101 Cool Summer Dishes

Recipes that will have you back in the hammock in almost no time

(NEWSER) - Move over Rachael Ray: Minimalist Mark Bittman, in the New York Times, offers 101 ideas for summer meals that get you out of the kitchen in 10 minutes or less. A few examples:

• Grilled cheese with prosciutto, tomatoes, thyme or basil leaves
• Wraps of tuna, warm white beans, a drizzle of olive oil and lettuce and tomato

Heinz-backed research highlights lycopene

(NEWSER) - Good news, but only if you like tomatoes: The chemical that makes them red helps fight prostate cancer, a study suggests. In a lab, lycopene was shown to stop cancer cells from attaching to a blood supply. The process can delay the cells' growth, and even kill them, the Telegraph reports. "'This simple chemical reaction was shown to occur at lycopene concentrations that can easily be achieved by eating processed tomatoes," said one of the researchers in Britain. More»

'Smooth as silk' crooks created fake trucking firm

(NEWSER) - With produce prices soaring, thieves decided the time was ripe for a major operation—and they got away with $300,000 worth of Florida produce, including six truckloads of tomatoes, the New York Times reports. “I’ve never experienced people targeting produce loads before,” said one trucking broker. “It’s a little different than selling TVs off the back of your truck.” But the crooks apparently knew a thing or two about the business. More»

School lunches are improving; Walmart's into sustainability: Mark Bittman

(NEWSER) - Sometimes it’s important for a critic to drop the criticism and offer some praise. In the New York Times , Mark Bittman presents a taste of good news in the food world:

1. Backers of better food policy are gaining real traction: The reauthorized Child Nutrition Act will improve school lunches, while the Food Safety Modernization Act will make our meals safer.

As in Eat Real Food, writes Mark Bittman

(NEWSER) - America's taking baby steps toward eating a diet of real food, writes Mark Bittman in the New York Times. He rounds up a trio developments—the USDA urging people to eat less , Michelle Obama teaming up with Walmart , and Oprah challenging her staff to go vegan for a week. All are admirable to a certain extent, but they still tend to push pseudo-healthy versions of bad food instead of challenging us to eat better food altogether. More»