My father, Mendek Rubin, wasn’t alive to witness our book, Quest for Eternal Sunshine, get published and be so well-received, but I believe that on some other dimension he is rejoicing. Getting books out into the world was of huge importance him, and when I published my first cookbook, Food to Live By—The Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook, he was extremely delighted.

The cookbook came out in 2006, when my dad was already a few years into his difficult journey with Alzheimer’s Disease, but at that point it was mostly his short-term memory that wasn’t functioning—his personality hadn’t changed much yet. This turned out to be an incredibly sweet time in many ways, because every time I showed my dad the book, he’d see it for the very first time and get over-the-moon excited. “You published a book!” He would exclaim, with a huge smile, eyes twinkling, “I can’t believe it! This is incredible!” And then he would page through it for a long time, appreciating all the beautiful photos of food, gardens and family, shaking his head in awe and saying “Oh my gosh” over and over while I beamed, my heart filling with joy over his effusive praise.

When my book tour started, I was terribly nervous about doing cooking demonstrations on television. While they may appear casual to viewers, they actually involve a lot of pre-planning and practice. Demos must be precisely executed in the exact number of minutes allotted (which varies from show to show) and carried out amid spontaneous conversations with hosts while on air. I also felt extremely insecure about being a guest “expert chef” when I was a self-taught cook without any formal culinary training who’d been raised on TV dinners and buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

My publicist always requested recordings of my appearances, which enabled me to bring VHS tapes over to my parents’ house to watch together in between my travels. Each time, it was as if my father had never seen me cooking on television before. He was always spellbound, telling me how wonderful I was, that I should just relax because it was impossible for me to mess up. “Just enjoy yourself,” he’d say. “That’s what it’s all about.” This advice turned out to be the last my father was ever able to give me, but it stuck. “I’m just going to enjoy myself and not worry about messing up” became my magical mantra as the cameras started to roll.

Initially, Food to Live By wasn’t going to be authored by me. A writer, Linda Holland, had pitched the idea of an “Earthbound Farm cookbook” that she would pen in partnership with Pam McKinstry, the chef at our farm stand. This was during an extremely busy period in my life—I was working full time at our fast-growing business while caring for two children—but a cookbook sounded like a great way to build our brand. I was assured that the project wouldn’t take much of my time, I’d just need to work on the book proposal with Linda, Pam and their literary agent, Angela Miller. Since I happened to be going to NYC during the exact same week that Angela had planned to pitch the project to four of the top cookbook publishers, I agreed to accompany her.

Frankly, I was surprised by the high level of interest in the book. Three publishers made generous offers for it, but they all said that I needed to be the face if the book—they weren’t interested in a “corporate cookbook.” Having no idea what I was getting into, I accepted the offer from Workman Publishing. I loved my meeting with the company’s visionary founder—Peter Workman, who reminded me of my dad in many ways—and their top editor, Suzanne Rafer, who had a brilliant mind and decades of experience (she was responsible for bringing so many iconic books and authors to world, including the What to Expect When You’re Expecting series, Sandra Boynton’s children’s books, and The Silver Palate Cookbook).

Once Food to Live By needed to be written first person in my voice, the project changed for me—it became personal, and I threw my whole heart into it. Working with Pam and Linda while being closely mentored by Suzanne, the book grew to feature my life story as well as Earthbound Farm’s, and it embodied my passion for organic food and farming as the healthiest choice for the Earth and all the life she supports. In addition to favorite farm stand recipes, the book filled with Goodman family recipes that had never been recorded before, as wells as dozens of personal photos.

When the book came out, I was stunned by its impact. Sharing recipes is an intimate act that brings people together. At my son’s lacrosse games, mothers would tell me which of my entrées they’d whipped up for dinner the night before, or how much their family loved my raspberry corn muffins that they’d just baked that morning. I’d run into young mothers who recognized me from photos in the book, who’d say that since reading Food to Live By they’d switched to almost entirely organic food.

Being an author suddenly gave me credibility as a spokesperson for organic food and farming that I didn’t have as a business owner, which was a great way to spread the word. My calendar filled with interviews, and I was even asked to be the organic expert on Regis & Kelly for “Green Week” in April 2007 when Donald Trump subbed in as co-host for Regis Philbin during the height of his fame on The Apprentice.

I was recently notified that after six printings and over 125,000 copies sold, Food to Live By is going out of print. Because it’s a full color book, the minimum runs are very large, and slow sales after fifteen years don’t warrant it. To mark this transition, I want to effusively thank Suzanne Rafer for turning me into an author and helping me and my team create an extra-special cookbook that my family and I will always cherish. I also want to express gratitude to my co-authors, Linda Holland and Pam McKinstry, my Earthbound Farm team (including Samantha Cabaluna, Janna Jo Williams, Ronni Sweet, Sarah LaCasse, and Hillary Fish), my family (especially Jill and Kathy for the Goodman family recipes, and Drew, Marea and Jeff for their input on literally hundreds of recipes), and all the Food to Live By fans out there. Fortunately, I was able to stock up on enough hard copies for a few generations of Goodman offspring, and the Kindle version will be always available.

Workman Publishing has generously agreed to let me share three of my favorite Food to Live By recipes with you: My very first successful recipe, “Maple Almond Granola,” (an exceptionally easy and delicious recipe I continue to make regularly); “Earthbound Farm Ginger Snaps,” another of my first and best recipes which are still best-sellers (along with my granola) at Earthbound Farm’s farm stand in Carmel Valley; and my mother-in-law’s perfect roast chicken (“Kathy’s Roast Chicken”), which we’ve been cooking almost every week for decades. Enjoy!