Shortly after I finished my first cookbook, The Happy Herbivore Cookbook, my husband and I were transferred to St. Maarten for a year. While the prospect of living in paradise was quite exciting, the realization that I’d have to cook three meals a day, every day, was daunting.
Prepared and prepackaged vegan foods are not available in St. Maarten and the local restaurants generally do not have vegan or vegan-friendly options either. The reality was, if we were going to eat, I had to make it myself.
Living in St. Maarten reminded me how beautiful (and delicious!) simplicity can be. I needed meals that were fresh, fast, and effortless to avoid feeling overwhelmed by constant cooking, but I also needed to find a way to make meals that were exciting and satisfying with whatever I had available. In St. Maarten, I didn’t have the same wide variety of ingredients I enjoyed in New York City and what was available to me at the market was always changing, too.
My new streamlined “make it work” approach, however, is what led to this book. Inside you’ll find more than 175 doable recipes—recipes that are so quick and easy, you could cook from scratch three meals a day, like I do, and from whatever ingredients you have on hand.
As with the last book, my recipes are still made with wholesome “everyday” ingredients and without added fats like oil. I’ve also taken care to make sure most of the recipes come together in under 20 minutes, because even chefs don’t always want to toil over a hot stove all day.
