good ideas for sides that aren't vegetables???

I was going to post all this stuff about my opinions about your boyfriends diet and your behavior about it- but forget that ... you asked for side ideas... and I love to talk about food!

Add in rice to your variety, brown, white, short and long, fried and pilaf- it's all good! (you could throw in some very small bits of broccoli here... if it were me

Cous Cous- Near East has some good flavors.

Polenta- I'd go to foodnetwork.com for ideas for this...

Lentils, Beans... mmm the possibilities.

Eat on, and don't let his restrictions affect you, he doesn't have to eat the veggies but don't let that stop you!



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Cook anything you want and microwave a potato for him.

I know this probably isn't helpful, but I'm a super-taster (I've been tested) and I can handle vegetables just fine.

Super-tasters have trouble with bitter, sour, and spicy for the most part which rules out a lot of citrus, coffee, and certain ethnic foods like curries, etc. Vegetables, however, don't tend to be any of these things. For what it's worth, I love corn, bell peppers, broccoli, romaine lettuce, potatoes, onions, and snap peas. I'll eat carrots, cucumber, celery, and tomatoes, but they're not my favorite. In fact, the only vegetable I can think of off the top of my head that I won't eat is radishes.

Super-tasters also tend to enjoy sweet and salty flavors, so in order to eat less-appealing vegetables, sometimes I'll steam and lightly salt or butter them. You can also add fruit or nuts to a salad to make it more palatable.

Basically, what I'm saying is that whether he's actually a super-taster or not, he's being a bit ridiculous about it. I eat stuff I don't particularly care for all the time, but I suck it up because it's good for me.

noodles
rolls
soup
beans

I am of the supertasters, too, but I've learned to eat and even enjoy many vegetables and other foods. I will probably never say I love most any veggie, but I find most tolerable and even enjoyable when cooked properly.

In my household, we usually have 2 sides when we are serving a "plain" protein, so I don't see why you couldn't make roasted or baked potatoes or rice or a starch + a veggie. Encourage him to continually try them with an open mind. Hopefully he is open to eating veggies because of the health benefits. If he is, then trying the veggies multiple times will hopefully help him get to the point where he can enjoy them. If he isn't, then nothing will work, but at least you've got your sides.

For me, roasted or grilled is the way to go. Most veggies that I wouldn't touch before I will eat now if they are roasted or grilled at a high heat. This changes flavor immensely. I still will not do steamed or boiled most any veggie. Green beans are the exception - if I have fresh, they have to be steamed first, then I like them sauteed with garlic and bacon.

ETA: If he really is a "supertaster" and you are going to try to help him accept eating veggies, I recommend picking something small and going from there. Sometimes, even if I try really hard, I just can't stomach some foods. Steamed broccoli or cauliflower in any form are out; as are cooked spinach and any type of cooked greens. Try as I might, I just cannot stomach them. I have been known to gag when accidently ingesting some of these foods. I can eat broccoli when it's roasted and tossed in a sweet/savory sauce (I make one similar to a General Tso's sauce). I've even discovered that I can stomach bok choy when it's sauteed in sesame oil and has a light cashew sauce. I can pretty much never eat most veggies plain, but I keep trying because I recognize the benefits of eating these foods. When my DH cooks, he takes my preferences and aversions in to consideration, as I would hope that any person in a loving relationship would. We still have fish and sea food regularly, even though I don't particularly care for them because he loves them, but he makes an effort to prepare these foods in a way that I can stomach, which usually involves a sweet Asian type of sauce.

One food that I was amazed to find that I liked was roasted asparagus. Fresh asparagus (skinny stalks are better) tossed in olive oil and kosher salt and roasted until tender is really quite good. Maybe you can start with trying him on that? I know I can't do fresh green beans, even when wrapped in bacon, unless they have been steamed within an inch of their lives.

Will he eat jalapenos or fresh peppers? My DH makes a really good cajun stuffed pepper, and I've recently discovered how delicious it can be to take fresh jalapenos, roast them slightly, stuff them with a mixture of cream cheese and cheddar cheese and wrap them in bacon. As unhealthy as that sounds, when I made them each jalapeno half only had 35 calories and a few of them can be quite filling. They weren't very spicy at all - my 6 year old loved them, too.

In my house, I do 99.999% of the cooking. If anybody in the house doesn't like what I'm cooking, they're free to have at the box of emergency Ramen. Otherwise, shut up and be grateful that I'm even getting near the kitchen after making a 100 mile round trip commute to work every day, working 8-9 hours, and then finding time to cook before I hit the gym.

Honestly, I would tell him to suck it up. I'm not the forgiving type anymore since I've learned to enjoy foods I used to dislike in the pursuit of health (blueberries, bell peppers, cauliflower, mushrooms, and onions to an extent). I have a friend who is the absolute worst for this. All he eats is frickin' chicken and potatoes. He claims he has to "force" himself to eat a piece of fruit a day because he knows it's good for him. Guess what? My boyfriend and I no longer ask him out to restaurants or invite him over for supper anymore because he'll just sit there and mope.

If he claims it's too "bitter", reach for sweeter veggies like carrots, sweet potatoes, bell peppers, etc. Make a stuffed pepper or tomato side loaded with all the cheese his heart desires.

My husband is the same way when it comes to most veggies.... It's not my problem. I make what I want to eat and he doesn;'t have to eat it if he doesn't ant to. I just tell him to shut up when he complains about not losing any weight. Hopefully he will eventually grow up, but I strongly doubt it.