As part of my 2009 New Year’s resolution, I have started to make more vegetable and fruit based meals and less animal-centered dishes. Since adopting this new way of cooking and preparing foods, I have relied heavily on one particular excellent cooking website, 101cookbooks.com. Heidi Swanson, the creator and author of the website, explains that she designed the website in 2003 because she felt overwhelmed and bored with her current collection of 100+ cookbooks. And she wanted to expand her repertoire of recipes and cooking techniques and inspire others. Focusing primarily on natural, whole foods and ingredients, the recipes from this website have repeatedly produced fabulous food in my kitchen - and believe me when I say that many recipes do not turn out fabulously in my rookie chef hands!

I know a lot of other people are also trying to cook healthier and look for more nutritious recipes this year, but few of us understand how to build your kitchen around this improved way of eating. Heidi offers a great section on how to "build a natural foods pantry," providing excellent food selection tips. And she describes many of her favorite whole food ingredients in detail, outlining the pros and cons of each one.

Furthermore, you can search recipes by category (appetizer, soup, main course, etc.) or you can find recipes by ingredient name. Personally speaking, I frequently have a bunch of leftover spinach or kale at the end of the week and struggle to find a creative way to cook it. At these times, I would click on my leftover ingredient recipes and discover that I can whip up some hummus and incorporate spinach into it.

And if you want one recipe to start off baking healthy treats for everyone in your family, these cookies are a must-try. So nutritious and delicious! (If you like how those cookies turn out, do a search for the peanut butter cookies under Vegan Recipes for another yummy and easy dessert!)

The website is also greatly enhanced by the beautiful food photography, also Heidi's. To fully appreciate this website, the fabulous recipes and the colorful photographs of food, you'll just have to visit it. And please let me know how your next dish turns out!