DAYTON, OHIO: Some Ohioans are paying more for their Thanksgiving turkeys this year, but experts say the jump in price isn’t affecting sales.

Jim Chakeres, executive vice president of the Ohio Poultry Association, said the price increase in feed grains, specifically corn, is a major factor for the rise.

Stan Landes, co-owner of Bowman & Landes turkey farm in New Carlisle, tells the Dayton Daily News that the price per pound has increased to $3.29 from last year’s rate of $2.99.

The farm raised about 65,000 turkeys this year and distributes to 300 markets in western Ohio and Indiana.

The American Farm Bureau Federation says the retail cost of menu items for a classic Thanksgiving dinner increased less than 1 percent this year.

Sonya Heckman recalls how an advertisement transformed her life.

As an Akron teenager in the 1950s, she loved reading fashion magazines, flipping through the glossy pages and admiring the latest styles. Somewhere near the back of Glamour or Seventeen, an ad caught her eye: It was for the Grace Downs Air Career School, a New York City academy “for girls who like adventure and travel plus a fine salary.”

A job as a stewardess sounded exciting, so she sent an application, filled out forms and mailed her photo.

“I didn’t even tell my mother,” she said.

The former Sonya Suscinski, a little girl with lofty dreams, grew up in a house on Mustill Street in the Little Cuyahoga Valley. A child of divorced parents, she lived with her mother, Mabel Vrabel, but often visited her father, John Suscinski, who lived on Hickory Street.

Sonya attended Findley Elementary, Jennings Junior High and North High School before graduating from Ellet in 1957. She had remarkable poise at a young age — thanks to the Mary Pollack Dance Academy and Paige Palmer School of Charm and Fashion Modeling.

Heckman, 73, remembers modeling fashions and doing demonstrations on Palmer’s popular exercise program on WEWS-TV 5 in Cleveland.

“When I was at Paige Palmer, she more or less took me by the hand,” Heckman said. “She started taking me to the television studio every morning.”

Studying with Pollack, she danced in a trio called the Maryettes, which performed at local clubs and restaurants. After a girl quit, the group became a duo, the Lee Sisters, which danced at nightclubs in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and a monthlong engagement at a resort in the Adirondacks of New York.

In 1958, the Manhattan airline school accepted the Akron girl. Sonya broke the news to her mother, who had saved $3,000 for her to attend the University of Akron.

“All right, this is your choice,” her mother replied. “Take the money and you can go to New York.”

Sonya lived for months in a New York dormitory with dozens of girls. The school had classrooms, a mock passenger cabin and flight simulator.

“You had to study all these different airplanes and codes and procedures,” she said. “There was a lot you had to learn.”

Students took a grueling test and sat for interviews with airline representatives.

“And then you just kept your fingers crossed that one of them would hire you.”

At the end of training, nervous students were ushered into the mock airplane, where airline officials called off the names of the dozen or so women who were hired. Capital Airlines selected Heckman.

“Oh, my God, it was like Miss America,” she said. “Everybody hugged one another.”

Capital flew her to Washington, D.C., for more training — and that became her hub. She lived in an apartment with three stewardesses — they weren’t called flight attendants then — and took a cab every morning to classes in a hangar at National Airport.

“You had to be a certain height, you couldn’t be over a certain weight,” she said. “At that particular time, you couldn’t be married and fly.”

She was fitted for a uniform — olive green in winter and light tan for summer — and flew into the wild blue yonder.

“Most of the people that were on the airplane were men,” she said. “They were businessmen traveling. You didn’t see too many families.”

Airplane cabins were filled with cigarette smoke, thanks in part to the Winston packs that stewardesses distributed. Stewardesses also pushed a cocktail cart down the aisle.

“I was always scared of the champagne because I had to pop the cork,” Heckman said.

One time, labor leader Jimmy Hoffa was on board. He sat there gruffly, throwing back drinks and dropping peanuts all over his seat.

“He wasn’t nice at all to me,” Heckman said. “When he got up to leave, it was a big mess. You might have thought you were at the zoo.”

Heckman flew as far south as New Orleans and as far west as Denver. She enjoyed the camaraderie of the crew.

Danger always lurked in the air, however. Because Capital’s planes didn’t have radar, pilots often ran into foul weather.

Heckman remembers flying on a twin-engine DC-3 to Norfolk, Va., when the sky turned black and the plane began to pitch all over the place.

“It got so terrible, I unstrapped myself from my seat belt and I ran up to the cockpit, I opened the door and I burst in,” she recalled. “I said ‘Guys, what’s going on?’ They said we’re in a hurricane.”

When one of the engines stalled, a pilot instructed Heckman to tell the 30 passengers to get out their pillows and assume crash positions. People started to cry and scream.

“I’m sitting there and I’m saying my prayers,” she said. “I’m making the sign of the cross.”

Suddenly, everything became calm. The engine restarted. The sun came back out. The plane landed 10 minutes later.

Heckman was lucky that day. Sadly, other flights ended in tragedy for co-workers. “In the years that I flew, I lost quite a few friends through crashes,” she said.

After United Airlines bought Capital in 1961, Heckman retired her wings. She was planning to marry airline captain Harvey Heckman.

She stayed in the business, donning a blue uniform and selling travel insurance from a counter at National Airport. That led to one of the best experiences of her life.

One day in 1962, her manager took her aside and told her to report to the Nov. 17 dedication at nearby Dulles International Airport. He instructed her to wear white gloves because she was going to meet President John F. Kennedy.

“So then my anxiety attack started,” she said. “Is my uniform pressed and ready? Do my shoes look decent? Where in the world are my white gloves?”

She remembers being nervous as she drove to Dulles. She stood in the receiving line and watched as Kennedy moved through the crowd. She kept her composure, recalling her training from Paige Palmer.

The president stopped, shook her gloved hand and spoke to her. A photographer captured the moment.

“Being face to face with him was simply awesome,” Heckman said. “He was so good-looking and smiling at me. I mean, I’m looking straight in the eyes at him. I felt like I was going to faint.”

She remembers everything about that moment — except for the conversation itself.

“I couldn’t believe the president was speaking to me,” she said. “I spoke back. I don’t know what I said.”

Later that evening, she got another surprise when her picture with Kennedy appeared on the national news.

“I was just in total shock to see it,” she said.

Heckman left the insurance business after she and her husband, Harvey, welcomed a daughter, Laura.

Sonya Heckman wasn’t done meeting VIPs, though. She returned to modeling in the 1960s and continued into the 1980s, working for stores such as Bloomingdale’s and Lord & Taylor. The work brought her in contact with such celebrities as Elizabeth Taylor, Vidal Sassoon, Ethel Kennedy and Hollywood actress Arlene Dahl.

It was an interesting career, and Heckman is forever grateful to that 1950s advertisement “for girls who like adventure and travel.” She truly reached her destination.

Beacon Journal copy editor Mark J. Price is the author of The Rest Is History: True Tales From Akron’s Vibrant Past, a book from the University of Akron Press. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.

A Stow resident is dedicating her career to improving the care provided to patients with life-limiting or life-threatening illnesses here and nationwide.

Karen Vekasy, a clinical nurse specialist and advanced practice nurse education coordinator at Hospice of the Western Reserve, recently was selected to serve on the exam development committee for the National Board of Certification of Hospice and Palliative Care Nurses.

The optional specialty certification program offers exams for nurses, advanced practice providers, nursing assistants, administrators and others in the fields of hospice and palliative care.

Hospice is end-of-life care for patients who are estimated to live about six months, while palliative care can be provided to people with complex illnesses who are not forgoing life-prolonging and curative treatments.

“We’re looking at really helping to determine benefit versus burden that patients are approaching,” she said. “Just because we’re able to do something doesn’t mean it’s necessarily something the patient would want. It’s really talking about the quality of life with patients, not just the quantity of life.”

The Cleveland-based nonprofit program has had an office in Fairlawn for about two years.

In her role with Hospice of the Western Reserve, Vekasy educates new team members and assists providers in the field when needed. She also has provided education about advanced directives and other issues with emergency medical providers in Twinsburg, Macedonia and Boston Heights.

Vekasy said more public awareness is needed about the evolving field, which is being celebrated nationwide throughout November as National Hospice and Palliative Care Month.

Diane Hartt, provider relations manager for Hospice of the Western Reserve, agreed.

She’s seen firsthand the benefits of the palliative care services her mother, Dorothy VanBuskirk, has received from the organization.

For the past six years, the 94-year-old with congestive heart failure has received support to manage her medications and other issues as needed. Volunteers from Hospice of the Western Reserve also make regular visits.

With the support, Hartt said, VanBuskirk has been able to continue to live more independently in an assisted-living facility in Hudson.

“All that has been very helpful,” VanBuskirk said.

Medicare assistance

Mercy Medical Center in Canton is sponsoring a free event to help seniors pick Medicare managed-care plans at 9 a.m. Nov. 27 in the medical office building auditorium.

Terri Gursky, Mercy’s Medicare specialist and Stark County Ohio Senior Health Insurance Information Program coordinator, will give an overview of Medicare options.

Representatives from several Medicare managed-care plans also will be available to answer questions.

Open enrollment for optional Medicare managed-care plans, as well as Part D prescription drug plans, continues through Dec. 7.

For more information about Mercy’s Medicare event or to schedule a one-on-one session with the hospital’s Medicare specialist, call the Mercy Healthcare Connection at 330-489-1333 or 800-223-8662.

Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or cpowell@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Powell on Twitter at twitter.com/abjcherylpowell.

People Helping People is a list of charitable causes in our area that need donations or volunteers. The Beacon Journal has not investigated these causes, so donors should verify their worthiness and the tax-deductibility of contributions.

A link to a form for submitting requests to People Helping People can be found at www.ohio.com/charity, along with tips on researching charities and a list of causes already published.

Questions about submitting information? Call Mary Beth Breckenridge, 330-996-3756.

Akron Bible Church/Baskets of Love, 783 Brown St., Akron, OH 44311, will give out 500 to 700 food baskets for Christmas and provide toys to 100 families. It also runs an emergency food pantry and clothing room all year and serves a hot meal every Friday night.

The program needs monetary donations to keep the pantry stocked and to provide meat for Christmas food baskets, as well as donations of new unwrapped toys, blankets and winter coats for adults and children. Donations may be dropped off from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, or donors may call to request pickup.

Donations are always accepted, but donations for the Christmas outreach should be dropped off or picked up by Dec. 10.

For information, call Henri Etta Lockhart at 330-319-1922 or the church at 330-376-5673, or send an email to fletcherhenri@gmail.com.

Helping Hands of Summit County Inc., P.O. Box 26601, Akron, OH 44319, assists children, women and homeless people who need help with housing or utility payments, groceries, vehicles or help with medical costs due to serious illness or unexpected events.

The charity is seeking donations of:

• Grocery and department store gift cards to make Christmas special for needy children.

• Money to make utility and housing payments; to buy gifts, coats, shoes and food for those less fortunate; and to help a family keep its home.

• A vehicle and a good, smaller refrigerator for a widow and child.

Donations are due Dec. 31 for holiday help, but the charity helps people year round.

For information, contact Phyllis Byrd at 330-773-7731 or pbyrd777@gmail.com, or visit www.helpinghands-sc.org.

SIDNEY, OHIO: Authorities say they expect most of the 241 dogs rescued from an alleged puppy mill in western Ohio to be placed in foster care by Thanksgiving.

WHIO-TV reports that sheriff’s deputies and the dog warden raided the Shelby County property and seized the animals on Saturday following a six-month investigation.

Officials said the dogs of various breeds were found in very poor health, and kennel conditions were determined to be unfit for housing animals. One dog was found dead.

Multiple charges are expected to be filed against the owners of the business, called Pedigree Pets.

Sidney is about 40 miles north of Dayton.

Q.: I haven’t baked a cheesecake from scratch in about 40 years, and when I got out my old Betty Crocker recipe and baked one, it got a big crack in the center. What did I do wrong? I was using a dark-coated springform pan.

— K.C., Kent

A.: Cheesecakes crack when they are overbaked. A cheesecake may continue to jiggle in the center when it has baked for the correct amount of time. But our tendency is to keep baking them, fearing they have a raw center, and that’s often when cracks start to develop.

Take heart. There are a few things you can do to minimize the chances of your cheesecake developing a grand canyon.

Bake your cake in a water bath. Wrap your springform pan in two layers of heavy-duty foil so that water doesn’t seep in along the pan’s ring and make your crust soggy. Fill the pan with your crust and batter. Place the filled cake pan inside a larger pan (like a roasting pan) and place them both in the oven. Then use a kettle of boiling water to fill the bigger pan about an inch or so up the sides of the cake pan. This will help to keep the cake from cracking and create a steam effect that will produce an extra-creamy cheesecake. If your recipe calls for baking your crust first, then adding the filling, wrap your pan in foil after baking the crust.

Once the cake has baked for the time recommended, turn off your oven and crack open the door, leaving the cake in there for another hour to cool down slowly. After the hour is up, place it on a wire rack until cooled completely. Refrigerate the cake after it has cooled to room temperature. Gentle cooling also helps to keep cracks at bay.

As a side note: Dark-coated pans are not your friend. They tend to conduct heat, so cakes will bake faster, causing things like cracks in cheesecakes and other overbaking issues. I recommend light-colored aluminum or light metal pans.

Finally, remember my theory that cherry and blueberry topping were invented by the baker who experienced the first cracked cheesecake. Spoon on the fruit topping and no one will ever know.

Got a food question? Lisa Abraham has the answer. Call 330-996-3737; email her at labraham@thebeaconjournal.com with “Ask Lisa” in the subject line; or write to her at 44 E. Exchange St., P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309-0640. Please include your name (initials will be printed on request), hometown and phone number.

Ever wonder why we break the turkey wishbone at Thanksgiving?

A co-worker posed this question to me a while back and asked if I would look into it.

Honestly, I had no idea where or how this tradition began, so I was surprised when I discovered it was the Italians who first went looking for a lucky break.

The legend of the wishbone begins with the Etruscans, an ancient Italian civilization, and it also begins with the chicken, not the turkey.

The Etruscans believed that chickens were soothsayers that possessed the power to predict the future. They would place kernels of corn around a circle to represent the letters of their alphabet, and then select a hen and place her in the center of the circle.

As legend has it, they would watch which kernels the chicken ate, and in which order, and use the information as a predictor of future events.

The hen, after performing her visionary duties, would then be rewarded by being offered as a sacrifice, cooked and eaten. Her collarbone, which we know as the wishbone, was saved and the Etruscans would take turns stroking it for good luck or to make a wish on.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see how this practice could turn into a fight over the bone, which is how the tradition of breaking the bone was born. The person who got the bigger half got the “lucky break.”

Eventually, lore tells us, the tradition was adopted by Rome, and over the centuries spread to England, from where the pilgrims brought the tradition to America. The only problem was, when they got here they found more turkeys than chickens, so the custom was adapted to the turkey collarbone.

The battle for the wishbone’s bigger half is an after-dinner Thanksgiving tradition for many families. Some folks like to allow the bone to dry out for a while before the competition, and will save it for Christmas or even Easter dinner so that it is more brittle and snaps better. Most, however, can’t wait that long to see who gets the luck, and hold the bone-snapping competition after dinner.

Other traditions hold that families with an unmarried daughter place the bone over the front doorway as good luck in finding her a husband. The next single man to pass though the door and under the wishbone was the candidate.

That could be a lucky break. Or not.

Whichever way your wishbone breaks Thursday, here’s wishing all of you a very happy Thanksgiving, and lots of luck for the holiday season.

Lisa Abraham can be reached at 330-996-3737 or at labraham@thebeaconjournal.com. Find me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter @akronfoodie or visit my blog at www.ohio.com/blogs/lisa.

Seasonally perfect Sweet Pumpkin Pesto from Atlanta’s Bella Cucina Artful Food is a natural tucked in ravioli, or stirred into risotto.

The sweet potato-pumpkin mashup, with its touch of brown sugar, garlic and sage that tasters found balanced nicely with lemon juice and vinegar, could also work as a flatbread spread, with a manchego cheese sprinkle and gentle heating.

A 6-ounce jar is $12. To buy online, go to http://
bellacucina.com.

— Judy Hevrdejs

Chicago Tribune

Thanksgiving at my house means double the sweet potatoes: My mom makes her amazing sweet potato casserole, and I make my favorite sweet potato pie. We firmly believe you can’t eat enough of them this time of year.

The secret to this Traditional Sweet Potato Pie is whipping the egg whites and folding them into the potato mixture just before putting the mixture into the pie shell. This single step creates a light and fluffy pie that will surely be the best sweet potato pie you have ever tasted. It’s probably the hardest part about making the pie, too … and how hard is that?

You’ll want to use a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate (or deep-dish shell if you prefer the frozen shells) because this pie is higher and lighter than most sweet potato pies you may have tried. Top with fresh whipped cream, if desired. Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Traditional Sweet Potato Pie

3 medium sweet potatoes (about 1½ lbs., for 2½ cups cooked and mashed)

1 (9-inch) unbaked deep-dish piecrust

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 stick (½ cup) butter, softened

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

¾ tsp. ground ginger

½ tsp. ground nutmeg

2 large eggs

½ cup evaporated milk

¼ cup sugar

Whipped cream, optional for serving

Place the raw sweet potatoes in a 4½-quart (or larger) pot. Cover the potatoes with tap water. Place the pot over high heat, and bring it to a boil. Cook at a moderate boil (lower the heat, if necessary, to prevent splatters), until the potatoes are very tender when pierced with a small sharp knife, about 35 minutes.

Use tongs to remove the potatoes from the water, and allow them to cool, or refrigerate until ready to use. (See note if you plan to refrigerate the potatoes.)

Prepare the piecrust in a deep-dish pie plate. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Peel the potatoes (the jackets usually slip right off), and lightly mash the flesh. Use 2½ cups potatoes. Reserve any extra for another use.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, combine potatoes, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, separate the eggs, placing the egg whites in the small bowl of an electric mixer. Set aside. Add the yolks to the potato mixture, and mix well. Add the evaporated milk, and mix just until well blended.

Beat the egg whites, adding 1 tablespoon sugar at a time, until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes. (See note.)

Fold the egg whites into the potato mixture. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pie shell. (Mound the mixture in the middle, taking care not to let the filling spill over the edge of the crust, as there will be a significant amount.)

Bake at 400 degrees 10 minutes; then reduce the heat to 350 degrees. Continue to bake 45 to 55 minutes. When the pie is done, the center will be just set and will jiggle only slightly.

Remove from the oven, and let the pie cool 20 to 30 minutes before slicing. Serve with whipped cream, if desired. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Serves 8.

Note: If you precook the potatoes, warm them slightly in the microwave before blending with the softened butter for a smoother finished pie. For testing purposes, I used Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust. Beat the egg whites at room temperature.

Each serving has about 305 calories, 15 grams fat (9 grams saturated), 82 milligrams cholesterol, 4 grams protein, 40 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams dietary fiber, 143 milligrams sodium.

Alicia Ross is the co-author of three cookbooks. Contact her c/o Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106, email tellus@kitchenscoop.com, or visit http://kitchenscoop.com.

We asked readers to share their thoughts on the products we are testing. Here’s what they had to say:

Perfect Tortilla Pans

“My husband and I have been trying to cut back on fat and we purchased these [Perfect Tortilla] pans at Giant Eagle. They work well and bake the shells quickly. Unless you are using a flavored tortilla, there isn’t much taste to the shells but that’s not the pan’s fault. I sprayed the tortillas with olive oil cooking spray and sprinkled some seasoning on them before putting them in the pan, and that made the shell tastier.”

— Bobbie Carper

Akron

“I have used the [Perfect] Tortilla Pans and they do work perfectly for me with no sticking. I definitely recommend their use for many fillings.”

— Suzanne Hasenstab

Akron

Ice Cream Ball

“The Ice Cream Ball ice cream maker works wonderful. It is fun for children and if directions are followed it makes a great little freezer of ice cream. This is enough for three children. I highly recommend this ice cream maker.”

— Virginia Smucker

A sense of almost magisterial authority runs through Sam Sifton’s useful new book, Thanksgiving: How to Cook It Well (Random House, $18). Once the Times’ restaurant critic, where he would spend T-Day answering calls from panicked readers, and now national editor, Sifton is not shy when it comes to telling you how to observe the holiday — and use his book.

Sifton laudably warns readers early that “Thanksgiving is not a book for everyone.” The feast he outlines is a traditional, turkey-centric one. The foods and recipes are familiar ones rather than new or trendy. He has ladles of practical advice, humor and reassuring words, to get you through the holiday successfully.

— Bill Daley

Chicago Tribune

Tickets are still available for Buddy Valastro, television’s Cake Boss, who is bringing his “Homemade for the Holidays Tour” to the Akron Civic Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8.

Valastro, star of TLC network’s Cake Boss and owner of Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken, N.J., has a live stage show that is filled with family entertainment, including cake decorating and audience interaction. He’ll also share stories from behind the scenes at his bakery and answer audience questions. Some audience members will get to compete on stage in a cupcake decorating contest.

For tickets, visit www.akroncivic.com, or phone the box office at 330-253-2488.

Gift cards on sale

This is the time of year when we give restaurant gift cards to family members. So this is my annual warning: If someone gives you a gift card for a restaurant, use it as soon as you can.

Restaurants, particularly in a challenging economy, often close without warning. Yes, you will be stuck losing your money/gift if you have a gift card still in your wallet.

Resist the urge to hold on to them for a better time; there is no time like the present to use them. However, there is one way to guarantee you won’t lose money, and that is to purchase gift certificates from the Tri-County Restaurant Association in Canton.

The association sells gift certificates that can be redeemed at more than 130 member establishments, including most Canton-area restaurants. The association encompasses Stark, Tuscarawas and Carroll counties.

Call 330-499-7007 to purchase with a credit card or stop by the association’s office, 100 30th St. N.W., Suite 102, Canton, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, to purchase in person.

Wine dinner in Canton

Tozzi’s Downtown, 218 Court Ave. NW, Canton is having a wine dinner starting at 6:15 p.m. Nov. 28.

Owners David and Dina Tozzi are hosting the event, along with Jeff Becherer of Superior Beverage who is supplying the wines.

The event will feature Italian wines from Antinori and Ruffino. The menu, by chef Mark Green and sous chef Dom Dominick, includes white bean hummus with tomatoes and avocados, a mixed green salad with fried artichoke, red snapper with pasta puttanesca, beef filet with potato hash, and cherries jubilee over vanilla pound cake and bourbon cherry glaze.

The dinner is $65. Call 330-471-8000 to reserve a spot.

Holiday gift baskets on sale

Buckeye Baskets, a division of United Disability Services, is selling a variety of gift baskets featuring mostly Ohio-made products.

The baskets include maple syrup, jam, jelly, nuts, candy, chocolates, tea, cookies, cheese, pasta, barbecue sauce, coffee and salad dressings, among other items, and each has its own theme.

Baskets are priced from $10.95 to $75.95. Order online at www.buckeyebaskets.com, by phone at 330-379-3341 or by fax at 330-762-0912. Order by Dec. 16 to ensure holiday delivery anywhere in the continental U.S.

Buckeye Baskets was launched in 2003 to provide employment for people with disabilities while helping to support the programs of the agency.

Lisa Abraham can be reached at 330-996-3737 or at labraham@thebeaconjournal.com. Find me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter @akronfoodie or visit my blog at www.ohio.com/blogs/lisa.

Ninja 3-in-1 Cooking System

Claims: “Homemade meals, faster, easier, healthier.”

What We Paid: One was sent to us to test. It retails between $150 and $210.

Available: Stores, TV, online.

VERDICTS:

Betty: It depends.

Lisa: Skip it.

Mary Beth: Skip it.

Perfect Tortilla Pan Set

Claims: “Golden, crispy bowls

in 5 minutes.”

What We Paid: $10.99.

Available: Stores, TV, online.

VERDICTS:

Betty: It depends.

Lisa: It depends.

Mary Beth: It depends.

My Lil’ Pie Maker

Claims: “Perfect Lil’ Pies

in Just Minutes!”

What We Paid: $10.99.

Available: Stores, TV, online.

VERDICTS:

Betty: Snap it up.

Lisa: Snap it up.

Mary Beth: Snap it up.

The Original Bake Pop

Claims: “Bake Delicious Cake Pops!”

What We Paid: $19.88.

Available: Stores, TV, online.

VERDICTS:

Betty: Skip it.

Lisa: Snap it up.

Mary Beth: Snap it up.

Play and Freeze Ice Cream Ball

Claims: “Play your way to delicious ice cream.”

What We Paid: One was sent to us to test. It is available online for $24.99.

Available: Online.

VERDICTS:

Betty: It depends.

Lisa: It depends.

Mary Beth: It depends.

Hints from Heloise:
Reusing cat litter tubs

Dear Readers: You are so creative! Here are some of the amazing things you do with cat litter tubs:

Diane in New Jersey: “Use them to store sand/salt for icy driveways and walkways. They are much easier to carry than the awkward bags that sand and salt come in.”

Kathleen in Arkansas: “I use them on my deck to store hand tools.”

Eileen, via email: “We get our cat litter at a pet and feed store here in California that sells by the pound. We take in our own containers to refill, and it costs a fraction of buying the already-filled tubs.”

Victoria in Texas: “I use old cat-litter containers as a slow-watering mechanism for trees. Simply use a nail to put five or six holes in the bottom, then fill them with water and place them around the root systems of trees.”

Sharon, via email: “I use mine to collect rainwater.”

Edie in Illinois: “We use them in our greenhouse as supports for shelving.”

— King Features

When weather is cold,
better watch your heart

It doesn’t matter where you live; you’re more likely to die of a heart-related problem such as heart attack, heart failure or stroke when the weather is (relatively) cold.

Researchers looked at death records from seven different U.S. locations — Los Angeles, Massachusetts, Texas, Arizona, Georgia, Washington and Pennsylvania — and in all of the sites the team surveyed, it found a 26 percent to 36 percent increase in circulatory deaths in winter compared with summer and early fall.

The results suggested that people acclimatize to the conditions where they live, and that factors beyond temperature — including higher rates of flu infection, less-healthful lifestyles in winter months, and higher rates of depression when the weather takes a turn for the worse — could be important in determining when deaths occur during a typical year.

— Los Angeles Times

Preschoolers can learn
concept of compassion

When it comes to donating their own things, it’s common for kids to put up a fuss. But even preschoolers are old enough to learn about generosity, compassion, and the importance of helping others.

Try putting it simply: “Some people don’t have as much money as we do to buy things like toys. I know you used to like that doll, but you haven’t played with her in a really long time and you have lots of other dolls. Just think how happy this doll could make another little girl who doesn’t have one.”

Ask where they’d like to see their playthings donated and why. Let kids decide which toys stay and which ones go.

Make it fun by turning it into a game. For example, for every two toys they keep, see if they can give up one. Reward them for their efforts with praise and hugs.

If you’re giving away toys, furniture, or baby items, make sure they have all their parts, aren’t broken, and haven’t been recalled (type in the product name at www.cpsc.gov).

Be sure that electronic toys work. If you’re donating clothes, toss out any with stains, tears, or holes.

— McClatchy-Tribune

Black Friday is almost here, and there are a host of products on the market that would seem to make the perfect holiday gift for the cook and baker on your list.

Would they really?

Consumer reporter Betty Lin-Fisher, home writer Mary Beth Breckenridge and I put these products to the test. Read on to find out which could be holiday delights and which are little better than a lump of coal.

Ninja 3-in-1 Cooking System

In the history of “Does It Work?,” never has a product had all three of us as conflicted as this Ninja cooker.

It claims to be a slow cooker, stove top, electric oven and steam oven.

Yes, it could replace a stove top and oven if you wanted it to. But would anyone really want to trade in their burners for a single pot that is just 11 by 8 inches? How many folks who would purchase this don’t already have a stove/oven that provides nearly all of the same functions?

Its claims for one-pot cooking fell a bit short. We tested out a variety of recipes from the included book, starting first with “Easy Spaghetti and Meatballs” that is demonstrated on the often-seen television infomercial.

The recipe says to place a pound of spaghetti, 24 ounces of frozen meatballs, a quart of water and a jar of spaghetti sauce in the pot, turn it to the oven setting for 25 minutes, cover and let it cook.

We did exactly as instructed, and after 25 minutes, we had a cooker filled with hard pasta sticks. It took another 10 minutes for the pasta to reach the al dente stage, and after another five it was mushy.

At 35 minutes, we could have boiled a pot of water, heated the sauce and meatballs, and cooked the pasta, so we saw no time savings. Yes, we would have had two pots instead of one, but that’s hardly a huge savings on dishes, especially considering the Ninja’s lid and rack are not dishwasher safe and must be washed by hand.

We also took issue with inconsistencies in the recipe. In the infomercial, the demonstrator puts the spaghetti in whole, but the recipe instructs to break the spaghetti in half. The recipe, printed twice in the written materials that came with the cooker, calls for two different amounts of sauce. We found a similar inconsistency with a recipe for chicken piccata, which showed a photo of asparagus spears, but instructed to cut the asparagus into 1-inch pieces.

Anyone who uses a slow cooker regularly knows that you must brown meats first in a skillet because slow cookers don’t get hot enough to sear. The Ninja allows for browning and slow cooking in the same pot, a function that we all liked, but weren’t sure it was worth the price.

“It’s just not that big a benefit that I would pay money for it,” Mary Beth said.

A slow cooker or a countertop electric roaster each cost about $40, up to $60 or $70 for deluxe models.

The stove-top setting took a while to heat up. Betty felt the pot needed to be preheated, as our chicken was sitting in oil not searing, but the materials clearly state that preheating is not necessary. When Betty called the consumer help line, she was told that it should be preheated like a traditional stove top.

When it came to steam baking, we were very disappointed in the chocolate peanut butter cupcakes that came out uncooked on the bottom, dry and dense on top.

There aren’t many items that benefit from steam baking; bread pudding and cheesecake perhaps, but certainly not cupcakes.

When we cooked a rump roast in the steam oven with beef broth and red wine, the smell was wonderful, but none of the aroma found its way into the roast, which was rather bland, despite onions and garlic in the infusion.

Also, the interior of the cooker is smaller than most family-size slow cookers. It can bake just six cupcakes at a time, and won’t hold more than a 3-pound roast. After our testing, the nonstick finish was already starting to show signs of wear. One really annoying feature: The timer doesn’t make a sound, so when the time is up, there is no alert to the cook that it is done.

Does it work? Yes. Is it as good as a pan on the stove or a slow cooker? Not really.

With a price tag of $150 or more, think long and hard before buying this Ninja cooker.

Verdicts:

Betty: It depends.

Lisa: Skip it.

Mary Beth: Skip it.

Perfect Tortilla Pan Set

Several readers expressed an interest in these pans, which will turn tortillas into tortilla bowls.

The set we purchased came with four nonstick metal pans for $10.99. We tested them out with large and small flour tortillas, and both baked up fine. The larger tortillas, however, tended to over-brown at the tops where they were not protected by the pan.

The flour tortillas did not get as crisp as a traditional taco bowl, and to me tasted more like toasted pita bread than a tortilla shell, still retaining some of their chewiness.

Mary Beth liked them as a lower-fat alternative to fried shells but noted that they don’t taste the same.

We had trouble getting small corn tortillas to stay in place in pans because of their thickness and the slippery nonstick surface of the pans.

In general, the pans worked fine. Our apprehension came because the finished product was a bit disappointing when compared to the crispy corn tortilla bowl we are all used to at Mexican restaurants.

“If you are expecting taco shells like you buy at the store or get at a restaurant, this isn’t the same. But for the flour tortillas, it’s a good alternative,” Betty said.

I think it’s the kind of novelty item that will be used for a while and then sold at a garage sale two years later.

Verdicts:

Betty: It depends.

Lisa: It depends.

Mary Beth: It depends.

My Lil’ Pie Maker

We can almost hear the kids clamoring for this item when they see it in stores. When they do, we say go for it.

The kit is just a silicone baking pan with space for four mini pies. It comes with a ring to cut out the pie crust to the perfect size to fit into the pan, and other cutter to make a lattice top.

All of the parts are simple, easy to use and work just fine.

It is harder to press pie dough into a flexible silicone pan than a rigid glass or metal pan, which makes the process a little fussy, but in general, it wasn’t too hard.

We tested it out with refrigerated pie crust and canned pie filling and ended up with four perfect little pies, just as the box promised.

Of course, there is always the question of how many mini pies you will want to bake and how often you would use this, but for $10.99, the investment is minimal and the results are good.

“They’re cute little pies,” Mary Beth noted.

Verdicts:

Betty: Snap it up.

Lisa: Snap it up.

Mary Beth: Snap it up.

The Original Bake Pop

As someone who cares about food, good food, quality food, I would like to see the person who invented the cake pop charged with a food felony.

I hate eating those balls of mushy cake and frosting almost as much as I hate making them.

But I tried my best to put my personal animosity aside for testing this pan, and I was pleasantly surprised.

For those who aren’t familiar, a cake pop is made by baking a boxed cake mix, then shredding it into crumbs, which are combined with prepared frosting until they are nothing more than cake paste. The paste is rolled into a ball, put on a stick, dipped in frosting and decorated.

This pan attempts to turn the cake pop into an actual piece of cake. The pan still calls for using a cake mix, but after some doctoring with some instant pudding and milk, the batter comes out a denser, more brownie-like pop.

The bottom half of the pan is filled with batter, the top of the pan is placed over it and the two are held together with small clamps.

The pops rise in the oven and fill out the top of the pan, turning into baked balls of cake. At $19.88, this pan is essentially a cake ball mold.

There are a few problems. The batter is thick and difficult to pour into the molds. The batter can bake over the top of the molds, leaving a mess.

Most important of all to note, these cake pops are no less a pain to decorate than the original kind of cake pops. Dipping and decorating the balls is messy, tedious and time-consuming work.

But Mary Beth and I both liked the idea of a cake pop tasting like cake instead of mush, and the pan did turn out nicely shaped balls so we gave it a thumbs up.

Betty, however, didn’t like the fact that the pop didn’t taste like a well-made cake pop. “These were nothing more than pans with circular shapes to make the shape of a pop,” she said.

Verdicts:

Betty: Skip it.

Lisa: Snap it up.

Mary Beth: Snap it up.

Play and Freeze
Ice Cream Ball

This giant blue ball ice cream maker was sent to us to try out.

Inside, it has a canister that is filled with cream, sugar and vanilla. Outside, the hollow ball is filled with ice and rock salt. Instead of a churn with an old-fashioned hand crank, or an electric churn, this ball must be kept in motion for 20 minutes to perform the work of freezing cream to ice cream.

The directions advise to shake, roll or pass the ball around. There is a blow-up beach-ball-style covering to make it easier to play with.

The first thing we noticed: It is heavy. Fully loaded, the ball weighs 7 pounds and it feels like tossing a medicine ball back and forth.

To keep us entertained, we started out playing a memory game (“I’m going on a picnic and I’m going to bring A apples”). We were barely halfway through the alphabet when fatigue set in.

“This is so not worth it. … If you do it with kids, they’ll be done in two minutes, and the adults will be left doing it,” Betty said. “I’d rather churn.”

We were too tired after the first 10 minutes to keep tossing the ball, so we rolled it for the next 10.

In the end, we had a delicious pint of soft-serve vanilla ice cream, so the ball does work.

We just can’t imagine anyone wanting to go through this much work for so little return. The pint was enough to give all three of us a generous scoop, but it wouldn’t be nearly enough for a family of more than three or four.

And the ball is a bit messy to use as the opening is small and difficult to serve from.

“It does work. I just think it’s a lot of work and a lot of money,” Mary Beth said. The ball retails for around $25. The cost of a pint of cream plus rock salt was more than the cost of a pint of premium vanilla ice cream, and that doesn’t include the vanilla and sugar.

Verdicts:

Betty: It depends.

Lisa: It depends.

Mary Beth: It depends.

Have you seen an advertised product and wondered if it really lives up to its claims? You can suggest items to be reviewed by Lisa Abraham, Mary Beth Breckenridge and Betty Lin-Fisher by sending email to labraham@thebeaconjournal.com or calling 330-996-3737, mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3756 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3724.

People Helping People is a list of charitable causes in our area that need donations or volunteers.

The Beacon Journal has not investigated these causes, so donors should verify their worthiness and the tax-deductibility of contributions.

A link to a form for submitting requests to People Helping People can be found at www.ohio.com/charity, along with tips on researching charities and a list of causes already published.

Questions about submitting information? Call Mary Beth Breckenridge, 330-996-3756.

Mental Health America of Summit County, 20 Olive St., Suite 404, Akron, OH 44310, seeks to promote mental health, eliminate stigma and achieve victory over mental illness through advocacy, education and referral services.

It is seek donors to “adopt” client families for the holidays by providing such items as clothing, household goods, gifts and gift cards. Specific information about the families, including sizes and gift ideas, will be provided.

Items should be wrapped, labeled and delivered to the agency by Dec. 10.

For information, call the United Way Volunteer Center, 330-643-5512.

Holiday Paws Pantry, a project of the Ad Lab and the North Canton Area Chamber of Commerce, is collecting pet food for families in need.

Unopened wet and dry dog and cat food can be donated through Dec. 17 at several Stark County locations, including: The Barrel Room, Bead Boutique, Booney and Pooch, Caffee Gelato, CKP Heating & Cooling, DeHoff Realtors, Ermanno’s Pizza, FirstMerit Bank, ForPaws/Blue Cross Animal Hospital, Hoover High School (Wrenn Nicodemo’s senior English class), North Canton Chamber of Commerce, North Canton Public Library, the Repository, Stark State College (Business Division), Veterinary Wellness Center of North Canton, Viking Community Animal Hospital, Walgreens on South Main or at Washington Square, Walsh University and Zoup!

Donations can also be made at Canton Charge games at Canton Memorial Civic Center and at the Canton Browns Backers gathering that starts at 4:25 p.m. Dec. 2 at the Winking Lizard on Fulton Drive Northwest in Jackson Township.

For more information, go to www.facebook.com/HolidayPawsPantry.

Older teens and adults with attention deficit disorder are much less likely to commit a crime while on ADHD medication, a provocative study from Sweden found.

It also showed in dramatic fashion how much more prone people with ADHD are to break the law — four to seven times more likely than others.

The findings suggest that Ritalin, Adderall and other drugs that curb hyperactivity and boost attention remain important beyond the school-age years and that wider use of these medications in older patients might help curb crime.

“There definitely is a perception that it’s a disease of childhood and you outgrow your need for medicines,” said Dr. William Cooper, a pediatrics and preventive medicine professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. “We’re beginning to understand that ADHD is a condition for many people that really lasts throughout their life.”

He has researched ADHD but had no role in the new study, which was led by Paul Lichtenstein of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

The findings appear in today’s New England Journal of Medicine.

About 5 percent of children in the United States and other Western countries have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which can cause impulsive behavior and difficulty paying attention.

Many youngsters are given medication to help them sit still and focus in school. Some people have symptoms into adulthood.

“It’s well known that individuals with ADHD have much higher rates of criminality and drug abuse than people without ADHD,” but the effect of treatment on this is not well known, Lichtenstein said.

Using Swedish national registers, researchers studied about 16,000 men and 10,000 women ages 15 and older who had been diagnosed with ADHD. The country has national health care, so information was available on all drugs prescribed.

Court and prison records were used to track convictions from 2006 through 2009 and see whether patients were taking ADHD drugs when their crimes were committed. A patient was considered to have gone off medication after six months or more with no new prescription.

NEW YORK: U.S. abortions fell 5 percent during the recession and its aftermath in the biggest one-year decrease in at least a decade, perhaps because women are more careful to use birth control when times are tough, researchers say.

The decline, detailed on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, came in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Both the number of abortions and the abortion rate dropped by the same percentage.

Some experts theorize that some women believed they couldn’t afford to get pregnant.

“They stick to straight and narrow ... and they are more careful about birth control,” said Elizabeth Ananat, a Duke University assistant professor of public policy and economics who has researched abortions.

While many states have restricted access to abortion, most of those laws were adopted in the past two years and are not believed to have played a role in the decline.

Abortions have been dropping slightly over much of the past decade. But before this latest report, they seemed to have pretty much leveled off.

Nearly all states report abortion numbers to the federal government, but it’s voluntary. A few states — including California, which has the largest population and largest number of abortion providers — don’t send in data. While experts estimate there are more than 1 million abortions nationwide each year, the CDC counted about 785,000 in 2009 because of incomplete reporting.

To come up with reliable year-to-year comparisons, the CDC used the numbers from 43 states and two cities — those that have been sending in data consistently for at least 10 years. The researchers found that abortions per 1,000 women of child-bearing age fell from about 16 in 2008 to roughly 15 in 2009. That translates to nearly 38,000 fewer abortions in one year.

Mississippi had the lowest abortion rate, at 4 per 1,000 women of child-bearing age. The state also had only a couple of abortion providers and has the nation’s highest teen birth rate. New York, second to California in number of abortion providers, had the highest abortion rate, roughly eight times Mississippi’s.

Nationally since 2000, the number of reported abortions has dropped overall by about 6 percent and the abortion rate has fallen 7 percent.

By all accounts, contraception is playing a role in lowering the numbers.

Some experts cite a government study released earlier this year suggesting that about 60 percent of teenage girls who have sex use the most effective kinds of contraception, including the pill and patch. That’s up from the mid-1990s, when fewer than half were using the best kinds.

Experts also pointed to the growing use of intrauterine devices, T-shaped plastic sperm-killers that a doctor inserts into the uterus. A study released earlier this year by the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization that does research on reproductive health, showed that IUD use among sexually active women on birth control rose from less than 3 percent in 2002 to more than 8 percent in 2009.

WASHINGTON: It happens every week at meetings in towns, counties and cities nationwide. A lawmaker or religious leader leads a prayer before officials begin the business of zoning changes, contract approvals and trash pickup.

But citizens are increasingly taking issue with these prayers, some of which have been in place for decades. At least five lawsuits around the country — in California, Florida, Missouri, New York and Tennessee — are actively challenging pre-meeting prayers.

Lawyers on both sides say there is a new complaint almost weekly, though they don’t always end up in court. When they do, it seems even courts are struggling to draw the line over the acceptable ways to pray. Some lawyers and lawmakers believe it’s only a matter of time before the Supreme Court will weigh in to resolve the differences. The court has previously declined to take on the issue, but lawyers in a New York case plan to ask the justices in December to revisit it. And even if the court doesn’t take that particular case, it could accept a similar one in the future.

Lawmakers who defend the prayers cite the nation’s founders and say they’re following a long tradition of prayer before public meetings. They say residents don’t have to participate and having a prayer adds solemnity to meetings and serves as a reminder to do good work.

“It’s a reassuring feeling,” said Lakeland, Fla., Mayor Gow Fields of his city’s prayers, which have led to an ongoing legal clash with an atheist group. The City Commission’s meeting agenda now begins with a disclaimer that any prayer offered before the meeting is the “voluntary offering of a private citizen” and not being endorsed by the commission.

Citizens and groups made uncomfortable by the prayers say they’re fighting an inappropriate mix of religion and politics.

“It makes me feel unwelcome,” said Tommy Coleman, the son of a church pianist and a self-described secular humanist who is challenging pre-meeting prayers in Tennessee’s Hamilton County.

Coleman, 28, and Brandon Jones, 25, are urging the county to adopt a moment of silence at its weekly meeting rather than beginning with a prayer.

A number of groups are willing to help with complaints like those filed by Coleman and Jones. Annie Laurie Gaylor, the co-founder of the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, says complaints about the prayers are among the most frequent her organization gets.

Ian Smith, a lawyer with Americans United for Separation of Church and State, says his organization has gotten more complaints in recent years.

That could be because people are more comfortable standing up for themselves or more aware of their options, but Smith also said groups on the right have also promoted the adoption of prayers.

Brett Harvey, a lawyer at the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian group that often helps towns defend their practices, sees it the other way.

He says liberal groups have made a coordinated attempt to bully local governments into abandoning prayers, resulting in more cases.

“It’s really kind of a campaign of fear and disinformation,” Harvey said.

People Helping People is a list of charitable causes in our area that need donations or volunteers. The Beacon Journal has not investigated these causes, so donors should verify their worthiness and the tax-deductibility of contributions. A link to a form for submitting requests to People Helping People can be found at www.ohio.com/charity, along with tips on researching charities and a list of causes already published.

Questions about submitting information? Call Mary Beth Breckenridge, 330-996-3756.

Quaker Steak & Lube, 6073 Dressler Road NW, Jackson Township, is collecting new toys for Toys for Tots through the second week of December.

The restaurant will also hold a dine-to-donate event from 4 to 9 p.m. Dec. 3. Customers who tell their server or bartender that they’re with Toys for Tots, or who mention it when they pick up carryout orders, will have 10 percent of their bill donated toward the purchase of toys for the organization.

Child Guidance & Family Solutions, 312 Locust St., Akron, OH 44302-1801, supports families by providing counseling and education, connecting them with resources and cooperating with community agencies and schools.

The agency is seeking donors to “adopt” families for the holidays by buying gifts for each family member. Donors will receive first names, ages, genders, sizes and specific needs or wants for the family members.

The donors are asked to wrap the gifts, label them with the recipients’ names and deliver them to the agency by Dec. 18. Those who prefer not to shop may give gift cards to local grocery and/or discount stores.

For information, call the United Way Volunteer Center, 330-643-5512.

Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, 350 Opportunity Parkway, Akron, OH 44307-2234, encourages companies, nonprofit organizations, governmental bodies, schools, social clubs and faith-based organizations to host food and fund drives during the holiday season through its Hunger-Free Families campaign.

For information, visit www.akroncantonfoodbank.org/hff.aspx or call 330-535-6900.