Becoming Sometimes Vegetarians?

I’ve been thinking about vegetarianism for quite some time. A couple years. I’ve thought maybe by the time I get old and die, I’ll manage to become a vegetarian. I’ve done a lot of research. I know that it’s healthy to be one (provided, obviously, that you don’t only eat junk food), that people don’t need to eat meat for protein and such. I know it’s better for the environment.  I know that the animals and people who are involved with factory farming and slaughterhouses get severely mistreated. At the same time, I don’t believe that eating meat and animal products is wrong. Although not necessary, animal and dairy products can be healthy parts of a healthy diet. My main reason for objecting is the way the animals are treated. I have a half-baked theory that if we all started eating LESS meat (or none, for those that want to), there would be less need to have these horrible living and dying conditions for the animals, and everything could be done more humanely for all concerned. And the meat and products would be healthier too. People do NOT need to eat as much meat as they do. Even as a moderate meat consumer, I’ve seen on these food shows, people eat grossly excessive amounts. Yuk. Not healthy for anyone. Right now, healthy meat and dairy products are expensive and harder to come by. How can I possibly help them become more the norm? Well, maybe by cutting down my animal consumption, at least a little. I suggested this to my Roomie and he agreed. We both love veggies, so that part is not a problem, but find vegetarian dishes unfilling. He suggested we try 2-3 days a week with vegetarian meals, and I accepted. I’m not positive we can do that many, but we’ll see. Our first vegetarian meal after this suggestion was this past Saturday night at a yummy Afghanistan restaurant. It was great, but we were both hungry by the time we got home. Obviously, we need to put more thought into the content of these meals. Roomie announced our plan on his twitter and facebook today, so now we HAVE to try it. So, I’m asking for input from my readers: please suggest some of your favorite vegetarian meals! ! Here are the criteria…They need to be:

FAST – By the time I come home from work and gym each day, it’s late, and we’re both hungry. We need recipes that can be cooked super fast, preferably in under a half hour.

SIMPLE – Recipes with a billion obscure ingredients will surely taste good, but there’s no use in us having to scour the city for random things we have to buy for one recipe, that gets annoying and expensive.

FILLING – As I mentioned above, we’re both kind of big eaters with big appetites. Especially Roomie, as he has to spend ample time in the gym each day to keep up all those muscles! Meals need to have plenty of protein and not leave us hungry right after, no matter how delicious tasting.

NO NUTS OR SUGAR – The recipes can’t have nuts or sugar, or else these items can be substituted or left out. This is due to nut allergies on both our parts, and having given up refined sugar.

I’ll be posting up all the successful recipes we try. I know I’m behind on the recipes from the CSA veggies, and indeed a lot of blog posts… I meant to get caught up this past Sunday but instead spent the day nursing a cold, blowing my nose and watching lots of food shows, Malcolm in the Middle, playing trivial pursuit and reading. I’m really looking forward to seeing your suggestions!!