Jenn Sebestyen - The Meatless Monday Family Cookbook: Kid-Friendly, Plant-Based Recipes [Go Meatless One Day a Week--or Every Day!]

THE

FAMILY COOKBOOK

Kid-Friendly, Plant-Based Recipes

Go Meatless One Day a Weekor Every Day!

Jenn Sebestyen

FOUNDER OF VEGGIEINSPIRED.COM

When I was a Boy Scout during World War II, there was a campaign called Meatless Monday. The idea was to help conserve food for the troops serving in the war. It was a tidy and timely way to package a healthy idea, even if that wasnt the intended goal. It was doable and understandable. Two words said it all perfectly.

Years later, a doctor told me that my cholesterol and blood pressure were way too high and my diet was a big part of it. My father had died of heart disease and when I looked around, I saw these lifestyle diseases everywhere, and they were all self-inflicted. People were putting bad things into their bodies and wreaking havoc on their health.

I had been in the advertising business for years and I asked myself, Why not sell health instead of products? However, there was a problem: How do you make moderation positive, fun, and doable without being a nag or a nanny? At the time, the medical community was suggesting cutting meat intake by 15 percent. I did some math and realized that cutting meat by 15 percent meant cutting out meat for just three out of the 21 weekly meals. There was no need to try to do calculations every meal and guess how big 15 percent of a portion was. It was so simple: Skip meat just three meals for one day a week.

People could change their eating habits incrementally and not feel as if they're giving anything up.

So, in 2003, Dr. Bob Lawrence (then the director of the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and I created a modern-day Meatless Monday with the goal of improving the health of both people and the planet. The campaign used the rhythm of the week to its advantage. Friday is pay day, Saturday is play day, and Sunday is pray day. But Monday? Thats the day all health breaks loose.

The Monday concept was also backed up with data. More people start diets, begin exercise routines, quit smoking, and search the internet for health information on Mondays than any other day. Surveys show that if you are going to create healthy change, Monday is the day to do it.

It started slowly at first, but then, it really picked up steam. Celebrities like Oprah and Michael Pollan got involved, and famous chefs were featuring special Meatless Monday dishes.

In 2009, Sir Paul McCartney helped us give Meatless Monday a global presence by launching Meat Free Monday in the UK. Today, Meatless Monday is supported by millions of people in over 40 countries and is backed in science and research by the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Ive always said that Meatless Monday works because it gets the idea into the mind before it gets it into the body. Every seven days, you have a chance to start and maintain good habits or break bad ones. This is why I was excited to hear that Jenn Sebestyen was writing a cookbook geared toward the simple practice of creating meatless recipes specifically for Meatless Monday.

Her blog Veggie Inspired has been posting amazing recipes for quite some time and she has amassed a nice following. The blog features simple recipes that are healthy and, more importantly, delicious. Who better to write The Meatless Monday Family Cookbook? This book provides instructions on making not just meals that are good for you, but also meals that you will crave. This is perfect because giving up meat one day per week shouldnt require giving up flavor.

Jenn has included a friendly introduction that will make getting into a Meatless Monday routine nice and easy. It gives tips on basic kitchen utensils and key ingredients to have on hand.

This Monday, have the whole family help prepare one of the following recipes. Your health and the health of the planet will be grateful.

Sid Lerner, founder, Meatless Monday global movement

Hi, friends! Welcome!

If you told me fifteen years ago that I would be eating a plant-based diet today, I would have rolled my eyes. My older brother was, and still is, a vegetarian andalthough I respected his decisionI thought it was silly because, you know, the food chain and all!

Growing up, I never thought about how food would affect my body and health. I regularly scarfed down fast-food meals and processed drinks and snacks. I drank milk with every meal and had cheese on nearly everything. Oh, how I loved dairy!

College was more of the same food garbagebeer, pizza, burgers, wings, an occasional salad loaded with cheese and croutons and ranch dressing. The freshman fifteen is real!

Fast forward to being an adult on my own in the working world: I started cooking for myself. Luckily, I have a mom and grandmas that are/were good home cooks, so I had a vague idea of how to do that. Cooking wasnt something I particularly enjoyed, but it was cheaper than eating out all the time and being newly on my own, it was a necessity.

I was still eating meat and dairy at almost every meal. And it wasnt until 2007, when I was pregnant with our first child, that my mindset around food started to change. I knew I needed to eat healthier to sustain the little human I was growing. I cut out a lot of processed foods and sweets (except Lucky Charms hello, pregnancy craving!), and I had drastic aversions to chicken. I had a healthy pregnancy and our son, Matthew, was born happy and healthy.

When Matthew was about three or four months old, I happened across Alicia Silverstones cookbook, The Kind Diet, in the library. I had no idea what the kind diet was, and I only knew Alicia Silverstone from Clueless and the Aerosmith videos. But I was intrigued. I read it that same night (yes, I read cookbooks like novels), and I vowed never to drink dairy milk again. Knowing that in just a few months, I was going to be making decisions about what foods to feed my young son, I read everything I could about healthy eating. I decided that for me, a plant-based diet was the way to go.

Friends and family were curious and started asking me about the meals I was making. The questions kept coming and in 2012, after quitting my job and having our twin daughters, Caroline and Katherine, I decided to start my blog, Veggie Inspired. Originally, it was intended only to be a means to easily share recipes with friends and family and an outlet for me that didnt involve nursing babies or changing diapers around the clock.

I soon found I quite enjoyed creating recipes and blogging. And in the fall of 2014, I posted my now famous recipe for . It went viral, and I started to believe that people other than me and a few select friends were interested in ditching the meat and dairy as well. My blog has grown exponentially since that time.

Admittedly, my husband and kids do eat meat and dairythough not often, maybe once a week. Shockingly (just kidding!), I am not perfect either. I have been known to nibble a piece of cheese or a sweet treat that may contain eggs if Im feeling an urge to have it. In this house, we are all about balance. While I do feel that a plant-based diet is the healthiest, and for me I absolutely gravitate toward plant-based foods, I dont stress about my kids food choices when we eat out or if they are at a party.