I got my new issue of Eating Well today, and after reading it wanted to give it a big fat kiss right on the lips. This is the best food magazine E-V-E-R. [Note to self: add Eating Well subscription to will, right after Vanity Fair.] As I have mentioned on occasions too numerous to list, I have a certain weakness for publications dedicated to food. And although there is enough love for all of them, I hold a special place in my heart for Eating Well. It allows food lovers to be food lovers and encourages it’s readers to eat, dammit eat! It’s ability to cover evertything from old-standard comfort food, to new and trendy, to international cuisines is what makes it so endearing. The food is good, it’s easy and it takes the agony out of trying to cook healthfully. The same way that Julia Child brought French food to the masses, Eating Well delivers the idea that you can be healthy and eat well – without pain. Their new website even has a section on kid meals!

This issue sports a lengthy article on Niman Ranch meats, of which we buy regularly, a section of articles from Rick Bayless, who whips up some of the best non-Americanized – and thereby, authentic (and naturally healthful) – Mexican food this side of the border, and a toned-down version of Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (something I have always wanted to make).

Gone are the days of subbing prune puree for oil, and using fat-free varieties of everything you can get your hands on. Instead, you get to change the kind of fats you use (from saturated to non), subbing in extra fiber by introducing a little bit of whole grain flours, and omitting an egg yolk here and there. It’s all stuff that, by itself seems negligible, but overall can make a huge difference. The best part is that it all still tastes good.

Who knows, maybe I’ll even be so brave as to plan one of those lamb recipes (but no promises)…