Antioxidant-rich dried goji berries add a sweet chewiness to our chocolate bark recipe; research shows they can boost heart health and immunity.

With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, consumers will purchase more than 58 million pounds of chocolate this week, according to Nielsen Research. But instead of buying the heart-shaped box of truffles, we’re going to make a snappy bittersweet bark rippled with nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. Aside from being healthier, the confection will be a true gift from the heart because we took the time to craft it by hand. And — just between us — it’s super-easy to make!

The base of the recipe is dark chocolate, rich in flavonoids, which studies have shown help lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease. And February, appropriately, happens to be American Heart Month.

Roasted almonds add a good dose of calcium, fiber and antioxidants, while dried goji berries and dried blueberries inject additional antioxidants, along with some chewy sweetness. Cocoa nibs — the center of the heart-healthy cocoa bean — flood the bark with more flavonoids and some crunch. Tiny chia seeds add a big jolt of omega-3s, along with more fiber and antioxidants. (Yes, they’re the same seeds used for Chia Pets, but this bark makes a more tasteful — and tasty — Valentine’s Day gift!) Below is a recipe for this delicious, nutritious treat that’s sure to make your sweetie swoon.

Dark Chocolate Bark with Nuts, Seeds and Dried Fruit
Makes 48 servings (a serving is one piece)
1 cup raw almonds with skin
½ cup chia seeds
½ cup cocoa nibs
½ cup dried goji berries
½ cup dried blueberries
1 pound bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Scatter almonds on a baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes, or until the almonds are nutty and brown. Let cool, then coarsely chop. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in chia seeds, cocoa nibs, dried goji berries and dried blueberries. Set aside 2/3 cup of mixture.

2. Line an 11-inch by 17-inch baking sheet with wax paper.

3. Place chocolate in top of a double boiler over medium heat. Heat until chocolate has melted, about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in all but reserved 2/3 cup of nut-fruit-seed mixture.

4. Transfer chocolate mixture to prepared baking sheet and spread to edges of baking sheet in an even layer, about ¼-inch thick. Sprinkle with reserved nut-fruit-seed mixture and let bark cool until hardened, 2-3 hours.

5. Using a very sharp knife, cut six even lines down the bark on longest side of pan. Then, cut eight even lines down bark on short side of pan to create 48 pieces. Tuck into decorative bags wrapped with red ribbon.

NUTRITION SCORE (per serving)
96 calories
Fat 7 g
 (2.5 g saturated)
Carbs 10 g
Protein 2 g
Fiber 2.7 g
Calcium 20 mg
Iron 0.5 mg
Sodium 7 mg

For more information on the heart, brain and antioxidant benefits of chocolate, check out “The Sweet (and Bitter) Truths About Chocolate” in the latest issue of VIVmag. Do you plan on making any homemade Valentine’s Day treats this year?

Photo credit: Libor Tomáštík

Created by two musicians — Eytan Oren of Eytan and the Embassy and Andy Ross of OK Go (you know, the treadmill dance band) — inBloom was originally conceived as a tool to help touring musicians live more sustainably (and no doubt eat better) while on the road. However, the first version of inBloom has been built for a broader audience: New York City. Its database is loaded with more than 500 listings of eco-friendly restaurants and grocery stores, farmers markets, CSAs, green hotels, biodiesel stations, and other sustainably sourced businesses throughout the five boroughs. While the focus of the app is on organic and locavore food, inBloom’s team has also gathered information on business practices like water and energy efficiency, recycling and green building design. And being a location-based app, inBloom helps you “buy what you believe in” no matter where you are in the city.

While the first iteration of inBloom is for the iPhone (it will run on iPads, but may look a little wonky), an Android version has been in the works and should launch within the next few months. The app will be expanding into other locales and will unveil an Austin, TX, edition in time for this year’s South By Southwest Festival (SXSW). For more information and to download the app free, visit inBloom’s iTunes page, where it is already receiving rave reviews.

Do you use smartphone apps to help find and support eco-friendly businesses?

Is this photo making you hungry? New research shows that simply thinking about exercise can increase your appetite.

The new year is still young, and we’re doing a good job of staying resolute: We’re watching what we eat and trying to be active so we can shed a few pounds. Trouble is, we find exercise works up quite an appetite. And it turns out we don’t even have sweat through a spin or Zumba class to put our appetite into overdrive: Recent research shows that just thinking about exercise can make us hungry.

This latest news is courtesy of Brian Wansink, Ph.D., a food psychologist with the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab and the author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think (Bantam, 2010). Wansink and his colleagues asked 94 people to participate in a faux shopping attitudes study at a mall. After the people answered a series of questions, some were asked to read a scenario about exercise, followed by a few questions about their hunger and emotions at that moment. To compensate them for their time, all of the participants were then offered snacks, while the researchers recorded how much the participants served themselves. The results were mind-boggling: People who were prompted to think about exercise served themselves 55 percent more than people who weren’t asked to think about exercise!

Wansink’s research confirms that actual exercise can also lead to greater food consumption — if we’re feeling virtuous about exercising. He and his team had study subjects go on a two-mile walk, telling some of them it was a “nature walk” and others that it was an “exercise hike.” Wansink says, “If they thought they were just enjoying nature, when they came back and ate lunch, they ate less than if they thought it was an exercise hike.” We guess perception really is everything!

The lesson of this research, according to Wansink: Don’t think of exercise as a way to lose weight, but rather as a way to get toned and healthy. And definitely don’t reward yourself calorically for hitting the gym. It takes a lot of effort to burn a significant amount of calories — and it’s counterproductive to assume that because you’ve exercised for half an hour, you can eat 200 more calories that day. In truth, most exercisers overestimate the amount of calories they burn during exercise anyway, either due to incorrect guesstimating or using a faulty calorie counter (like the ones found on some exercise machines).

To learn more about Wansink’s research — he’s well-known for designing clever studies that reveal subtle food consumption behaviors — visit the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab website.

During this winter slump, many of us also spend a lot of time thinking about exercising — but not always making it to the gym. This study gives us a little more incentive to follow up on those thoughts. (Too bad thinking about exercise doesn’t also burn more calories!)

Have you noticed that you eat more after exercising?

Photo credit: Courtesy Zumba

Three new diet books may emphasize sex appeal, but inside you'll find solid nutrition and exercise advice.

We’ve noticed a trend in this year’s crop of diet books — they often have everything to do with sex appeal. Take three new titles: Coach Yourself Thin (Rodale, 2011), Six Weeks to Skinny Jeans (Rodale, 2011) and the least subtle of all, Eat Your Way to Sexy (Harlequin, 2011). The covers show, respectively, a flat-bellied young woman victoriously showing her toned abs, a pair of enviably filled-out “skinny jeans,” and last, but certainly not least, the bold word “SEXY,” the “X” created by a crossed fork and a knife.

But don’t judge these books by their covers alone. While each one serves a different kind of dieter, all three are packed with solid advice from nutrition or fitness experts about reshaping your diet, lifestyle … and, yes, your sexy body.

Eat Your Way to Sexy by Elizabeth Somer, M.A., R.D.

A registered dietitian and the author of several previous diet and nutrition books, Somer’s latest is a guide to “reignite your passion, look 10 years younger, and feel happier than ever.” Though there’s quite a bit of hyperbole and tongue-in-cheek, sexy plays on words (“Menage a Trois breakfast,” “Quickie Snacks,” the “Antioxidant Orgy” and a list of “Amorous Edibles,” to name a few), there’s nothing overstated about her dieting and exercise advice.

“Nourishing the body and mind is the direct route to sexy,” says Somer; the theme throughout the book is that the brain is the most important sex organ. As for the body, the diet encourages “authentic food,” i.e., unprocessed foods made from basic ingredients at least 75 percent of the time, and regular physical activity is an integral part of the plan. You’ll get a week’s worth of “sexy menus,” an “authentic foods” shopping list and 25 simple recipes with nutrition numbers.

While Somer believes good nutrition is key to a robust sex life, she also suggests supplements to fill in any nutrient shortfalls and her supplement recommendations are sensible. If you want to have a little fun, while revamping your diet to work towards a healthier, more confident and sexier version of yourself, check out this guide.

As Somer says, “Cupid doesn’t always use an arrow­ — sometimes he uses a fork.”

Six Weeks to Skinny Jeans by Amy Cotta

Cotta, a certified trainer, says following her Skinny Jeans plan will help you “blast fat, firm your butt, and lose two jean sizes.” If you follow her advice, you’ll definitely lose fat and firm your butt, but losing two jean sizes in six weeks is a pretty tall order. But she dangles that pair of “skinny jeans” every woman has hanging in the back of her closet as the incentive to keep readers on track.

Given her credentials, it’s not surprising that she focuses on physical activity, with 40 pages of exercises demonstrated by the author in photographs, with very specific guidelines, including how many sets to do, how many repetitions and how to progress each week.

Throughout the book she presents “Skinny Jeans Rock Stars” — real women, with real curves, who have succeeded in losing weight, dropping a size or two and feeling better by following the plan. Cotta encourages learning to distinguish real hunger from cravings and provides a Rate of Perceived Hunger Scale, which ranges from “Famished” to “Beyond Stuffed” — a great self-awareness exercise for anyone trying to rein in calories. To make it easier, Cotta provides 30 recipes, complete with nutritional breakdowns per serving and 42 pages of Daily Food Logs for readers to keep tabs on their food intake — mandatory homework if you follow her plan.

Coach Yourself Thin by Greg Hottinger, M.P.H., R.D., and Michael Scholtz, M.A.

Both authors are former staffers at the Duke University Diet & Fitness Center, so they know a thing or two about diet and exercise. Their book is packed with solid information and tips on how to “retrain your mind and lose the weight for good.” But unlike Sexy or Skinny Jeans, this book sidesteps the illustrations and catchy phrases, opting instead for laying out their how-to lessons in clear, straightforward language.

The book first asks the reader to take a good look back — how she got to her present weight — and then outlines “The Seven Undermining Obstacles to Weight Loss.” There’s a self quiz for each obstacle to help readers see where they are right now in the obstacle course. “The Five Stepping Stones to Change” is a section devoted to the mental aspect of weight loss — the core of their plan. Like Cotta’s book, Coach is filled with motivational vignettes from real people who lost weight and feel better and healthier as a result.

“The Healthy Eating Guidelines” provide lots of healthy diet plans with different calorie levels and mix-and-match meal suggestions. No recipes here, but lots of tools for boosting your motivation, setting realistic goals and coaching yourself to better health. According to Hottinger and Scholtz, “The answers you need to live a healthy life are found within you. You are the coach.”

Have you looked to diet and exercise books to firm up your resolutions (and muscles)?

The James Beard House often hosts dinners and events, featuring fares from some of the finest chefs around.

With New York City Restaurant Week in full swing, our thoughts turned to favorite places to find epicurean feasts for less. We love gourmet food, great chefs — and bargains. Happily, we know how to find them all, from coast to coast, Portland to New York City — and even a gem across the Atlantic, tucked away in a London cookbook shop.

A slim townhouse, the James Beard House was the Greenwich Village home of America’s first television celebrity foodie, James Beard. Now, it houses the James Beard Foundation, an organization that celebrates exceptional food and the chefs who make it.

We’re looking forward to early February dinners from Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard of Chicago’s Girl & the Goat and from Ryan Poli, chef-owner of Chicago’s Tavernita. The meals cost $170 each, a bargain for the quality and amount of food. A $29 Friend membership gets you the newsletter and a $50 gift certificate toward your first James Beard House event. Springing for the $125–$500 memberships makes you eligible for membership meal prices ($130 in the case of the aforementioned February dinners).

We also love L’Ecole, the restaurant attached to the French Culinary Institute in New York City. The kitchen is staffed by students and chef-instructors, and the restaurant’s earned high marks from the Michelin Guide, Zagat, Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator. A four-course dinner costs $47 for three courses prepped by pros, or four courses made by students. A three-course lunch costs $30. Brunch, served on weekends, is a la carte.

New York’s not the only pricey place to find an edible bargain. London’s fab Notting Hill cookbook shop, Books for Cooks, houses a test kitchen where recipes from the cookbooks are tried out. Savvy customers stop by for fine lunches — £7 for three courses; £5 for two courses, plus a little extra for coffee or tea.

If you’re in Portland, OR, take advantage of the restaurant at the Oregon Culinary Institute. A seasonal three-course lunch will set you back $9; a four-course dinner, $18. Tip generously, because gratuities go to the Student Award Fund, funding today’s students and tomorrow’s chefs.

You’ll find locations of Le Cordon Bleu’s Technique Restaurant in 14 cities throughout the U.S.: Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Dallas, Miami, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Minneapolis, as well as Portland, OR; Orlando, FL; Austin, TX, and Scottsdale, AZ.

At lunch, you’ll get three courses for $10; for dinner you have a choice between three courses for $10 and four courses for $15. Restaurants are not open every day or night, but only when class is in session, and some take as few as 10 reservations in an evening. Plan ahead, call early, and you can nab a table set by the top culinary talent of the future. Even when splurging on wine, it’s hard to spend more than $30 a head.

Technique and the Beard House offer private dining, as well — something to bear in mind if you have an event to plan.

Where do you find gourmet meals at bargain prices?

Photo credit: Mitzi Morris, courtesy James Beard Foundation

When Sally Clayton (left) started to suffer from memory loss, her daughter, Lee Clayton Roper (right), decided they should collaborate on a cookbook.

We know there’s a special mother-daughter bond when one generation passes along kitchen wisdom and beloved family recipes to the next. When Lee Clayton Roper’s mother, Sally Clayton, started to suffer from osteoporosis and memory loss, the two embarked on a project to collect and publish their favorites in A Well-Seasoned Kitchen (MLC Publishing, 2009). Originally available only in the Claytons’ home state of Colorado, the book recently has become available in local bookstores stores across the country, and is also available through online retailers. A portion of all sales benefits the Alzheimer’s Association Colorado Chapter.

Within the collection of recipes, some of which are accompanied by favorite memories, readers get a glimpse into the personality of Sally, who saw the final phase of the book, but died shortly before it was published.

“In developing this cookbook, Mom and I concentrated on the type of dishes we like best — simple and delicious recipes for every day and easy entertaining,” says Roper in the book’s introduction. She describes her mother as a gracious hostess, always ready to welcome an impromptu guest at the table, not fazed when she had to quickly and discreetly turn corn on the cob and spare ribs into corn pudding and pork sandwiches for a last-minute guest with dental issues, or the time her son’s golden retriever joined the dinner party buffet line with his dish in his mouth.

The book starts with an array of appetizers such as Benedictine cheese canapés, smoked salmon on mini Cheddar-dill scones and pesto cheese wafers, and even a few recipes for cocktail hour, including “Genuine Derby Day Mint Juleps,” a nod to Sally’s Louisville, KY, origins. Chapters are devoted to soups, salads, sides and desserts, as well as main courses: poultry, meats, seafood, pasta and vegetarian dishes. Among those that caught our eye: lemon mustard grilled chicken with caramelized red onions, scallops with shallot butter and pine nuts, pesto chicken and eggplant fettuccine, pork and eggplant stir-fry, and roasted eggplant, zucchini and red pepper.

A chapter on brunch — an inexpensive and easy way to entertain, noted in the introduction — includes recipes for blueberry lemon muffins, deviled eggs in madras sauce and mixed berry smoothies. Clayton Roper notes that the photos in the book, shot by Laurie Smith, were taken in natural light without any doctoring. “When you make these recipes at home, you should feel confident that you’ll have stunning results,” she says.

The following recipe for cannellini bean dip can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator — just don’t add the truffle oil until it’s ready to serve. We’re also on an olive-oil label-reading kick after reading Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil (W.W. Norton & Co., 2011).

Cannellini Bean Dip With Truffle Oil
Makes 8 servings
2 15-ounce cans cannellini (or Great Northern) beans, drained and rinsed
2/3 cup lemon-flavored olive oil
1½–2 teaspoons minced garlic
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ cup Italian parsley leaves, stems removed
2 tablespoons white truffle oil

Blend drained and rinsed beans, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and parsley in a food processor until well blended but still slightly chunky. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving, swirl in truffle oil, without completely mixing it in. Delicious served with pita chips.

NUTRITION SCORE (per serving)
59 calories
Fat 22 g
 (3 g saturated)
Carbs 13 g
Protein 3 g
Fiber 3.4 g
Calcium 33 mg
Iron 1.6 mg
Sodium 73 mg

We think this book a touching tribute from a daughter to her mother. We’re glad our own mother and grandmother gathered our family’s favorite recipes and compiled them into a binder for us as a surprise gift years ago. Do you have a compilation of favorite family recipes?

Photo credit: Courtesy Lee Clayton Roper

"Lettuce" find fresh produce: Thanks to winter farming techniques, more fragile crops, such as these lettuces, can be found at winter farmers markets.

Just because the temperatures have dropped outside doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy locally grown produce. Winter farmers markets are popping up from coast to coast, and we’ve found quite a few places to buy fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables.

According to the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, there are more than 1,200 of these year-round farmers markets across the country. From 2010 to 2011, the number of winter farmers markets increased by nearly 350 — more than 38 percent. Of the top five states with the most winter farmers markets, three of them — New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio — experience frigid winters.

Check out the USDA’s National Farmers Market Directory, LocalHarvest.org or simply do an Internet search for “winter farmers markets” in your area to find a nearby winter market.

When we recently visited our local farmers market, the nippy 35° F temperature and brutal wind didn’t seem to faze the crowds approaching stalls to buy produce and other goods from bundled-up farmers.

We saw more than a dozen types of apples (from the juicy Pink Lady to the tart and sweet Stayman), snow-white turnips, carrots, beets, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, sweet potatoes, parsnips, squash, broccoli, six or seven different types of radishes — including a spicy black variety — and much more.

The market also offered a multitude of greens, which we like to divide into two camps: delicate greenhouse greens and hardy winter types grown outside. To keep up with demand, many farmers now use electric heated greenhouses or hoop houses. The warm enclosure means that more fragile crops like spinach, basil, lettuces, certain kales and even tomatoes can appear during the winter months. These foods have a short shelf life, though, as they don’t like refrigerator temperatures, and so need to be eaten shortly after purchase.

We opted for the hardy varieties like purple Tuscan or Lacinato kale, collards and something simply labeled “Asian greens,” a spindly-looking purple-red green. Depending on the variety, winter kale cooks up to give you a mild spinach- or broccoli-like flavor.

We also found eggs, meat, sausage, cheese and whole grains, plus prepared foods like homemade soups, salsas, sauces, salads, hearty baked breads, turnovers, pastries and hot beverages. There was also an array of goods canned or bottled from the summer’s bounty: preserves, jams, jellies, apple butters and honey.

For more ideas about eating local year-round, check out The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Local (Alpha Books, 2011) by Diane Welland, M.S., R.D. We’ve included a recipe for sautéed kale below; we use this in soups, stews, tossed with rice or potatoes and sausage and — our favorite — served as a topping for an English muffin scrambled egg sandwich.

Sautéed Kale
Makes 4 ½-cup servings

Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
5 ounces thinly sliced or chopped kale
¼ cup water

In 10-inch sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook for a few seconds, then add the kale. (You may need to add the kale in batches. Don’t worry; it will cook down.) Cover and add water a tablespoon or 2 at a time. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

NUTRITION SCORE (per serving)
29 calories
Fat 1 g
 (0.2 g saturated)
Carbs 4 g
Protein 1 g
Fiber 0.7 g
Calcium 49 mg
Iron 0.6 mg
Sodium 15 mg

Where do you find local seasonal produce in the winter?

Photo credit: Diane Welland

Environmental activist Laurie David resumes her hosting duties again for the second TEDxManhattan "Changing the Way We Eat" conference and webcast.

After hearing about last year’s overwhelmingly successful event, we were excited to find out that this Saturday, Jan. 21, TEDxManhattan is hosting its second “Changing the Way We Eat” conference and webcast. The speakers will explore the many issues facing the sustainable food movement and to try to make connections between the diverse parties involved in responsible eating and farming practices. With a combination of video and live speakers, TEDxManhattan hopes to spark discussion between attendees, as well as among its much larger virtual audience.

This year’s conference will feature an array of voices with an interest in the sustainable food movement. Speakers include Fred Kirschenmann, a farmer and president of the Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture; Mitchell Davis, food writer and executive vice president of the James Beard Foundation; Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, and Wayne Pacelle, CEO and president of The Humane Society of the United States. The event is being hosted by environmental activist Laurie David, a producer for An Inconvenient Truth and author of such bestselling books as Stop Global Warming: The Solution Is You! (Fulcrum Publishing, 2006) and The Family Dinner: Great Ways to Connect with Your Kids, One Meal at a Time (Grand Central Life & Style, 2010), which she spoke to us about last year.

The conference is being held at the Times Center in New York and is already sold out. However, those in attendance will be only a portion of the “Changing the Way We Eat” audience; last year more than 14,000 people from all over the globe logged into the event’s live simulcast. This year it will be webcast via Livestream from 10:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. ET, and viewers can take part in the discussion by utilizing the Livestream chat function and connect via TEDxManhattan’s Facebook page and Twitter feed. For those still wanting to engage in face-to-face discussions, viewing parties will be held around the country. (Check out the viewing party map to find one in your area.)

TED started 25 years ago as a four-day conference in California with the goal of supporting world-changing ideas. TEDx is a program of independent events loosely associated with TED. While the national non-profit, whose tagline is “Ideas Worth Spreading,” provides some guidance and the events are often “TED-like,” each event is self-organized.

Do you plan to tune into the “Changing the Way We Eat” webcast or attend a viewing party?

Photo credit: Courtesy TEDxManhattan

Tom Mueller takes an in-depth look into the highs and lows of the olive oil industry and its rich history.

For Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil (W.W. Norton & Company, 2011) author Tom Mueller talked to numerous experts about the history, cultural significance, growing methods and health benefits of olive oil — plus corruption within the industry itself. Among the politicians, chemists, growers and historians, he notes a magic quality about this food. “Even shady characters who’d grown rich making fake oil by the tanker-load spoke wistfully of their childhood spent at the olive mill, and of the life lessons they learned there,” he notes.

As we read, our thoughts kept drifting back to our own first view of olive groves. Although we were only 4 years old at the time, some of our most vivid memories of a trip to Portugal were the sight of olive trees planted in neat rows throughout the countryside — and the fruit on the table at meals and the oil seasoning the fresh fish dishes. Since then, when we’ve seen olive groves in Israel, Spain, Italy and Tunisia, we knew immediately that we’re someplace where the local cuisine is as delightful as the landscape.

Though he offers a wealth of information, Mueller is never dry — appropriately enough, considering the oleaginous subject at hand. The book begins with Mueller’s own conversion from cynic to olive-oil-obsessed. Along his path to greater knowledge, he paints vivid portraits of the people involved, from the family in Puglia who lovingly makes quality extra virgin olive oil to the aforementioned shady characters involved in fake oil schemes. Whether you’re a foodie or simply enjoy a good cooking show now and then, Extra Virginity will give you a new appreciation of olive oil.

Fascinating historical pieces are woven through the book, demonstrating this ancient product’s importance, tracing back domesticated olives to at least the fourth millennium B.C., noting their place in pagan offerings as well as Jewish, Christian and Muslim texts and their importance in ancient Roman, Greek and Egyptian civilizations. In fact, Mueller visits Testaccio, a hill in Rome comprised of ancient discarded olive oil bottles — the contents of which were regulated by the Romans. Corruption within the olive-oil industry seems as old as the trade itself, since olive oil was (and is) a critical commodity. “Petroleum,” in fact, is from the Latin petra and oleum, meaning “olive oil from a stone.”

But the new effects of current corruption are examined in the book, such as the threat to honest olive oil merchants and growers, and the larger potential danger of the loss of quality extra virgin olive oil altogether, as adulterated oil becomes the norm.

And it’s not just the flavor that’s being compromised; the health benefits could be lost as well. Flavio Zaramella, president of Corporazione Mastri Oleari, a respected private olive-oil association, claims, “Great oil is the essence of the Mediterranean diet. Bad oil isn’t just a deception, it’s a crime against public health.”

In spite of the grim realities, there’s always a beacon of hope that shines through the pages, in the words of the passionate olive-oil growers and enthusiasts — or perhaps in the tales of the hearty olive oil trees, sprouting green shoots after near-destruction from war or fires.

Do you have a favorite type of olive oil?

This Wacky Cake recipe was developed during World War II, because rationing made butter and dairy products scarce.

We know several people who have made adopting a vegan diet a New Year’s resolution for 2012. And more people than ever seem to be taking the vegan plunge in light of documentaries such as Forks Over Knives, which examines the health benefits of a vegan diet. To help newcomers to the meat- and dairy-free lifestyle, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a nonprofit vegan nutrition organization, is offering a 21-Day Vegan Kickstart program, starting Jan. 2.

While millions of people start diets on New Year’s Day, many aren’t healthful or sustainable, and are centered on weight loss, according to the PCRM. The goal of the PCRM program is to provide guidelines so people undertake a healthy plant-based vegan diet, which has been shown to lower cholesterol, blood sugar and risk for chronic illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes.

To begin, simply sign up at 21DayKickstart.org for a free membership to receive a nutrition quiz, access to the full 21-day meal plan and daily emails from vegan celebrities and experts, including NBA champ John Salley, actors Alicia Silverstone and Marilu Henner, authors Rory Freedman, Kathy Freston and T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. You’ll also have access to online videos and discussion boards featuring Neal Barnard, M.D., Dean Ornish, M.D., and John McDougall, M.D., as well as cooking demonstrations, local restaurant directories, shopping lists and an iPhone app.

The meal plan includes recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks to help kickstart a healthy new diet. “Knowing what’s on the menu will help you break cravings for unhealthy foods,” says Joseph Gonzales, R.D., PCRM staff dietitian. “The good news is there is no need to count calories on a lowfat, vegan diet, so stock-up on healthful snacks and meals.”

Since first program launched in 2010, PCRM’s kickstart has guided more than 150,000 people wanting to begin a vegan diet. If you can’t start on Jan. 2, simply print out the program, which remains on the site for about a week after the end date of the program. Or take part in the kickstart programs that launch in April and September.

We love the recipes, which include Linguine with Seared Oyster Mushrooms, Mango Lime Sorbet and Wacky Chocolate Cake, which is said to have originated during World War II, when rationing made milk and eggs scarce. The use of apple sauce makes for moist, delicious cake.

Wacky Chocolate Cake
Makes 9 servings
Ingredients
1½ cups unbleached pastry flour
¾ cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons baking soda
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 teaspoons unsweetened applesauce
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 cup cold water

1. Preheat the oven to 350 ° F.

2. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cocoa powder in a bowl; stir with a fork until mixed.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the vanilla, applesauce, vinegar and water. Pour the mixed wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir with a fork until well mixed.

4. Pour into a 9 x 9 baking dish and bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

NUTRITION SCORE (per serving)
155 calories
Fat 0.2 g
 (0.1 g saturated)
Carbs 36 g
Protein 2 g
Fiber 0.6 g
Calcium 3 mg
Iron 1.8 mg
Sodium 340 mg

Do you know anyone who has resolved to become vegan in 2012?

Photo credit: Kathy Patalsky