When I was 17, I began a nearly decade-long trek to vegetarianism.  I was really awesome at being fair-weathered about it, choosing to avoid meat & fish whenever it was convenient & eating half a fried turkey when it smelled good.  A few years ago I read the book Eating Animals, and my-oh-my what a good book.  I definitely found my lazy-vegetarian-soulmate in Jonathan Safran Foer, but since it felt like I was reading my own food manifesto, I have actually followed through in giving up meat since finishing this book.

So what do I eat now?  Here are some cookbooks & resources that I love.

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World; Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar; Vegan Brunch.  These three cookbooks have all of my go-to recipes when I'm feeding people who aren't into vegetarian food.  The desserts are extremely unhealthy & tasty - full of sugar & fat - just like I like them.  My favorite recipes from each of the three are Green Tea Cupcakes, Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles, & Cornbread Waffles.  YUM.

Kitchen Garden Cookbook.  This one isn't vegetarian, but I'm a huge farmers' market shopper, so it is fabulous that it's set up seasonally.  Aside from the great recipes, there are also tons of guides for storing, preserving, & canning food.  I really enjoy making the Mint Cordial then adding it to iced tea during the summer.

Vegan Yum Yum.  What an interesting bunch of recipes.  The author uses really unique ingredients (& combinations of ingredients) that are mostly inexpensive, easy to find, & a cinch to use.  You can't go wrong with the Mac & Cheese or Alfredo recipes.

In addition to checking out books from the library, I get lots of recipes & tips online.  I've yet to find a pizza crust recipe that I love more than a whole wheat one on allrecipes.com, & ever since I found it, I've been an avid pizza maker.  (Are you new to bread-making?  Watch the video below that helped me learn to knead.)

I also read a few food-related blogs, my favorite being Going Home to Roost.  This blogger follows a whole foods, plant based diet, & she is also a huge fan of eating seasonally.  (She writes about lots of other crafty & lovely topics as well.)  She takes lots of photos of the meals she makes, & she has inspired me to be creative when it comes to adapting non-vegetarian recipes to my own food preferences.

Bon appetit!