I just ran across this and wanted you to hear it from me. I’ve wondered about this since I started using reusable shopping bags: Yes, you want to wash them, at least once in a while.

Random tests of reusable shopping bags found they can serve as a breeding ground for bacteria — enough to make you sick. The study conducted by the University of Arizona, found that 97 percent of those interviewed have never washed their bags.

The report suggested separating uncooked food from dry goods. It said don’t use the bags for anything else, and don’t store them in the trunk, which can grow bacteria.

I violate these suggestions pretty much every day. It would have been nice for them to tell us how to wash them. I guess throw them in the washer on cold and gentle, and let them air dry? I’ll give it a try.

Find the whole story here.

I’m not the only one with a new food blog. Wegmans launched one this morning. Danny Wegman wrote the initial post that had 26 comments between 9:24 a.m. to 9:43 this morning. This is one I’m going to watch. I’m hoping it’s filled with recipes and food news, and not just a promotional tool for W’s products. To check it out, click here.

My first vegetable garden has exploded. I’d like to think that’s from some inborn talent I’ve just tapped, but it’s probably more from the insanely wonderful gardening weather we’ve had. With the heat, the humidity, the periodic soaking rains, tomato plants are reaching for the sky. Beans are bushy, corn is early, and berries are as sweet as honey.

Backyard gardeners and farmers alike watch in wonder.

Soon, to be sure, we’ll have more fresh vegetables than we can eat.

Instead of letting the produce go to seed, piling them on friends and coworkers, and succumbing to exhaustion amid bushels of tomatoes, think about giving to people who really need your help.

Second Harvest Food Bank of NW PA gladly takes donations of fresh produce at its facility, 1508 Grimm Drive, Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

If you want to help, but have a black thumb, the food bank also accepts produce purchased at a farmers market or grocery store.

How many bites of birthday cake does it take to kick you off the diet wagon?

One, two, three ….

Three is about as much as I need to give up on the diet concept and eat the whole thing, leaving quite the nutritional mess to clean up later.

Last week, the Hungry Girl sent up several ways to knock those ultra-celestial cake mix calories back into Earth’s orbit.

Anyway, regular readers of Loaves & Dishes know about adding 10 ounces of Diet Coke to a chocolate cake mix in place of eggs and oil. Hungry Girl just assembled a list of other ideas along the same lines. No oil or eggs required:

• Cake mix and 1 cup of unsweetened applesauce
• Cake mix and 1 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute
• Cake mix and 1 cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt

All these options “frosted” with frozen whipped topping cut a serving of frosted cake from 300 to 400 calories to roughly 180.

Give them a try, and don’t tell anyone. With a thick layer of fat-free whipped topping, no one will know the difference.

By the way, “Hungry Girl” is the name of a website/newsletter that packs in ideas for lowering calories and fat from regular food. (It also packs in a lot of product promotion, so take those with a grain of salt.) HG also has a book and a TV show.

To sign up for the Hungry Girl newsletter and get more information, click here.

Goodell Gardens and Homestead in Edinboro opened its first farmers market with a full parking lot and plenty of visitors last week. Erie Times-News food newsletter writer Marnie Oberle went down, when it was 90 degrees out. She liked it and bought flowers, plants and potatoes.

The market will run on Wednesdays through Sept. 22.

They’re still looking for farmers, so if you fit the bill, contact her at: (814)734-6699, or ggh_edu@velocity.net.

While you’re down there, you can stop at Wooden Nickel Buffalo Farm on the way home for bison burgers. Read Marnie’s recipe for bison meatballs next week at Marnie’s food newsletter. Read up on bison at the website Wooden Nickel Buffalo Farm.

Find more on Marnie’s newsletter Friday.

My sweet tooth can get out of hand this time of year, meaning roughly January to December.

My go-to snack right now is toasted Arnold’s Sandwich Thins, butter spray and sugar-free jam. I’ve never made jam myself, but coworker Sherry Rieder has found the easiest, fool-proof, jam-making stuff ever.

To make jam, you’re going to need some kind of pectin. It comes in powdered, liquid, instant for freezing, cooking for canning, Some form of pectin exists in most fruit, in varying amounts. It has no flavor, but serves as a thickening agent.

Sherry’s new-found Instant Fruit Pectin requires no cooking. You can make it with Splenda or sugar. Mash 4 cups of fruit, stir in pectin, sweetener and wait 30 minutes. It’ll keep in the fridge for three weeks, and freeze for one year. Sherry’s stuff comes in 1.59-ounce packages for $1.54. She found them at Walmart near the canning jars, and one packet filled 10 one-cup containers.

Watch out, store brands. I’m officially empowered.

I’ve been wanting a cherry pitter for years. But every year, I question the investment on a single-use tool. But then cherry season comes again, and I’m stuck at my kitchen sink with a hair pin for days.

Yesterday, I was at Wegmans. Right next to the bags of cherries was a plastic pitter, marked down from $15 to $10. Into the cart it went. I was busy last night, so my husband started playing with it. That thing is awesome. It does six cherries at one time and doesn’t shoot them out like a regular pitter would: The pits politely fall into a tray that you can empty into the garbage. While the squirt gun-style pitters can be fun, after a few dozen times, you’ll really be wanting a kinder, gentler solution.

Find a recipe for Fresh Cherry Waldorf Salad here.

Here’s some humbling numbers about how much we know — or don’t know — about calories. I have to admit I skirt the edges of these findings myself, even as a weight watcher. It’s kind of a kick in the pants to see these numbers. No wonder obesity is a raging epidemic.

Here are the findings:

A new survey by the International Food Information Council Foundation found that “only 12 percent of respondents accurately estimate their recommended daily calorie intake for weight maintenance.”
Nearly half didn’t know how many calories they burn and 58 percent said they don’t even try to balance their calorie intake with how much they burn. Only 19 percent of those who said they were watching their weight don’t keep track of the calories they consume.

Heavy sigh. To learn more about the study, click here.

To get a rough estimate of how many calories you need, check out a graph from the USA Today by clicking here.

I hate to make salad. I’m terrible at it. The textures and flavors are all out of whack. I don’t know what goes with what. That said, I love salad. If they’re made by other people, I gobble them up.

I put three salad greens into my vegetable garden, mostly for my husband who makes enormous salads every night. We have spinach, curly endive and something purple that might be red mustard. The peppery lettuce stood up well, even to a thin coating of lite ranch. I even had a little heat in my mouth when I was done.

If you have ideas for a simple salad that include my greens, I’m all ears. I might actually like it if the recipe comes from you.

I rarely write about products, but I simply can’t keep this a secret. OxiClean Laundry Stain Remover Spray is saving me money.

My T-shirts used to be practically disposable. I’d wear them once or twice before I dropped tomato sauce, coffee, mustard, berries, salad dressing, ice cream, ketchup, anything on them, rendering them useless for anything other than gardening and cooking. That drawer is full.

But I’ve all but stopped the insanity. I haven’t stopped dropping things, of course, but I’ve found an MVP in my fight against ruined shirts.

When I drop something, I take the shirt off, spread it out on the bed, spray the heck out of the stain. Most of them are gone before the clothes hit the washer. It’s unbelievable. I keep a bottle in everyone’s bedroom and on the washer. It even fades old stains. Check it out here.