Keeping a good house can also mean keeping a vegan house, at least according to the folks at Good Housekeeping Magazine who have announced the forthcoming release of a cookbook, Simple Vegan!: Delicious Meat-Free, Dairy-Free Recipes Every Family Will Love, due in stores in March 2011.

Why do we love this?

With more than 100 recipes, some contributed by celebrity chefs, Good Housekeeping is offering its millions and millions of magazine readers an opportunity to experiment with a diet long deflected as a fringe and even as an unhealthy choice. As we're seeing in the outrageous number of children developing diabetes and other health problems, and the growing concerns associated with factory farming animals, there really is no better time to integrate healthy, vegan meals into your diet, regardless of whether you're 100 percent vegan or just adding healthy vegan dishes to your meals.

One of the longest running magazines in the U.S. founded at the turn of the 20^th century, Good Housekeeping actually has a history of social activism. By being a platform for promoting healthy food in 1905, it is believed to have assisted in the development of the Pure Food and Drug Act, which followed a year later. Good Housekeeping was also instrumental in banning cigarette ads — prohibiting them from advertising in Good Housekeeping a dozen years before warning labels ever appeared on the packages.

Could their foray into a diet that's not only healthy for all of us, but also healthy for the planet finally be getting the mainstream attention it deserves? If so, that's not only good news, but it really is good housekeeping.

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Image: Missmeng