is in the fridge, we might toss in grilled chicken, broccoli or corn.

This week, I learned a great salad-making tip from New York Times recipe tester Jill Santopietro, who has launched a new fun video blog called Tiny Kitchen. Read more…

Given the focus on cooking and eating during the holidays, this is a time of year when any deficiencies in your kitchen will quickly become apparent, says New York Times food writer Mark Bittman.

But if you’re one of those people who whines about your kitchen, don’t expect any sympathy from Mr. Bittman. After a recent photo featured him in his own small home kitchen, he was flooded with questions about how he makes do. (To see the photo and the discussion, go to “Mark Bittman’s Bad Kitchen.”) Read more…

My favorite food blog, of course, is Bitten by Mark Bittman, a food writer at The Times. I’m also a regular reader of The Times’s Diner’s Journal, by writers and editors in The Times’s Dining section. But if I need a recipe I can’t find in The Times, I usually go to Cooking Light.

Given my limited culinary talent, that’s pretty much all I need to read about food. But for those who want to branch out, Bon Appetit magazine has posted a great list of 22 favorite food blogs with recipes from each. The slide show is a little cumbersome to navigate, but the pictures offer some tantalizing dishes. To me, the best recipe in the show looks to be the saffron roasted cauliflower offered at the well-named Chocolate & Zucchini.

Other selections from the Bon Appetit list include:

• gingered jeweled salad from 101 Cookbooks;
• butternut squash and sweet potato gratin from Pinch My Salt;
• spicy sweet and salty rosemary nuts from Pink of Perfection.

To see the rest of the magazine’s favorite food blog choices, check out the full slide show, called “Blog Envy.”

Alice Waters (Evan Sung for The New York Times)

The first “kitchen cabinet” was President Andrew Jackson’s team of close but unofficial advisers. Now the chef Alice Waters is leading a campaign to persuade President-elect Barack Obama to create a literal kitchen cabinet.

In a letter to the president-elect, Ms. Waters — joined by Ruth Reichl, the editor of Gourmet, and the New York restaurateur Danny Meyer — urged Barack and Michelle Obama to set an example for the nation on culinary issues like the naming of a White House chef and growing organic vegetables in the White House garden. Read more…

Nuts are high in calories, but they may not be as fattening as once thought. (Joyce Dopkeen/The New York Times)

Nuts are a big part of many holiday celebrations, whether it’s pecan pie, chestnut stuffing or just a handful of cashews grabbed at the office party.

While numerous studies have linked nut consumption to better heart health, most nuts are loaded with calories — from about 160 to 200 calories per ounce. For years, I have avoided nuts despite the health benefits, because I was worried about gaining weight.

But a recent report in the Berkeley Wellness Letter spreads some good cheer about nuts. The Wellness Letter notes that despite the calories and fat found in nuts, eating them regularly may actually help with weight control. Read more…

As a child, Jill Bloomfield remembers pouting at meals until her mother would reheat pizza or give her peanut butter and jelly. So what happened when she grew up?

Jill Bloomfield.

“I became an adult who sought out peanut butter and jelly,” said Ms. Bloomfield, 33, a former middle school and high school teacher in St. Paul, Minn. “I was a picky adult. I wanted things like grilled cheese.”

But Ms. Bloomfield quickly learned that colleagues look askance if you order a grilled cheese sandwich at lunch. Realizing that fussiness about foods is a handicap in a grownup world, Ms. Bloomfield began looking for ways to retrain her taste buds.

“I had to train myself to branch out and like more foods, and with that came learning how to cook,” she said. “”It’s not impossible to retrain yourself, but it’s difficult.”

What’s unusual about Ms. Bloomfield’s journey is how far she has come. Today, she is a food educator and cookbook author. Her personal struggles as a picky eater have fueled her interest in helping children learn to cook and to avoid the social and health problems associated with picky eating. (Just two years ago, Ms. Bloomfield was diagnosed with high cholesterol.) After creating a popular cooking course for her high school students, she began offering kids cooking classes and birthday parties.

In the spring, she edited DK Publishing’s “Grow It, Cook It,” which teaches children how to cook with vegetables they grow in a pot or garden. And this fall, she co-authored the “Jewish Holidays Cookbook,” aimed at kids and families. Some of the dishes make it hard to believe Ms. Bloomfield was ever picky about food. She offers simple recipes for harvest rice with pomegranate seeds, pumpkin soup, and chickpea and couscous salad.

Now she’s working on a new book that teaches basic cooking techniques — including seemingly obvious methods like boiling water. “Why do you start potatoes in the water, but you add pasta to water that is already boiling?” she said. “It breaks down a cookbook in the way you don’t normally see and offers recipes to help you practice that skill.” Read more…