And I'm an author and

educator dedicated to empowering people to make informed food choices

to debunking myths about veganism and to giving people the tools and resources they need

to live according to their own values of compassion and wellness.

I'm the author of The Joy of vegan Baking,

The Vegan Table, Color Me Vegan's Daily Companion

and The 30 Day Vegan Challenge.

You can learn more about who I am and what I do by visiting my website compassionate cook.com.

Hello everyone I am so happy to be here with you today. I have so much to share with you and I didn't want to

take up too much time on an episode where I want to focus on the topic. So I

created a special episode to tell you about all the wonderful things I have for

you as we enter this new year. And just so you know, this is not

officially the next podcast episode. It's not going to be another month before the next episode. This is just an

interim announcement, but in the first week of January, my hope is to be able to share with you the

first podcast of 2012 and I'm thrilled to tell you that I plan on doing the podcast on a monthly

basis again, that is my intention at least. Regular listeners know this has

been a year of very mixed emotions for me although it has brought many blessings

namely the fact that David and I renewed our vows for our 10-year wedding anniversary that was very special.

Family and friends came out to celebrate with us.

Also, I saw the publication of two of my latest books, Vekin's Daily Companion and the 30-Day Vegan Challenge.

And of course I was able to create all the goodies I'm about to announce to you.

It has also been a most excruciating year losing my dear friend Michael unexpectedly and very tragically was bad enough

...