The holidays are starting to wind down, but there’s still that mad dash to New Year’s Eve, the lavishly fun and festive foray into the next chapter of your life.  If you’re a diehard foodie like me, your new year’s resolution probably consists of things like wanting to learn how to cook gourmet meals or master the art of entertaining — all while saving money and being as eco-conscious as possible in the process.  It wouldn’t hurt to look fabulous while doing it, either! 

Who are these women who arise looking airbrush perfect, whisk the kids off to school, work a full day and manage a perfectly prepared home cooked meal for dinner anyway?!

With the help of Behind the Burner, I have put together a cheat sheet for navigating the new year in style.

Before we delve into becoming a master chef and entertainer extraordinaire, let’s look like one.  Thanks to Shannon Reed, kitchen couture is as stylish as designer label clothing.  From jackets to aprons, she creates unique chef attire that is anything but uniform, and her selections will shroud you in the confidence you need to take on the task of cooking like a pro.

But what to make?  Recipes in gourmet food magazines are either overly simplified and lacking in the artistry of the craft or too complex, resulting in a dilapidated dish that looks nowhere near as perfect as the glossy photo that accompanies it.  

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We all know the joys of dining out, feasting on flavorful fare, consuming creative cuisine and devouring decadent desserts, ‘oohing’ and ‘ahhing’ at the tantalizing tastes that whisk us from the doldrums of everyday life to some epicurean plane of existence.

But what if you could create those culinary masterpieces at home?

Thanks to Divya Gugnani, you can.

This Harvard educated Venture Capitalist-Turned-Chef is the prolific powerhouse behind Behind the Burner.com, a cooking wonderland dedicated to bringing savory secrets of fine food preparation from renowned restaurants around the world to your table, one gourmet recipe at a time.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Divya and learning more about the brains, the bites and the business.  And she’s as talented in the board room as she is in the kitchen, with an infectious energy and passion that, like the food she and her chefs prepare, leave you yearning for more.

This will be the first in a series of posts featuring Behind the Burner chefs, organic cooking ideas and special offers for the Eat. Drink. Better. readers, so be sure to check back each week for the latest in edible enjoyment.

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This type of thinking is an integral part of the current movement towards more ethical meat consumption that we often discuss on this blog. Consider below the similarities between Zibah - the Halal slaughter method - and members of the slow food movement. This similarity is not lost on Riaz, the owner of Madani, who told Gourmet that he believes Halal butchery can help many Americans to accept Islam through shared eating values.

According to the Halal Food Authority the following conditions must be met in order for meat to be considered passable:

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Your might remember Rodale’s Organic Style Magazine, which ran from 2001 to 2005, acting as a vital source of information for consumers during the early stages of the second coming of the environmental movement. Bought by sustainable flower innovator Organic Bouquet in May of this year, I interviewed Organic Bouquet’s CEO Gerald Prolman not long after the deal was made public. Launched just a few days ago, Organic Style is primed to become a top eco-shopping destination.

“All the products sold on the site will be either certified organic, transition to organic, bio-dynamic, sustainable, Fair Trade or a new category we call ‘not certified but worthy.’ To help get the word out, we plan re-launch the Organic Style magazine in the second quarter of 2008. We plan to initially publish the Organic Style magazine quarterly and offer it as a free OrganicStyle.com customer benefit. We want to give our customers information that will be valuable in their lives, that will help them make informed decisions about a balanced and responsible way to live and celebrate life,” said Gerald Prolman in our August interview.

As expected, Organic Style offers a breathtaking variety of flowers, wreathes, and plants - my personal favorites are the charitable bouquets, which give a percentage of each purchase price to each bouquet’s non-profit organization. The holiday section offers seasonal gift baskets, wreathes, and gifts for your favorite canine (hopefully they’ll had some feline offerings too). As a bit of a sweets fiend, I was instantly drawn to the organic holiday sugar cookies and organic gingerbread cookies gift baskets. If gift baskets are your favorite way to give gifts, make sure to check out the gourmet section of Organic Style, which has nearly 30 different eco-combinations.

Even after the holidays have passed, Organic Style is a bookmark-able shopping destination for green wardrobe, gardening, and bed & bath goods (I’ve already got my eyes on their beautifully colored organic blankets). With my eco-fashion business focus, I couldn’t help but be impressed by their apparel category that offers non-nonsense, well-designed garments and accessories.

Though most of us don’t need an extra incentive to shop, Organic Style has a built-in eco-points program. Every time you make a purchase on the Organic Style site, your earn eco-points (1 point for each dollar spent). For every 10 points your earn, you can use them for $1 off a future purchase. Upon reaching a few hundreds points, you can also redeem your eco-points for free flower bouquets to help brighten your (or someone else’s) day.

Do you have a favorite online green store? Share your choice shopping destinations in the comments section and they will be considered for the next installment of Green Shopping Spotlight.