Secrets to delicious healthful food?!

miss_boof

So I’m really working on branching out in what my go to foods are. But I find a lot of food bland... my go to is to add Diablo sauce and BAM it’s tolerable.

What’s your go to either recipe that’s delicious on its own, or ingredient you add to make whatever you’re making tasty?

tulips_and_tea

What foods have you tried recently that you've found bland? Maybe we can give you ideas to season or prepare them so that you'd like them.

For example, I find canned vegetables bland (overly salty, too so I try to buy the no-salt-added ones), but they are fine when incorporated into a casserole type dish.

Fresh vegetables are delicious roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper and whatever other seasonings you prefer.

kommodevaran

It is actually a secret: I have found that not demonizing any foods, food groups or nutrients, and not dividing foods into healthy and unhealthy, but truly, completely and trustingly, allow myself to eat whatever I want, and enjoy it, and use enough fat, sugar and salt to make the food taste just right, has made me not only curious and willing to try new foods, but also able to distinguish and appreciate the more diverse and challenging and subtle flavors of foods I didn't like before - funnily enough, this includes many of the foods I used to deem "healthy". Now I crave variety, while at the same time, I'm very flexible, I like so many things, everything tastes great, as long as it's properly prepared.

toxikon

Check out www.seriouseats.com for the science of good cooking. He goes through a lot of great techniques to up your cooking game. He also has a book called the Food Lab that's pure gold.

Preparing dishes well goes along way towards palatability, healthful or not.

janejellyroll

@kommodevaran is right on. When used in a thoughtful way, fat, sugar, and salt can continue to be part of your cooking and they can add a lot of flavor for a reasonable amount of calories. For specific lower calorie tips, I've found that acid is a great way to boost the flavor of dishes. I often add things like apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, sherry vinegar, etc. There are a lot of different acids out there to experiment with.

J72FIT

kommodevaran wrote: »

It is actually a secret: I have found that not demonizing any foods, food groups or nutrients, and not dividing foods into healthy and unhealthy, but truly, completely and trustingly, allow myself to eat whatever I want, and enjoy it, and use enough fat, sugar and salt to make the food taste just right, has made me not only curious and willing to try new foods, but also able to distinguish and appreciate the more diverse and challenging and subtle flavors of foods I didn't like before - funnily enough, this includes many of the foods I used to deem "healthy". Now I crave variety, while at the same time, I'm very flexible, I like so many things, everything tastes great, as long as it's properly prepared.

Can I get an AMEN?!?!?!

sardelsa

Roasting makes many foods especially vegetables taste awesome, also adding garlic .. some roasted garlic, garlic oil, garlic butter, herbs and garlic, garlic powder, raw garlic (go easy on that one though! Haha)

busyPK

Seasoning is your friend! I like bold flavors as well and trying out different seasoning (dry and fresh) has been a life saver to help spice (pun intended) up meat and veggies.

HoneyBadger302

These are my go-tos for adding flavor:
Garlic (and lots of it - I buy the big jar of chopped garlic at Sprouts)
Garlic salt
Poblano pepper (fresh, chopped into a variety of foods)
Onion (fresh, chopped)
My spice rack (Italian spice mix is my fave)
Ginger
All Spice

Depending on what it is, I will sometimes add salt and ground pepper as well.

Cbean08

I use things like Ortega chiles, salsa, marinara sauce, mustards and marinades to add flavor. Or garlic. Garlic fixes everything.

TheDevastator

Pb, cocoa, and stevia with veggies and every smoothie tastes like a peanut butter cup.