The Meatless Monday Family Cookbook (via Amazon) specializes in kid-friendly, plant-based recipes. I’m a lifelong vegetarian (not the preachy kind, don’t worry!) so I’m always up for a nice meatless cookbook. This book, though, could also come in handy for people just looking to cut down on their meat consumption a little bit. I know it can be really intimidating for cooks used to putting meat in every entree and serving meat at every meal, to imagine ways to cut it out on Mondays.
I received a temporary digital Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. (Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you)
The author, Jenn Sebestyen, is the blogger behind VeggieInspired.com.
Chapters include:
- Getting Started with Meatless Monday
- Hearty Soups
- Satisfying Salads
- Loaded Handhelds
- Bountiful Bowls
- Perfect Pasta
- One-Pot Wonders
- Comforting Casseroles
- Center Stage Vegetables
- Breakfast for Dinner
- Sauces and Staples
I wasn’t sure what “Loaded Handhelds” means, and I don’t usually create “bowls” type dishes, so I skipped those chapters for the time being. I definitely need to up my vegetarian casserole game, so I jumped right into that chapter. I’m always up for Breakfast for Dinner, and need to learn more one-pot recipes for my new Instant Pot.
As most themed cookbooks do, this one starts with a guide to the topic (how to get your kids involved, kitchen essentials, pantry items, etc)
I make homemade soup a lot, so I found The Meatless Monday cookbook’s soups section a little basic – tomato soup, minestrone, potato soup, lentil soup, etc. For a home cook just beginning to experiment with leaving meat out of soups, though, these staple soups will definitely provide a lot of help for making weeknight meals or cook-ahead batches.
I noticed immediately that on nearly every recipe page, there’s a tip on adjusting it to dietary preferences (making things gluten-free, for example, or adding other things such as cheese) or tips on how kids can help create the dish in your kitchen with you.
The salads chapter will help me learn more ways to put protein into my salads. Since I’m comfortable, as a long time vegetarian, making veggie protein dishes and sides, I often make too-simple salads. I’ll try the recipe for Black Bean Taco Salad first!
It turns out that the “Loaded Handhelds” chapter is about things you can hold in your hand when you eat them: sandwiches, pita, tacos, quesadillas, wraps, and burritos.
This cookbook may finally help me get over the psychological hurdle of not knowing why I’d want to make a “bowl” side dish. The recipe for Buffalo Cauliflower Bowls with Avocado Crema has me drooling. And I can’t wait to try making Sticky Orange Tofu Bowls.
In the Pasta chapter, you’ll never guess what they use to substitute to make a Vegan Scampi pasta dish! (I won’t ruin the surprise for you). Other than that, the pasta recipes are pretty typical veggie pastas.
Eager to use my crockpot and Instant Pot more, I’m very interested in the One Pot Wonders chapter. The first thing I’ll try to make will be the Spiced Chickpea Stew. Next I’ll try the Thai Red Curry Noodles, but just for myself – my boyfriend dislikes curry immensely. Since I love “breakfast for dinner” and hardly ever see chilaquiles on the menu here in Seattle, I’m dying to make Skillet Chickpea Chilaquiles, too.
The casseroles chapter (very important especially right now that it’s autumn and nearly winter) contains recipes for enchiladas, lasagna, mac and cheese, stuffed shells, vegetarian Cottage Pie, and a Sloppy Joe casserole I want to try.
You’ll find tasty things like Cauliflower Steaks, Crispy Breaded Eggplant, Mushroom Stew Over Mashed Potatoes, and Roasted Cauliflower Tacos in the “Center Stage Vegetables” chapter. Sounds like a lot of crowd pleasers!
I’m not too overly excited about the Breakfast for Dinner chapter, which seems to mostly exist to teach Meatless Monday folks “how to make breakfast without throwing bacon on everything.” I don’t really need a “meatless” cookbook to teach me recipes for oatmeal, so I’ll bypass this chapter.
Are you itching for some new sauce recipes? How good does Maple Dijon Vinaigrette” sound? And Creamy Cumin Ranch Dressing?
As I browsed through to the end of this cookbook, I am finding the book’s fonts a bit annoying and funky. The food photography is decent but nothing to write home about. Neither of those two things, though, will prevent you from enjoying this cookbook, and getting full use out of its helpful meatless recipes.
-Carrie
