Any (Meatless) Night of the Week

VEGETARIAN MAIN DISHES

People always ask me what we really eat at our house. They have a hard time believing that we really do cook all these meals (we do!), and also that we don’t really eat that much meat. There’s this thinking that in order to have a filling meal, you need to have meat on your plate. Well, I’m here to officially let you know that that’s just not true. We don’t eat meat every single night for a few reasons: It’s super budget-friendly; I’m a vegetarian; and over the years I’ve learned how to cook hearty, satisfying dishes that don’t need meat to be completely delicious. No crazy “specialty” ingredients required. Believe me when I tell you that there’s not a peep from the peanut gallery when I serve something that doesn’t have any beef, pork, or chicken—only cleaned plates! And I have the same experience when we have people over. Sometimes someone will say, “Oh, I just realized that we didn’t even have any meat!” But it’s only because they’re so impressed that the meal was so deeply satisfying and just so happened to be vegetarian. The recipes in this section include some of our most popular dishes on the blog (there’s about a bajillion comments for our Black Bean–Quinoa Enchilada Bake, about how much their families can’t get enough of it), along with a bunch more of our favorites that are completely kid- and carnivore-approved.