Food & Drink
Read More ›
Simple Goodness
Plum Bistro chef and owner Makini Howell’s new cookbook makes vegan recipes easy
This article originally appeared in the January/February 2025 issue of Seattle magazine.
Plum Bistro restaurant owner and chef Makini Howell recently created some tasty vegan recipes for Stevie Wonder. Now she wants to do the same for you — sort of.
Howell, who launched the popular vegan restaurant in Capitol Hill 20 years ago, just released a new plant-based cookbook, Simple Goodness: No-Fuss, Plant-Based Meals Straight From Your Pantry. The book features more than 140 recipes home chefs can easily create, and even includes a chapter on kid-friendly meals such as breakfast and packable school lunches.
Recipes include chipotle plant-beef and bean tostadas; barbecue tofu steaks with roasted yams; and sweet Georgia peach pie. You can also catch Howell on KING 5’s Evening every month on her show Makini’s Kitchen.
Wonder even wrote the foreword for the book.
“Makini’s cooking will excite and satisfy you,” Wonder wrote. “She can teach you how to become vegan for the rest of your life if you desire. Her ways should be passed on from generation to generation, for generations to come.”
The book was published by Hatchette last month and is available on Amazon and other sites.
Editor’s Note: Makini Howell sold the restaurant in January 2024.
Follow Us
Restaurant Roundup: Bomb Banh Mis and Oktoberfest on the Water
Here’s what was served up recently in the Emerald City.
Knowing where to take out-of-town guests is an art form. You know the dance. How do you show Seattle off just enough that it still comes off classy? Give them a taste of what they’re missing and send them home with a pair of emerald-tinted glasses. “The Nosh with Rachel Belle” has some ideas, like…
Entertaining Like a Pro: Holiday Hosting Tips from Herban Feast’s Culinary Director
Holiday season means one thing for hosts: pressure. Whether you’re planning a corporate client appreciation party or an intimate gathering at home, the goal is the same: you want people talking about it well into January. Herban Feast, the Seattle-based farm-to-table catering company and award-winning creative force behind some of the region’s most memorable events…
Mountain Bar Gets a Nutty Update
Brown & Haley introduces its first new Mountain Bar flavor in more than 50 years.
Tacoma confectioner Brown & Haley is raising the bar. Earlier this summer, the century-old candy maker rolled out a new Mountain Bar featuring rich milk chocolate and pieces of Oregon-grown hazelnuts. Developed in partnership with Oregon Hazelnut Growers, the release celebrates a crop with deep regional roots. Oregon produces 99% of the hazelnuts grown in…
Onigiri on the Rise
Japan’s iconic snack is all the rage from baseball games to Seattle boardrooms, thanks to Onigiri Sen.
Anyone who’s been lucky enough to visit Japan has almost certainly made a pit stop at a 7-Eleven—and left with enough onigiri to feed a bus full of tourists. For the uninitiated, onigiri are rice balls stuffed with seafood or veggies and often wrapped in seaweed. It’s a culinary tradition that’s endured for centuries. Samurai…