Spices are any home cook's secret weapon. The right spice can make any meal go from ordinary to extraordinary... and spices can tie any meal together. Increasing your spices is also a great way to intensify flavor in low fat cooking. A lot of recipes rely on oils and other fats for flavor and removing them can make a recipe fall flat. The next time that happens, try double - or tripling the spices called for in the recipe.

Here …

Last time we talked to Kate about how she defeated her debilitating condition by diet alone (even when her doctors put no credence in the vegan diet as a cure!).  Now she's back to talk to us about vegan mommyhood, dating as a single vegan and making mixed-diet families work. 

HH: You are a mom to two adorable vegan boys. Tell us about them.

Kate: My boys are 4 1/2 and 2 3/4 right now. They have both been raised …

I continually feel pressured to create new recipes for happyherbivore.com. I know that I shouldn't, but I do. And although the unforgiving heat turns me into a slacker every summer (it's just too hot to cook!) this summer I've felt especially guilty about not creating more recipes...

Truth is, I've had little time to do much of anything. Between finishing up the final touches on my upcoming cookbook and working on all of the upcoming Happy Herbivore projects (Herbisport's e-books …

Today's inspirational interviewee, Kate, comes to us from Boston and shares with us how she defeated her debilitating condition with diet alone. In part 2 (next week) we'll also talk to Kate about vegan mommyhood, dating and making families with mixed diets work.

HH: First, the million dollar question. How long have you been vegan and what made you go vegan?

 Kate: I have been vegan since March 2004. I went vegan shortly after I'd been released from the hospital …

Yesterday and today, I'm going over my cookbook for the very last time. I'm looking at it line by line to catch bloopers only the chef could catch. Things like 1/8 tsp as a measurement instead of 1/4 tsp. 

In this last review, I've realized this cookbook is the story of my life. It doesn't just share recipes from all the places I've lived and traveled to, it explains how they shaped me as a person. Stories of friends, ex-roommates, …