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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.
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