Journeying towards greener eating

For some time now, my husband has been wanting us to move away from eating meat and closer towards vegetarianism. I wouldn't say that we're heavy meat eaters now, eating meatless meals at least 3-4 times a week, so I didn't think it would be hard to increase our "meat-free" days. I was surprised to find that I was having two problems: 1.) I kept going back to the same 5-6 recipes over and over again (and thus, getting thoroughly bored of having the same food) and 2.) I had to make different things to please my husband and my toddler. Both of these problems were making dinner time less than enjoyable for me, which defeats the purpose of preparing healthful dinners shared as a family.

And so, I decided to hit my old cookbooks and a few new additions from Amazon, to mix things up and make dinner prep more enjoyable. I was pleased to find interesting and tasty meatless recipes on old favorite cookbooks, such as Mario Batali's Molto Italiano or Cooking Light's Cookbook. I also consistently find delicious meatless recipes in Cynthia Lair's Feeding the Whole Family. But the new stars in my cookbook collection are Vegetarian Classics by Jeanne Lemlin, A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop, and Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison. From these we've made various dips, noodle dishes, risotto, and egg dishes with interesting ingredients that I may not have thought to combine (like beet risotto -- which was truly delicious!).

And if you're looking for an online alternative, I can't recommend Heidi Swanson's 101cookbooks blog enough (she's the author of Super Natural Cooking and Super Natural Every Day, both on my wish list). It's a fantastic resource with recipes, stories, and beautiful photographs. I recently made her Oat Soda Bread and her Vegetable Korma (minus the tofu), both of which have been added to our "favorites" list. Totally awesome website worth checking out.

Are you adopting new eating habits this year? If so, what are your favorite cookbooks, websites, or meal idea resources? I'd love to know!