Easy Peasy

Colors blend together to create endless patterns. Smells, some familiar and some not, fill the air. Sounds of dull music, the beeping and clanging of cash registers...this is not just any trip to the grocery store.  You see, I recently made a decision that most may think rash.  The decision to become a vegetarian.  Less research then I would put into buying a new TV when into a decision that effects an entire lifestyle, but hey! It's more fun that way, right?

I make this rather harsh and very rash decision not because I one day woke up and thought that eating animal flesh is now taboo but rather in an attempt to alter my eating lifestyle.  Sure there are many ways to accomplish this, but somehow this seems the easiest.  What better way to limit what calories you eat than to cut out an entire food group? 

The driving factor behind this is actually work related. A few times a year (not nearly as often as a few years ago) I am forced to attend some mindless meeting that more often than not spans an entire week of my life.  The subject matter ranges greatly but there is one constant in this sea of endless days listening to someone I just met speak in monotones for hours upon hours.  Food. 

And food it is! Never all that great but always full of things one should not consume unless they are prepared to hit the gym after a mindless but tiring day.  Things that almost always incorporate meat.  

It's that simple really.  I wanted to limit the amount of calories I was consuming and the best way I could figure? Don't eat meat! This strategy automatically excludes 80% of whatever is being served.  Then I though about it.  Becoming vegetarian almost always has this exclusion factor whether at a restaurant, social get together, or anytime you are forced to eat away from the comforts of your kitchen. Better yet it's the perfect excuse when questioned why you are eating like a "bird" or "rabbit" as my grandmother would say.

There are many other reasons one can decide to take the vegetable based diet leap, but this is what starts my journey down the road of becoming a vegetarian. 

I'm sure this journey will require some patience and I don't have any false pretense that it will be easy or even always fun, however I hope it will re invigorate my passion for flavor and exploration.   What better way to find new and wonderful food combinations than to throw out all the recipes I already know?  Follow along if you dare, today starts a new chapter in my mostly food driven lifestyle.