Around this Thanksgiving holiday, cook and cuisine author, Nancy Mehagian shares a favorite and easy recipe for organic turkey meatloaf.The leaves of fall are upon us, and on our streets and yards. If you live on the East Coast, your trees may be bare by now. Here, in Southern California, we’re still raking and blowing. I love it! Fall just might be my favorite season, for all the color that abounds, the changes in the air and the sight of some of my favorite produce at the Farmer’s Market. To celebrate the season, I’ve offered a few of my recipes–the ones that taste best eaten around a blazing fire.

It’s the season for sweets, including pumpkin pie, but professional cook, Nancy Mehagian shares a side dish recipe for Japanese pumpkin that’s fast, healthy and delicious. Nancy has been a massage therapist and Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner in Los Angeles for nearly 30 years. She is the author of the culinary memoir, “Siren’s Feast, an Edible Odyssey”.

This is a wonderful Fall dish that uses two of our seasonal favorites: Butternut Squash, and Brussel sprouts. The natural sweetness of the squash and onion mellow out the brussel sprouts, and the black beans add enough protein to take this from a side dish to a main course, if you want.

A perfect accompaniment to any dish, I call my greens “nutritional dynamite.” For this dish, I prefer black kale, red Russian kale or collard greens. Feel free to mix and match. 2 bunches greens, washed well, chopped and steamed until tender. (If you don’t already own a stainless steel steamer basket, please buy this essential kitchen item.)

Natto is a traditional Japanese food. It’s fermented soybeans that are rich in vegetable protein. Typically eaten with rice, natto has a mild cheese-like flavor and can be an acquired taste. It has a sort of sticky paste on its surface and once it is stirred, the paste increases its volume becoming even stickier. You will find that the paste pulls apart in such a way that resembles a web. This is another characteristic that sometimes turns people off. Still, the benefits make it worth exploring, and according to The New York Times, it’s catching on. If you’re the adventurous type or enjoy uncommon textures in your food, definitely try Natto! You can even make it yourself (video) if you want.

Alzheimer’s disease is at epidemic proportions, with 5.4 million Americans–including one in eight people aged 65 and over–living with the disease. In the next 20 years, it is projected that Alzheimer’s will affect one in four Americans, rivaling the current prevalence of obesity and diabetes. There is still no known accepted cure for this devastating disease, and no effective treatments. Alzheimer’s drugs are often of little to no benefit at all, which underscores the importance of prevention throughout your lifetime.

If you drink coffee, tea, or iced tea then you’re already familiar with the power of infusions to pack in flavors, caffeine or medicinal components. According to Wikipedia.org, an infusion is “the process of extracting chemical compounds or flavors from plant material in a solvent such as water, oil or alcohol, by allowing the material to remain suspended in the solvent over time (a process often called steeping). An infusion is also the name for the resultant liquid….

This flavorful “jazzed up” couscous can be served as a vegetarian side dish, or as an entree with the addition of chicken sausage sliced into coins, or shredded chicken, lamb or pork. You can keep it vegetarian by adding crisp cubes of tofu, and make it vegan by omitting the butter and using oil. The leftovers are delicious, and can be served reheated, or at room temperature.

The idea of switching to a vegan diet is nothing new. Unfortunately, the Western diet centers virtually every meal around meat. This can have harmful long-term consequences, including an elevated risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, obesity, and more.