Before I worked as an au pair in Austria, I was under the odd impression that all potatoes were the same. The lovely lady I worked for as a nanny also sent me out (daily) to do the grocery shopping in the market. It was a perfectly romantic and idyllic scene: I'd walk down the narrow cobblestone path, under ancient stone archways, carrying my market basket on my arm, with the family daschund following at my heels (he was well known throughout this small town in Austria's wine country, and was quite fat from touring all of the delis and market stalls every day), off to fetch tonight's dinner from a bustling marketplace along the Danube. As a mom today, I could do without the daily jaunt to the market and the prices of groceries in Austria, but there was something very refreshing about the experience each morning. It was aesthetically more pleasing than pulling into the parking lot of a super market.

She sent me off one morning to fetch potatoes, and had prefixed the word for potato with another word I wasn't familiar with in German. I prided myself on being quite fluent in German, and most of the time I could figure out what someone meant with a little time and context. I decided it wasn't important enough to ask for an explaination at that moment (hey, I was only 20), and went on my merry way. Trying to be responsible with the boss-lady's money, I bought the potatoes that were on sale, which were big, beautiful, russet baking potatoes. She was upset, as she planned for some potato salad, and those just wouldn't do. We planned a meal for the next day with the russets, but I was sent back down the mile-long cobblestone path to fetch the proper potato for making potato salad, after receiving a long, educational, and not entirely appreciated-at-the-time lecture on what the different variety of potatoes do and don't do well. I was irritated about the whole situation at the time, but am now grateful to know these things, as they help me be a better cook.

As I figured back then, a potato is still just a a potato. They generally taste about the same. The real difference comes from how they handle and hold up under cooking and preparation, due to the starch content.

Some, like the russets, and anything labled "baking potato" tend to be a bit mealy when cooked, and they make great mashed potatoes, potato dumplings (knoedel and gnocchi), or, as the name implies, baking potatoes. You can boil them, but usually the skins split open when you do so. If you try to make potato salad with the russets, your dish will probably taste fine, but it will look like mashed potatoes fairly quickly, as they don't hold their shape well.

Red Potatoes, on the other hand, have firmer flesh, and are therefore better as boiled potatoes, or in dishes like potato salad, potato soup, or anywhere you want the potato to retain it's shape. The red skin, when washed, adds some extra color to your dish.

If you don't want that extra color, then you may want to go with the yellow potatoes. Yellow Potatoes are all purpose. They can do pretty much anything. I'd still prefer a russet for a baked potato or mashed (it's a texture thing), but they are good for whatever you are preparing. They are usually the affordable choice when making potato salad. Like the reds, they hold their shape pretty well.

White potatoes are even more firm, and are the ideal for making potato salad, or anything that requires your potato to hold it's shape.

Picnic prepared Rian Withaar

When it comes to picnic food, we are limited to foods that keep well, can be eaten at the park with limited mess (usually), don't require too much last minute preparation, and taste good cold or room temperature.

For most of us, that usually means some sort of sandwich, some sort of salad (pasta, potato, or lettuce), and fruit.My personal favorite picnic food is hummus, tabouleh, falafel, and pita bread or tortillas. We'll be bringing that to church Sunday for our after church 4th of July picnic.

I recently came across this excellent website, which I found helpful when searching out some picnic food for us. Check it out!

What is YOUR favorite picnic food (feel free to link to your blog or site with a recipe too)? One random commenter will be selected on July 5th to win a copy of my Bread by Hand Ebook.

One of the biggest ways to start saving on your grocery budget is to begin to plan your weekly menus. By planning your weekly menus, you can better plan your grocery budget, and avoid expensive, last-minute food runs when dinner time sneaks upon you.

This printable menu planning chart can either be printed off as needed, or you can print off one copy, laminate it (or store it in a glossy sheet protector) and use a wet erase (Vis a Vis) marker to plan on the sheet. Feel free to share this document, so long as my website’s contact information stays in tact. You may freely post this pdf on your website, or email it to friends.

You may download it here.

Breaking bread is one of the best ways to get to know other cultures around the world. The above photo is one I found on Flickr of the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul (I could have stayed there the whole trip, back 20 years ago when I went). You could really find yourself enjoying some great food and finding some great deals at the Grand Bazaar!

It may have been over 20 years ago since I went a-backpacking around Europe and the Middle East/North Africa, but I still enjoy a little bit of that trip every time I dig into some delicious Middle Eastern Cuisine. The great thing is, most of this is fairly simple to prepare, extremely frugal to make, and full of good-for-you ingredients. Around the Middle East, falafel stands are found all over the place, usually with a selection of condiments that include hummus and tabouleh.

When we lived in the city, we often ate at Anita's Kitchen, on Maple west of Livernois, in Troy. They have the BEST Lebanese cuisine I have ever tasted. I've worked hard to perfect the art of falefel making, measuring it against the high standard of their super-falefel sandwiches.

I love having a Falefel sandwich with Hummus and Tabouleh, on either pita bread or a flour tortilla, on a hot summer's day. It's just light enough to not make you feel like you over did it, and just filling enough to satisfy. And, if you have a garden, and if you stock up on staple ingredients when they are on sale, it is a dirt cheap dinner.

My favorite Middle Eastern Meal is a good ole Falafel sandwich on pita bread, topped with Hummus and Tabouleh.

For ease printing, I'm going to link to the individual recipes for you on my site.

Falafel is generally a little bit more time consuming than the other two components of this dish, as you need to let your chick peas soak overnight, and after making a dough, you have to either fry or bake the individual falafels.

This can be served with store bought pita bread, store bought flour tortillas (or any other kind of flat bread, such as Chipati), or you can make your own pita bread (recipe forthcoming)

When time is an issue but I still have a hankering for something like this, I will make it without the falafels. Hummus can provide a very quick and easy (not to mention healthy) snack, served with the tabouleh as a wrap with a tortilla, pita bread, or other flat bread. Hummus is also good as a dip with crackers and chips. I also make large batches of falafels when I have time, and freeze the individual falfels on freezer paper, before storing in zipper bags for ease of use.

Garbonzo Beans (also called Chick Peas or Cici Beans), are a very frugal ingredient, especially when bought dried in bulk. To save time, when I see cans of chick peas on sale at the store, I stock up. The chick peas in a can provide a very fast and easy to make snack that my children love. With them all being 11 and up now, they often open and drain a can of chick peas on their own, and whip up some hummus. It's a frequent snack in our home in the summer time. When bought in bulk as a dried bean, time can be saved by cooking a larger-than-needed batch of beans, and storing the extras in the freezer in freezer baggies.

How do you eat it? There's a few options:

• Dip pita bread, pita chips, crackers, or anything else into the hummus.
• Spread hummus on the flat bread, and top with tabouleh.
• Spread on the hummus, add tabouleh, and roll a few falafels into the bread too.
• Dip falafel into the hummus and use them to scoop up some tabouleh too.
• Eat tabouleh just as is, like a salad.

This makes a great picnic food, by the way.