The one I grabbed first was 'The Kind Diet' by Alicia Silverstone. There is lots of great info in this book. It sometimes goes a little hippie-dippy at times, but so has it's heart in the right place. Also, some of the ingredients seem sorta tricky to find. We are planning a special trip to the Asian grocer to get some of the more exotic stuff. But, I love the heartwarming stories and there are some really good-looking things. I've only made the 'peanut' butter cups. We used cashew butter, as Denise and peanuts do not mix.

Tal Ronnen's cookbook.

Next, we bought Tal Ronnen's 'The Conscious Cook'. Oh, my, I wonder if he is single. We first saw him on, yes I'm a bit embarrassed, the Oprah show. But the food looked so good. And, my is it! We made the asparagus soup and the 'almond' encrusted fake chicken. WOW! So friggin' good. He (as far as I'm concerned) created the cashew cream, and it is used as a cream substitute. Genius!

The soup was so good, we made it again two days later! I so can't wait to make more things, out of both books. Tal is a trained French chef, so not as much organic-up-your-bum-ness. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to grow my own organic food, and buy only organic, but until I'm rich, I can't bloody afford it. Love both books.

-Melina. : )