I have been eating vegan (to the best of my ability and with the exception of free things that would otherwise go in the garbage, that is) since January as well. Lots yet to learn, and unfortunately I don't have much time to cook these days, but it's not hard to find recipes and there's always something new to try, so it's been kind of exciting in that regard. Sometimes I stare longingly at the offerings in my store, wishing I had just decided to be vegetarian instead, but I know I can either buy these things elsewhere or make them myself without the eggs/milk if I really wanted them that badly.
Combination being too busy for intensive cooking sessions and not wanting all my dinners to consist of red beans and rice (which is great btw and apparently a complete source of protein, but does get old after a few days), I rely pretty heavily on "fake meats" for my protein a lot of the time... but they're delicious and convenient and let me feel like I don't have to give up old favorites, so why not? Beyond sausages and Gardein breakfast bowls give me life. I actually discovered a while
before making the switch that I like a lot of the "substitutes" better than the animal product versions anyway.
As a huge jerky fan, I was pleased to find that vegan jerky can easily be found online. Not so easily in stores, sadly, but it's out there and makes a great protein snack if you're sick of everything being sweet (idk why 99% of protein snacks are sweet, it's annoying) or just nuts (more than a little handful of those tends to make me sick).
And as more people cut back on animal products, I'm finding more and more vegan offerings in my local grocery stores, which makes shopping and cooking--or not cooking--SO much less of a hassle. Most of the time I don't even have to think about finding a new recipe. I can just get the vegan version of whatever food I have in mind and go on as normal.
Seitan, tofu, and tempeh are my best friends now. I can't believe how tasty and versatile they are tbh; you can put this stuff in anything and the recipes you can find are boundless.
I was never a huge fan of beans, but I'm coming around on them lately. Same with greens. It's funny how your whole diet can be plants and you can still struggle to get enough veggies, but that's about where I fall. But if I throw on some steak seasoning, brussels and broccoli suddenly become delicious. Who knew? I also discovered cooked spinach, kale, or turnip greens can be pretty good, whereas before this year you couldn't pay me to eat cooked greens. I'd eat them raw as a salad, but never cooked. Now I like them both ways, and cooked greens are pretty versatile. You can sneak them into anything, too.
As for recipes, I highly recommend
It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken. Lots of easy-to-make recipes, very beginner-friendly and informative, and they offer a variety of email series with different themes. It's helped me out a lot; even if I'm not following the recipes exactly, seeing them gives me a better idea of what things I can use for what purpose, and just in general it opens me up to a lot of possibilities I might not have otherwise considered.
tl;dr: I'm so far from being limited to beans and salad that I have to actually remind myself to eat more beans and salad.
I'd complain about needing to take a supplement to make sure I'm not missing anything vital, but I had to do that anyway for health problems, so *shrug*.
