We're pleased to announce a new biweekly column from the author of the blog Choosing Raw: Gena Hamshaw eats a mostly raw, vegan diet without losing time, money, or her sanity. Let her show you how to make "rabbit food" taste delicious and satisfying every other Thursday on Food52.

Today: It's easy being green -- especially with Gena's raw kale and lentil salad.

Nicholas Day explains why most family cookbooks fail -- and offers one glimmer of hope.

There's a secret special ingredient snuck in with the Greenmarket fare in today's peek into Amanda's kids' lunchboxes. Here's what they're having, straight from Amanda herself:

"Smoked ham topped with sautéed turnip greens, kale, and fresh garlic. I think a few asparagus spears are snuck in there as well. The local strawberries are nice this year so I've been putting them in every lunch -- sometimes whole, sometimes sliced and mixed with yogurt, and sometimes on top of stewed rhubarb. My kids went to a birthday party where there was a piñata, thus the lollipop and Hershey's Chocolate. I let our kids have commercial candy now and then, but I draw the line at fast food!"

What's for lunch in the twins' lunchboxes today? Looks like a really good one!

The grain salad you see is couscous with citrus, thyme, and raisins -- a riff on this contest runner up from the first FOOD52 cookbook -- and it's topped with good-quality oil-packed tuna. A kale salad (looks like Lacinato) rounds out the meal, and for dessert it's chocolate cake. Specifically, it's the Community Pick Chocolate and Cabernet Sauvignon Italian Cake. It was made with pinot noir, but yes, the wine is cooked!

What's for lunch today? Anyone else have chocolate cake in their plans?

Tuscany in winter, with a sprinkle of lemony sunshine.