Flexitarianism, Year One: A Recipe Retrospective

John and I began a largely vegetarian diet in 2011. We were newly married, building a life largely through our culinary escapades, and it started first as a challenge to ourselves--to learn recipes for dishes featuring vegetables that were filling. We had read a lot of Michael Pollan and he made sense to us, with his famous dictum "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Then, on New Year's, John grabbed me by the shoulders and said "Don't let me buy any meat this year." It was a resolution of sorts. The next day, when we had driven three hours home from our in-laws', exhausted and dehydrated from the previous evening's festivities, John said "I'm serious. Let's go vegetarian." Of course that whole story is already here.



I'm here to report back, over a year after this journey began. Now, we are not total vegs now; we still cheat at family gatherings and occasionally in restaurants when the right dish (aka pulled pork) beckons. But, by and large, we've eliminated meat from the grocery bill. After many, many recipes shared to Facebook, I had a few requests to recommend favorites, to gather together the recipes that worked.

So, without furthier adieu, here are some of the slam-dunks of our pseudo-vegetarian lives. The stars are for the superstars that we have made again and again since discovering.


Breakfasts
Roasted Pear and Chocolate Chunk Scones

Raspberry White Chocolate Honey Almond Meal Muffins

Zucchini Bread Pancakes

**Mascarpone Rosewater Pancakes
In my personal top five. These things taste like my dreams.

Orange Oat and Chocolate Chip Muffins
One of the best muffins ever!

Salads
**Spicy Squash Salad with Lentils and Goat Cheese
Definitely in our top ten. We make this one a lot.

Emerald Salad

Kale Salad with Butternut Squash and Almonds

Ravioli Salad with Black Olives

Avocado Salad with Carrot-Ginger Dressing
The carrot ginger dressing is what makes this.

Summer Pea and Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Salad
The perfect meal for a scorching hot August day

Asian Cabbage Salad

Soups and Stews
Guinness Stew (recipe calls for meat, but we made it without and the stew is so incredibly rich you don't miss it at all!)

Carrot Soup with Miso and Sesame

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

Smoky Minestrone with Tortellini

Pizza, Pasta, and Noodles

Ravioli with Herbed Walnut Sauce

Chile Corn and Cheddar Pizza
Believe me, you've been searching for this pizza your whole life. You just don't know it yet. It's love at first bite.

Vegetarian Pad Thai
My personal favorite, and a lucky first-try at Pad Thai. I was nervous about the sauce (I'm very particular) and this one was a slam dunk.

Ginger Scallion Noodle Bowl

Won-ton Mini Lasagnas
Not so much of a recipe as an idea: line muffin tins with wonton wrappers and fill like regular lasagna. Perfect for parties (they're always a huge hit at ours!)

Pasta al Pomodoro
Everybody should know how to make a perfect pasta dish for company. This is it. The pomodoro sauce is easy and packed with flavor.

The dreaded veggie burger and its brethren--meat masqueraders

Pumpkin Black Bean Burgers
I have three favorite veggie burgers and will not choose between them.

White Bean Burger with Rosemary and Sun-dried Tomato
We loved this one so much last summer we're now actually sort of sick of it.

**Walnut-Miso Mushroom Burgers
I cannot wax poetic enough about this burger.

Eggplant "meat" balls
This is not meat-apologist food. These things are flavor-dynamite, and make a great sub with marinara and fresh mozzarella.

Shitake Mushroom and Lentil Asian Tacos
I loved these, but the reaction wasn't unanimous in our house. They take a little adjusting to taste.

Other vegetarian main dishes

Spanakopita
Delicious, but there's a definite learning curve to manipulating the phyllo dough.

Butternut Squash, Red Potato and Quinoa Hash

**Tomato Bread Pudding
This is another one of our top five. Our definition of comfort food. Essentially what happens if your grilled cheese and tomato soup have a baby.

Moroccan Stuffed Tomatoes
Phenomenal, but be warned: these do not make good leftovers. They're best eaten immediately.

Paneer Makhani
Priya taught us some awesome Indian recipes this year, and this was a runaway favorite. It's so indulgently rich, and perfect when you have something to celebrate.

**Zucchini Parmesan
This is in our top five, for sure. Something about swapping the eggplant for zucchini is magical.

White Bean Ragout with Toast

Lentil Cakes with Pesto, Wilted Greens and Lemon-Thyme Zucchini Fries
We made this elaborate recipe for a super special occasion last year: my sister-in-law's graduation dinner. They were a huge hit, even among the veggie-phobic.

Sauteed Chard and Gruyere Swiss Cheese

Crushed Peas with Smoky Sesame Dressing

Shaksuka
This is one of those dishes that is sort of all over the place; a huge delicious mess in a pan.

**Zucchini and Yam Fritters
Make these immediately. Our lives would not be the same without these vibrant, flavorful, perfect, messy little patties. This is is probably the best discovery we made all year, and it never fails to perk us up no matter what kind of rough week we've had!

Root Ribbons with Sage
Shouldn't work as well as they do! The maple syrup seems wrong, but just a touch and it brings out the natural earthy sweetness of the roots.

Spinach Souffle
When I was little, I loved that Stouffer's Spinach Souffle so much I used to call it "Spinach Hooray." The homemade version gives us even more to cheer about.

Desserts
**Vegan Chocolate Cake
One of the best chocolate cakes, period.

Roasted Strawberry Coconut Milk Ice Cream
The secret is to puree the roasted strawberries before adding them in. And, if you're feeling really sassy, drizzle some melted chocolate into your ice cream maker as it's running.

Almond-Banana Smoothies
The nutmeg is really what makes this recipe sing. And it's so simple!