Becoming Vegetarian

I found that the most difficult thing about becoming a vegetarian is the lack of "transition" food. All the books and magazines all start with the introduction of new foods and concepts that are foreign to the average person. Tofu, quinoa, bean sprouts, millet and farina, were all new to me. If the words are new to me, the food itself is new to me. What exactly is a quinoa and what do I do with it? I found myself in a world I knew nothing about, I thought being a vegetarian meant that I was going to skip the meat and just eat the starch and the vegetables on my plate.....HA!! I found myself searching for something that I could identify with, and unless my research over the last year has been sorely misguided, it is not out there. There is not a cookbook that has the recipes that I was searching for, but not only that, the recipes that I needed.