So So So picky. Help!

parteegirl01

I hate to admit it, but I'm the pickiest person I know. I don't like any veggies other than corn and green beans. I want to, I try to eat them all the time. I just can't stand them. I tend to eat a LOT of pasta. I am transitioning to whole grain though. I like almost any meat, except fish. I do love fruit. My problem is that I can't ever find any good healthy recipes that work around my pickiness, and I can't seem to make myself eat veggies. It's so bad that even though I love pasta I can't even eat the veggies that I deliberately hide in the sauce. Any suggestions? One good thing, I don't drink anything but water, and I hate condiments. Especially ketchup. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Mrs_McFadden

Wow. That's a tough nut to crack my dear.
So you're saying even if you dice vegetables and put it in your foods you are still not managing to eat it?
Ok this is what I'm going to suggest. Buy a book for cooking for children that highlights sneaking vegetables into their meals.
I promise you, I am not being insulting when I say that your palate needs to be developed. Try some of the 'feed children vegetable' strategies..like vegetable purees. Jessica Seinfeld wrote a cookbook in the past few years using these methods.
You need to also expand your horizons. You don't like average condiments?
Try curries, mediterranean ideas...combinations etc.

taso42_DELETED

How do you feel about potatoes, sweet potatoes and brown rice? Pasta is perfectly fine, as long as you keep the serving size reasonable (consider it a side dish rather than main dish). Start off by making really basic meals. Grill or bake a chicken breast or a pork chop or a steak, and have it with one of those starches on the side, plus your green beans. If you mix and match 1 meat and 1 starch plus your corn or green beans, that's a fair bit of variety to get you through the week, at least as far as dinners go. Every once in a while throw in something new, or use some different spices or preparation method, if you want. Does that sound like something you can live with?

parteegirl01

Those are both great ideas guys, thanks. Also If anyone knows any good ways of cooking veggies where they feel less veggie-like, that might help. A lot of it is a texture thing I think. Like if i feel myself bit into a veggie thats in sauce or something I get an instant need to gag or something lol. I know it sounds really weird. Been dealing with it my whole life.

CallejaFairey

so is it mostly the texture? are you okay with the flavours? cause if that's the case, it sounds like you need to become best friends with a blender or something similar! haha
pureed soups, pureed veggies added to pasta sauce, heck, you can even add it to things like meatloafs/meatballs/burgers etc..

and what texture is it exactly that you dislike, as there are many different veggie textures.

fevre

Skinnytaste.com has saved my life in this aspect! I kept looking for healthy recipes and finding nothing but fish, tofu, and vegetables (I just can't see an all-veggie dish as real food), but Skinny Taste actually takes normal recipes and makes them healthier! I made myself a giant batch of the Bolognese sauce and I have it with some whole-wheat pasta for dinner almost every single night. Finding healthy versions of my favorite foods has been pretty exciting to me!

noram617

i agree with mrs. mcfadden u have to develope ur palate some foods are an aquired taste. Greenbeans r good eat them with every meal, steam them in the microwave and put a little salt on it, saute it with some garlic and pam, there r many ways u can prepare them if u dont want to try to get used to other veggies.

parteegirl01

Skinnytaste.com has saved my life in this aspect! I kept looking for healthy recipes and finding nothing but fish, tofu, and vegetables (I just can't see an all-veggie dish as real food), but Skinny Taste actually takes normal recipes and makes them healthier! I made myself a giant batch of the Bolognese sauce and I have it with some whole-wheat pasta for dinner almost every single night. Finding healthy versions of my favorite foods has been pretty exciting to me!

OMG, thank you! I love that site. Already found so many recipes. I'm still gonna work on eating my veggies though!

soysos

here are a few workarounds I've found. you say you like pasta? have you tried making your own tomato sauce. I start with canned tomatoes, usually whole but since I dice them you could use diced. then I get out the vegetables the base is 2 parts onion to 1 part carrot and celery. I sweat the vegetables as well as what ever else I decided to sneak in, peppers mushrooms olives whatever I have handy, the vegetables should be about the same volume as the tomatoes. in a separate pot whatever juice was in the can along with some pepper and curry powder and I'll reduce that down to about a third. put both pots together in a blender a puree smooth.

my fiance and I have a sort of ask me no questions type agreement when it comes to my cooking. she'll happily eat it as long as I don' tell her what is in it. one time I used the same sauce without pureeing it to braise a chuck roast, she took a look at it and said eew. the power of appearances. unfortunately I don't know if it works the same cooking for yourself.