The Weekday Vegetarians: 100 Recipes and a Real-Life Plan for Eating Less Meat

“With a little planning... it’s possible to cut back on meat and not eat cornflakes every night,” writes Dinner: A Love Story blogger Rosenstrach (How to Celebrate Everything) in this inviting guide to going meatless five nights a week. Most of her riffable recipes come in “the format of a pizza, bowl, taco, pasta, salad, sandwich, or soup—all vehicles for dishes I know my family will like,” and each is prefaced with a mix-and-match meal chart organized around various veggies. Canned beans, store-bought pizza dough, and packaged corn tortillas and cooked beets are staples she employs to keep cooking times in check. Of her “Seven Rules to Remember When Going Vegetarian,” the most strategic is the use of “hooks” to enhance what’s on the plate; this can be warm yogurt flatbread to accompany curried red lentils or Rosenstrach’s oregano and olive oil pizza dressing for topping salads and savory pies. Recipes are often accompanied by tips and tricks, such as adding a quick side of marinated beans to her Greenest Pasta “if you are missing a protein hit,” or stirring porcini powder into fried rice for some “meatiness.” This mightily proves that vegetarian cooking is not only approachable, but fun. (Aug.)