Just in time for back to school, a neat new cookbook has appeared on my desk: Vegan Lunch Box: 130 Amazing, Animal-Free Lunches Kids and Grown-Ups Will Love! The latest edition from Jennifer McCann, the author of the popular blog VeganLunchBox, it’s a user-friendly cookbook with ideas I think will actually WORK with kids. I’m going to try the Layered Bean Dip, Roasted Tomato Basil Soup (make some now while tomatoes are glorious, then freeze it), and Hazelnut Banana Sandwich Bites on my still-picky-eater teens. Lots of the recipes look good for easy dinners, too.

Our website has lots of good ideas for building a better lunch for your children — or for yourself. With schools finally paying attention to the nutritional value of the foods they serve (goodbye Coke machines!), the time is ripe to make changes and put better foods into our kids’ lunch boxes.

Oh, and check out the supercute, eco-friendly, bento-style lunch boxes available at Laptop Lunches. I want one!

NYTimes wellness blogger Tara Parker-Pope recently interviewed health expert Jonny Bowden (who we talked with about “Food sensitivities” for our brand-new weekly podcast series featuring updates from wellness experts, healthy chefs, and green living gurus — check it out!). Parker-Pope got the lowdown from Bowden about “The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating”. Or are you? more

What’s the difference between sweet potatoes and yams? I often get asked this question and I almost always get the answer backwards, so I thought I’d write it down. Sweet potatoes are the tubers you can buy here in the U.S. Pale yellow sweet potatoes, which aren’t really sweet (even after cooking), act more like a regular russet potato. Where it gets confusing is with the dark-skinned, orange-fleshed ones — it’s these that are often erroneously called (and labeled, even in cans) “yams” — including in some DL recipes, such as this really good one more

Newsflash! Oprah is doing a detox diet. The star has embarked on a 21-day detox plan and will be writing about her experience on her blog. Judging from her first post, Oprah’s detox looks pretty balanced more

To kick off my portion of this new Delicious Living blog, I have a confession: I have never eaten a hamburger. I grew up on brown rice and tofu (or “toad food” as we affectionately called it) and steamed veggies. Yes, I am a lifelong vegetarian. Which is pretty much where my interest in natural living starts.

“Don’t you miss meat?” people ask. Of course not, I say. “Do you miss eating ants or seal blubber?” I want to retort. Instead, I just smile and explain that—for me—the choice is easy. What I think they really want to know is: Do I believe that eating meat is inherently wrong? Do I think their diet stinks? Well, no.

In my lifetime, I’ve seen vegetarianism go from being considered a form of devil worship—not to mention from being bland and unappetizing—to a fairly widely accepted (even gourmet) option for healthy eating. But is it the only way to eat healthily? No. Can meat be part of a planet-conscious diet? In my opinion, sure.

As a mom of a toddler (with kiddo number two on the way in April), and as an editor who scours dietary studies on a daily basis, I often wonder if I am making the right choices. (A second confession: I cheat by taking fish oil supplements.) But several recent things have strengthened my dedication to eating vegetarian: First, an obituary for Peter Roberts, founder and director of Compassion in World Farming, a dairy farmer who spent his life promoting animal welfare around the world and who eventually became vegetarian himself. It’s because of people like Roberts that we now ask: Where does this meat come from? Was the animal fed a natural diet? Let out to pasture and treated well? Was it pumped up with synthetic hormones and antibiotics?

Second, scientists like Udo Erasmus (the creator of Udo’s Oils, plant-based essential fatty acids) assure me that animal products aren’t a necessity for good health—and that given the state of the planet, such sources of nutrients (e.g. fish for EFAs) may be too polluted and overprocessed to be safe. That’s not to mention issues surrounding sustainability. (Check out our January 2007 Evolve column, “Is Eating Seafood Sustainable?” page 50.) Right now, I’m still taking my daily fish oil supplements—but stay tuned.