I realize the food blogging world is pretty saturated, and the participants out there range from Novice to I’ve-quit-my-day-job-because-my-cooking-food-styling-and-photography-skills-pay-my-bills Professional.

Although those professional sites all feature amazingly beautiful food and photography, I am only going to link to a couple sites that I feel more closely identify with my blog:  those offering simple and un-intimidating vegetarian-to-mostly meatless recipes that you won’t have to totally change your pantry to make.  While most food sites now offer vegetarian or meatless options and recipes, I am going to link to those sites that are exclusively vegetarian/vegan.  I hope this helps in your mostly-meatless journey!

This site is maintained by a team of collaborators who are all vegan/vegetarian/whole food loving.  I love that this site offers the choice of vegetarian or vegan recipes, and stresses using whole, real ingredients instead of just substituting meat replacements in a meal.  Their tips and hints are awesome:  how to make any meal meatless, four ways to use ingredients, their nutrition page, to name just a few.  I also love their Make it Meatless posts:  they take a well-known “meat recipe”, and show you how to “meatless-ize” it.  And if that wasn’t enough, they also have weekly meal plans complete with a printable meal plan and shopping list.

This blog’s owner is actually named Erin (her initials are ELLA), and I love this blog because she shows it’s possible to positively change your dietary lifestyle.  She explains how her family ate like typical Americans (fast food, eating out a lot, large meals, meat-laden meals, etc.), until her dad had a heart attack at the age of 45.  The whole family changed how they ate–cutting processed foods and meat in the process.  Her blog showcases seasonal vegetarian meals that are “pantry-inspired”–you don’t need crazy exotic ingredients to “live natural.  be healthy.  eat delicious.” (her slogan).  I love her DIY suggestions, spice blends (Christmas gift basket!), Homemade Inspirations (homemade versions of common over-the-counter processed condiments, etc.), and her great stocking a whole foods pantry suggestions.

This is a husband and wife team who have put together a mostly vegetarian blog.  They love cooking with colorful seasonal ingredients with simple preparation and gourmet plating.  Seriously.  Their photos make you think it’s a menu from a gourmet restaurant, but if you read the recipe, you realize it’s easy peasy.  Their recipe page is amazing:  You will find recipes listed by season, diet (vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, raw, etc.), meal type, and ingredient.  I also like how they take a photo of the ingredients they use in that recipe (remember one of my favorite cookbooks?–If I can see a photo of the ingredients required for that recipe, I feel like it’s pretty doable!).