Meatless Monday: The Meat Free Monday Cookbook is a great resource

Make meatless meals all year!

If you need a bit of inspiration to make meat-free meals, you’ll be pleased to know that Sir Paul McCartney, along with his daughters Stella and Mary McCartney, have recently released the Meat Free Monday Cookbook.

The McCartneys are some of the most well-known supporters of the Meat Free Monday movement. Whether you're interested in making the move to meatless meals, or simply looking for lovely recipes, get your hands on this cookbook!

Maybe you’ve been eliminating meat from your meals each Monday, maybe you’d like to but don’t know where to start or maybe you’re just looking for some mouth-watering recipes. If you’re searching for inspiration to help you create colorful, fresh and delicious meat-free meals for your Mondays, this cookbook has you covered.

Get inspired to try these Meatless Monday recipes >>

More about Meat Free Monday

The Meat Free Monday campaign was launched in 2009 by Sir Paul and his daughters, and is the U.K. version of Meatless Monday in the U.S. After learning of the environmental value and health benefits of eating less meat, the McCartneys wanted to do something as a family to encourage others to eliminate meat from their diets. It was suggested to them that if enough people stopped eating meat just one day a week, it could have a considerable and favorable effect on the Earth’s climate.

Check out reasons to participate in Meatless Monday >>

Perfectly planned

Marching through the seasons from spring through winter, The Meat Free Monday Cookbook is bursting with meatless recipes for each Monday of the week, for the entire year. The way the cookbook is organized makes it easy to plan your meals. What you’ll find on the pages are recipes for a breakfast, a packed lunch, a sit-down lunch, a side dish, dinner and dessert -- all for one day, each week out of the year.

The family wrote the cookbook’s foreword, which notes, “We feel that the vast majority of people are conscientious and would want to do something in their own lives to help secure a happy future for generations that follow.” Along with recipes from the McCartneys, the cookbook includes recipes from a range of celebrities like Pink, Woody Harrelson, Pamela Anderson and Mario Batali.

Try Mario Batali’s shrimp scampi recipe >>

Beautiful, seasonal inspiration

Each recipe in the book is paired with gorgeous, colorful imagery, is easy to follow and comes with simple descriptions. The best part of the cookbook -- aside from the recipes themselves -- is that your Monday meal is planned out for you if you choose to follow along. So easy!

For a springtime treat, try this seasonal dinner recipe for Sicilian cauliflower pasta from The Meat Free Monday Cookbook. Cauliflower often gets overlooked as a main course ingredient, but this recipe is memorable.

Sicilian cauliflower pasta

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• A pinch of saffron threads
• 1 small-medium cauliflower, chopped into small florets
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 fat garlic cloves, crushed
• A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 2 tablespoons sun-dried tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• 14 ounces whole-wheat mafalda corta pasta
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 rounded tablespoons freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley
• Freshly grated vegetarian Parmesan, to serve
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Soak the saffron threads in two tablespoons boiling water and set aside.
2. Cook the cauliflower florets in a large pan of boiling salted water for about four minutes until tender. Scoop the cauliflower out of the pan, drain and set aside, reserving the water.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan, add the onion and cook over medium heat until tender but not colored. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for an additional minute.
4. Add the raisins and pine nuts to the pan and continue to cook until the pine nuts are toasted and lightly golden.
5. Add the cauliflower, steeped saffron, sun-dried tomato paste and bay leaf to the pan along with 1/2 cup of the cauliflower cooking water.
6. Season and cook over a low-medium heat for about five minutes, lightly mashing the cauliflower with the back of a wooden spoon to make a sauce and adding more water if necessary if it starts to look dry.
7. Meanwhile cook the mafalda corta in the cauliflower water according to the packet instructions. Drain, reserving one cup of the water and put the pasta into the sauté pan with the cauliflower sauce. Add the lemon juice, chopped parsley and stir to combine. Add some of the reserved water if needed.
8. Serve with lots of freshly grated vegetarian Parmesan.

Try these Meatless Monday recipes

Black bean veggie burgers with corn salsa
Walnut-apple cheddar pizza
Mushroom stroganoff