2011 Heart of Green Awards

Winner: Urban Pantry
Cooking seasonally, locally and healthily is wonderful in theory, but the advice in many cookbooks seems geared toward those who have a kitchen that's the size of a city dweller's entire apartment. What do those who are short on space (and funds) do when they want to eat well? In Urban Pantry: Tips and Recipes for a Thrifty, Sustainable and Seasonal Kitchen, Amy Pennington starts with the basics: what you actually need in your tiny pantry and how to organize the little space you've got. Once the kitchen is in order you'll be surprised at how many dishes you'll be able to whip up with little effort and money. Pennington also helps you tiptoe into some more difficult areas of cooking, like making your own pasta and canning. ($12.75 at amazon.com)

People's Choice: The Family Dinner
Laurie David—a producer of what was for many a life-changing movie, An Inconvenient Truth—is the author behind The Family Dinner: Great Ways to Connect with Your Kids, One Meal at a Time, about getting your family to the table and what to serve them once they get there. She discusses the importance of eating dinner together, finds ways kids can cook at the table and gives advice and fun games that will inspire conversations with the kids (even teens!). David's realistic approach and honest conversations—she bravely discusses dinner post-divorce with actor Larry David—will make this book a welcome part of any parent's life. ($17 at amazon.com)

Learn more about our 2011 Heart of Green Award winners!

About the Nominees

The Vegetarian Option
In the introduction of The Vegetarian Option author and chef Simon Hopkinson states, "I shall never be vegetarian." You know right away this is a different sort of vegetarian cookbook. The dishes are for those who love all sorts of food but demand that any dish they cook must satisfy them completely—whether they are eating a steak or a salad. Recipes for dishes like Asian scallion, radish and cucumber salad with cashews and vermicelli (accompanied by mouthwatering photos) are sure to do just that. ($16.50 at amazon.com)

Farm to Fork
Before "Bam!" and way before his 13 restaurants and 1,500 TV episodes, chef Emeril Lagasse was helping out at his uncle's farm, milking cows and collecting eggs. Those experiences have certainly stuck with him, as he demonstrates in his latest cookbook, Farm to Fork: Cooking Local, Cooking Fresh. It features recipes that inspire cooks to use organic ingredients, explores canning and preserving, and shows how to make the most out of the treasures found at the local farmers' market. ($15.50 at amazon.com)

Edible
The stories and recipes from Edible magazines across the country come together in this cookbook that truly lives up to its name, Edible: A Celebration of Local Foods. Authors (and 2010 Heart of Green Award winners) Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian reveal the local food scene with fascinating profiles of farmers, markets, fishermen and chefs, and then guide the reader on a culinary tour you can re-create in your own kitchen. ($19.75 at amazon.com)

- Gloria Dawson