The idea for The Casual Veggie grew out of my own experience trying to eat a little healthier.

I knew it was time to start taking care of myself and put actual effort into living a healthier life. Honestly, I didn't know where to start and I was getting overwhelmed by all of the advice online.

I decided to go back to basics. Eat more fruits and veggies!

So I visited the supermarket and came home with so many beautiful fruits and veggies; eggplant, tomatoes, squash, onions and potatoes, carrots and parsnips, beets, okra.

Then dinner time came and I'm standing in front of my fridge wondering what the heck shouldI do with that eggplant? Or the other half of that butternut squash? That beautiful patty pan squash I got from the farmers market? Yeah, table decoration. I didn't know what to do with it!

I turned to my traditional cookbook collection but felt underwhelmed by the few recipes I could find that used my veggie.

So I turned to Pinterest... Yeah, you know how that ends! Hours and hours later I have too many ideas, too much advice, everything looks good but I don't know what I want anymore! By then I'm so hungry I throw my hands up and just make pasta. Again!

Eventually I started to feel like I was using the same 3 or 4 healthy recipes every week. To top it off, even the veggies I did know how to cook often went bad before I got a chance to use them up.

Fast forward one year. I'm creating the cookbook I so desperately wish had been around when I first started eating more veggies.

This is a cookbook for people who want to eat home cooked meals, using real food, with a focus on plants. The Casual Veggie will become a well used tool in your kitchen arsenal.

The whole cookbook is organized around veggies. Each of the 29 most common veggies has it's own section in the book. You can save time wondering what to do with that leftover eggplant. We've got you covered, so you can get right to cooking!

Every time you go to the grocery store, you can feel like a pro! For each veggie in the book we give you the most useful and actionable info about:

• how the veggie is grown
• different types and varieties to try
• basic nutrition info for raw and cooked veggies
• what to look for at market to pick out a good one
• how to store it at home so that you can eat it when you want to and never feel like you're wasting money by letting things go bad!

With 4 or more recipes per veggie, the book is packed with over 100 recipes to help you eat healthy. Use the main book sections to find recipes by veggie, use the index to find recipes by type. Whether you're looking for a snack, an easy lunch or a filling dinner we've got you covered.

We've partnered with the most amazing food bloggers to bring these recipes to you. Each recipe is written by someone who is skilled in writing tasty, creative, and engaging recipes. This cookbook will get your own creative juices flowing and introduce you to dozens of talented bloggers you'll love getting to know better.

We've gone through hundreds of recipes to find the most creative, the tastiest, the most practical veggie-centered recipes we could find.

They're on your computer and in your kitchen when you need them.

Don't let another dinner go by with just a sad side of broccoli on your plate to fill the "required serving". You deserve to eat food you actually like!

Surprise yourself, surprise your family. You just made the best dang spaghetti squash ever!

the 29 veggies of The Casual Veggie