Yesterday I made a huge batch of my locally-famous lasagna. It wasn't vegetarian this time, but I often make it that way, with no discernable lack of enthusiastic gluttony. I'll try to work up an official recipe if you're interested.

What would help the most would be if you'd tell us what your bad slump standard dishes are, so we can work around them.

Fair enough. The basic rotation goes like this:

1. A tofu-quinoa meal. Tofu seasoned with lemon, miso, and scallions. Quinoa, after cooking stirfried with onion garlic, whatever fresh herbs are around.

2. Some sort of Indian, like samosas, or a curry.

3. Enchiladas, with soy meat. Usually some sort of mexicany thing each week like tacos, tostadas, etc.

4. A Thai or Japanese wok-fry.

5. Veggie burgers on buns w/ home-baked fries.

6. Some sort of pasta, typically tossed with greeky stuff like olives, feta, capers, bell peppers, etc.

7. Soup in season, although it's getting too warm

8. Baked potatoes with cheese sauce topping, usually w/broccoli in the sauce, with salad.

I am a pretty good cook, thus the bar is high and wife and daughter are brutal at times in their evaluations of my meals. I don't mind this. . .It's my primary job around the house and I like to do well at it.

Kick those potato-based fries to the curb, and try sweet potato or yucca fries. Better yet, keep the potatoes, but fry them twice, Belgian-style, and add an assortment of flavored mayonnaises. Aioli's the old favorite, but try wasabi or chipotle mayo for a spicy kick!

And have you ever made a mole sauce? Splurge on the chocolate and the peppers, and it'll turn your weekly mexicany thing from a siesta into a fiesta!

Oh My God.

I made these calzones yesterday. They were amazing and as I was taking them out of the oven my 17 year old son and two of his friends miraculously appeared in my kitchen and they were freaking out over them. One of them went home for dinner and then came back just to eat more calzone.

I made them just liked the recipe, but of course you could sub whatever you wanted for the sausage. I made a couple with tomatoes instead of the sausage, so they were cheese, tomato and broc, and they were really popular as well. I also made a couple that were just cheese and tomato sauce, and my husband ended up liking those best. They're really pretty, easy to stuff in a bookbag or tote, and easy to freeze, although unfortunately for me I didn't have any leftovers...

The recipe is a nice starting point for experimentation too - making them Greek or Mexican or whatever instead of Italian.

Yes, please - your lasagne recipe! I would love it. The veggie version specifically. I love the diversity of your menu specialties.

Take a cake of extra-firm tofu and slice it into 1/2 inch slices.
Wrap the slices up in paper towel and press with a weight (think cast-iron frying pan.

In tree wide bowls or other shallow dishes place:
Bowl 1: 1/4 flour
Bowl 2: 2 beaten eggs
Bowl 3: 1/2 C corn meal, 1/3 t salt, 1/2 t ground pepper, 1/2 t thyme, 1/4 t cayenne, 1/2 t garlic powder

Heat a pan with some oil/butter
Dredge the tofu in blowl 1, shake of excess
Dredge in bowl 2
Dredge in bowl 3
Fry. Serve with salsa.

Beets are in season now, and I'm starting to develop a constant craving for roasted beets. I found a nice suggestion the other night to cook both the beets and the greens:

Cut off the greens and set aside, wash the beets, roast them at 350F for about an hour. A few minutes before they're done, sautee garlic in some olive oil, chop up the greens, sautee them with the garlic for a few minutes till they're wilted. Take out the beets and slice them. I served it with the beets arranged around the edges of salad plates and the greens piled up in the middle. Salt and pepper over the entire thing; the recipe I saw also suggested red-wine vinegar, which I didn't use, but I'll probably try champagne vinegar next time. (The beets were so sweet and the greens so bitter -- both in good ways -- that I think something to help balance both those flavors a bit would have helped.) This is obviously more side-dishy than main course, though.

This recipe for a salad of roasted beets, watercress, and blue cheese is also to-die-for, and a bit heartier. I think, with bread, large portions of this could serve as a main course.

Actually, that whole site probably has some good inspiration -- Farm Fresh to You is the CSA I use, and they include recipes with each produce delivery. They're usually nice and simple, and every one I've tried has always turned out well.

Some vegetarian dishes in my rotation:
-Red pear and Gorgonzola risotto
-Cherry tomato and mascarpone "mac and cheese"
-Soba noodles with tofu, stir fried veg and pear

In winter I make a lot of spicy tomato soup. How about fried rice?

One of my favorites during my semi-veg years was a hummus hoagie. Get a really good roll, spoon in as much hummus as you can and add sliced peppers, cukes, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. Tangy good!

And though I hate mushrooms, I do love a good grilled portobello sandwich.

jrossi, that is a good idea. I do falafels now and again.

And, since we have a buttload of kale in the garden, I am going to try this albeit with individual spices, rather than pre-mixed curry powder, me being a snob and all.

We really need to breathe life into the MeCha recipe blog, guys!

A couple of weeks ago I made pierogies - they went over really well. The fun is deciding what stuffing to use; we ended up with mashed potato, vidalia, spinach and provolone, if I recall correctly. They're good with fresh chunky applesauce or fresh cranberry sauce, and some corn on the cob.

Best and most orgasmic kale recipe:
Molested Kale Salad

one large bunch of kale, deribbed and torn up
one thick slice of onion, chopped up
one avo, chopped up
one ripe tomato, chopped up
the juice of one fresh lemon
sea salt - lots
cracked black pepper - lots

Just put it all together in a big bowl. Start picking up the kale and bruising it and smashing it, together with the rest of the ingredients. You're trying to soften the kale, and while you do that, the rest of the ingredients are melding together and making a fantastic salad dressing. Keep kneading and massaging everything for about five minutes. The kale will be nice and soft, and your hands will be a mess. Lick all of the extra bits off of your fingers, and enjoy the salad.

I agree, Specklet.

Okay - I'm working up a recipe description, but I'm being pulled into some urgent work tasks first, so I'll be back in a few hours.

Take your time! I wouldn't be able to make it until this weekend anyway, so don't rush it.

*taps foot impatiently*

No really...no rush ;)

dan - as we head into the hot days of summer, a regular meal is a big big crunchy salad that I top with fried tempeh. Yummo.

Also, I recently made a vegetarian seitan tetrazzini which was out of this world (link goes to vegan version, but I made it vegetarian with real cheese, and I used zucchini instead of mushrooms). Not a quick meal, but excellent.

Also good, and so easy if you are pressed for time, is to mix together some seitan and a good BBQ sauce and bake it at 350 or so for 30-45 minutes. Good with a salad!

If you grill, the Tofurkey brats are really good.

Homemade pizza?

It's super easy to make stromboli if you buy a tube of pizza dough. Just roll it out, fill it with yummy sliced stuff (like cheese, olives, artichoke, veggie pepperoni), and bake at 325 for about 20 minutes, give or take. Serve with a little marinara.

This is surprisingly good, and a one-dish meal as a bonus. Lots of leftovers. It's become a regular in our kitchen.

Along the same lines, the Morninstar Farms steak strips make great quesadilla filling.

Also.

I'm the dad-wife in our house too.
I'm SO going to try those calzones.

danf, do you eat any seafood?
lots of pasta options there.

and i guess you know about epicurious? I've found lots of stuff there.

Okay - I wound up writing a novella, even though the basic recipe is fairly simple. So I posted it to my blog, instead: It's Raining Lasagna (Vegetarian Edition)

Based on my above comment, do you think there's a future for me in puffy magazine journalism?

Oh wow. That sounds truly amazing. I never thought of adding artichokes to a veggie lasagne. I'm stoked, and am making this this weekend for sure. Thanks, flo!

You Should Always Have More Than One Bullet Point in a List

Hah. I love you.

chococat, you'll love the calzones. They have great curb appeal too - people just kind of collapse into heaps of OMGs when they see them.

I made the tetrazini. With soy sausage, and sauteed onions and garlic added. Fresh mozzerella.

It was very good . .thank you.

I'm back on my game. .*smile*

YAY!

And, since we have a buttload of kale in the garden, I am going to try this albeit with individual spices, rather than pre-mixed curry powder, me being a snob and all.

I made this last night! I substituted chard and beet greens for the kale, used chana dal instead of brown lentils, and mixed up a batch of raita, but otherwise follwed the recipe pretty closely. Yummy!