Vegetarians and vegans have touted their lifestyles as Earth-friendly for a very long time. Plenty of research supports that a plant-based diet benefits not only a person's health, but also the environment.

One recent study found that if everyone adopted a vegetarian diet, global greenhouse gas emissions related to food production would be cut by 63 percent by the year 2050. If everyone became vegan, those emissions would be cut by 70 percent.

Now, maybe an all-veg diet all the time isn't for you. But if you're looking for a way to cut down on your carbon footprint this Earth Day, you might want to cook up a vegetarian and vegan meals more often.

Get Breaking News Delivered to Your Inbox

Here are five enticing veg recipes from Chowhound to get you started:

Vegetarian Breakfast Burritos

This vegetarian breakfast travels well so you can spend more time planning your car-pooling strategy. Look at you saving the Earth times two.

Quick Vegetarian Pho

Pho is stuffed with so many complex flavors that you won't even miss the meat.

Chowhound's vegetarian pho Via Chowhound

Pressure Cooker Vegan Black Bean Chili

This recipe uses dried black beans instead of canned, and won't take forever on the stove, making it an eco-friendly recipe all around.

Spaghetti and Meatless Balls

These faux meatballs are so "dense and flavorful and so perfect that if they had been invented before actual meatballs, you'd think that actual meatballs were trying to impersonate them," writes the recipe's creator, Molly Yeh.

Chowhound's spaghetti and meatless balls Via Chowhound

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting

These cupcakes are so good that several New York City vegan restaurants have them on their menus.