Not Just Salads

Recently we went out to dinner with some friends.  As so often happens when dining out the conversation centers around food.  Our friends made a statement oh you're vegetarians so you must eat a lot of salads.  Salads?  Actually to the contrary, we eat salads when the garden is producing our lettuce but the rest of the time no not often.  We have found so many recipes that are nourishing and filling that we just don't think about salads.  Recently one of our favorite cookbooks is Ottolenghi. This cookbook based on the recipes of a restaurant of the same name is just an amazing flavorful book.  The recipes are centered around middle eastern cooking specifically Palestinian and Israeli.  The flavors are exotic and unique and Yotam Ottolenghi teaches you techniques and blending of spices you would never think go together.  We have three of his cookbooks and we are always surprising ourselves and out dinner guests with flavors that are just decadent.  Check out his site to get a peak of some of his creations and some recipes.  Ottolenghi.
For inspiration we have looked to other cultures that are more plant based in their diets.  Many Asian inspired cuisines have little or no dairy and most are heart healthy.  So salads are just not on the menu often at our house but when they are you know it will be filled with the fruits of our garden.