No Meat Necessary!

These dinners are so hearty and satisfying, you won't miss the beef, pork or chicken.

By Mollie Katzen

One of the best-kept healthy-eating secrets: Go meat-free just a few days a week and you'll cut your risk of heart disease and trim your waistline -- guaranteed. Women who are semivegetarians (meaning they eat meat only occasionally) are 48 percent less likely to become obese than those who make meat a daily staple, finds a study from the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. Lean beef, pork and poultry are excellent sources of protein and other nutrients, but many of us could benefit from cutting back: The average American eats 41/2 pounds of meat a week -- twice the healthy amount recommended by the American Heart Association.

Don't worry that a meal without meat will seem incomplete. Shape asked Mollie Katzen, healthy-eating expert and author of the bible of gourmet vegetarian cooking, The Moosewood Cookbook (Ten Speed Press, 2000), to develop some easy recipes exclusively for you. The result: three dishes so substantial and delicious that you'll have no trouble feeling satiated.