Egg Yolks

This year, more than others, we've declared war on wasting food. To help with the fight, we've come up with 20 ingredients that can be hard to use up before they go bad. Here are quick (and a few not-so-quick) ideas for putting them to delicious purpose. Keep the list on your fridge, and hopefully you'll never have to toss half a container of these staples again. When in doubt, turn to our quintet of favorite use-up dishes: frittata, fried rice, omelet, stir-fries, soup. They can take on many of the ingredients on our list.

You invited readers who have had trouble with Ambien to write. I had two incidents in 2003 when I drove in my sleep while taking Ambien. Once, I bought a pack of cigarettes while I was out. I did not realize this until I saw them on the kitchen counter the next morning. In October of 2005, I went on a cruise. I took Ambien to get some sleep, but my roommate reported that I got up in the middle of the night and started walking around. I have not taken any more Ambien, because I am afraid of what I might do. We keep hearing from people who sleepwalk or even sleep-drive while taking Ambien.

Richness and creaminess are virtually defined by the word cheesecake. But low-fat cheesecake? Too many taste chalky and bland -- they're nothing but an argument against tampering with this classic dessert. But it doesn't have to be that way.The seductively creamy texture and rewarding dairy flavor of good cheesecake can be preserved even with dramatic reductions in fat. It all comes down to technique, and the secrets are revealed here.Consider the classic cheesecake: the crust is a rich butter pastry, the batter probably includes a kilo of cream cheese, a half dozen eggs and a good-sized dollop of cream.

For a truly patriotic display this weekend, offer red, white and blue desserts exploding with the flavor of fresh fruit and berries. Abigail Johnson Dodge, author of the Williams-Sonoma Dessert cookbook, tempts friends and family with a berry-rich trifle suitable for backyard celebrations or picnics. "It's a classic dessert and travels very well," says the classically trained pastry chef. "Most people think you have to make it in big glass bowls. But it works wonderful in Tupperware or a plastic bowl."

Tess Coker from Bend, Ore., has been trying to locate a recipe similar to the one she once had for making an eggnog tart or tartlets. Christie McVie from Knoxville, Tenn., sent in a recipe she likes very much from the November 2004 issue of Gourmet magazine for a Cranberry Eggnog Tart. She said she tried this dessert when she first saw the recipe and it has become a standard at her holiday gatherings. While the recipe may seem a bit complicated at first glance, it really is not all that difficult.

The cheese souffle was created in France in the late 1800s, before people became aware of the health risks of a fat-rich diet.A classic cheese souffle is made with a trio of fattening ingredients -- eggs, butter and cheese -- which make up 68 percent of the calories in the dish. There are few ingredients, other than a splash of milk and a few tablespoons of flour, to cut the proportion of fat. A single serving has more than 18 grams of fat and 246 calories.However, with a little tweaking, even souffle can be made lighter.

If you won't be in the Grandstand at Pimlico, you can still celebrate the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes in style with a black-and-gold party. Black and gold — the colors of the Calvert family — pop up everywhere at the Preakness, from the state flag to the winner's wreath of black-eyed Susans. Recreate that feeling at home with black and gold stacks of polenta, goat cheese and olives, deep brown chocolate bread pudding with a gold topping, and Black & Tans, a fruity cocktail with turn-of-the-century Maryland roots.

Janet Janata from Norfolk, Va., was looking for a recipe for what her husband called a "Marc Cake. " She described it as a rolled yeast cake with a sweet poppy seed filling. DC Kiss from Ellicott City thought that the cake Janata and her husband were looking for sounded like the traditional Hungarian pastry called Makos (poppy seed) Kalacs. The recipe she sent in ran in the Sunday Sun Magazine in May 1966. This light and airy, slightly sweet yeast bread is similar in texture to challah bread.

Adults who eat a large bowl of oat bran cereal every day can reduce their blood cholesterol levels by a moderate amount, an analysis of 10 studies has found.Cholesterol levels fell an average of 2 percent to 3 percent in the 1,278 adults studied. There were larger drops in people with higher blood cholesterol levels.The study, being published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was conducted by Cynthia M. Ripson and Dr. Joseph M. Keenan of the department of family practice at the University ofMinnesota.

I have two things to thank the Inner Harbor's Rusty Scupper for this week. One, they've answered the age-old question (no, but seriously) of "What can you reasonably drink - not shoot - with Rum Chata?" and two, they've created a dessert cocktail I can finally enjoy. If you've never tasted the Italian confection Tiramisu, wine director Julian Demiri's description might be a little lost on you: "It's Tiramisu, in a glass. " But if you have? It should say everything. Tiramisu, which translates to "pick me up," is an Italian dessert made of sponge cake that has been dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks and mascarpone cheese, and flavored with Marsala wine and cocoa.