January wasn’t about eating less for me. It was more about noticing what I was reaching for, and why. I stopped cooking meat almost without thinking about it, partly out of habit, partly because it felt like a good moment to pause. What I didn’t expect was how much I’d enjoy the shift, or how quickly my appetite adjusted.
January passed almost quietly in the kitchen but not without a few additions to my Flexitarian Recipes.
Not because there was less cooking, if anything, there was more, but because I made a small decision at the start of the month and simply got on with it. No meat. Not as a declaration or a rule, just a habit I wanted to test. A gentle reset after December, and an excuse to pause before reaching automatically for chicken or beef, as I so often do.
It wasn’t entirely effortless I will admit. There were evenings when cooking would have been quicker, easier, more familiar if I’d stuck to what I know best. But stopping to ask what else? Well, that turned out to be the point. And what surprised me most was how little I missed meat.
Eating this way nudged me gently towards different proteins, fish, eggs, pulses, grains and asked a little more thought in return. Eggs stopped being an add-on and became sauces. Beans took on weight and importance. Cabbage, cooked properly, became dinner rather than something to sit beside it.
Dishes like sprout & harissa potato hash with sunny-side eggs started appearing more often, food that feels grounding, spicy enough to wake everything up and exceedingly comforting without tipping into excess. And cabbage, given proper heat and attention, proved again why it earns its keep, especially in things like okonomiyaki pancakes with gochujang, crisp at the edges and deeply savoury in the middle and my recipe for Charred Cabbage & Warm Mustard Lentils with Jammy Eggs & Crispy Crumbs. Perfect for when the fridge is running on empty.
I didn’t regret eating this way for a moment. If anything, it reminded me how much I enjoy a largely vegetarian rhythm, not as an identity, just as a way of cooking that encourages a bit more curiosity to explore flexitarian recipes.
Fish found its way onto the table more intentionally too. When it appeared, it felt considered rather than habitual, something chosen rather than defaulted to. A dish like Greek salmon with orzo fits this way of eating perfectly: generous, balanced, full of flavour without being showy. The sort of meal that satisfies properly and leaves you feeling fed rather than weighed down.
I also cooked skate wing for the first time, finished simply with burnt butter, chives and capers, absolutely divine. One of those dishes that feels quietly luxurious, all soft texture and richness, the sauce doing just enough to underline what’s already there. It reminded me how rewarding it can be to cook fish that asks for a little confidence in return.
Soups came back into rotation as well, but not thin, corrective ones. Proper bowls, meant to be eaten slowly. Cauliflower was everywhere this month, so I cooked it twice, once with white beans and a homemade kale pesto, and once with white beans and yuzu.
Wildly different in character, but both unctuous, filling and genuinely delicious. One deep and herbaceous, the other brighter and more lifted, each proof that a bowl of soup can be a proper meal rather than an afterthought.
Of course, I’m not a vegetarian. I don’t aspire to be. I enjoy meat and fish enormously, and I always will. But I also like restraint when it’s chosen rather than imposed. As my mum has always said, everything in moderation. Including moderation itself.
What January gave me was confidence and additions to my Flexitarian Recipes arsenal. A better sense of how I like to eat when I’m paying attention. Less reliance on habit, more trust in appetite. It reminded me that food doesn’t need to perform to be satisfying, it just needs to be properly cooked and thoughtfully put together.
Now that February has arrived, that appetite feels clearer rather than louder.
I’m still cooking much the same way. leaning into vegetables, enjoying fish, letting beans and grains do the heavy lifting but without rules. Just cooking food that feels balanced, comforting and complete.
January reset the habit, but February my friends brings the pleasure back. And that feels like exactly the right balance.
I’ll be cooking my way through February over on Instagram and TikTok, recipes as they’re made, tested and eaten, with a small Valentine’s date-night-in feature tucked in too. Simple, indulgent, and very much meant to be cooked at home.
