Potluck, Vol. 1 Appetizers, Vegetables, Sides, Sauces, Mains & Desserts: A mid-level gourmet plant-based recipe collection.

There is no better way to describe this series of recipe collections than as an exploration into a new way of living and eating. Learning to cook is potentially one of the greatest opportunities to invest in your health. As you learn new techniques, explore different flavors and textures, an entire new vista of healthful and purposeful living opens up. A plant-based lifestyle is sustainable and even economically beneficial. Add an herb garden, several garden beds and a greenhouse to your backyard and now you are increasingly independent of what goes on in commercial food markets. This book is dualistic in nature. It is functional, providing recipes and secondly, it is inherently educational and appropriate for training plant-based chefs or for those who desire to incorporate more whole food plant-based foods into their food preparation repertoire. Regarding the latter, the existence of plant-based recipes does not pass judgement against those who consume meat. The term ‘plant-based’ does not exclude consumption of animal products but it describes an overlay on top of your current dietary pattern. There are nutritionally excellent as well as poor vegan diets, vegetarian diets, Mediterranean diets, Asian diets, etc. Any dietary pattern can be ‘corrupted’ by excessive sugar, processed food, junk food, chemical additives, inadequate intake of essential nutrients, excessive intake of toxins, etc. The Potluck series is about reversing course and claiming a healthy lifestyle.

Learning how to set up the circumstances leading to Potluck is an art. It’s late Sunday afternoon. You have just pulled your boat onto its trailer and you are heading home with your crew of seven. You get a call from your best friends who you just spent the entire day with and they are also heading home from the lake with their crew of five. After a brief conversation, you decide to converge at your place to make dinner. You have not yet thought about making dinner, but it doesn’t matter because it’s so much fun to just hang out with your best friends and enjoy the last few hours of the weekend.

Potluck is about what happens when you get home and your friends arrive 10 minutes later. Nothing is prepared, everyone is hungry after skiing and playing all day, nothing is planned but you know your garden has a bunch of juicy heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, bell peppers, hot peppers, purple beans, eggplant, Swiss chard, lots of fresh herbs, etc. You also just froze two quarts of pesto and 100 quarts of tomato sauce, 25 quarts of salsa, 12 pints of peach jam, four quarts of peach syrup and 24 half pints of raspberry freezer jam. You have a large watermelon and a gallon of vanilla ice cream in the overflow fridge in the garage. Your mind races through the options such as thin spaghetti with Pomodoro sauce served with already-made-and-frozen pecan balls and grill-roasted vegetables, or pasta primavera with alfredo sauce, or quesadillas, or pesto vermicelli with roasted vegetables, or pizza and a huge salad, or maybe chili with tater tots, or hot dogs, or veggie burgers with the works and potato salad, etc. As you are racing home, you delegate jobs to each person and as soon as you get home, you hit the ground running. Within one hour you are eating a fabulous meal and everyone is having a grand time and making more awesome memories. This is my idea of Potluck. Potluck always involves people, love, creativity and hospitality. Sometimes it happens spontaneously and other times it is planned.

Potluck is learning to make your food and mealtimes a blessing to you and your family!