For a mason, it's a brick building. For a baker, it's a wedding cake. For a teacher, it's that "aha" moment in a student's eyes. For me, it's magazines and books.

Seeing the fruits of my labor is one of the joys of my occupation. It makes up for all those things I do that I can't quantify, and those moments when I wonder if I'm making a difference in the world.

I had a fun moment the other night when I realized four of my "babies" are out there on the newsstands at the same time. Live long and flourish, my little babies.

1. Diabetic Living
This was the first issue I had a hand in at my new position as food & nutrition editor for Diabetic Living magazine. It's our Fall 2010 issue filled with all sorts of delicious recipes and good information for people living and thriving with diabetes.

2. Fresh & Fabulous
The bookazine Fresh & Fabulous is the last project I managed as the health editor at Cuisine at Home magazine. It's the second publication in the Cuisine Lite series, and it's full of fresh and fabulous recipes, like this one.

3. Clean Eating
As a freelance health writer, I developed a piece on winter squash for Clean Eating magazine. It includes tips for picking, preparing, and cooking butternut squash, acorn squash, and spaghetti squash, as well as my Shafer-approved recipe for Butternut Squash Risotto.

4. Maximum Fitness 
I had the opportunity to develop a series of protein shakes for Maximum Fitness magazine. This was such a fun project, and I was able to test many of them on my hubby as he was training for his first marathon. This month's issue features my Post-Workout Chocolate Berry Shake. I will also have shakes appearing in the next four issues of MaxFit.