Hello hello! So I’m trying to broaden my culinary horizon right now, things have gotten a bit stale since I have a mild case of ARFID and tend to fall back on safe foods (protein bars, fruit pureés, burritos) when I don’t keep an eye on my diet. Ideally I’m looking for something that’s healthy and reqires little prep. And it should be obtainable in Germany. But if the title speaks to you in any other way I’m interested to hear your thoughts anyway.
You must log in or register to comment.
Take vegetable. Saute with olive oil, a little salt, and some seasoning. Vegetables taste amazing and people just don’t eat enough of them, and I think it’s because they don’t cook them right.
Piggybacking this comment because similar:
Chop up some veggies (I like zucchini, yellow squash, onions, and maybe carrots), toss them in olive oil, salt, some seasoning, and an acid like lemon juice or wine (or a little balsamic vinegar if you want that vibe), then throw it into a lubed pan and into a preheated oven until roasted to your liking (probably like 15-20 minutes at 400°F).
I like this method because it’s largely passive, so this can happen while you deal with some other part of your meal. Sauce, meat, rice, whatever. Plus it’s pretty hard to fuck up unless you forget to use a timer lol.
I personally love roast veggies. The issue with eg stir fried or sautéed vegetables, for me at least, is that they don’t microwave well because for both stir fry and sautéed veggies, part of the appeal is some crunch that remains in veggies like broccoli, carrots, baby sweetcorn, etc. But microwaving them to reheat just makes them go mushy. With roast veggies, they are quite soft anyway, so as long as you are not going for a crispy exterior they will microwave well.
I guess that’s one of my big issues with vegetables, is that I feel I usually have to cook them fresh. Otherwise the texture is not nice to me if I cook a lot of veggies to reheat over the next few days.
For roast veggies: olive oil and whole cloves of garlic with the skin on. You can smash them to release more flavour, but that also makes it more likely that the garlic will burn, which is a shame because roast garlic makes for a delicious garlic-flavoured spread on toast. Add whatever seasoning you like; I go with rosemary and then whatever spices on my spice rack look good.
Any type of bean. You can make dips, chili, put them in rice, and they are really healthy.
I love beans! The burritos I make usually contain some baked tofu and onions, brown rice and refried as well as whole beans. They’re like at least 70% bean 😄 Best way to get some protein in when you prefer plant based foods.
If you like beans, the pressure cooker is your friend, and the best one is German: Fissler.
The recipe from ‘Jose el Cook’ on YT for Arroz Rojo is really good.
Added kidney beans in the riceToo bad that reheating in the microwave makes it a bit too dry and it needs some protein which is also hard to reheat at work.
My bed, normally, with a rare nap on the couch. Why would anyone sleep on food?
You just had me look up the idiom to make sure I got it right 😅
Let me rephrase in accordance with the definition that came up: Which important or impressive food items are people not paying enough attention to?
Due to disability I practically live in my bed. I often sleep on nuts, noodles, peas and rice. Once I slept on a chicken nugget.
Personally I think it’d be nice to sleep on a giant, freshly baked loaf of sourdough bread.
O_O
Since you’re talking about Germany: Tofu has been unfairly demonized here (maybe because it can serve as a meat substitute).
It is a great source of nutrients and protein. It can be prepared in many different ways. It is environmentally friendly, can be conveniently stored and has a relatively long shelf life.
I haven’t tried tofu many different ways, but I worked at a tex-mex restaurant in high school and I’ve enjoyed it the way they made it ever since. Squeeze the excess water out, dice it, marinate it in the same marinade you would use for tex-mex steak, saute it, and serve it in tacos or burritos or whatever.
See, this is why I come to the comments: To pick up tiny little bits of interesting cultural knowledge.
A family member said they disliked it because of it being gummy.
Might also be a brand thing because silky tofu from the asian store was just silky but tasteless and would need some type of marinade.Tofu tastes like soy! It’s a very mild flavour but I can definitely taste and smell it in tofu and soy milk. I suppose people who are not used to eating tofu might think it has no flavour at all, but as someone who’s eaten tofu their whole life, I can definitely recognise soy as a flavour. Just a very subtle one.
Maybe it was the brand/dish I used it (once) with didnt make it very obvious.
oh well. Maybe next time :)I think people who didn’t grow up eating tofu, or just haven’t eaten a lot of tofu, may easily believe that tofu has no flavour. Or maybe if your nose/tongue is just less sensitive. I can most easily smell it when tofu is frying in a pan, personally. Like I said, it’s really subtle, and easily overpowered.
I ate crumbled raw tofu (with a little salt) on crunchy peanut butter toast for breakfast. It was delicious. And tasted like tofu.
Usually tofu is cooked with a sauce, and it can be cooked a bunch of different ways. It takes on a lot of flavor.
Tofu has been unfairly demonized here
Could you give me some more context on this? Is it the usual “phytoestrogen will make you a girl” or agricultural industry propaganda?
I feel like the EU in general has been quite pro-animal agriculture (for example plant-based milk can’t be sold as “milk”), but how is it in Germany specifically?
Most of the experience, including your examples, is not specific to Germany. The notion that tofu is not for “real men” can be seen in other meat-heavy societies. Just like the idea that tofu is not a filling meal. In pop culture, it is often associated with weak traits (e.g. “soy boy”), and described as tasting bad or bland in general.
In Germany, a special permit was required until the 1990s to produce certain types of tofu. If you offer people something with tofu, many still turn up their noses or laugh because they think you’re joking. I don’t notice this as much with any other widely available food.
There is also far too much discussion about whether something can be called tofu sausage, tofu burger or tofu butter. But I think here we’ve passed the low point and common sense is slowly gaining ground.
Sometimes you still come across the false claims that tofu raises estrogen levels and that the rainforest is cut down to produce it.
Thank you for the insight. Yeah, I expected the “cultural” talking points to be pretty similar across the western countries, including Poland, where I live.
The vast majority of pro-meat arguments I hear are based on these conservative ideas mixed with a large dose of protectionism, so any progress tends to be very slow.
But I think here we’ve passed the low point and common sense is slowly gaining ground.
This topic got ridiculously politicized, so hopefully once people get tired of the debate they will be more willing to consider the economic/health/environment/etc. aspects, not just cultural.
I could take or leave tofu, but I really like tempeh.
Rutabaga. It’s a root vegetable that you cook similar to parsnips or turnips. A bit of a nutty, earthy flavor. Really good mashed with a splash of cream and a grating of fresh nutmeg.
deleted by creator
Millet, Spelt, Cranola, …
There’s many grains you can put in pillows 🛌. Although you generally use the chaff.I’ve heard good things about buckwheat
Spices! Smoked paprika, curry sauce and spices, turmeric, southwest seasoning, garlic everything!
Where would I be without smoked paprika
Gochujang paste - Korean fermented red pepper paste. It has a really tasty, slightly spicy flavor, that tastes great in soup/ ramen or coating noddles/pasta.
Rule of thumb: whatever amount of a spice a recipe calls for, double it.
I did that once with bay leaves, that soup was…so mildly off.
I have absolutely no idea what difference bay leaves make. I keep putting them in things, mainly due to blind allegiance to the recipe, but if you put a gun to my head and demanded that I describe the taste you’d just have to shoot me 'cause I wouldn’t be able to it.
(The fact that the leaves are too tough to eat by themselves to understand their flavor doesn’t help either. Maybe I should try grinding one into a fine powder or something.)
In normal amounts, they add a sort of pleasing background note. They mostly help other seasonings feel more rounded.
When placing a bunch in, it tastes…off. Bad? Strong in a bad way. Overwhelming other tastes.
Hard boiled eggs, super food, very portable, easy to throw in a backpack or lunch box. Available in most convenience stores
what food item are people sleeping on
I sleep on a mattress, actually.
Yeah, but I’ve got chip crumbs on mine
Sumac. Put that shit on your winter baked potatos peeps, you’re welcome
My son has ARFID. He’s 15. It’s really hard. He’s seeing a therapist. But he’s still seriously underweight. I don’t have any food recommendations, but I do wish you the best with your progress.
I’m sorry to hear that. It often gets much better with age though! I’m 29 now and I can eat most stuff without feeling any aversion. It’s more that I prefer my safe foods but I can thoroughly enjoy other meals too. Cooking can still be tricky sometimes but I don’t let that ruin my diet. I hope your son can find a calorie-dense safe food. My go to in that regard are almonds, cashews, peanuts, pumpkin seeds and if all else fails gummy bears.
lentils! chick peas! beans! legumes in general, they are great! you can integrate them into anything…
(ie. cook a bunch of lentils to eat warm with whatever veggies you can steam… but leftovers the next day are turned into a salad, etc. )
How do you feel about oatmeal? It’s healthy and has much more potential for adding flavors to than most people ever consider. It’s pretty neutral and makes a good canvas for other flavors.
For example, you can add cheese to make something like a healthier Mac and cheese. The starch makes it sort of creamy.
But you might want to upgrade from rolled oats to steel cut oats. You get much more “tooth” to your oatmeal and not just mush. Unless the mush is what you like. You can also use whole oats for even more “tooth”.
Steel cut oats in my instant pot every morning. 1:2 oats to water, a little vanilla extract and a pinch of salt, 4 minutes high pressure with 10 minutes natural release. It doesn’t take long until it’s just a habit you never want to break. Your colon will thank you.
Rice cooker saved my life. I add whatever I have lying around that doesn’t require cooking like ham, pickles, canned veggies or fruits, fresh or dried fruits, etc, and if I’m feeling fancy I might boil eggs. Plus mushroom sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, or soy sauce. If you can find black rice in asian supermarkets it’s even better.
Soups. Find Cooks Illustrated Best Soups cookbook. Learn to make and can your own broth. It doesn’t change everything but it changes a lot.
