Cooking healthy meat-lite dishes with a twist:

One of our favorite go to weeknight dinners is a kind of hash. Our standard is sweet potato, kale, bell pepper, garlic, onion, mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes and sausage (Italian, but almost anything works). A lot of different veggies could work in this, but that's just the kind of stuff we tend to have on hand. In the summer, I do lots of giant salads with hard boiled egg and/or a meat. I leave the protein on the side so people can add what they want (I like more meat than my partner does), and we dress our salads individually - I like plain oil & vinegar or a creamy salad dressing, and he & the kids like fruity vinaigrettes. With the salad, it's easy to change it up: add leftover pulled pork and some beans, toss with salsa, and it's taco salad. Tuna fish or sardines, hard boiled eggs and capers, and it's a different flavor profile. You can are a traditional chopped salad, but eliminate some of the meat and leave the cheese on the side for your husband. Split pea soup is another tasty food where meat can be a flavoring agent, but doesn't need to be the star.

I think the cooking profile of Vietnamese, Southern Chinese, and other Southeast Asian areas would fit you. A lot of them have strongly flavored meat as an accent, combined with tons of fresh veggies, rice or rice noodles, and some very interesting sauces. Some of them have sugar in the recipes. http://www.hungryhuy.com/bun-thit-nuong-recipe-vietnamese-grilled-bbq-pork-with-rice-vermicelli-vegetables/ http://www.hungryhuy.com/bun-nem-nuong-recipe-vietnamese-grilled-pork-meatballs/ http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-vegetarian-pho-107312 http://www.salon.com/2010/06/19/ginger_scallion_sauce_recipe/ http://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/vietnamese-pickled-carrots-daikon/

You should get the http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1250023661/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/! That is exactly their philosophy. All the recipes I've tried have been good, but I especially liked the citrus braised red cabbage (you can easily omit the goat cheese). The snow pea/corn salad and the soba with kimchee veggies are additional favorites from the restaurant but I haven't made those at home yet.

Well, http://www.theppk.com is always a good start. http://sewfrenchembroidery.blogspot.ca/p/baking-cooking.html is a blog that I found off of tastespotting way back when, it's pretty good on veggie-star dishes with some meat dishes in as well. Actually I found it based on her quinoa/broccoli/cheddar fritters, which probably don't fit the healthy part of the bill but are quite good. All of her fritter recipes are pretty good.

Soup is a good way to make a little meat go a long way. I don't have specific recipes because I don't use them, but a vegetable soup will only need a little meat to make it feel like a full meal (with maybe some bread or rice on the side), and a bean soup might not need any meat at all (though it will definitely enhance it). A split pea and potato soup with a little pork or chicken is a meal in and of itself. If your husband likes dairy, he can have some buttered bread or some slices of cheese on the side, without you having to touch the stuff. And the nice thing about soups is that they tend to improve with time, so you can make a big pot on your day off, and dip out a bowl for a quick lunch or dinner throughout the week.

I like treating cubed roasted sweet potatoes or butternut squash like a pasta/rice and putting sautéed veggies (greens, mushrooms, etc) over it, sometimes with a small amount of chicken sausage or other meat, sometimes with a small amount of rice or barley or orzo as part of the "sauce".

Vietnamese chicken salad! This is how I do it, super fast and easy: 2 cups shredded cooked chicken (I have used roasted deli chicken and it's good) 1/2 head of savoy cabbage, shredded 1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped 1/2 cup basil, roughly chopped (Thai basil is ideal but I can't get it very easily) 1/2 cup water 2 tbsp fish sauce 3 tbsp lime juice roasted unsalted cashews for garnish (I used unsalted because the fish sauce is already salty) ---- 1. Mix chicken, cabbage, cilantro and basil in a big bowl. 2. Mix water, fish sauce and lime juice. 3. Pour sauce on top of chicken and veg mix. Toss thoroughly. 4. Serve with cashews sprinkled on top. My recipe is probably not that authentic, as it is cobbled together from a few recipes and based on a delicious one I had in a restaurant. That one had grated carrots in too--I don't bother, but if you wanted more colour it would be good.

You might find the framing of http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0738214019/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/ to be useful as you shift cooking styles. It's got some recipes that I can see you'd be interested in as well as some that you'd have to rule right out. But the techniques and the flavor profiles are probably helpful to learn. It's part of the Meatless Mondays campaign. In terms of actual vegan cooking, I love http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/156924264X/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/ (post punk kitchen is also awesome! very much so!) as well as Isa's other cookbooks. A good variety of cuisines represented and guaranteed no cheese.

This blog isn't specifically geared toward 'meat on the side' cooking but she posts some wonderful vegetable heavy recipes: http://noteatingoutinny.com/ I made the tomato bisque with coconut milk this weekend and it was seriously amazing, especially for the amount of time I had to put in (negligible). I wonder if a http://theclothesmakethegirl.com/2014/12/26/paleo-gado-gado-recipe/ would suit him if he prefers sweeter veggie dishes. You didn't mention eggplants but what about a http://momofukufor2.com/2010/06/nasu-dengaku-miso-glazed-eggplant-recipe/? A bit of sweetness and the eggplant flesh tastes almost meaty with the miso and roasting. One of my go-to's is a bunch of roasted veggies and then some marinara sauce for dipping. Your husband can top with cheese if he wants and you can avoid it.