Cooking for a vegetarian and an omnivore

[Anonymous]

My husband recently turned vegetarian. I am not a vegetarian but had no problem cutting most meat from my diet for simplicity's sake, but since we've been cooking vegetarian dinners, I've started to gain weight because we're eating more carbs (beans, sweet potatoes, pasta dishes, etc) and cheese. He and I split the cooking about 50/50 and he is much less carb and fat conscious than I am. So, I am looking for ideas or a website or blog to follow that would have recipes that would be a full meal without a meat protein source, but that you could easily add meat on the side (and maybe also subtract some of the beans or whatever). Wouldn't hurt if the recipes were also healthy, inexpensive, and/or easily recycled into interesting leftover meals (I know, I'm asking a lot!).

Thanks for any ideas!

[Anonymous]

Don't forget tofu as a protein source, which can save you the step of having to deal separately with meat....

[Anonymous]

Look for ethnic recipes - Asian, Indian, Italian - that are heavy on veggies and spices, not cheese. I use epicurious.com to search for recipes and find a lot of veggie options that are healthy and lite. I lost 10 pounds when I went vegetarian ten years ago.

[Anonymous]

Try reading Mark Bittman's Food Matters book (not the cookbook). It emphasizes how to "crowd out" the meat from your diet by substituting whole grains and veggies.

[Anonymous]

Are you sure you're gaining weight from beans? Take a look at this Harvard Health Letter for information about beans and ideas on subbing whole grains for refined grains and reducing or eliminating other simple carbs:

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/carbohydrates/

For a blog, you might check out 101 Cookbooks and Meatless Monday:

http://www.101cookbooks.com/
http://www.meatlessmonday.com/

Remember that half your plate should be vegetables and fruits, and watch portion size. The new MyPlate guidelines are helpful for that. They offer a good amount of detail by age for men, women, and children, and portion sizes are smaller than one might expect:
www.ChooseMyPlate.gov.