The Corn Refiners Association currently has two TV commercials abut the consumption of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).  In this commercial we view a backyard party where two moms get to talking.

If the economy has you thinking cheap, genetically-modified corn-and-soybean junk foods may be the way to go, frugal foodies serious about cheap, tasty eats are blogging to convince you otherwise. Sustainable, yummy eats don't have to break the bank!

Cross-posted at Simply Recipes My mother is one of those intuitive cooks in the kitchen. 73 years old, and having raised six kids, she doesn't follow recipes anymore. If you watch her while she cooks, the timing just appears to happen seamlessly. Whereas I'm good for only making one dish at a time, mom can coordinate a whole meal for 8 - a main course protein, one or two veggie sides, a starch, and a salad - without getting remotely flustered. She's always tasting whatever she is cooking, and adjusting the seasonings. She cooks from memory and a well developed sense of what works together well, and how flavors come in balance.

[Updated to add Mad Momma's wonderful post on ways to curb wastage].

We've all read about the Okinawa and Mediterranean diets, usually promoted as weight-loss remedies. But in addition to their slim figures, Okinawans have a very low rate of breast and prostate cancer, while Cretans enjoy a low rate of heart disease. What in the diets prevents these diseases? Could we adopt these diets as our own to live healthier lives?

This weekend I planted a very special part of my garden: the pots of succulents that grace my front steps and the kitchen pot garden that I keep on my back deck.  Why? Container gardening gives you options that you might not otherwise have in gardening: Plants that can be moved with the sunPlants where you want them, whether there is dirt or notPlants to experiment withPlants even when you have very little space.Plants replaceable for seasonal color. 

I love helping BlogHer readers be more healthful cooks with posts about things like organic food, cooking with whole grains, and recipes using flax seed. Since cooking for health is so important to me, I really get excited about discovering ingredients with "wow" flavor but minimal fat or calories. When two of my favorite blogs mentioned Yuzu recently and I was scratching my head, I decided it was time to find out what this new (to me) ingredient was all about.

Today's the day we should have been in Paris sampling free Macarons from the pastry shop of Pierre Hermes, who gives away these delicate French cookies each March 20th for a fundraiser that's quickly become a French tradition. This year, Macaron loving bloggers announced the event, and Carol from Paris Breakfasts posted photos of Parisiens celebrating Jour du Macaron. Of course by the time you read this it will be far too late to journey to Paris, but if you're willing to stretch your pastry-making skills a bit, you can make them at home.

The season for reasonably-priced fresh asparagus is just starting in the northern hemisphere, and I'm jumping with joy to see it in my store. Truthfully, I wasn't always an asparagus fan. Then a few years ago I started reading on food blogs about roasted asparagus, and when I tried it, I had an absolute asparagus epiphany.

Consult any expert about dinner party ettiquette and you're likely to hear that there are three things you never talk about when you're eating: sex, money, and politics. However if you're dishing up the food on a blog, a little politics mixed in can spice it up nicely, and lately I've been seeing food bloggers talking about presidential politics everywhere I look.

When you think of Irish food, is corned beef and cabbage the first thing that comes to mind? This dish symbolizes St. Patrick's Day for many of Americans, although it's actually favored by Irish Americans more often than it's served in Ireland. But if you don't eat meat or don't like the idea of salty cured beef, there are plenty of St. Patrick's Day options besides green beer that might be fun to try.

In 1971 Rival introduced the Crock-Pot slow cooker and since that time people everywhere have been using this handy electrical appliance to cook dinner while the cook is busy doing something else. For years I owned a crock-pot and used it sometimes for convenience, but wasn't ever really wowed by how the food came out. The last few years though, I've really gotten my crock-pot mojo going, and now that I've learned a few tricks, I love cooking in the crock-pot. With people sharing crock-pot recipes and tips on food blogs, crock-pots are more popular than ever, and there's even a food blogger who's cooking a new crock-pot recipe every day for a year. Before you try some of the fantastic sounding recipes I found on food blogs, learning a little about crock-pot cooking can help you get better results. I'm still learning about crock-pot cooking myself, so if anyone has other crock-pot tips or recipes to share, please leave them in the comments.