I love gazpacho and made it for the first time for a party. It was a huge hit. I wanted to share it with you here. Honestly, it was so fresh and just the right notes of vinegar and tabasco to balance the freshness of the ingredients. There’s a lot of chopping but it’s worth it. If you need to increase the recipe size, prepare it in batches. The amount below is enough for one very full blender.

Penny pinching is second nature as the recession wears on. We’ve grown accustomed to cooking at home, even to the point of really enjoying it. I try to buy organic whenever I can; produce, meats and dairy. But sometimes my budget is tight or I just can’t find enough organic to make a week worth’s of meals.

Summer’s here, school’s out for most people, and it’s possible that your house is already echoing with the dulcet tones of “Mummy, I’m hungry!” Snacks don’t have to be bad for you of course, but …

One of the biggest complaints about eating well is that it costs too much. I used to be one of those people but now I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

Have you seen the heirloom tomatoes in your local grocer? They reflect a new trend towards heirloom gardening, using older species for food production instead of the current Big Agra varieties.

Now, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, is one of the best times to do a dry run on eating local. Fresh fruits and veggies are in abundance and it’s easy to hop down to your local farmer’s market or grocer and find an honest to God cornucopia of choices. BTW local means grown or raised within 150 miles of your current location. If you want to go hardcore use 100 miles.

The USDA guidelines are 3 to 5 servings of vegetables and 2 to 4 servings of fruit per day. When was the last time you actually did that? This week’s challenge is to pick a day and actually eat 5 servings of veggies and 4 servings of fruit. Are you up for the challenge?