As a reminder to you and others who will read this:
You won't be able to just eliminate cheese. Right now, cheese is probably your biggest source of protein. If you decide to give that up, you will have to make sure that you are getting enough protein in the form of whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, legumes, and tofu.
I used to loooooove cheese. Not so much the bland ""American" type cheese, mozzarella or a cheesy sauce, but a nice slice of flavorful Swiss or a bold gorgonzola sprinkled in a salad. Like you, I gave up milk long before going vegan, and for me, yogurt was never a favorite. Still, it was hard for me to consider giving up cheese. I haven't found any sort of cheese substitute that I like all that much. I just go without. The only "fake" dairy product that I regularly use is vegan sour cream. The texture and taste are pretty good. If you can't give up cheese completely or find a substitute you like, the compromise may to opt for bolder flavored cheese and use less of it.
Does anyone else out there have any suggestions for a good cheese substitute?
As far as the leafy greens thing ... Since I eat a lot of beans, I make a lot of soups from scratch. When the soup is cooked, at the very end while it's still piping hot, I will stir in bite sized pieces of dark green leafies. The heat from the soup will wilt them down and soften them. This works great with fresh spinach. For some of the bolder flavored greens such as kale and swiss chard, you may want to steam them separately, rinse them, then add them (this will steam off some of the raw greens smell so that it doesn't end up altering the taste of your soup. I don't know the science of why that works, but it does.) It's a great way to eat your greens without having to eat a salad.
FYI, I don't use salad dressing, either. A lot of dressings use
lecithin which is derived from animal flesh or eggs. For dressing, I like balsamic vinegar or the juice of a fruit. Last night I had a steamed kale salad topped with sliced nectarine and walnuts. I used a knife to cut away the outer flesh of the fruit leaving some pulp around the seed. Then, I squeezed the pulpy seed to pull the juice out - directly over my salad. Try it with orange, or any other citrus, or soft fleshed fruit - mango works well also.
Another thing I do is to make whole grain wraps. I load them up with my protein and then add a generous amount of arugula or fresh spinach, it's like eating a small side salad without having to eat a salad by itself.
I also like Kale chips. Here is a video on how to make them:
My tips: Experiment with the amount of olive oil you like, and with baking times (ovens vary).
Also, after washing and drying my kale, I put it in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag, pour the oil into the bag, press much of the air out, seal it, shake and
lightly knead the bag to get good coverage of the oil. Then, just dump the bag onto the baking tray, and spread the kale around with a wooden spoon. This way, your hands don't get all oily and sticky.