Happy sunday, all. I hope you’ve had good and restful weekends. For those of you who missed yesterday’s post, I’m giving away a copy of Cara Reed‘s wonderful new book, Decadent Gluten Free and Vegan Baking. Check out the giveaway for a chance to win!

On to weekend reading.

These savory mushroom pancakes are so unique, and would be a delightful weekend brunch dish. Can’t wait to try them!

Before eggplant and peppers go out of season, make Golubka’s gorgeous eggplant and pepper pizza on a buckwheat crust. You can use my herbed cashew cheese in place of the feta!

A refreshing and beautiful appetizer: Sylvie’s daikon rolls with cilantro and pumpkin seed pesto.

For dessert, I recommend that you make Emma’s maple roasted nut butter brownies immediately…

…or, if you’re in the mood for something fruity, you can check out the vegan apple crisp that I just shared over at Food52.

Reads

1. I already mentioned it on Thursday, but I loved my friend Kathy’s post about her ED story. So glad she’s contributing to this important dialog. And I really want to make her hashtag, #wellnessgetsreal, happen.

2. One of my nutrition clients sent me this NatGeo interactive infographic about what the world eats. It breaks things down by calories and different food groups, and it’s really interesting.

3. Loving Josh Balk’s article about how “bacon is the new veal.” In essence, Josh describes how consumers’ outrage over veal, and the horrifying conditions that produce it, caused the veal industry to shrink and lose revenue dramatically between 1950 and 2007. It’s time, he suggests–and I agree–for us to make our voices heard in similar ways when it comes to atrocities in the pork industry (gestation crates in particular).

4. My friend Nat has written an excellent, if also totally disturbing, article about Louisiana’s disappearing coast, and the all-too-tenuous fight to save it. A really great piece of environmental journalism.

5. I am so, so touched by artist Carol Rossetti’s illustrations and their empowering messages. A wonderful marriage of humor, charm, passion, and meaning. I must have scrolled through them four times yesterday. I hope you’ll find them moving, too.

Also, if you missed Thursday’s post on health and diet, I really encourage you to check it out, and if you haven’t peeked at it since it went up, I encourage you to read some of the newer comments. The conversation has been so fascinating, and so inspiring. Three of my favorite comments:

From my reader/friend Sarah:

“…I had a revelation one day…why do I think that I need to be on a quest for optimal health? That’s not why I went vegan. And it’s also not a great way to live all of the time. I love living a healthy lifestyle, but the stress, anxiety, and false sense of control that arises from a quest for optimal health is simply not worth it. Most people just want to be healthy and happy, and that’s enough. And most people – until someone tells them otherwise – don’t blame themselves for cancer. That isn’t normal, and it isn’t healthy.”

From my reader, Kate:

“As a enthusiastic advocate for veganism who also happens to be an MD – I’m a resident in Internal Medicine – I wholeheartedly agree with you. Diet and lifestyle are hugely important in overall health and wellness, and can often do wonders to alleviate symptoms, especially of chronic, incompletely-understood conditions such as IBS, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, etc. I’m the first to encourage my patients to exercise, eat more plants, do yoga, meditate. BUT – and this is a big but – I have a huge problem with the shockingly ignorant opinion of a small but vocal minority of nutrition “experts” (as you mentioned in your post) that all disease is attributable to poor lifestyle choices…You really mean to tell me that the eight-year old with cystic fibrosis, the twenty-three year old with a brain tumor, the seventy-year old with urinary sepsis – they all got sick because they didn’t eat enough kale? Give me a break.”

And my friend Maria left a comment that somehow, annoyingly, got blocked (ah, technology!), but I wanted you all to read:

“I wanted to add that on my blog the “Little Victories Over MS” category is meant to show how my eating style has given me an unprecedented higher quality of life since diagnosis. But it’s never meant to mean that I can just forget I have MS or that I will never have another effect from it or the fibromyalgia or my life of living with mild cerebral palsy. It’s more meaningful to me to concentrate on the positive things I can now return to, or even do for the first time, all the while taking good care of myself through it with the way I eat, and rest, and cast my thoughts and feelings about the world. For some, who might be obsessed with “getting rid of” something, that might not be enough. But for me, it’s a gift beyond measure. Ironically, I think obsessing about being “safe” or “disease free” actually might set us up for more trouble. It’s the fear in that mix that is the problem. Life on this earth is full of dualites and contradictions. We have to live them every day as best we can. Thanks again for the great article and discussion here, and for honoring Susan‘s experience and choices the way you did.”

Oh that note, have a wonderful evening, friends.

xo