I'm a reluctant vegetarian myself. Having grown up in New Orleans, the food was good! And nearly all of it contained some dead animal or other. I like the little critters too much to eat them now, so it's been, as they say, a learning experience working w/ just veggies. I looked at the book, but it's an ebook. You really need a real book that you can thumb through as you're cooking and not have to clean your hands and go to the computer. The recipes sound a little overdone on some dishes, others look fine. I recommend just going more "ethnic", whatever that may mean, to get flavorful meals. You know, more foods from Black, Asian, Indian, etc cultures.
About the only tips I can give you is to grill things if you can, as it will bring out the flavors. Use lots of butter if you're not a vegan, or go w/ the Smart Balance Non GMO non dairy butter, which tastes amazingly like real butter and won't kill you. The Texmati Organic Basmati brown rice is fantastic. A little expensive, but it has a light flavor very unlike the usual nutty, somewhat overpowering, taste of regular brown rice. Cheese will give flavor too, as will olives, especially the big ones in a jar w/ garlic in them. Take some mushrooms, onions, garlic and the fake butter, brown in a skillet, and make a sandwich from that w/ melted cheese on some good toasted whole grain bread w/ a little Just Mayo, a non egg mayo that tastes like the real thing. Serve w/ a good sized salad and maybe a side dish of sweet potato or corn.
Veggie cooking has to be done w/ a lot of preparation in order to give the food sufficient depth of taste, since you're not putting a dead animal in there. Or, go light, and cook things that are super fresh and have a great taste themselves. Again, a good, fresh salad w/ some real tomatoes from a local farmer's market will be good. Fresh asparagus w/ a little melted fake butter and salt. That sort of thing. Also, Thai curries are flavorful if you use plenty of coconut oil in your sauce. You can buy the sauces in a packet in the grocery and put your own peppers, mushrooms, potatoes, garlic, carrots, etc in there as it cooks, and serve over rice.
You CAN make a decent beans and rice dish w/o flesh if you cook it right and let it sit in the fridge for a day or two. It's difficult to do because you'll want to eat it, but you will like it a lot better if you do that. I generally use this recipe below and just omit the meat. It tastes different every time, as you make adjustments to get it where you want it. Make sure to serve it on some freshly made rice, add some good buttered french bread (sour dough is not traditional, but it works) on the side, and your salad. Keep some salt, pepper, and Louisiana Hot Sauce or Crystal on the table so people can spice it up to their tastes, and serve w/ a good wine or some cold beer. Here's the recipe that I generally start with.
Red beans and rice
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