produce

Over the last year, the cost of fresh vegetables rose 11.7 percent while the cost of fresh fruit increased by 11 percent.

Montreal's iconic dépanneurs now carry fresh fruits and vegetables.

With so many fruits and vegetables coming into season across the country, now is a great time to give vegetarian and vegan meals a try. And if you're going to do that, picking up Color Me Vegan by cookbook author and columnist Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is a great place to start. Patrick-Goudreau's latest cookbook is full of healthy, delicious recipes that cover the rainbow, and consequently provide a wide variety of nutrients: from orange peppers for beta carotene to green kale for chlorophyll and red tomatoes for lycopene, you'll be hard-pressed to find a piece of produce that isn't represented here.

And four more awesome things that happened this week. Because we could all use more good news.

Imperfect produce is easy on the wallet, cuts down on food waste and, if you look a little closer, those gnarly carrots aren't so hideous after all.