The three founding members of WUChurn (l-r), Sean Wang, Jeremy Winer and Zach Kaufman, demonstrate the fine art of butter-making.

​One night last spring, three dorm-mates at Washington University had one of those ideas that seems absolutely brilliant if you've been up very late studying: Why not start a butter-churning club?

Not that Zach Kaufman, Sean Wang and Jeremy Winer grew up on dairy farms or anything. Kaufman had churned once, on a grade-school field trip, and, in third grade, had read the entire Little House series, although he says he did not enjoy it. ("But you enjoyed the butter portions," Wang suggests helpfully.) But the idea charmed them. They started watching YouTube videos to find out how, exactly, churning was done. They told their friends about it. They started a Facebook group that has, so far, attracted more than 60 members.

Eventually, the time came to put up or shut up. Would there be a butter-churning club or not?

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Cheryl Hughey

Beyond Bacon Grease, local writer Cheryl Hughey's reduced-fat cookbook

​Ballwin-based food writer Cheryl Hughey took a long journey to changing her health through her diet that included going vegetarian and finding ways to lower fat in her favorite recipes. She has chronicled her favorite low-fat recipes in her recently-released cookbook, Beyond Bacon Grease. The book will be available for sale nationally in a few months. Until then, Hughey's selling it online and hosting a book signing at Ballwin's 6 North Cafe (14438 Clayton Road, Ballwin; 636-527-0400) on September 28 from 4 to 7 p.m.

"I think St. Louis is a beautiful melting pot of Americana," Hughey told Gut Check via e-mail. "If you look hard enough, you can find nearly every type of cuisine available somewhere. However, just like most communities in our nation, the fast food culture can also be found in our neighborhoods. As a whole, I'd love to see Americans eat more wholesome meals and spend less time surrendering to the drive-through."

Hughey gave us an excerpt from Beyond Bacon Grease, which follows. On Monday Gut Check will taste test her lower-fat pasta con broccoli against the traditional, creamy St. Louis original.

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​So the thermometer has climbed above 90 and will probably remain there for the next four months. Road construction has made the streets impassable. Everywhere you look, people are all aglow with their first sunburns of the year. All these things are dismal, and yet Gut Check's wizened little heart is swollen with contentment and well-being. That's because yesterday afternoon, at the Maplewood Farmers' Market (7260 Southwest Avenue, 314-241-2337), we saw the first garlic scapes of the season.

Those little green curlicues were truly a sight for sore eyes. Technically, they're the green shoots that sprout from a garlic bulb. But that doesn't nearly capture their appeal. They are truly the most wonderful of alliums, brilliantly green, adorably -- almost Seussically -- curled, as flavorful as their bulbous descendants but far less pungent.

We practically attacked the nice, indecisive lady in front of us in line who was preventing us from getting our hands on a bunch or three.

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Kholood Eid

​In honor of Vincentennial, the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of the actor Vincent Price, Gut Check decided to honor Price by cooking something.

Price, you see, was a noted gourmand. In 1965, he and his second wife Mary collaborated on a cookbook, A Treasury of Great Recipes, which collected recipes wheedled from the chefs at some of the world's most notable restaurants. It's a pretty good time capsule of what foodies were eating in the mid-60s -- and it's also a bit shocking to realize that back then, you could get a three-pound lobster for less than ten bucks. This from a fine restaurant mind you, not some random food-poisoning palace.

Aimee Levitt

Gut Check's new Price...er, prize acquisition.

​Gut Check got our hands on A Treasury of Great Recipes and also Cooking Price-Wise, the companion volume to the cooking show Price hosted on British TV in 1971. (Alas, clips from it are hard to come by, but Price got to demonstrate some of his kitchen skills in the 1972 movie Theatre of Blood. He cracked an egg one-handed, and then beat it in a bowl tucked under his arm. Well, Gut Check was impressed.)

But something about the recipes in those books didn't sit right with us. It's true St. Louis has never been known as a foodie mecca, but would it have killed Price to include one homegrown recipe? Fortunately, over at the Ladue campus of St. Louis Country Day, Price's alma mater, there's a stack of scrapbooks assembled by a former headmaster, Robert H. B. Thompson, and inside one of them is a newspaper clipping from the Globe-Democrat from sometime in the 1940s or 50s that bears the headline "Big Crowd at Finale of Cooking School: 12,000 See Vincent Price, Screen Star, in Frilly Apron and a Chef's Cap." Below it was the subhead "Price's Concoction" and a recipe.

Immediately, we knew this was exactly what we had been looking for.

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Kristen Klempert

​No disrespect to falafel, but we were more than excited when we woke up this morning and realized today was the last day of our chick pea diet. We whipped up a quick breakfast scramble of peppers, onions, falafel, and tons of cheddar cheese, substituing Greek yogurt for milk to give the scrambled eggs creaminess and a bite.

Kristen Klempert

​At lunch we introduced falafel to yet another favorite cultural dish: spaghetti and "meatballs." The basil and oregano of the marinara sauce didn't exactly compliment the strong spices of the falafel, but between the sauce and the falafel there was aperfect amount of garlic (although those we talked to after lunch may have disagreed). It was enough to meld the other flavors together.

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Kristen Klempert

​This morning we woke up with an insane carb craving, which of course posed a slight problem in regards to our falafel mission. Falafel pancakes? Falafel breakfast sandwich? Peanut butter toast with falafel? We're not going to lie, none of that sounded appealing. But for some reason something a lot stranger did sound good: falafel stuffed French Toast. So we mixed up some Greek yogurt, honey, figs and falafel, then careful sliced a hole in a brioce role and stuffed it in side. After adding some syrup and cinnamon sugar to the final product we had a shockingly amazing breakfast. Using a less intensely spiced falafel probably helped, because there was just enough coriander and cumin to add a savory kick, but not fight the sweetness of the maple syrup and honey/fig filling.

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Kristen Klempert

​Since the falafel melded so well into one traditional American dish, this morning we got adventurous and added it to a tried-and-true breakfast classic: oatmeal.

Just about anything can complement the beautiful, blank canvas that is plain oatmeal, and call us crazy, but we were betting falafel is an exception to this rule. After cooking up the oatmeal, we added cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, some plain premade falafel and figs. After a few cautious bites, it was clear the payoff was worth the risk.

For lunch, we tried falafel tacos. (In gambling parlance, this sort of maneuver is known as "letting it ride.") After crumbling some falafel, we mixed it with black beans, cilantro, chili powder and cumin. Rather than a tortilla, we went with pita as a "shell," topping the mixture with lettuce, tomato, cheese and Greek yogurt (rather than sour cream) and went to town. The result was so-so; falafel proved a little too dry to entirely work as a ground-beef substitute.

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Kristen Klempert

​Here at Gut Check, we are firm believers in a good Saturday morning sleep-in. There's nothing better than lounging about in bed, doing absolutely nothing productive until the tummy starts a-rumbling. Then, it's brunch time.

This lazy mid-morning we made a frittata, first pan frying some sliced sweet potatoes and onions, then layering on top some cherry tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, and of course, falafel. Finally we beat some eggs with Greek yogurt, to ensure creaminess, and then poured it over the frittata foundation. A few flips later, we had a fully-loaded dish that mixed soft, creamy and crisp textures, leaving us filled up until suppertime.

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Kristen Klempert

​Honestly, this morning we woke up and thought, "Damn, falafel again?" Feeling slightly uninspired, breakfast was a repeat of Greek yogurt, fruit, nuts, and falafel, but this time around the taste and texture of the yogurt was almost welcoming and really hit the spot.

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Kristen Klempert

Breakfast: Greek yogurt, grapes, dried figs, walnuts and falafel.

​On day two of falafel-polooza, we tried for more authenticity, incorporating some more traditional Mediterranean and Middle Eastern ingredients.

Breakfast was Greek yogurt mixed with grapes, dried figs, walnuts and of course, falafel. The outcome was a mix of savory tartness and sweetness that while good, wasn't what our American tummies expected at such an early hour.

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