Thanks-- calls and emails to The Veggie Queen

This morning I received a call from a woman who lives in a remote area of California who had borrowed my DVD Creative Low-fat Vegan Cuisine from a friend. She was watching it, got the 800 and was convinced that she needed a copy of my cookbook The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment. She said that she used to have a bookstore nearby but it closed. And she doesn't use the internet. She's got 4 children and needs to lose a bunch of weight. She wanted to know what you put on your pizza if there is no cheese. I told her about Follow Your Heart vegan cheese, that actually melts, but I can also eat pizza with homemade pesto and veggies, or summer fresh frozen tomato sauce and veggies, or caramelized onions, black or kalamata olives and fresh thyme. The possibilities are endless for me. But you don't have to be a vegan to eat healthy food. Nor do all vegans eat healthy food but it is easier. And for me it's OK to veer from the path every once in a while.

Ray Sikora, an amazing woman and animal rights activist who was living in New Mexico when I met her this past summer at Vegetarian Summerfest in Johnstown, PA, says that vegans who cheat are cheegans. I don't need any labels for you. What you choose to eat is completely up to you. But I must encourage you to make the healthiest choices possible. The best way to do that is to eat lots of veggies, of course.

So, in this season of excess, please see if you can eat an excessive amount of vegetables. It's best to go with those in season - root crops such as parsnips, potatoes, rutabagas, sweet potatoes, carrots, celery root and more, cruciferous veggies such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts and more, plus shiitake mushrooms, ginger and garlic for your immune system. Maybe in my January newsletter I will share my "secret" recipe for immune-boosting soup.

Until then, Happy Healthy Holidays and a cheery New Year. And if you want to send me an email just to say hi, or how eating veggies has changed your life, I'd love to hear from you.