Vegan Family Meals: Real Food for Everyone

I reviewed and reviewed and reviewed this gorgeous book. I just didn't want to let it go. But it's time to let some other lucky person enjoy Ann Gentry's way of cooking that will please nearly everyone, from fanatical foodies to fussy five-year-olds.

Vegan Family Meals is beautifully bound and full of sumptuous pictures. Some dishes are super easy, like the Jicama-Carrot Slaw and the Living Wrap, made with raw vegetables rolled up in a collard leaf. Others are take more cooking but will make you feel like you're eating at a cozy green restaurant. I love the Curried Red Lentil Soup and the South American Stew Stuffed into a Whole Kabocha Squash. All the recipes are healthy and welcoming.

Author Ann Gentry also shares tips for greening your kitchen and making core recipes such as ginger juice. She knows what she's talking about, as the owner of Real Food Daily in Los Angeles. See her TV show, Naturally Delicious, on the Dish Network's Veria channel.

Get the book for yourself or as a present. It's pretty enough to make a great gift.

Vegan for Life, for vegans and other health-conscious eaters

The subtitle says it all: Everything you need to know to be healthy and fit on a plant-based diet. Registered dietitians Jack Norris and Virginia Messina serve up an easy-to-read guide that helps you thrive on the healthiest diet around.

And when I say you, I mean pretty much everyone. Find helpful chapters for athletes, children and teens, pregnant and nursing women, and folks over fifty. There's even a chapter on making the transition even if your transition takes you no further than Meatless Mondays.

The chapters on nutrition earn Vegan for Life a place among my regular reference books. Learn about how and why to get iron, zinc, calcium, and what Norris and Messina call "the gorilla in the room": vitamin B12.

The authors set out to bust ten myths about vegan diets, from

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Builders of Hope: A Social Entrepreneur's Solution for Rebuilding America

This inspirational story is not about food, but it's certainly about a key Cook for Good concept: you bought it, so use it! Put a smile on your face with this brilliant story of how one woman started a movement to turn tear-down houses into green, affordable homes. Nancy Welsh creates jobs, builds communities, and helps save the planet, too.

Builders of Hope: A Social Entrepreneur's Solution for Rebuilding America was my recommendation this year for our neighborhood book club—that's how much I love it. The story inspiring and

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King Arthur Organic White Whole Wheat

If I could only have one type of flour in the house, it would be King Arthur's 100% Organic White Whole Wheat. It has the nutrition of whole wheat but a lighter character that makes it work well in desserts as well as bread. Thanks to King Arthur for giving a five-pound bag of this fine flour to winner Karen P.



2011 State of the World: Innovations that Nourish the Planet

Feeling discouraged about the state of the world? Then feed your spirit with this inspiring report from the Worldwatch Institute. Learn about breeding more nutritious rice in Madagascar and rainwater harvesting in sub-Saharan Africa. Learn how food waste can be reduced in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Indian through simple means. For example, provide reusable plastic crates to transport food so it doesn't become mush on the way to the market. Help farmers keep their fruit edible longer by showing them when to pick and where on the stem to cut to help fruit. Other topics range from soil fertility to policy reform.

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