Join the Love & Lemons Cooking Club Challenge this month! It's easy to enter, and one lucky winner will receive a prize. Find all the details below.
Published Jul 7, 2026
Our Cooking Club is a fun way to celebrate the Love & Lemons community of readers. The concept is super simple—each month, I choose a recipe. You make it, and you leave a comment on the recipe’s blog post. At the end of the month, I randomly select one winner to receive a prize.
I love the sense of community that comes from so many people cooking one recipe each month. We’re kicking off our July challenge today with our Italian pasta salad recipe, and I hope you’ll join in the fun. Here’s how it works:
- Each month, I choose one seasonal recipe. Sign up for our email list so you’ll know as soon as I share each month’s recipe.
- Make that recipe during the month.
- Leave a comment on the challenge recipe’s blog post by the end of the month. This time, the deadline is July 31!
- For a bonus entry, send a picture of what you made to [email protected].
- For another bonus entry, post your photo on Instagram, tagging @loveandlemons and #loveandlemonscookingclub.
The Prize: A $100 Whole Foods Gift Card!
At the end of the month, I’ll randomly select a winner and share some of your photos. This time, we’re giving away a $100 Whole Foods gift card.
In addition, for every entry we receive, we’ll donate $1 to No Kid Hungry.
July’s Recipe: Italian Pasta Salad
This Italian pasta salad is our July recipe! I’ve been making packable salads nonstop lately, and I keep coming back to this bold, zesty recipe (and fun variations on it). It’s filled with fresh veggies, creamy mozzarella balls, and—the best part—briny olives and pepperoncini. My zesty homemade Italian dressing ties the whole thing together. Try it for a cookout this month, or pack it up for a picnic or meal prep lunch!
- Make it gluten-free: Use your favorite gluten-free pasta.
- Make it vegan: Skip the cheese or sub roughly crumbled vegan feta. Or add cooked white beans for creamy texture instead!
Get the recipe:
Last Month’s Recipe
Last month, we made this cowboy caviar recipe to celebrate the start of summer cookout/picnic season. You all made this recipe for so many fun events—4th of July and Father’s Day cookouts, a Knicks party, a ladies’ luncheon, camping trips, and more! You shared lots of delicious spins on the recipe too. Here are a few variations that caught my eye:
- Heidi ate it in lettuce wraps with crushed tortilla chips on top.
- Rebekah added it to a taco salad with tofu. (Yum!)
- Adrienne replaced the onions with radishes for crunch.
- Anna used rice vinegar in the dressing and Kimberly subbed apple cider vinegar.
- And Lucy skipped the tomatoes and added cucumber.
Thanks to everyone who joined in—I hope this one will stay on repeat in your kitchens this summer! Here are some of your photos:
And congrats to our winner, Charlie:
To Recap
Enter the July Cooking Club Challenge by…
- Making my Italian pasta salad sometime in July.
- Leaving a comment on the Italian pasta salad blog post by July 31.
- Sending a picture of your Italian pasta salad to [email protected] for a bonus entry.
- And for another bonus entry, posting your photo on Instagram, tagging @loveandlemons and #loveandlemonscookingclub.
Happy cooking!
>> Home