* Peel and cut into small pieces: 4 large carrots, 5 stalks celery, 1 green pepper
* Chop 2 large onions
* Chop/crush 4 cloves garlic
* Sautee onions in olive oil at the bottom of a large stewpot until they start to shrivel and become reddish-brown
* Add the garlic, continuing to sautee
* Add the following spices: 3 tsp chili powder, 3 tsp ground coriander, 2 tsp ground cumin, 2 tsp paprika
* Stir until onions are coated with spices
* Add 1 pack Morningstar brand Griller Recipe Crumbles (available in the frozen foods section)
* Sautee the crumbles until they are defrosted and coated in the onions and spices (add more oil to the sauteeing if necessary)
* Add carrots, sautee several minutes
* Add celery and peppers
* Sautee until veggies are coated in spice/oil/onion mixture
* Add 1 bottle beer (alcohol will boil off – the beer adds flavor)
* Add water (roughly 1 cup, with optional tbspn of vegetable broth powder) until the ingredients are just sitting in the liquid (not completely submerged)
* Add tamari or soy sauce (or salt) until the broth has the salt taste level of a soup
* Bring the liquid to a boil, lower the heat, and then simmer with the pot covered for about 30 minutes (until the veggies, in particular the carrots, are soft) – add more water (with optional broth powder) as necessary to keep the liquid from boiling out (ingredients should always be just sitting in liquid, but never submerged)
* Drain and rinse 2 cans red kidney beans and 2 cans pinto beans
* Add beans to chili, stir into mixture
* Continue to heat until beans are warm
* Tamari/soy sauce or salt to taste

It may look a little complicated, but it’s really not, especially if you have all the ingredients ready ahead of time. You pretty much just sautee it all in the bottom of a stewpot, then add the liquids and let it simmer for a while, then add the beans in right before the end. It’s one of the best chilis I’ve ever had, and goes great over small pasta like ditalini or rotini, or over rice if that’s how you like your chili. You can also change the type and amount of chili powder if you want it to be spicier – this version is pretty mild. I hope you enjoy it, and good luck with your healthier eating! (Hoo ha! Nerdfighters!)

what kind of freak chickens you got that are only 80% chicken… ;)

One idea for finding interesting side dishes is to just look in the cooking magazines when you’re at the store for ideas. Most of them have an index where you can just look at the list of sides for ideas. If you really want to be a cheater, for some of them you can look up the ones you like on Epicurious without getting the magazine. :P

Also, if you do want to invest in a cooking magazine, Fine Cooking is one of my favorites. They are really focused on teaching how to cook, rather than just giving recipes and have lots of article on technique, what’s in season, and do things like give basic instructions for making a generic dish and then give lots of ideas for variations.

If you are ever camping pick up a pie iron..( http://www.pieiron.com/what.htm for those who don’t know what that is.

Toasted peanut butter and banana or grilled cheese done this way are pretty epic

i travel for work, sporadically in the sense that it’s 3 or less times a year, but it’s for a ~month or two~ when i do. eating what you can make from the storage available to a hotel fridge and hot plate drastically changes one’s creativity. even a devoted flesh eater can only eat drive through KFC or microwave hot dogs so often.

this, combined with a wife that, as per you and Phil, “likes meat, but maybe not all day every day and could cut back some” – makes meat/non-meat recipes a fancy of ours.

so, my advice, try and find some recipes that you like, that are good, with or without the meat added. like the pioneerwoman pasta. that would be great with some sliced sausage thrown in too. so it’s a great recipe you can use whether you’re in a meaty mood or not.

your sushi/rice/stir-fry night is a great one too, whether or not you add the store-pack of sweet ebi or not. these could be good for nights when say you’re not feeling like the possible onset of post-outback steakhouse syndrome, but Phil is. for me and the misses, it’s about not having to prepare two distinct meals.

other recipes we like to make:
*pasta salad. cook rotini. cool it. mix with halved cherry/grape tomatoes, diced celery and cucumbers. douse it in italian dressing. add diced grilled chicken breast or not.
*fruity/nutty spinach salad. buy a pack of fresh spinach. add cashews and raspberries to your heart’s content. douse it in a sweet vinagrette. add diced grilled chicken breast or not.
*kabobs. as someone else mentioned. grilled kabobs are perfect for us to have a meaty meal [me] and a non-meaty meal [the better half] in the same prep time/set-up.

for those counting: yes, my first post on TJ’s site contains, “meat”, “sausage”, and “breast”.

Also, I cannot recommend the Veganomicon cookbook enough. It does have some fake meat stuff in it – but it’s got a huge amount of other things as well. I have yet to run into a failed recipe for C and I.

Especially try the potato and spinach enchiladas. omg so good.

Another good thing to do is make your own pasta sauce. We make about a batch a week and use it for pasta – and recently pizza, but it might need to be thicker for that.

1 can fire-roasted tomatoes
1 tiny can tomato sauce
balsamic vinegar, basil, oregano, bay leaves, thyme, crushed red pepper (we like the spicy), cinnamon (just a tiny tiny bit), sugar if you like a sweet sauce
Let simmer until you can’t stand it anymore
Serve over whole grain pasta of whichever shape you prefer

Here are some easy meals that both my boyfriend and I like:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Texas-Black-Bean-Soup/Detail.aspx (it’s awesome, because you throw everything in a slow cooker/on the stove and let it sit and then it’s done–I do it before work, and it’s like magic!)
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Ziti-II/Detail.aspx (this almost made my boyfriend’s mom like me)

And a non-vegetarian dish:
Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken:
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 package of taco seasoning
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup salsa

Put the chicken breasts in a slow cooker (even if they’re frozen). Sprinkle the taco seasoning on top. Dump the soup and salsa on top. Cook on high for 4 (ish) hours or low all day.
This is another magic dish–it takes me 5 minutes in the morning before work, and then there’s food when I get home!