The movie also demonstrated that a whole food, plant-based diet can be appealing and enjoyable to mainstream consumers.

These Jumpstarts were conducted in the most unlikely of places – Mebane, North Carolina. This rural, industrial, working class community is used to eating Southern style meat and dairy heavy “comfort food.”

Yet many in this community were willing to give plant-based eating a try. The participants were so thrilled with their improved health that news spread. Each Jumpstart group increased in size, going from just 16 participants in the first round to 130 participants, with many having to be turned away.

Their health improved, but you may be wondering what they thought of the food.

Did they feel deprived? Were they hungry all the time? Did they feel the change was just too hard? Did they let the pressure of family and local food culture dictate their diet and health?

At the end of the Jumpstart, an amazing 90 percent wanted to continue a plant-based lifestyle!

That doesn’t happen if the food doesn’t taste good.

The PlantPure Nation Cookbook recipes are designed to help individuals make the transition to whole food, plant-based eating, so the flavors and textures are varied and often familiar, and are meant to appeal to a wide range of palates, including children.

I spent a few weeks cooking from this cookbook. While I eat a primarily whole food, plant-based diet, my 14-year old son is currently vegetarian, and my husband is an omnivore. We have a wide range of preferences and tastes to satisfy, and I am happy to say that we enjoyed most of the meals.

These recipes are meat-free, egg-free, dairy-free and oil-free.

Breakfast Patties

Made from mushrooms, grated potato, tofu and vegetables, these baked patties got a thumbs up from my husband. He said he would eat them any time, and wants me to make some more and freeze them so he can eat them in an English muffin sandwich for a fast breakfast mid-week.

Gingerbread-Blueberry Pancakes

These whole wheat eggless pancakes hold together nicely and taste like delicate gingerbread. Instead of sugar-laden syrup, we used applesauce or blueberry topping. Yum!

Green Pepper Tofu Scramble

I forgot to take a photo before we made this breakfast disappear. If you love eggs for breakfast, and you have never tried a tofu scramble, I highly recommend it. My husband kept asking, “There are no eggs in this?” I was out of green pepper, so I used green onion. The recipe calls for nutritional yeast and lots of garlic powder. Ground turmeric makes the tofu look like eggs, and Himalayan black salt gives it an eggy taste.

Artisanal Vegan Pizza Dough

On a Saturday when I was feeling industrious, I made pizzas from scratch using this dough. They came out tasty with a nice chew and slightly crispy bottoms. I topped mine with Victoria Vegan Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo Sauce,  Field Roast Italian Sausage, spinach, fresh and sun-dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, diced green bell pepper, red onion, mushrooms and dried Italian seasoning. Worth the effort!

Cornbread

PlantPure Nation cornbread is straight-up tasty cornbread. No flour and no oil. Turns out, applesauce stands in just fine for oil, and Ener-G Egg Replacer helped the cornbread muffins hold their shape without the egg. I added diced fresh jalapeno and some frozen corn. Unfortunately, this is another one we ate before I remembered to take the photo!

Creamy Kale Salad

The almond butter, ginger dressing on this kale salad is amazing!  Having never used almond butter on kale before, I was dubious. So glad I made it anyway. The recipe calls for curly kale, which I find overly sturdy for a salad. Next time I will make it with lacinato kale (also called black or dinosaur kale) which is more tender but sturdy enough to hold up, dressed in the fridge, for several days.

Artichoke and White Bean Salad

I made up a batch of this salad and put it in the refrigerator for lunches. The tasty combo of creamy cannellini beans, artichoke hearts, olives and herbs marinated together, made the best leftovers. I just scooped out a generous amount on top of mixed baby greens, and lunch was served.

Italian Dressing

While I have been eating plant-based for a while, I am new to oil-free dressings. I was surprised that I didn’t miss the oil. A pinch of xanthan gum thickened it up.

Buffalo Beans and Greens

I really wanted to like this. My husband loves wings, so I made this meal that features wing sauce, tofu, pinto beans and brown rice. I dunno. Something about the pinto beans and wing sauce. While it didn’t work for us, I have seen other bloggers rave about it. If you like wing sauce, give it a try!

Caribbean Quinoa Bowl

This delightful quinoa and black bean salad is studded with bites of sweet, fresh pineapple. It made a refreshing side dish for spicy Sriracha portobello burgers.

Irish Potatoes with Cabbage

Straight-up cold-day comfort food here. Chunky mashed russets mixed with sautéed green cabbage and leeks. I served it with Field Roast sausages.

Jambalaya

This was so good, next time I will double the recipe! I do not like okra (I know, very un-Southern of me!) so I made this delicious dish without it. I also subbed Field Roast sausage for the tempeh, as it is what I had on hand. Ate it all up – no photo.

Macaroni and No Cheese

I have multiple “cheez” sauce recipes. Most include cashews, as this one does. But this recipe is the first one that I have ever made that includes butternut squash as a major ingredient. It was good, and there was no discernible squash flavor, but it wasn’t a super creamy sauce. My husband declared it “okay.” He prefers the version that uses vegan parmesan cheese and Earth Balance. (Old oil habits die hard!)

Orange Stir Fry

Good, but something was missing. I kept adding salt (unusual for me.) I used Coconut Aminos instead of low-sodium soy sauce, which has a less salty, slightly sweet taste. Maybe that was it. I served it over forbidden rice. Overall, I it is a good no-oil stir fry.

Sweet Pepper Coconut Corn Chowder

Hearty and flavorful, we all liked this warming chowder full of sweet red bell pepper, corn and velvety coconut milk. The nutritional yeast helped thicken it up.

There are so many more recipes in this cookbook that I want to try! There are over 150 recipes, including a scrumptious looking carrot cake, “veggie balls” for a spaghetti dinner, and Mushroom Stroganoff.  I know we will be enjoying meals from this book for a long while.

If you are wanting to expand your cooking to include oil-free, whole food, plant-based meals, I highly recommend this book!