Baked Beans

The 'Secrets' is out about low-fat cookingA hundred techniques and 200 easy recipes, along with guides to foods such as beans and salad greens, are featured in "Secrets of Low-Fat Cooking," from the editors of Eating Well magazine (Eating Well Books, 1997, $16.95). Recipes include old favorites such as meat loaf and Boston baked beans, and trendy dishes such as grilled mesclun-stuffed swordfish and roasted vegetable and linguine salad. Start your backyard garden off right this year with a cup of coffee -- or at least the grounds.

Here's a suggestion for all you reluctant barbecuers out there, the ones who are dreading the prospect of sweating over a hot grill for hours every summer weekend. Get takeout from Pig Picker's instead. The two-location chain offers hickory-smoked meats, yummy traditional sides and a kicking barbecue sauce, and the prices are dirt-cheap. I ordered a half-rack of pork ribs, half a smoked chicken, a half pint of cole slaw, a half pint of baked beans, a half pint of potato salad, a pulled pork sandwich, a chopped beef sandwich, six corn muffins and a small bag of potato chips, and my bill came to $35.16, tax included.

All Tom Brady wants is a little help finding the Under Armour "coldblack" golf gear when he stops in a Dick's Sporting Goods store near his new house in El Segundo, Calif. Instead, he gets mocked by a store clerk who doesn't recognize the New England Patriots quarterback and proceeds to make fun of his non-existent "Bah-ston" accent, offering him "wah-tah" and baked beans. That's the premise of a comedy video created by Under Armour and website Funny or Die that's going viral with some 900,000 views since going live this week.

So many in the community look forward to an annual spring event at Linthicum Heights United Methodist Church. That time has rolled around again, and you are invited.The women in the Evelyn Keller Circle are sponsoring the popular "Strawberry Festival" from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. June 3 in the Fellowship Hall of the church, 200 School Lane.Strawberries will be served with ice cream or shortcake. Barbecue, hot dogs, baked beans, chicken salad and rolls, potato salad, coleslaw and drinks also will be available.

What's the second thing you think of when you think of Memphis (the first, of course, being Elvis)? It's a tough one, right? In your mind, "blues" and "barbecue" are in a photo finish. ++ At Red Hot & Blue, they go hand in hand, with a little Elvis thrown in for good measure.Starting in 1988 with only one location -- in Arlington, Va. -- Red Hot & Blue may well be the fastest-growing barbecue chain in the country. There are more than 25 outposts now, with plans in the works for another 100. Maryland has one in Annapolis, Gaithersburg, Laurel and the one we recently visited in Owings Mills.

If you love fried chicken and just can't live without it, here's a neat trick that turns a greasy guilt trip into a well-balanced lunch.First of all, let me answer everybody's question about Kentucky Fried Chicken's new Lite 'n Crispy chicken. No, it's not the lowfat wonder they pretend.It's true that the skinless Lite 'n Crispy is 50 percent lower in fat than the Extra Crispy version. One Extra Crispy thigh, for example, contains 406 calories and 30 grams of fat. A Lite 'n Crispy thigh contains only 246 calories and 17 grams of fat.While this is a big improvement, it is no nutritional bargain.

Andy Nelson's Barbecue 11007 York Road, Cockeysville; 410-527-1226; open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday When I check out a barbecue establishment, I always take a gander at the back of the joint. That is where the wood should be stacked. Without wood, there is no smoke. Without smoke, there is no legitimate barbecue. The back of Andy Nelson's barbecue not only had a stack of hickory, it also had rows of picnic tables filled with smiling eaters. The "Cue," in particular the pork, had drawn the crowd.

Editor's note: Finicky eaters get their just desserts. I have this little sister, Lola. She is small and very funny. Sometimes I have to keep an eye on her. Sometimes Mom and Dad ask me to give Lola her dinner. This is difficult because she is a very fussy eater. Lola won't eat carrots, of course. She says carrots are for rabbits. I say, "What about peas?" Lola says, "Peas are too small and too green." One day I played a good trick on her. Lola was sitting at the table waiting for her dinner.

*TC L CHUCK WAGON BAR-B-QUE 1690-B Annapolis Road (Route 175), Odenton. Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays, 11 a.m.-midnight Fridays and Saturdays, closed Sundays. Phone: (410) 551-6340.The secret to the delicious Southwestern barbecue at this Odenton carryout is the special sauce (all natural ingredients). Owner Don German boasts that the sauce was developed in the mid-1860s by a cook on the Texas-Kansas Chisholm Trail. The tender but meaty spareribs are roasted slowly (never parboiled or steamed)

Boston Chicken822 Dulaney Valley Road, Dulaney Plaza, Towson.Hours: Open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.(410) 825-2222; fax: (410) 825-2242Boston Chicken opened its doors about six weeks ago, and people are coming from all over to pick up the restaurant's marinated rotisserie chicken.When you walk into the sparkling eatery, you see and smell dozens of marinated chickens cooking on two large, upright, brick-fired rotisseries. Glass cases display the trimmings, cooked fresh daily -- vegetables, salads, soups, desserts and chicken pot pies.