Each year, the Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission holds a Sweet Rewards Recipe Contest in conjunction with Louisiana Cookin’ magazine.

Last year’s winner in the Soup Category was Sally Sibthorpe of Shelby Township, MO, who wowed judges with her recipe for Ginger Thai Sweet Potato Bisque. This soup makes a zesty Thanksgiving starter, fusing Asian flavors with the natural goodness of America’s sweet potato crop.

All of the ingredients should be available at your local natural and organic food store. Click here for more sweet potato recipes.

1.8 billion pounds.

That’s how many sweet potatoes were grown last year by the major U.S. sweet potato-producing states, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. North Carolina led the way with 874 million pounds, followed by California (437 million pounds) and Mississippi (335 million pounds).

We’ve increased our consumption of the healthful orange tuber over the years. In 1999, the average American consumed 3.7 pounds of sweet potatoes. Last year, we averaged 5.1 pounds per person, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service.

We really should eat more. Sweet potatoes are a nutritional powerhouse. A half-cup serving contains only 90 calories, with no fat or cholesterol and only 35 mg sodium. This serving size delivers 3 g fiber, 2 g protein, 380% of your daily vitamin A requirement and 35% of your daily vitamin C requirement.

Americans have expanded their Thanksgiving repertoire in recent years. While many of us have fond childhood memories of the classic Sweet Potato Bake studded with miniature marshmallows, our adult tastes now run more toward organic Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Apples with Pecan Streusel Topping or Curried Sweet Potato.

In recent years, winter squash has replaced sweet potatoes on many Thanksgiving tables. The two are interchangeable in many recipes (see Candied Butternut Squash and Butternut Squash Soup with Sage), and both veggies contain high levels of cancer-fighting carotenoids.

The beauty of winter squash is its many varieties, flavors and preparations. Registered dietitian Karen Collins, nutrition adviser for the American Institute for Cancer Research, offers the following tips:

Virtually every supermarket and natural/organic food store is now offering sweet Thanksgiving deals on holiday sweet potatoes, including organic varieties.

My shopping trips have revealed mixed results. Some of the sweet potatoes have been blemish-free beauties, while others were moldy mounds.

When shopping for sweet potatoes, look for firmness, dark coloring and a smooth texture. Head to another market if the selection sports wrinkles, bruises, sprouts or decay. (Even if you cut away the decay, the flavor will be rank.)

A common trouble with organic food, and you don't have to be an expert to guess what it is, is how to preserve and protect it.

For years, pesticides and chemicals have been seen as the guardians against food-borne illness, and food “going bad.”

All this probably goes double for meat products. So how do you protect foods, in this case pork, from spoiling, and making you sick?

Researchers have an idea, using vegetables.

Libby's canned pumpkin, the brand everyone knows, everyone buys, says all the rain in the Midwest this year has made a mess out of the pumpkin fields.

Fields are too soggy to get harvesting equipment going, so lots of pumpkins are rotting with fungus, and soon to be plowed over.

But it isn't all bad. Organic pumpkin growers in Oregon are filling in the gap Libby's can't supply, and raking in the profit.

Billions of people live in the kind of squalor that was eradicated long ago in the rich world. It is a global water and sanitation crisis that deserves our undivided The-issueattention NOW (well, yesterday, to be exact)… especially since there is a lack of political will to push through changes that could benefit the poorest and most vulnerable people. Here are just two shocking statistics:

• 884 million people don’t have clean water
• 40% of the world’s population suffer without a safe toilet, that’s 2.5 billion people!

Fortunately, there are organizations dedicated to providing sanitation and clean water to the world’s poorest people. End Water Poverty is one of them and I am committed to helping them raise awareness about the critical issues and motivating people around the globe to take action.

Here’s one easy way to take action and it will just take a minute or less! Sign the End Water Poverty Petition, urging global leaders to specifically address the lack of toilets. What happens when something as basic as a toilet is unavailable?

Listen up, fellow females!

As we race through busy schedules and cope with a troubled economy, most of us are skimping on simple pleasures and putting our needs at the bottom of the to-do list.

According to a survey commissioned by Edwards desserts, 90% of us have cut back on indulgences over the last year. In addition:

• 59% of survey respondents said they’re decreasing the number of events planned with friends.
• 35% are cutting back on even the smallest treats, such as manicures and desserts.