A few years ago Mark Bittman wrote The Food Matters Cookbook, a collection of 500 recipes focusing on the benefits of a plant-based diet. Meat isn’t absent entirely, but his philosophy of eating vegan until dinnertime has allowed him to consume far less meat than he did previously, and introduce more whole grains, beans and other good-for-you ingredients into his diet. Mark Bittman isn’t about preaching one style of eating over another. Instead, it’s all about quantity, quality and treating meat (if you still want to eat some), like a side dish or garnish, not the main event.

Earlier this year, Kate from Cookie+Kate and Sarah from 20something cupcakes decided to start a community that cooked their way through his cookbook and blogged about. I jumped at the chance to get involved because The Food Matters Project is an extension of everything I promote here at The Giving Table, and I plan to share my participation with you here on the blog this year.

Every week, a food blogger chooses a recipe, posts it on their blog, and everyone else cooks it and shares their version, too. The rules are simple: make the recipe when you can, and post about it when you can. That’s it. Even if you don’t elect to choose a recipe to “host” for the week, you can still cook along and eat better while you do it. It’s also ok if you miss a week, or you’re late getting to a recipe. There’s no pressure to participate each and every week. The Food Matters project is supposed to fit into your lifestyle, not the other way around.

This week’s recipe is Seasoned Popcorn. Do you know how easy it is to make popcorn? Just half a cup of kernels will make a bowl large enough to feed at least 4 people (or 2 if you’re really hungry), proving just how overpriced movie popcorn really is. I seasoned mine with melted butter, thyme and lots of freshly cracked pepper.

For the full recipe, visit Kate’s blog.