What can I eat if I go veggie??!!

A lot of people ask me what I eat when they learn that I'm a vegan. I guess it's hard for someone who centers every meal on meat to think outside the box. Their experience of vegetables are only as a side dish or as penitence in the form of THE SALAD for a dietary transgression. But I have such a wide open range of options as a veg only eater, that it always strikes me as a funny question....especially since I happen to be lucky enough to live in Northern California where there are lots of local organic farms, and produce is just gorgeous and abundant. I get them farm fresh at the farmers market, where they are often picked the same morning or day before. What a huge difference fresh picked makes!

So I recently put together this list of recipe-inspirations-sources for a friend who just went veg and realized she can't keep eating bread for dinner. I hope it helps inspire and fire up your inner Iron Chef.
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Martha Rose Shulman of the New York Times has a pretty good cooking column. I usually need to make some simple adjustments to make the recipes vegan, as she loves cheese, milk, and eggs. A couple of things I change in her recipes, I don't cook w/canola oil, I don't buy canned beans (so easy & better to make yourself), and I always buy seasonal, organic & local (when possible, obviously they don't grow wheat or bananas in California so nothing I can do about that).

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/series/recipes_for_health/index.html?ref=nutrition


some books that i use for inspiration:

The Art of Taste (the author is the chef at the White Lotus Yoga Center, where James & I did a retreat)
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Taste-Gourmet-Vegetarian-Cooking/dp/0964330202/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270256672&sr=1-1

Voluptuous Vegan: more sophisticated (read: complex) recipes but awesome results; dinner party fare
http://www.amazon.com/Voluptuous-Vegan-Sinfully-Delicious-Dairy-Free/dp/0609804898/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270256344&sr=8-1

Chopra Center Cookbook--mostly not indian food
http://www.amazon.com/Chopra-Center-Cookbook-Nutritional-Nourishing/dp/0471454044/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270256416&sr=1-1

The Peaceful Palate
http://www.amazon.com/Peaceful-Palate-Fine-Vegetarian-Cuisine/dp/1570670315/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270256813&sr=1-1

Raw Food/Real World
http://www.amazon.com/Raw-Food-Real-World-Recipes/dp/0060793554/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270257333&sr=1-2

The Vegan Table
http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Table-Unforgettable-Entertaining-Occasion/dp/1592333745/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270256777&sr=1-1

The Esalen Cookbook
http://www.amazon.com/Esalen-Cookbook-Charlie-Cascio/dp/1586858521/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270256293&sr=8-1

The Millenium Cookbook (highly recommend going to this restaurant in SF)
http://www.amazon.com/Millennium-Cookbook-Extraordinary-Vegetarian-Cuisine/dp/0898158990/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270257223&sr=8-1

i also get ideas from the Mad Cowboy newsletter/Yahoo Group (send email to Mad_Cowboy-owner@yahoogroups.com), Vegetarian Times, Yoga Journal has a recipe section, Eating Well, and just from browsing the stalls at the farmers market and seeing the wonderful, organic, beautiful seasonal and local produce...restaurants are also a source of ideas.