(1) Check out The Post-Punk Kitchen: http://theppk.com/

They have a ton of excellent recipes and great forums with even more.

(2) NY Times Recipes for Health: http://health.nytimes.com/pages/health/nutrition/index.html

Almost all-vegetarian with a huge variety and no reliance on fake meat products. You should definitely check out the black bean chili, it's the best I've ever had:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/health/nutrition/12recipehealth.html

(3) The Italian Vegetarian Cookbook: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Italian-Vegetarian-Cookbook-Essential/dp/1576300447

Really, everyone should own this book. The recipes are absolutely wonderful, and the flavors are rich and deep.

I just bought the cookbook Glorious Grits by Southern Living. It has lots of good ideas that are filling, inexpensive and meat-free (or adaptable to be meat free). :) I highly recommend checking it out.

As a vegetarian, I recommend salads with warm components (Ina Garten's roasted butternut squash or a salad nicoise without the tuna). There are some recipes in the New York Times this week about entree salads. I'd also recommend risotta, breakfast for dinner, and Mexican foods (quesidillas never get old in our house). Making your own refried beans is really easy and cheap (and they freeze well).

Hope this helps! :)

After so many heavy holiday meals full of red meat, I'm also on a temporary vegetarian kick.

Mexican food: it's so easy to make your favorite recipes vegetarian. Just substitute black beans for the meat. Or try out Whole Food's burrito recipe.

Italian food: Try a Caprese panini or eggplant lasagna.

Just don't forget to include a source of protein in your meals.

1) a great product that I just found out about (yesterday! what great timing!) is Daiyo cheese alternative - it melts, cooks, and stretches like cheddar and mozza cheese!

2) a really great vegan cookbook that I received (free! from my organic home delivery grocer) is "Where it all Vegan". There's a lot of tips from the writers on maintaining a Vegan lifestyle and lots of hearty, yummy dishes. They have a zucchini and bean casserole which is the yumz.

3) Kranks cookbooks - they have a vegetarian cookbook for all occasions and even if you are just giving up meat for lent, there are certainly dishes that you'd prepare on "veg mondays" as well. :)

Good luck!

Check out the cookbooks from the Moosewood Collective. They're one of my favorites for vegetarian comfort food. I especially love Sundays at Moosewood, which has sections on both Italian food and Southern food.

i commend the meatless idea - of course, i'm a vegetarian, so i'm biased! vegetarian food is not simply salads and soups - if it was, i'd be constantly starving :) you just have to be a little creative and change the way you think about cooking a little bit (i.e. a meal is not just a meat and some sides; you look at "meat" recipes and brainstorm how you can adapt them to be vegetarian).

anyway, i agree with betsygindc - risotto, breakfast for dinner, and quesadillas are all staples in my household (i don't eat meat, the husband does). we have quesadillas almost weekly and load them up with beans and veggies (sauteed w/ some garlic, cumin and sometimes cinnamon for fun). pasta is very vesatile and easy, too - you can just do the standard pasta w/ marinara sauce or baked pasta. we've really come to like angel hair pasta w/ olive oil, garlic, arugula, parmesan, tomatoes, and good olives. it's light but so tasty. for comfort food, you can't go wrong w/ a good mac and cheese, veggie baked beans and some green veggies to balance things out. grilled cheese and tomato soup is also pretty classic.

also, if you're feeling adventurous, you can try to branch out and try things like tempeh, quinoa, and lentils (maybe you already eat these things, i dunno). they're all delicious and full of protein, which is something a lot of meat-eaters tend to be concerned about when they eat vegetarian.

one of my FAVORITE sites for delicious, super-interesting and flavorful vegetarian fare is www.101cookbooks.com. heidi has a wonderful collection of recipes. 2 of my faves: caramelized tofu w/ brussel sprouts, and lentil almond stir fry. check it out! a really great resource.

I agree with the other posters about risotto, eggs, chili, pasta; also love 101 kitchens. Bittman often has good meatless recipes on his NYTimes blog.

One of my favorite vegetarian recipes is polenta lasagna, either layered w/ mushrooms, cheese, and bechamel sauce, or with tomato sauce & eggplant/zucchini/whatever veg I happen to have. (Adapted from the Tassajara Cookbook)

I also love Molly Stevens' recipes for braised vegetables, esp. cabbage. and fennel. and leeks. and endive.

oops, I meant 101cookbooks. not kitchens.

I did this last year (with my Colombian roommate... when a latina girl goes veggie, you support her!) and it wasn't easy but it was fun cooking wise. We ate a good bit of beans (greens, black beans, and yellow rice with avocados and tomatoes was a favorite), I learned to make about 4 kinds of veggie stirfry, and roasted cream cheese and pesto stuffed portabello mushrooms are heavenly! I would say, don't force the tofu route if you don't like it. It only makes it harder to stick to your guns. There are plenty of fruits and veggies to go around. Use your spices and the web and enjoy your 40 days of meatlessness! (also, go easy on the red meat when you reintroduce it... your stomach will thank you)

Get some humongous portobello mushrooms. Remove the stems. Drizzle the heads with olive oil and a sprinkle of rosemary and salt on both sides. Grill as if you were grilling a burger. YUM!!! It's tastes just like meat.

Potatoes are invaluable for getting full when eating vegetarian--try mixing them with chickpeas in Indian style meals for optimum satisfaction. :) I like both chana bateta and potato pea masala with mint chutney.

Southern, Italian, and Mexican food all have two basic vegetarian ingredients in common: beans and greens!

After the holidays I find myself wanting to cook lighter, more veggie-rich foods and I'm falling in love with kale and collards! Cabbage is also great (with other veg & apples in a cider vinegar/sesame oil/brown sugar sweet & sour sauce is amazing!). The best part about beans and greens? They are cheap and really good for you! Not to mention tasty.

Veggies like olives, zucchini, and sturdy greens like kale and collards are super easy to toss into a stir fry, rice & beans, or pasta and they somewhat mimic the toothsome texture of meat.

Good luck!

I'm pescatarian, and I definitely second the moosewood cookbook by mollie katzen.

also- vegetarian cooking for everyone is an amazing cookbook (by deborah madison).

the recipe for black bean quesadillas in that cookbook is spectacular.

also- almost all other non-american cuisines have tons of great, already vegetarian recipes.

one really good one: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2008/jan/23/her-afghan-eggplant-dish-is-life-of-party/

My omnivorous husband happily eats vegan with me most nights. We have salad for dinner maybe once a year.

This recipe for chickpea cutlets is one of our favorites. We eat it with gravy, marinara, mustard sauce, or buffalo sauce. On the side we'll have biscuits, pasta, or stuffing and a green vegetable.

http://www.chow.com/recipes/11364

You can probably find a lot of the cookbooks people are mentioning at the library, if you want to give them a try before buying. My recommendation is How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman.

If you're really stuck for meat-less recipes, trying weaning yourself slowly by using the awesome meat-substitutes on the market. Qorn "chicken" is a STAPLE in our house - it's delicious, SO easy and quick, and goes well with everything. Morning Star Farms has some awesome "sausage" and "steak" and "chicken" strips and ground "beef." Trying using them in your traditional recipes instead of the meat.

Orthodox Christians (the second largest group of Christians after Catholics) give up all animal products for Lent. Try recipes from traditionally Orthodox countries, since they've been doing this for centuries. Greek, Russian, Serbian, Lebanese, Ethiopian, and other traditionally Orthodox cultures have a wealth of good, seasonally appropriate, healthy, animal-free recipes for Lent.

As a Greek, I eat a lot of lentil soup (fakes) and bean stew (fasolada) during Lent.

The first recipe here is for a fantastic lentil soup that's filling and has a great mouth feel (more like a stew than a soup, which is good)..

Emeril Legassi has a fantastic vegetarian chili recipe that I LOVE with macaroni and cheese. Warning: it serves WAY more people than he says it does.

Orangette has a lovely lentil salad that I've served to ominivores and vegetarians alike with rave reviews. It's even better the next day.

I'm not a vegetarian but I love black bean burritos and various pasta sauces made without meat. It's easy once you stop worrying and just do it (meat takes too long most nights so I usually eat vegetarian for dinner). Eggs, beans, lentils and cheese will give you plenty of protein. You can do it!

I'm currently trying to incorporate more vegetarian dishes into my diet, which is no easy feat, considering that I adore meat. That being said, I've found Moosewood cookbooks to be tremendously helpful. In my opinion those recipes are packed with flavour and you will not miss meat one bit! Also, they have plenty of fish and seafood recipes as well. My personal favorites are the original Moosewood Cookbook and Simple Suppers.

Check out Vegan with a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Eat, Drink & Be Vegan! by Dreena Burton. :) Both excellent cookbooks that I use every week.

If you are stuck start out with Mark Bittmans Vegetarian book. It would be a good modern how to book for anything related to how to eat as a vegetarian. If you can't find something you like to eat in there you are truly hopeless! ;-)

You can try http://www.meatlessmonday.com/ for recipes too. I'm a confirmed carnivore but trying to cut back to more reasonable amounts in my diet and going meatless one day a week,

http://www.amazon.com/When-You-Fast-Recipes-Seasons/dp/0881412627/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262984748&sr=8-1

I love the Meatless Monday Web site, but the recipes I've tried have all been flops.

I'd caution against advising rice and potato casseroles and lots and lots of pasta at first. That seems to be the pitfall of many starting vegetarians — starch, starch, starch and then not only are you tired but you're starving ALL THE TIME (can you tell I've made this mistake?). Make sure you're also eating lots of beans and lentils (easy enough with your preferences) as well because that's what's going to fill you up and keep you healthy. Also, one of my favorite easy-peasy meals is a bunch of veggies roasted or sauteed in whatever style you wish topped with a poached egg to dress it all. Delicious!

Bittman did a potato, onion and pepper taco on the NY Times site that's wonderful and easy. Red beans and rice are a Monday tradition and do well without meat. White beans chili, done without the chicken is lovely.

I have a "lent" category on my blog... almost all of them can be made easily after a day at work (I'd say 40 minutes or less)

http://healthy-delicious.com/category/lent/

I'm vegetarian and have a few recipes on my site. For quickie meals you might try out these tacos http://appetiteforconversation.blogspot.com/2009/10/sundays.html and these quesadillas http://appetiteforconversation.blogspot.com/2009/10/dillas.html.

Funny thing... The Italian's don't consider some "meat" as "meat".

In the 17th century, the Catholic Church actually declared beaver a fish, so you can eat that during Lent as well.

my neighbor gave me a book that has a great selection of Lenten dishes. My Mother's Cooking
directions and everything

There is so much more to vegetarian food than salads and soups! So many cuisines in the world are a wealth of veggie recipes. Indian home food, for example, is often meatless and vegetarian and very healthy. This wonderful site http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandi/ is one fabulous resource. She is very creative with her vegetarian recipes, sometimes purely Indian and sometimes with her own (Indian or fusion) twist on things.

When it comes to restaurants, no one does vegetarian food like the Greens restaurant. Any and all books by Deborah Madison and Annie Sommerville are just gorgeous places to find some of that food. Especially great for people who do not live in San Francisco.

I did this for several years for Lent and then it stuck, full-time veg now. I love Meatlessmonday.com - great recipes that always work... I second Moosewood by Katzen - so good. I would like to add "Homestyle Vegetarian" by Bay Books and "The Great Vegetarian Cookbook" by Rosamond Richardson.

Above but def want to let you know - don't sweat it. The majority of the foods that we eat and love and enjoy everyday are vegetarian.

Note when you are eating out that lazy restaurants put chicken stock in everything. Trendy places fry in lard or duck fat.

I have tried to dramatically cut back on the meat in my diet for the usual reasons. I live in Texas and love red meat so it has been an adjsutment.

I highly highly recommend the New York Times recipes for health section (not the Mark Bittman recipes) - the recipes I have tried from the Times generally come out extremely well.

Before lent starts I would recommend slowly decreasing your meat consumption. Stopping cold turkey (pun intended :) gave me headaches - I don't think I really considered all the protein issues fully.

I really really really dislike fake meat products. I don't think they taste like real meat, also they are generally full of sodium and wierd stuff - not natural. Also, I wanted to move away from having to have things taste like meat to be tasty - using fake meat erodes this for me. Its like diet soda instead of regular soda - your body still craves the sweetness.

I get really really tired of eating beans, but I highly recommend the Barilla Plus pasta - it taste like regular pasta (but better) and not like gross whole wheat pasta. Plus is it a multigrain blend with flax seed and other good stuff. I really love the subtle flax notes in the pasta.

I have and have never used the Mark Bittman vegetarian book - I really don't like it.