This is the time of year to add a bit of flash and color to your food. The skies are low-hanging and weepy. The days are short, getting shorter. In protest, each December, I arm myself with all manner of dried fruits, juicy citrus, and rosy pomegranates. They work beautifully in salads, including this jewel-inspired ensemble I made the other night. Mixed leafy salad greens, wild rice, toasted hazelnuts, dried figs and pluots are combined in a big bowl and then tossed with a simple ginger juice vinaigrette spiked with just a hint of jalapeno. It's festive with enough going on flavor-wise to keep people guessing.

I've likely said this before, but I can't emphasize it enough - the key to amazing salad is seeking out the very best lettuce you can find. In this instance I did a mix of what looked best at the store. A blend of red romaine and little gem lettuces. I avoid bagged, pre-washed lettuce - it often smells off to me. I baby my lettuce all the way home, making sure other groceries don't smash or bruise it. To clean it, I tear the lettuce into manageable, bite-sized pieces, wash it gently in cold water, and then spin it dry. If I'm not using it immediately, I re-bag it with a clean (lightweight) dish towel and place it back in the crisper until I'm ready to toss the salad.

I had one favorite thing to eat when I was a kid. One dish I was loyal to above all else. I would request it when I was recovering from the flu, pneumonia, or strep throat. I would request it weeknights, weekends, and holidays. It was a simple dish, and one of four (maybe five) recipes my mom had in her entire culinary arsenal - we can get to some of the others in a future post. Above all, I favored her rice and mushroom casserole. As I remember it she combined rice, mushrooms (or creamy mushroom soup) and cheese in a casserole dish and baked it until it was creamy, melty, and golden at the edges. Easy enough. I made a healthier, from-scratch remix of this the other night using brown rice, sauteed mushrooms, garlic, and onions -all made creamy with a blend of cottage cheese and a bit of sour cream.

You can certainly use whatever cooked grains you like. I suspect this would be delicious with barley, wheat berries, quinoa, whole grain rices - or even a mix of grains. My mom used to hide all sorts of things in this casserole - I don't go the pork chop or chicken breast route any more (precooked!), but I can imagine pan-seared seitan strips being great. I can also imagine anything from chopped leafy greens, toasted nuts, sun-dried tomatoes, all as great as add-ins.

That being said, I love this simple version. The smell of it baking five minutes after I lifted the foil off the casserole took me right back to those times when I was a kid standing below the oven, high as I could get on my tip-toes, the heat from the oven door making my cheeks rosy, peering through the oven window at my favorite casserole. Mom, maybe it's my turn to make it for you?

My guess is that many of you have experienced plenty of cooking and eating over the past few days. Another recipe is probably the last thing you need from me. So, instead of a recipe today, I'll call out a couple site updates you may (or may not have) noticed over the past couple of weeks.

- Print with photo: Many of you requested the ability to print recipes with the lead photo - in addition to the plain-old print w/o photo capability. Done. Now at the base of each recipe there is a print with photo link. It will take you to a page that looks like this, or this, or this.

- FAQ: This is looong overdue. But I've finally added a FAQ (frequently asked question) link to the main navigation.

- Build a Natural Foods Pantry: I added an ever-evolving reference section Building a Natural Foods Pantry. It focuses on how to gradually move toward more of a natural cooking palette by outlining which ingredients I like, and more importantly why I like them.

- Community: There is now a community link as part of the main/top navigation. I suspect this section will be ever evolving as well, but for now this section simply highlights a few of the ways you might use other sites and social networks to engage and participate with others in the 101 Cookbooks community. It shows how you might participate with other 101 Cookbooks readers/cooks on Flickr - if you use Flickr and happen to cook something from this site, simply tag it 101cookbooks. We've talked a lot about 101 Cookbooks as a Kiva lending team in the past (we've funded over $16,000 in loans so far). And lastly, I've set up a 101 Cookbooks page on Facebook - if you add yourself as a fan, you'll be able to keep track of events and/or announcements through that channel too.

Here's a question I have for you....

- Category lists: At the top of each post I used to list off every category a recipe was filed under. I've since removed this - to clean up the design more than anything. Are you missing it? I've thought about re-inserting this info back, but into the footer of each recipe. If you feel strongly either way, pop off an email and let me know.

That's it for now. Hope you all have a great weekend. -h

I hope plenty of good food, family and friends are in the cards this year for those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving. I'm driving to my parents where I'll meet up with my sister, her husband, and a baby with the cutest cheeks I've ever seen. Hopefully a few friends will stop by as well. I picked a dozen of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes to highlight today - it seems to be the only thing you are searching for right now. Also, in case you missed it, I made a list of vegan Thanksgiving recipes and a slightly different list of vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes.

1. Roasted Pumpkin Salad, 2. Caramelized Tofu, 3. Vegetarian Gumbo, 4. Maple Grilled Tempeh

5. Vibrant Tasty Green Beans, 6. Golden-Crusted Brussels Sprouts, 7. Broccoli Crunch Recipe, 8. Shredded Brussels Sprouts & Apples

9. Nikki's Sweet Potatoes, 10. Spice-kissed Pumpkin Pie, 11. Kale and Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes, 12. Firecracker Cornbread

I'm going to try a few recipes this year, and if all goes well, I look forward to sharing them here with you next year!

Before we get into the double-baked, coconut and macadamia nut-crusted sweet potato recipe my friend Nikki shared with me, I wanted to mention that I've posted my favorite vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes as well as my favorite vegan Thanksgiving recipes last week. This recipe is going on both lists, but I can't take credit for it. Nikki sent it to me - the same Nikki who took my site by storm when I posted her Healthy Cookie recipe over the summer. The same Nikki I've been friends with since she showed up in my sixth grade class, fresh from L.A., wearing a Swatch watch and white Reebok hi-tops. Both things I'd never seen before. And now, even though we're on opposite sides of the country, I love exchanging emails about recent cooking ideas and adventures with her - it's one of my favorite reasons to check my emails. Nikki described these sweet potatoes to me as a sweet potato mash, but with a twist - they get creaminess from a generous splash of coconut milk, crunch from toasted coconut and macadamias, and a kick from freshly grated ginger.

I think she hit the nail on the head when she told me she paired it with lots of garlicky, sauteed greens. She served it with grilled chicken, but you could certainly go the marinated tofu or tempeh route which is what I did. Delicious.