QUESTION: My granddaughter is allergic to both egg whites and egg yolks. What can I use as a substitute in cakes and cookies?ANSWER: Vegan recipes often use soft or silken tofu as an egg substitute. There also are products in health food stores, such as Ener-G egg replacer.Of course, eggs do many things in baked goods — binding, thickening and holding air to act as leaveners are just a few. So not all replacements will work in all recipes.It may be easier to find recipes that already are formulated to not include eggs. A good vegan cookbook might help, or the Web site www.eggfreebaking.com has a good recipe collection.———

QUESTION: Aside from the usual "bar food" (pizza, burgers, wings) and tea sandwiches, what foods are OK to eat with your fingers?ANSWERS: Something that is designed to be eaten in one bite is usually OK to pick up with fingers; anything that has to be cut into more than one bite needs a fork.Also, if it's drippy or hard to pick up without making your fingers messy, use a fork.Something that's served on a flat "delivery system" — such as a cracker or crostini — is designed to be lifted and bitten.By MCT News Service