When my partner Max and I started dating, cooking together was extremely frustrating. As a long-distance runner, Max considers protein an important part of his diet. I, on the other hand, need huge servings of vegetables every day to feel good. He was eating meat with almost every meal. I was barely eating it at all. 

When we did find something to cook together, like a veggie stir fry or white bean chili, it was always a bonding experience for us. More often than not, however, one of us would have to compromise, which meant neither of us was entirely happy. Sometimes I ended up eating meat I didn’t want, or too few of the veggies I love, like spinach and broccoli. If we cooked something more in line with my diet he’d often eat a frozen pizza afterward. We started cooking separate meals and then eating together, or making dishes like mac n’ cheese that we could both agree on. But pasta every night? That didn’t work for either of us. Usually his meals would make me feel stuffed and lethargic, and mine would leave him starving.

When we first started living together I didn’t realize  protein was such an important part of his diet because it didn’t factor as heavily into mine. I’ve always been athletic but have never liked running. Max runs an average of twelve miles a day when training for marathons, and fits in 20-mile runs on weekends. To keep up his strength, he eats around 3,000 calories a day and it can get scary when he isn’t taking in enough. After a day of being too busy to eat well he can get woozy. Once, he even passed out in the middle of a class he was teaching. For most of his life, he coped with the high energy demands of his life by eating meat.

Max began to rethink his diet partly in response to me bugging him about how detrimental eating meat is to the environment and his health. But he also learned that meals without meat can be delicious, filling, and—surprising to him—high in protein. Over time, I changed the way I eat and cook, too. Hearing "what protein are we having?" so often made me actually think about it.

My new focus on protein made me consider whether it was the reason my many previous attempts to transition to a vegan diet failed; maybe I just wasn’t getting enough of it. It’s a criticism often leveled at plant-based eaters by meat-eaters, and we can get a little defensive about it. But there’s something to it.

Before cooking with Max, I could eat vegan but wouldn’t be able to work out very often because my body was lacking the nutrients it needed to keep me going. I even had a dream consisting entirely of eating a hamburger.

I know that everyone’s bodies react differently to different foods, so I told people—and myself—that my body needs meat to be physically active. In doing so I was buying into a trope I had heard many times, that athletes need to eat meat. Not only is this untrue but many athletes report feeling and performing better on a plant-based diet. I learned this, and more, once I started studying protein.

Protein is so misunderstood

I learned the difference between a "complete protein" found in animal products versus an "incomplete" plant protein. I also learned these are misleading terms since incomplete proteins can easily be turned into complete proteins by adding another ingredient. (These definitions are actually much more complicated and explained well in this video.)  Rice and beans together, for example, make a complete protein. This is also the case with many other legume and starch combinations. 

I also discovered there are many vegetarian and vegan sources of protein in eggs, soy, legumes, nuts, seeds, and grains. Even peas and broccoli have protein, and peanuts contain almost as much of it as chicken. 

It turns out Max’s emphasis on getting enough protein was somewhat misplaced. Americans, in particular, eat way more protein than we need. We consume, on average, 100 grams of protein a day, way more than the 46 recommended grams for women and the 56 recommended grams for men. Noted food researcher Marion Nestle said in a Washington Post interview, “Most people get twice as much [protein] as they need without thinking about it.” She also famously said, “'Protein is most definitely not a synonym for meat.”

I finally realized that the problem with my previous attempts to go vegan wasn’t just that I was missing protein. It was because I was hyper-focused on the ‘vegan’ part and less focused on the ‘healthy diet’ bit. I relied a lot on foods high in carbs, like pasta and sandwiches, or ate salads without much other than leaves in them. Getting enough protein as a vegan is often simply a matter of eating a variety of foods, which should be part of every healthy diet anyway.

Jolted out of my salad and pasta rut, I started digging up and developing recipes that are far more satisfying, and healthier. Dinner is something we both look forward to now.

It’s not perfect. While I may be full of existential dread about the food system and global warming, we still can’t afford to buy all of our food from a high-quality grocery mart. There are also times it’s hard to find the energy to cook after another long day of work. But I’m now part of a team. All of the following recipes have been vetted by me, and Max. They’re filling, delicious, contain plenty of body-building protein and — most importantly — make both of us happy.

HEALTHY MEATLESS DINNERS

Lentil Soup (or salad for the summer)

This is Max’s recipe and the star of the show whenever we’re camping or traveling because it keeps really well. It’s become a bit of a running joke because Max used to make it so much that he would buy lentils every time he went to the grocery store. In the summer it’s easy to leave the broth out of the recipe and add summer vegetables, like fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, to make it into a salad.

Cook Time: 1 hour

Serves: 6 (Max and Amanda, plus leftovers)

Chickpea Stir Fry

A friend of mine jokes that the only thing I actually like to cook is stir fry, and she’s not wrong. You can stir fry anything! I eat this by itself and Max puts it over rice to make a more filling meal.

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Serves: 3 (Max and Amanda)

Red Sauce with Pasta or Quinoa 

We probably make this more than anything, especially in the summer when the tomatoes are ripe. It’s easily loaded with any vegetables you have around, and I like to put raw spinach into my quinoa before I pour the hot sauce over it. Sometimes we use vegetarian soy crumbles but most of the time it works to just break up some firm tofu in a bowl and add it in.

Cook Time: 40 minutes with canned tomatoes, 1 hour with fresh

Serves: 6 (us and leftovers)

Yellow Curry

I love making curry because the whole apartment smells delicious for hours afterward. This yellow curry can get very yellow, so combine it with some equally bright green vegetables, like broccoli or brussel sprouts, to make for a more colorful dish.

Cook Time: 1 hour

Serves: 6 (lots of leftovers!)

Kimchi Veggie Fried Rice

A new addition to our rotation, kimchi rice has risen swiftly to the top. After starting to make kimchi I quickly grew obsessed with it and have been putting it on everything. A friend suggested using it on fried rice, and the rest is history.

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 3 (or more, if using as a side)

Black Bean and Pumpkin Chili with Cornbread

My mom and Max’s dad are both from Texas, so naturally we both love this dish. It’s really filling, great when the weather is starting to get cold, and loaded with vegetables. Leftover beans can be used to make tacos, and leftover cornbread can be eaten with another soup, with honey for desert, or by itself.

Cook Time: 1 hour, more if using dry beans

Serves: 6 (plus cornbread, if you don’t eat it all)

Amanda Coulson-Drasner is a journalist, and former Stone Pier Press News Fellow, now living in Berlin, Germany.

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