Flexitarian on the path to vegetarian

I moved to California from Boston with the thought that I'd live near a lot of tree-hugging vegetarians. I didn't quite find them, but I did find some great food--a lot of it veggie (more on that another time).

Original photo from flickr here

First few weeks here were a whirlwind. Getting food on the table was clearly still a need, but I wasn't quite excited about the local supermarket chains. And, what on earth is with the cuts of meat here? I went from steak tips to tri-tip, skirt steak to flap meat, chicken cutlets to whole breasts that required trimming and prepping (and notably, cost $6 more a pound).

Jokingly, I said on Facebook "I've come to the conclusion on the yucky names for meat... It's a ploy to increase vegetarianism!" --Well, maybe I was right. Less than two months later I'm throwing in the towel and vow to not purchase anymore meat.  However...

I'm a passionate cook--and that means I have meat already here. Frozen ground beef, steak and other meals I've prepared and frozen. Plus, with a husband and three-year-old I'll be dragging along for this ride, I think we'll benefit from easing into this plan. So, soon I'll be a vegetarian--but for now, I'm a:

flexitarian (ˌflɛksɪˈtɛərɪən)
— n
1. a person who eats a predominantly vegetarian diet, but who eats meat or fish occasionally

My need to cook comes down to nutrition control--so though I could take the easy out and buy garden burgers and tofu hot dogs, instead I'll be working in as many homemade nutritious meals as I possibly can. At this blog, I'll share them with you.