Eat Through the Seasons (good plant-based recipes)
Learning to cook your own food is empowering, as you no longer have to rely on expensive plastic-wrapped ready-meals and takeaways. Master your favourite cuisines at home. Then every night is restaurant night!
Arguably, the best recipe books are those that use local natural and seasonal produce. Not only better for the planet with less food miles and less packaging, but the ingredients are easy to find, and more affordable.
Before cooking, read up on food safety for people and pets (many foods are unsafe near animal friends). Bin allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallots, chives) and citrus/tomato/rhubarb scraps, as acids could harm compost creatures. It’s okay to put them in food waste bins (made into biogas).
For tinned foods, fully remove lids (put inside) or pop ring-pulls back over holes (and pinch top opening closed) before recycling, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.
A Year in a Cottage Kitchen (recipes from Cornwall)
A Year in a Cottage Kitchen is a lovely book by a young vegan cookbook author who is fast turning into a next-generation version of Nigella Lawson. Discover 80 simple plant-based recipes, from the heart of Cornwall.
Take a seat at Maddie’s table, as she cooks delicious meals in her cosy cottage, and step inside her world as she tends to her vegetable patch, strolls along the stunning shore to take in the sea air, and hosts supper in her home or (when the weather allows) on the beach.
Recipes include:
- Lemon elderflower cake
- Homemade Crumpets
- Warm Butter Bean, New Potato & Tomato Salad
- Black Bean Burgers with Summer Hot Sauce
- Roasted Butternut Squash & Sausage Gnocchi
- Mushroom and Lentil Pie
- Roasted Parsnip, Rosemary & White Bean Soup
- Tear and Share ‘cheesy’ Bread
- Pear Upside Down Cake
- Homemade Apple Crumble
- Lemon and Elderflower Cake
Madeleine Olivia is a full-time content creator, who writes lovely vegan cookbooks. She lives with husband in a beautiful renovated cottage in Cornwall. Find more recipes (and home makeover tips) at her lovely website!
The First Mess Cookbook (eat through the seasons)
The First Mess is a highly-reviewed cookbook packed with wholesome recipes to eat through the seasons. What makes this book different is that it uses real locally-sourced organic ingredients to create recipes, using seasonal finds from your weekly veg box.
The author is a Canadian who grew up in a family that ran organic box schemes. She trained as a chef, and also writes and photographs well. So all combined, you end up with a smashing book.
Recipes include:
- Beet & Mushroom Bolognese
- Fluffy Whole Grain Pancakes
- Hot Pink Beet Smoothie
- Broccoli Caesar with Smoky Tempeh Bits
- Vegetable Bean Pot Pies with Potato Crust
- Weeknight Root Vegetable Dal
- Burrito-stuffed Sweet Potatoes
- Romanesco Salad with Meyer Lemon Dressing
- Chilli Tofu Lime Bowls
- Roasted Aubergine & Olive Bolognese
- Earl Grey & Vanilla Bean Tiramisu
Laura Wright has been cooking and testing plant-based seasonal recipes for years. Her cooking blog is one of the most popular in the world, packed with recipes that use real affordable ingredients, and turn out well each time. Many of her readers are not vegan, she prefers to simply focus on good food to inspire, rather than be a ‘celebrity chef’.
The Seasonal Vegan (a tasty affordable cookbook)
The Seasonal Vegan is a book of simple affordable recipes that make use of local seasonal produce. Each recipe is geared to seasonal crops, with year-round menus. Illustrated with beautiful colour images, these recipes let you enjoy wholesome affordable meals.
Each of the 70 recipes in this book (by a Welsh-speaking veggie cook and writer) focuses on fresh local product). The 70 recipes include:
- Pancakes with Blueberry Compote
- Potato Salad with Watercress Pesto
- Summer Berry & Coconut Milk Ice Lollies
Dreena’s Kind Kitchen (100 wholefood recipes)
Dreena’s Kind Kitchen is a nice book by one of our favourite cookbook authors, who always uses fresh wholefood ingredients and uses a little oil and maple syrup (she’s Canadian!) with recipes that will appeal to most tastebuds. This book offers 100 easy-to-make and delicious recipes.
This is a book you will use, whether you want a quick weeknight supper or a dish for a special occasion. From breakfasts to small bites to dinner and dessert, enjoy recipes for:
- Light Fluffy Breakfast Pancakes
- Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
- Potato Cauliflower Scramble
- Seasoned Potato Squashers
- A-Game Chilli
- White Bean Corn Chowder
- Beyond Beet Burgers
- Fiesta Taco Filling
- Smoky Caesar Salad
- Lentil Sweet Potato Meatloaf
- Holiday Dinner Torte
There’s also a troubleshooting section to boost your kitchen skills, with tips on techniques, time-saving skills and suggestions for re-purposing leftovers into delicious new dishes.
Dreena Burton is a self-taught cook and one of North America’s most popular cookbook authors, whose recipes are recommended by health professionals, due to always using real wholefoods. A mother of three children (who she and her husband have raised vegan), she is author of several best-selling recipe books.
Seasonal Foods (what to eat each season)
You don’t need a full calendar memorised. Just notice what keeps showing up, and cook it two or three ways. Below are seasonal starting points, plus meal ideas built from veg, protein, carbs, and flavour.
Spring: greens, peas, and fresh herbs
Asparagus, spring greens, spinach, peas, radishes, new potatoes, and rhubarb (when available). Because these flavours are fresh, keep sauces simple and let herbs do the heavy lifting.
- Try a herby potato salad with new potatoes, peas, and butter beans, then add chopped mint and a squeeze of lemon. It works warm or cold, so it’s also an easy packed lunch.
- For dinner, a tofu and asparagus stir-fry comes together fast. Add frozen peas, serve with rice, then finish with soy sauce, lime, and toasted sesame seeds.
- If you want something sweet, stew rhubarb with a little sugar and orange zest. Spoon it over overnight oats, or bake an oat crumble for a weekend treat.
- Add crunch with sliced radishes, then brighten with lemon, fresh mint, or spring onions.
Summer: tomatoes, courgettes, berries, salads
Summer makes vegan eating feel easy because produce does so much on its own. Tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, peppers, aubergine, sweetcorn, berries, and stone fruit are usually at their best.
- For a low-effort dinner, make a chickpea and veg kebab tray. Toss chickpeas, peppers, courgettes, and red onion with smoked paprika and oil, then roast until crisp at the edges. Serve with pitta and a quick lemon-tahini drizzle.
- Pasta also shines now. Cook spaghetti, blister cherry tomatoes in a hot pan, then stir through garlic, basil, and capers. Add a handful of rocket at the end for bite.
- For a no-cook lunch, build a hearty salad that keeps you full: leafy base, cooked grains (leftover rice works), beans, crunchy veg, and a punchy dressing. A jar of pesto (check it’s vegan) or a simple olive oil and vinegar mix can carry the whole thing. Hot days can dull your appetite, so keep hydration in mind. Cold soups, juicy fruit, and plenty of fluids help more than you’d think.
Autumn and winter: squash, roots, brassicas
When the days shorten, autumn and winter produce includes pumpkin and squash, carrots, parsnips, beetroot, cabbage, kale, leeks, mushrooms, apples, and pears. These veg suit roasting, stewing, and mashing, so you get comfort without relying on ultra-processed food.
- A lentil shepherd’s pie is perfect here. Cook green or brown lentils with onions, carrots, and stock, top with mash, then bake until golden. Add peas or chopped kale for colour.
- For an easy bowl meal, roast a tray of roots and squash. Serve with quinoa or couscous, add crispy chickpeas, then finish with tahini dressing and lemon. The contrast matters, because sweet veg needs sharpness.
- A leek and mushroom stew with white beans makes a great midweek dinner. Stir in mustard, thyme, and a splash of oat cream, then eat with crusty bread.
- Breakfast can stay seasonal too. Try warm cinnamon apple porridge with grated apple stirred in as it cooks, plus walnuts if you have them.
Grow, Store and Cook Vegan Food
If you like growing and eating your own food, read The Vegan Cook & Gardener. This book is co-written by a father and daughter (he’s a gardener, she’s a chef).
This is affordable feel-good food, if you don’t want anything too fancy. Find recipes for soups, mains and cakes (carrot or strawberry chocolate).
Piers Warren and Ella Bee Glendining are experienced vegan cooks. He is a conservationist, permaculture expert and wildlife filmmaker who wrote How to Store Your Garden Produce.
Ella Bee is a passionate advocate for animal welfare, who recently received huge accolades for directing the film Is There Anybody Out There?‘, where she tries to find others with the same rare disability as her.
