Get the fiesta started with crunchy tacos with a fish twist! As consumers increasingly look for ways to cut calories and costs, fish tacos have hit the mainstream as evidenced in a USA Todayarticle about one of the hottest growth trends for 2010: fish tacos.

Gorton's has been a trusted source of quality seafood products since 1849 and is widely known for its breaded fish sticks. Today, consumers can also choose from a wide variety of breaded and grilled seafood options including shrimp, tilapia and salmon.

Recently, Gina Snow talked with Gorton's nutritionist, Sylvia Melendez Klinger (Founder of Hispanic Food Communications, Inc.) about the fish taco trend and the nutritional value and heart healthy Omega 3 fatty acids fish has to offer. She also provided tips on how to make kid-friendly Crunchy Fish Tacos with Gorton’s Breaded Fish Sticks or Popcorn Shrimp for time-saving, nutritious and family-friendly recipes. Listen to the interview in Radio Gallery I.

For more information about Gorton's frozen seafood products, go to ww.gortons.com.  For more on Sylvia's Hispanic inspired recipes and news, go to www.hispanicfoodcommunications.com.

Get creative and win big!  Enter Gorton's Seafood & Ortega's Fish Taco Fiesta Challenge from August 15, 2010 to October 7, 2010. Click here to learn how to win an all-inclusive vacation to Sunny Mexico! 

According to Jan De Lyser, Vice President of Marketing for the California Avocado Commission, 90% of the nation's avocado crop is grown in California. Of this, the Haas or Hass variety accounts for about 95%. Almost 80% of all avocados eaten worldwide are of the Haas variety. No matter where they are grown around the globe, every single Haas avocado tree is a descendant of the original "Hass Mother Tree" of Southern California that lived to be almost 80 years old.

If you're a lover of all things avocado, then try this rich Avocado Pie Recipe on the Food Page for a slice of heaven. Serve with coffee or a margartia for a great summer-time dessert. 

For more information about avocados, visit the California Avocado Commission at www.avocado.org.

Growing edibles is one of today’s most popular home gardening activities and more consumers are embracing edible gardening for numerous reasons, not the least of which is a desire to enjoy a healthy and affordable backyard food source.

Sunset Magazine's Associate Garden Editor, Julie Chai, talks about Sunset's Western Garden Book of Edibles: The complete guide to growing your own vegetables, herbs and fruit.  Listen to the interview in Radio Gallery I.

In this comprehensive encyclopedia of edibles, Sunset’s editors have created an essential all-in-one guide to growing vegetables, fruits, and herbs to turn your backyard into a personal “Garden of Eating.” This resource contains not only practical information including a Climate-Zone Locator Map that shows you exactly which zone your garden is in and peak growing seasons, but also a big helping of inspiration for the novice and expert gardener alike.

With prices in supermarkets for vegetables and fruits soaring to new highs, according to a National Gardening Association’s (NGA) survey, seven million more households plan to grow their own fruits, vegetables, herbs, and berries in 2009 than in 2008. This anticipated 19 per cent increase is nearly double the 10 percent growth in vegetable gardening from 2007 to 2008.

The Sunset Western Garden Book of Edibles is available wherever books are sold. And, look for Sunset's new companion Edible Gardening bookazine at your favorite magazine stand.  

For more information, visit www.sunset.com.   Or, go to http://sfgardenshow.com.

In his newest book, Todd Wilbur (QVC's top-selling cookbook author), reveals the secrets to cloning some of the most famous brand-name fast foods from Starbucks, McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, and more, using common ingredients from the local supermarket.

Todd unlocks the secret recipes that make these fast foods favorites taste so good by analyzing their key ingredients and spices in his laboratory in Las Vegas.

Todd's recipe sleuthing career began in the late 80's after cloning a Mrs. Field's cookie recipe at the height of her popularity. Now with nine books released, he's sold over 4.3 million cookbooks.

Top Secret Recipes Unlocked features over 100 recipes including: KFC's Chicken Pot Pies, Starbuck's Caramel Macchiato, Taco Bell's Chicken Quesadilla and Baja Sauce, Hidden Valley's Original Ranch Dressing, Kraft Miracle Whip and Krispy Kreme Glazed Doughnuts.

Listen as Todd recounts his personal quest to the International Soup Kitchen in New York City to learn the secrets of The Soup Nazi's Indian Mulligatawny (featured in a 1995 Seinfeld episode) during his interview with Gina Snow in the Radio Gallery.  

Great Grilled Cheese: 50 Innovative Recipes for Stovetop, Grill and Sandwich Maker by Laura Werlin

April is Grilled Cheese Month. Cookbook author, Laura Werlin,  is the "Queen of Cheese.  Laura's book, Great Grilled Cheese, has 50 delicious and creative grilled cheese combos to explore all year long! 

This book  provides tantalizing variations on the classic American grilled cheese favorite.  To celebrate , the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (WMMB) teams up with Laura to make Grilled Cheese Month extra delicious. Creative combinations to explore in her book range from spinach and goat cheese on a croissant to blue cheese to fresh figs on Italian bread; from a bread-less portobello mushroom and provolone "sandwich" to grilled brie and apricot jam on a baguette. Photographs by Maren Caruso. Published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang, a division of Harry N. Abrams, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

How far would you go for a good cup of Java? You don't have to go to Java.  Here on the US mainland, most of us only have to go a few blocks to one of the many ubiquitous coffee shops on the corner.

But, if you're willing to go a little farther, you can travel to the 2009 Kona Coffee Cultural Festival on The Big Island for Hawaii's oldest food festival.

From November 6-15th, Hawaii's Island of Adventure is spotlighted for the story of its rich multicultural history that has been percolating for over 175 years. The festival offers more than a week long schedule of events, parades, cultural workshops, food and coffee contests and sampling -- all in the gentle Aloha Spirit. Each sip of Kona's gourmet coffee shares a story of Kona’s widespread coffee traditions that produced this true American legacy.

In 1813 the first ornamental coffee tree arrived in Honolulu by way of Kamehameha the Great’s Spanish interpreter and physician Don Francisco de Paula y Marin. Fifteen years later Reverend Samuel Ruggles, an American missionary, transplanted a coffea arabica cutting from an orchard on Oahu to Kona, and it soon flourished. Kona’s rich volcanic soil, bright sunny mornings, afternoon cloud cover, ample rainfall and higher upslope elevation furnished the perfect recipe for success. Some say Kona’s gourmet beans get their fullbodied flavor from this very special place in paradise.

Early on, coffee was grown throughout the Big Island, but by the second half of the 19th century production centered mainly in the Kona district. Large coffee plantations flourished in Kona until the world coffee market crashed in 1899. Hardy immigrants from Japan seized an entrepreneurial opportunity and leased the failing lands in 3- to 5-acre parcels for $30 a year and a portion of the cultivated coffee. These family-run farms revolutionized the coffee industry and kept it alive.

The Kona coffee story is one often told throughout America — that of hard work and commitment to cultivate a dream for a better life. Immigrants to Hawaii from China, Portugal, Japan, Philippines, Korea and Puerto Rico along with Hawaiians and Caucasians endured endless hours of hard farm work, planting and picking the choicest coffee berries by hand. These Kona coffee pioneers added cultural diversity and a mix of ethnic traditions as they embraced “Aloha” as a shared value.

Today, fifth generation coffee farmers work alongside newcomers to cultivate more than 700 estate and commercial Kona coffee farms as they uphold the tradition of quality that has made Kona a coffee success.

You can immerse yourself in this legacy by taking a self-drive tour along the Kona Coffee Country Trail through quaint town from Holualoa to Honaunau. For a map, go to: www.konacoffeefest.com/drivingtour. 

For more information about the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival, visit: www.konacoffeefest.com.

 Eat For a Healthy Heart! February is a good time to make simple changes in your diet to reduce your risk for heart disease. The food label found on most foods and health claims found on some foods can help you make healthy food choices.

Click here to read more about eating for a healthy heart.

Source: FDA Consumer Health Information

Khaya means 'home' in Xhosa (South Africa's second most common home language). The Khaya Cookie Company was founded on this concept; a warm sentiment to which we can all relate. 

Through their unique line of healthy, nourishing and delicious gourmet shortbread cookies and granolas, the Khaya Cooking Company helps to create jobs in South Africa and the U.S.  The company is dedicated to creating jobs at their production facility in Cape Town as well as their Philadelphia shipping center here in the US.  Khaya provides their previously unemployed staff with on-the-job training and life-skills education.