Snack

Donzel Clayton "Clay" Wildey, a former human resources director who became a co-owner of The Nut Farm and Creamery at Green Spring Station in Brooklandville, died June 13 of pneumonia at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The longtime Rodgers Forge resident was 64. The son of a Methodist minister and a homemaker, Mr. Wildey — who never used his first name, according to his wife of 43 years, the former Marjorie Cole — was born in Lewes, Del. Eventually, his family settled in Timonium, and Mr. Wildey graduated in 1965 from Dulaney High School.

Each week a nutritionist from the University of Maryland Medical Center provides a guest post to The Baltimore Sun's health blog Picture of Health (baltimoresun.com/pictureofhealth), which is reprinted here. This week, diatetic intern Lauren Silverman weighs in on snacking. Snacks don't have to be sugary, salty junk foods; they can be a healthful, low-calorie way to sneak some extra nutrients into your diet. Smart snacking can also keep you from overeating at your next meal.

Growing up in Texas, I played softball - fast pitch. After playing in the hot Texas sun, our team, the Sweetpeas, had a snack of oranges and water, in containers brought from home. Today, my husband and I are new Howard County residents, and we have gotten our children, ages 6 and 4, involved in sports activities, beginning with T-ball. We have been struck by the well-groomed baseball fields and the engaged volunteer parents. We were impressed with it all - until the post-game snacks came out. Over the last three weeks, these snacks have included chips, fruit roll-ups, sugary rice treats, chocolate-covered doughnuts with rainbow sprinkles, assorted fruit punch, and sports drinks.

One reason most of us love the holiday season is that it provides opportunities to spend more time at home with family and friends. One reason most of us who are the family chefs dislike the holiday season is the stress it provides when we spend more time at home with family and friends. Certainly, some of the get-togethers are planned down to the last detail. But what's often more fun are those gatherings that tend to be spur-of-the-moment, or at least spur-of-a-day-or-so in advance.

Jacques Kelly takes readers back to the corner of Barclay and 29th streets, and the summertime appearances of the American Ice Company truck. He also takes them inside the Snack and Chat Shop, which "offered pickled onions, Utz potato chips, Mary Janes (the molasses candy), malted milk balls, Hendler's strawberry ice cream, TastyKake Creamies, Camels, Chesterfields and Luckies, plus Maryland Chief canned tomatoes and money orders, too. " Here's Jacques story . Karen Nitkin has a Daytrip feature on the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party , which is going on this weekend.

Giant Food said today it is recalling vegetable snack packages made by Mann Packing that contain celery, carrots and tomatoes. The grape tomato ingredient in the packages may be contaminated with Salmonella. The packages impacted have best if used by dates ranging from May 9, 2011 – May 16, 2011. The packages are 8.75 oz and have the code: UPC 71651901501 Giant Food has received no reports of illness associated with consumption of this product. Customers who have purchased the product should bring any unused portions or their purchase receipt to any store for a full refund.

Sometimes you look at a decades-old photo of yourself at the beach and are struck by the thought that you should have worn more skimpy two-pieces while you had the chance. Sometimes you watch a mystery in a movie theater and realize you just don't enjoy it as much as you would at home, where you can use the remote to go back if you missed a clue. And sometimes you go to heat up your soup in the office microwave and glance at the controls and think, "What is this country coming to?" In my company's newly remodeled kitchenette sit two General Electric microwave ovens (because heaven knows we efficient Americans cannot be expected to wait while someone else flash-cooks his meal in less than two minutes)

Healthful food and vending machines don't exactly mix. Vending machines are typically seen as antithetical to good health, with the industry criticized for contributing to childhood obesity and targeted by new rules requiring calorie disclosure. But don't tell that to William H. Carpenter Jr., president of Annapolis-based Vend Natural, a vending company that specializes in healthful snacks. Instead of soda, cookies and other types of junk food, customers can buy pineapple chunks, baby carrots, multigrain power bars or relatively low-fat pita chips from Vend Natural's vending machines.

Baltimore baseball legend and former Oriole Cal Ripken Jr. is teaming with Long Valley, N.J.-based Florio Sports LLC to sell a beef jerky snack, the sports firm announced Wednesday. The jerky, called Ripken Power Shred, is available only online at http://www.chewjerky.com until spring of 2011 when the product will be available in retail outlets. The snack, which is made from "lean American beef," according to a news release, will debut at the National Association of Convenience Stores trade show in Atlanta from Tuesday through Friday.

Snyder's of Hanover Inc., a southern Pennsylvania snack food company that is one of the largest pretzel makers in the country, said Thursday it plans to combine with Lance Inc. in what the companies described as a "merger of equals." For Snyder's, which has its headquarters in Hanover, the merger is the second attempt to join forces with another snack maker in less than a year. In October, Snyder's announced a merger with Utz Quality Foods Inc., a potato chip maker also based in Hanover, which would have created a combined company with $800 million in sales.