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miss_ljvI've been working hard at buying few ingredients and making them work for multiple meals, but I keep forgetting to take pics, and the food is so amazing I wanna cry. I love food, and I'm a decent cook.
Also Steve and I have a kind of a bet going, though it doesn't really qualify as a real bet. First, we had mental limits on the amount we'd pay for various food items when shopping - I try to buy local and organic as much as possible from our co-op, and then I supplement our food at the end of the week with Imperfect box. This week my goal was to spend $50 or less on Imperfect, and I totally did. Normally I have the privilege to not think about how much I'm spending, but I'm working on sticking to a budget like an adult.
Then, he teased me about using all the produce before it goes bad. So I'm getting proactive AND creative. Last night I saw the summer squash was getting bumpy and the remaining green beans were going brown/spotty, so I cut em up and steamed them quick. I am a firm believer that cooking produce going bad extends its life by at least another few days (probably there's science behind it and it's not a belief at all). I WILL use all the produce, AND we will eat amazingly while doing it.
Third, more a personal challenge, was to find ways to make it so when I make these meals (because I'm NOT "prepping" weekly meals - I'm doing some small things to prep like soaking noodles, etc.) that it doesn't take more than 30 minutes start to finish (minus dishes). I've been doing well so far. Sometimes though I get really into it and want to pre-cut or prepare something ahead of time while I'm at it. I DO really like cooking; I just don't like how much of my time it eats up (no pun intended).
Instant pot pulled chicken thigh with spices; spiced beans and rice in the rice cooker; simple salad (local greens) with hummus, lemon juice, salt and pepper
An experiment I had NO expectations for: Refrigerator pickled foods! Several days on, my favorite is the carrots. The parsnips taste good but smell strongly like wet farts. The cabbage is okay, and the cucumber pickles themselves are quite good. Rice vinegar, white vinegar, and pickling spices.
Okay so this is a sesame dish with rice noodles but I'm extra and love packing in salads and all the veggies. i steamed the veggies in the slow cooker but then while I was cleaning everything up I left them in there and while the pot was off, the heat was still there so they were a bit overcooked - still tasted great! The salad this time was basically dry with cassava "croutons" and a bit of parmesan.
Giant salad with tomatoes, pickled carrots and parsnip, avocado, and nuts.
Yesterday I made this Masoor Dal that was to DIE for in the instant pot. Red lentils, a ton of spices (was very happy I had all of them), green chili, ghee, tomatoes, onion, lemon. I added vegetarian curry "chik'n" because that went best. Also I love shorter grain, stickier rice so much more than dry rice so I make most foods with Japanese rice :P
The directions said to put the rice right into the instant pot so the rice and the dal would be done at the same time. I was skeptical, but it totally worked! The stainless steel metal thing to put food or other items on didn't sit above the dal, so the rice pot was submerged a bit on the bottom. This rice cooker is a Zojirushi 3-cup, and the manufacturer's info says it's made from aluminum coated with something "like teflon" but isn't. I'm going to look into getting a stainless steel bowl just for the instant pot.
Right now I have a bean soup cooking in the slow cooker that I meant to hit start on last night but forgot when tired, so we'll have it for dinner. It calls for dried black beans, but I forgot I used all mine and didn't realize it until I had prepared everything else, so I guess it's pinto bean soup!
My friend Courtney is strange, in my eyes. I don't think she describes herself as a picky eater, but there are so many vegetables and fruits she doesn't like, or has refused to try. FRUIT!!!! I literally don't know what that feeling is like.
I like almost every single vegetable and every single fruit I come across. I don't like to eat fruits with a ton of seeds (ie blackberries) because of the impossible crunch/grit and getting stuck in my teeth, but that's about it. The flavor itself is still good though...
Do you guys have any specific fruits or veggies you don't like? Entire categories (example, Steve doesn't like melons because he says they're bland. WHAT!)?
Do you consider yourself a picky eater?
Also Steve and I have a kind of a bet going, though it doesn't really qualify as a real bet. First, we had mental limits on the amount we'd pay for various food items when shopping - I try to buy local and organic as much as possible from our co-op, and then I supplement our food at the end of the week with Imperfect box. This week my goal was to spend $50 or less on Imperfect, and I totally did. Normally I have the privilege to not think about how much I'm spending, but I'm working on sticking to a budget like an adult.
Then, he teased me about using all the produce before it goes bad. So I'm getting proactive AND creative. Last night I saw the summer squash was getting bumpy and the remaining green beans were going brown/spotty, so I cut em up and steamed them quick. I am a firm believer that cooking produce going bad extends its life by at least another few days (probably there's science behind it and it's not a belief at all). I WILL use all the produce, AND we will eat amazingly while doing it.
Third, more a personal challenge, was to find ways to make it so when I make these meals (because I'm NOT "prepping" weekly meals - I'm doing some small things to prep like soaking noodles, etc.) that it doesn't take more than 30 minutes start to finish (minus dishes). I've been doing well so far. Sometimes though I get really into it and want to pre-cut or prepare something ahead of time while I'm at it. I DO really like cooking; I just don't like how much of my time it eats up (no pun intended).
Instant pot pulled chicken thigh with spices; spiced beans and rice in the rice cooker; simple salad (local greens) with hummus, lemon juice, salt and pepper
An experiment I had NO expectations for: Refrigerator pickled foods! Several days on, my favorite is the carrots. The parsnips taste good but smell strongly like wet farts. The cabbage is okay, and the cucumber pickles themselves are quite good. Rice vinegar, white vinegar, and pickling spices.
Okay so this is a sesame dish with rice noodles but I'm extra and love packing in salads and all the veggies. i steamed the veggies in the slow cooker but then while I was cleaning everything up I left them in there and while the pot was off, the heat was still there so they were a bit overcooked - still tasted great! The salad this time was basically dry with cassava "croutons" and a bit of parmesan.
Giant salad with tomatoes, pickled carrots and parsnip, avocado, and nuts.
Yesterday I made this Masoor Dal that was to DIE for in the instant pot. Red lentils, a ton of spices (was very happy I had all of them), green chili, ghee, tomatoes, onion, lemon. I added vegetarian curry "chik'n" because that went best. Also I love shorter grain, stickier rice so much more than dry rice so I make most foods with Japanese rice :P
The directions said to put the rice right into the instant pot so the rice and the dal would be done at the same time. I was skeptical, but it totally worked! The stainless steel metal thing to put food or other items on didn't sit above the dal, so the rice pot was submerged a bit on the bottom. This rice cooker is a Zojirushi 3-cup, and the manufacturer's info says it's made from aluminum coated with something "like teflon" but isn't. I'm going to look into getting a stainless steel bowl just for the instant pot.
Right now I have a bean soup cooking in the slow cooker that I meant to hit start on last night but forgot when tired, so we'll have it for dinner. It calls for dried black beans, but I forgot I used all mine and didn't realize it until I had prepared everything else, so I guess it's pinto bean soup!
My friend Courtney is strange, in my eyes. I don't think she describes herself as a picky eater, but there are so many vegetables and fruits she doesn't like, or has refused to try. FRUIT!!!! I literally don't know what that feeling is like.
I like almost every single vegetable and every single fruit I come across. I don't like to eat fruits with a ton of seeds (ie blackberries) because of the impossible crunch/grit and getting stuck in my teeth, but that's about it. The flavor itself is still good though...
Do you guys have any specific fruits or veggies you don't like? Entire categories (example, Steve doesn't like melons because he says they're bland. WHAT!)?
Do you consider yourself a picky eater?
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no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 03:43 pm (UTC)I eat all the fruits and veggies, too. Definitely not picky. My man, however... -_- He will eat celery.
...
Maybe a carrot.
-_-
Cool home pickling job :)
no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 04:00 pm (UTC)I, on the other hand, love celery, natch.
And thank you ^_^ Good food is too much. Even the soup cooking right now is making my mouth water.
My ex used to be very picky about food, so it made it difficult to experiment with my cooking when all he wanted was potatoes and cereal. Steve (my partner of 11 years) is muuuch more willing to try and eat things, and he's definitely not picky. While my ex would whine and complain when he didn't like something (ex. onions in a soup), Steve loves my food and if the recipe has something in it he doesn't like and it's something manageable (he hates cilantro), I make his/hers accommodations. Or this bean soup has celery in it, but I'm going to blend it so he won't care.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 04:03 pm (UTC)xD
I'm so glad you're with a much less picky eater now! It makes it really hard, I know. My guy (going on 8 yrs) is only really picky about produce, but still :s I wish he loved salad...but he never will *lol*
"but I'm going to blend it so he won't care"
*nodding* I do this, too!
:)
no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 06:48 pm (UTC)Mine's the same with brothy soups - he only really likes creamy soups and I lament, I lament......
no subject
Date: 2020-03-14 12:32 am (UTC)Sometimes, we just have to accept them as they are. *solemn nods*
;)
Also, just noticed your soft green nail polish in one of these photos! So nice. :)
no subject
Date: 2020-03-15 12:10 am (UTC)I got dip nails done the week of my sister's wedding in August 2018, and I've never looked back. No need to worry about hangnails or jagged edges - both of which super suck to have when you work with fiber (knitting). I go to the same woman every 5 weeks (she's the owner of the salon) and I'm happy to support her :D
no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 05:01 pm (UTC)My parents rarely forced me to eat things I didn't want to try. I never had to clean my plate. I picked at most of my food, didn't really hoover things down. Super skinny kid until puberty hit. I liked fruits and some vegetables. I really liked carrots, corn, and potatoes. I would eat salad quite a bit, but smothered in ranch dressing because I thought iceberg lettuce was super bland (and it is!) and that's all we ate at home. I lived off of processed foods and simple meals, since that's what my working parents had time for. My parents are kind of picky, so that's where I got it from. The few times they did force me to try things (strawberry milkshake from McDonald's, a bean soup that is like one of my favorite things now), I really liked them, so I wish they had forced me to try new things more often.
College opened up my eyes and my palate to a lot more. There are few things I don't like these days (I'm not counting exotic/foreign foods/meals like durian, balut, lutefisk -- the things I don't run across in normal life). Ketchup is another one of those things that I hate with a passion and will not touch. Ketchup is gross. The smell of it makes me want to vomit. If a recipe calls for it, I'm subbing in tomato sauce or paste. Tomatoes are already sweet... who had the bright idea to make it sweeter?!
no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 05:58 pm (UTC)Roasted eggplant for bhaigan bharta is one of my favorite things.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 06:56 pm (UTC)I was the same until I started cooking well for myself - processed foods, working family. I was always described as eating "like a bird" - but not because I was picky, because I just wasn't hungry. My sister and I also always had to share small amounts of food we could afford - everything canned or boxed (Ravioli, Macaroni, Campbell's soups, canned fruit, sliced cheese). We never went hungry, but we also didn't have much. Eating out was a RARE treat, but I've always been picky about meat and was not raised on fish so I really can't eat it now.
Steve HATES ketchup, and basically all condiments (mustard, mayo, etc.). Curiously he does like ranch - probably for the same reason you do: it's ubiquitous with iceberg salads. I love using fresh or canned tomatoes in recipes... they taste SO much better.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 05:56 pm (UTC)As for fruits, I actually don't like the standard grocery store banana or red delicious apples. The bananas I ate in Honduras are so much better but basically never available here.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 07:02 pm (UTC)Omg do not even SAY red delicious to me. Those are NOT apples. They are just cardboard in an apple shape. And I was JUST watching the Ugly Delicious episode on Indian food and they talk about all the varieties of bananas but Americans only want the one kind and I was like yelling at the TV "NOOO I WANT TO TRY THE OTHER ONES!!!!!"
Expanding your palate is HUGE. I am baffled when people don't want to eat Indian or Ethiopian, especially without ever having tried it. They would like something if they tried, I'm confident.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 09:07 pm (UTC)What's funny though is that my mom is NOT an adventurous eater so even now it's hard to get her to try things like Ethiopian, which she had for the first time a few months ago when we were all at my sister's place because it's what everyone else (sister, BIL, me) wanted. My mom had never had it and was convinced she wouldn't like it and that she'd "just have a sandwich and it'll be fine". She didn't hate it but she also wasn't enthusiastic about having it again unfortunately.
Also, got the recipe for the chicken you made for those tacos?
no subject
Date: 2020-03-21 06:40 pm (UTC)Honestly it was like the first hit when I searched - but I still really liked them. I added spices to my personal preference.
Honestly jealous of homecooked meals!! I started getting those eventually but not until I was a teen. We were pinching pennies for most of my childhood! And we certainly didn't have cheap snacks or pop, nossir! Apples, bananas, and things like pickles :)
My parents can be super annoying about trying new foods :(
no subject
Date: 2020-03-22 02:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 07:05 pm (UTC)It's hard to stick to a budget when you want to buy fresh, organic food, but I also try hard and I try hard not to waste anything by making smart choices. Doesn't always work, though. ^^;
I do cook / prepare my food every single day. I'm not doing meal prep, but I do prepare 2 portions when I make dinner and the 2nd portion is then always my lunch at work the next day. :)
Haha, I have a co-worker like that. He doesn't like most vegetables or fruit. He can't eat them "raw", but can tolerate them as a soup or juice. I just don't get it! How come he's still healthy? He's mainly eating processed food, meat and LOTS of sugar!
Personally I love all veggies and fruit and I like to eat them raw as well.
I'm not a picky eater at all, I try everything.
The only thing I can't handle well is extremely spicy food (as in hot food, chili, kimchi etc.)
no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 07:32 pm (UTC)I 1000% agree - especially because you don't know what's always going to be available and for what prices. Because I live in such a cold climate, things that are in-season vary so much!
I do prepare 2 portions
I try to do the same, but doubled for 2 people! I think it's a great system.
How come he's still healthy?
I ask myself the same question allllll the time about people. I guess I just have to assume they APPEAR healthy, but they are putting themselves at risk of problems as they age, especially cancer with all that sugar.
Personally I love all veggies and fruit and I like to eat them raw as well.
Yay!! Me too. So yummy. And I am the WORST with spice. Absolutely horrid. Can't do it.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 07:40 pm (UTC)I sometimes don't get home until very late, so I just don't eat anything then ... or I do perform intermittent fasting like twice a week. If I had prepared all of my food for the week ahead, I'd feel obliged to eat it.
Also, you can have more variety in your dishes if you don't do a weekly meal prep. :)
*sigh* That's what I want to believe, too. Not that I want those people to get sick, but EVERYONE and their dog is claiming that eating a healthy diet is the solution for pretty much ALL health problems, so I always wonder how people with a horrible diet can "appear" so healthy then.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 07:29 pm (UTC)Mike doesnt like carrots, sometimes. potatoes, sometimes, and has other weirdness.
Its a texture thing and annoying.
He also wants me to cook low carb for him, but he'll go grab donuts from the gas station.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 07:35 pm (UTC)Hm, I've never had Durian! And meat's a whole other ballgame for me! I'm much more picky about meat than produce. But unless it's organs, I'll proooobably try A LITTLE of most meats if prepared as a matter of course (if I was traveling, for example).
Textures can be tricky - it's why I rarely eat most mushrooms. I do like morels, though.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 10:08 pm (UTC)All your food looks delicious
no subject
Date: 2020-03-13 10:09 pm (UTC)Ryu on the other hand....might as well me a 4 year old. It's easier to say what he will eat than what he wont.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-21 06:42 pm (UTC)Most of the reason I added meat back into my diet was for health. I find I am full longer and less hangry if I have just a bit of meat once a day. But it's always a very small amount - certainly smaller than a "serving" and far less than the average American. I love fresh produce sooo much!
no subject
Date: 2020-03-21 09:28 pm (UTC)I admire his dedication to being picky though. Even at his parents house, he doesn't hesitate to smack everything he wont eat on my plate. His parents always tell me "Dont eat it. You dont have to. It's his battle." lol.
We've been doing it by grams. Usually, it's between 75-90 grams a day. Sometimes one meal, sometimes we divide it in three. We've been researching in to more meat substitutes but the issue becomes money. My body has issues absorbing nutrients, so I have to get in double to triple amounts of certain things just to absorb a simple normal serving. Supplements are the same. A one-a-day multivitamin does nothing. I had to take 4 a day!
no subject
Date: 2020-03-14 01:16 am (UTC)I don't particularly like canteloupe or honeydew melon - I will avoid if I have alternatives. I'm not a huge fan of kale, radicchio (bitter), or sweet potatoes. But pretty much all the other veggies are fair game, I think!
Your food looks yummy! I would also have looked askance at the recipe that had you put the rice pot in with the other food cooking - I'm glad it worked!
I had a friend in college who was SUPER picky about food. I remember one time I made dinner for a bunch of friends - I made lasagna, garlic toast, and a salad. I invited her, and she was all, "you'll be upset, because I won't eat hardly anything" - I asked her if she would eat anything on the menu I was making - she said plain toast and lettuce with a bit of water on it - I said if that was going to satisfy her, I'd be happy if she came. She literally went to the doctor to ask if there were vitamins/supplements she could take INSTEAD of eating, because she hated most foods. He laughed at her and told her to eat food.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-21 06:49 pm (UTC)Omg - that reminds me of the Diwali episode of the office where Angela asks what she can eat as a vegetarian, and he tells her it's all vegetarian, and she goes, "Ugh, I'll just have bread."
Vitamins/soylent etc are just NOT a replacement for the complexity of whole foods!!!!
no subject
Date: 2020-03-14 07:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-15 05:09 pm (UTC)The one veggie I don't like is raw celery ... I can deal with it cooked in soups or pot roast but I absolutely will not eat it raw. I don't think I'm picky overall but I don't think I'm the most adventurous of eaters either.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-16 08:48 am (UTC)I DO really like cooking; I just don't like how much of my time it eats up
Haha same. I love cooking and baking and experimenting with both, and have invented great marinades and sauces and recipes of my own... But yeah, I'm not always in the mood for it possibly taking up an entire evening after being on my feet all day at work, lol.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-21 06:49 pm (UTC)