We eat a lot of bread in this house. Part of it is the six kids and two adults plus visitors business, but part of it is flat out just because we eat a lot of bread. I love everything about most breads. I am a good baker, and I often make bread from scratch, but it can be time consuming and labor intensive. The mixing, the kneading, the rising – it can take an entire day just to make a loaf of bread and it’s gone in about 12 seconds.

The book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, the first book by authors Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. and Zoe Francois, details how to make delicious, crusty, European breads quickly. These are all white breads, though, so I was really happy to hear of their newest book, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, which uses not only whole grains, but fruits and vegetables as well. I admit that I was intrigued. The premise is simple:

ARTISAN BREAD IN FIVE MINUTES A DAY taught busy people how to make great bread at home, with only five minutes of active preparation time. Now, HEALTHY BREAD IN FIVE MINUTES A DAY whips up fabulous breads made with more whole grains, fruits and vegetables. The secret? Mix up a lightning-fast batch of moist no-knead dough, save it in your refrigerator, tear off portions over the next week or more, shape, and bake.

We’re just as excited about the upcoming holiday season as everyone else. Soon we’ll abandon our offices for cozy weekends with family eating turkey, watching football and even playing a little in the backyard. For many of us, we’ll attend these family gatherings with a homemade recipe ourselves, if for nothing else than to ensure at least one dish on the table is a nutritious one.

That’s why we’re sharing our favorite healthy holiday recipes in our first cookbook. The DietsInReview.com Holiday Cookbook is available from TasteBook and features 25 recipes that offer all the traditional flavors of the season, with less of the guilt, fat and calories.

Inside this colorful hardback cookbook we’re sharing appetizers, desserts, entrees and sides that will help you set a healthier scene as you and your family gather to give thanks and celebrate the season. These recipes are ideal for Thanksgiving, Christmas or any other winter event.

Lisa Lillien, aka “The Hungry Girl,” is the creative dynamo behind the Hungry Girl cookbook, her uber famous website and her newly released Hungry Girl 200 Under 200 cookbook. Known for taking highly caloric eats and slashing calories and fat through her near-genius way of using healthy ingredients, Lisa has made a career out of concocting recipes that are easy to prepare and easy on the hips.

Like any woman who has spent years struggling with her weight, Lisa lost 30 pounds by giving up heavy starches, pasta and junk food. But once she hit her goal weight, she started to experiment with how she could re-incorporate some of her favorite foods back into her diet. She is now a Weight Watchers devotee who tries to keep her points in check and her dry carbs down to a daily minimum.

** UPDATE: Contest Over! Congrats to Hil’lesha & Stacey on winning the babycakes cookbooks. Hil’lesha won a special edition signed by Erin Mckenna**

To celebrate the 2 year anniversary of the Natural Health Newsletter we are giving away a signed copy of the just released Babycakes cookbook.

Babycakes is a famous New York City bakery that makes baked goods using alternative and healthy ingredients while keeping all the yummy taste you would expect from a cupcake, chocolate chip cookie or even banana chip loaf.

Vegan’s often get a pretty bad rap from their stringent ways of eating. And while eating vegan is very specific and requires a lot of thought and planning, anyone who has ever eaten a truly vegan meal or bit into a decadent vegan dessert knows firsthand that veganism is not just healthy, but quite delicious.

Veganism is like the stricter sister of vegetarianism. Eschewing not just meat, but dairy, eggs and fish, vegans subsist on vegetables, fruit, grains, soy, nuts and seeds. And just as shunning meat has become increasingly popular among health and eco-friendly devotees, so has veganism seen a rapid rise in its comrades of followers.