I am about to change our menus to incorporate weird food

[RoughCollie]

Weird food -- what is that?

 

Well, according to DH, it is any recipe that is not in a 1960's era Betty Crocker Cookbook, and uses ingredients that could not be purchased at a commissary in the 1960s. Pepperoni pizza and spaghetti are *foreign* foods and might be an exception to that.

 

So I have cooked the same old recipes for years. My repertoire is vast, but DD and I are bored with the food The latest change was to add Chicken Parm to the menu, which is different mainly because the chicken is fried before it is baked, and I don't fry anything usually.

 

Geez Louise, that is not a big change! So I dragged out modern (published in the last 5 years) cookbooks, and researched Moosewood Restaurant recipes on the internet, and found a whole bunch of healthy, low fat, low cholesterol, wholesome recipes, that are suitable for spring and summer dining.

 

DD thinks that if "we" are going to change the menus, we should cook new recipes 5 nights a week, and use the old standbys twice a week.

 

This is all very well, but I have a question. When serving something that is billed as a main course salad, what does one serve with it, besides bread?

 

DH is a staunch meat & potatoes man -- should I prepare a piece of meat for him to go with the salad, maybe serve it on the same plate?

 

I'm not sure how this is going to go over. I told DH about it and I promised I would not use olives, cayenne pepper, or cabbage, or curry. I also told him that I would not make more than one recipe of each dish, so we could discover which ones our family likes.

 

I am keeping in mind, and broadcasting to my family, that some foods that are healthy are an acquired taste. I, for example, had to eat oatmeal daily for about two weeks before I could do so without cringing at the thought.

 

I read each recipe and made sure the ingredients were suitable for a stick-in-the-mud eater. None of them are flamboyantly exotic, except to DH, who thinks rice is Chinese food. Mind you, DH has a long list of foods he will not eat because he doesn't like the way they taste -- this, even though, 100% of the time, he has never tasted them.

 

What think ye of this plan? Comments are welcome. Remember, DH will not starve. He will merely finish the meal with pop tarts or a frozen Stouffer's dinner or a can of Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee spaghetti, if he is not satisfied. DH would be the perfect husband for someone who does not know how to cook. :-)

 

Thank you,

RC

Edited April 20, 2010 by RoughCollie

[Miss Peregrine]

I just changed our repertoire recently and DH asked me to not cook new meals every night of the week. It's a menu-mailer type thing, with traditional foods.

 

Any, I thought something new each night would be exciting and it actually motivated me to cook. I had to scale back and only do 2 new meals a week.

 

As to your question: A main course salad would be served with soup or a muffin/bread. You could add meat to it as your carnivores require.:)

[Caraway]

You could serve meat on top of the salad. We eats lots of salads with slices of steak, chicken, tuna, salmon on top. You could serve the salad with bread, rice, couscous, noodles, polenta, muffins, mashed potatoes, soup...

[Kate CA]

My dh has to have protein so if we do a salad we do meat on the side or on top (like tuna or chicken salad). I would not do five nights of new meals. Gradually add in new meals - maybe two a week to start. Once your family sees you are not trying to poison them ;) those older "new" meals will feel like "family" to them. Then you can add more new meals. I would go slowly - especially with your dh. He will likely come around if you work with him rather than against him. :001_smile:

 

ETA: Rice = Chinese food. :smilielol5:

[OrganicAnn]

My 1961 Betty Crocker cookbook has some weird recipes in it. And the pictures are a real trip.

[texasmama]

AFter many years of eating my "weird food" grudgingly, dh is actually liking some of it now. He was raised on white bread, lunch meat, chips, ding dongs and all of those Betty Crocker foods you speak of. I have done it a little at a time, which seems to work best. I have one picky child but the rest of the kids will eat much better variety than dh. He, too, states that he dislikes foods that he has not eaten since he was a wee boy. He recently decided (at the age of 41) to start eating apples. Never ate apples before. DIDN'T LIKE THEM.:tongue_smilie:Eats them all the time now...oh, but they must be green ones.:lol:

[LibraryLover]

I don;t know if you've ever seen Cooking Light Magazine (I read it at our library), but they regularly take old recipes and rework them to make them lighter, lol, healthier etc.

 

My father is pretty darm picky and drove poor mum nuts with his pickiness, but he will eat pretty much anything I make. He's grown a lot, but i also don't serve him 'crazy things'. I just healthy up what he likes: beef (grass fed, and in much smaller portions than he might have had in the old days) with potatoes, lasagna, chicken pie, shepard's pie, pastas, stews, soups, chili etc. It's a matter of using real ingredients and good seasonings. At my place, the man will even eat vegetables that have texture. Salads, too, and not iceberg, and not with neon orange dressing. lol etc. Amazing. It can happen. But I would not start off serving miso soup with seaweed, and a side of plain tofu. (I might love it, and he might come to love it, but it's not where to start, ime lol). :D

 

Maybe if you list the things your dh enjoys, we could change them up without making them too 'weird'.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Soup and salad works well. I make sure that the soup is a hearty one for my dh who needs plenty of protein.

[Peela]

I admire your courageous and gung ho attitude toward new food. 5 nights a week is a lot to cook new meals.

I think tossing some chicken or beef into a salad is fine, as is cooking a fairly 'normal' meal, but a smaller than normal serve, and adding a more exotic soup or salad as a significant part of the meal.A bit of the familiar along with the new helps. I am not eating dairy nowadays (or very little) but when I make a dish like pasta or even a large salad I will add cheese because it makes it more palatable to the rest of the family.

 

I am sitting here eating home made pesto sauce on top of a mixture of raw kelp noodles and zucchini noodles, along with red capsicum strips. For my kids I made the same pesto sauce on top of normal pasta, with parmeson cheese and the red capsicum strips.

 

It sounds like you have a wonderful food adventure ahead of you! I love trying new foods. We joke here that dh is a meat and potatoes man- except that he is a vegetarian (for ethical reasons) who is wheat intolerant, doesn't like vegetables and can't eat beans. Hes not much fun to cook for, exept that amazingly on my new raw food adventure, he can eat a lot of it and enjoys it too, because he does like most of his vegies raw (if he HAS to eat them, and there isnt much else he can eat!), and the soaking and dehydrating to make pizza bases etc I do helps his digestion. And as you say with your husband....if he doesn't like it or isnt full, he will just go and fill up on his favourite unhealthy food and feel satisfied!

[dangermom]

We joke here that dh is a meat and potatoes man- except that he is a vegetarian (for ethical reasons) who is wheat intolerant, doesn't like vegetables and can't eat beans.

My husband says he needs to know what your husband eats for protein. :001_smile:

[caitlinsmom]

We did this same thing years ago. We went from boxed newly wed cooking to vegetarian. We did it cold turkey and it was tough! We ate a lot of cheese enchiladas in the begining because I hadn't gotten the hang of it.

So my advice is scale back to 3 new dinners each week (or do 5 new side dishes) until your family starts to get a taste for everything. To make the transition easier for your dh I would stick to things that are easily paired with his meat and potatoes. If you really want to try something crazy, have a back up plan just in case.

And one last thing....if they all have bad attitudes about it, don't take it personally. I spent many nights trying not to cry after dinner. Eventually we got our menu down and everyone was begging me to cook!

 

Good luck. Culinary adventures are one of my favorites!

[Rosie_0801]

My husband says he needs to know what your husband eats for protein. :001_smile:

 

Well I am not married to Peela's husband, but my husband type person is mostly vegan. He gets his protein from tempeh, other kinds of beans, lentils, nuts, seeds and the veggies that contain protein. We eat a fair amount of greens around here.

 

Rosie

[RoughCollie]

Well, Ladies, my DH is the ultimate anti-vegetarian. Don't choke on this, but he actually thinks people who don't eat meat may be mentally ill. What else would cause this aberration? It isn't "natural"!

 

As for me, I think meat-eaters who can't stand the thought of raising and/or killing their own meat, are prissy, and I tease DH about this. (DH is sure that God invented grocery stores for a reason.) Mind you, if we had a meat-bearing farm animal, my DH would name it and make a pet out of it. He wouldn't take my advice and name it "Dinner" either. It would probably get to live in the house!

[Rosie_0801]

Well, Ladies, my DH is the ultimate anti-vegetarian. Don't choke on this, but he actually thinks people who don't eat meat may be mentally ill. What else would cause this aberration? It isn't "natural"!

 

 

ROFL! Tell your husband to observe non-vegetarians over the next few weeks. I'm pretty sure he'll find he is developing suspicions that they all might be mentally ill too; but for different reasons!

 

:lol:

Rosie

 

P.S. My dh was a big meat eater too, and is now a most reluctant vegan. This came about from reading a book by a guy who grew up on a cattle ranch and accidentally became vegan. Your dh had better be careful. It might happen to him too! :D

[RoughCollie]

I am sitting here eating home made pesto sauce on top of a mixture of raw kelp noodles and zucchini noodles, along with red capsicum strips.

 

You are speaking a foreign language to me. I think pesto sauce is made with basil. Kelp is seaweed. I have no idea what capsicum is.

 

I know I can Google this, and I probably will.

 

My new recipes are for foods most people probably think are mainstream: Black bean soup, pea pods and asparagus in a salad, lentil salad.

 

I know what all the ingredients are, and I would not dare to include kelp or tofu in any recipe because DH would not touch it with a 10-foot pole.

 

He will recognize the food. I have noticed that he will get bored with a menu if he eats at the same restaurant a lot (like Ruby Tuesdays) and he'll try something new and like it. But at home, he is not adventurous at all.

[RoughCollie]

ROFL! Tell your husband to observe non-vegetarians over the next few weeks. I'm pretty sure he'll find he is developing suspicions that they all might be mentally ill too; but for different reasons!

 

Oh, yeah. DH is a really nice guy, but he does tend to judge what is "normal" by his own characteristics.

 

He must think I am really exotic (or maybe he secretly thinks I'm loony).

 

Well, he's really going to think I'm crazy now! I love to cook and I've felt stifled for years. I routinely cook about 30 main dishes and I know all the recipes by heart. Let's get real here: when we got married, he said he would eat anything except foreign food, onions, bell peppers and cabbage. There went half of what I used to make! I mean, how does one cook without onions and bell peppers?

 

What he really meant was bring on the beef!

Edited April 20, 2010 by RoughCollie

[RoughCollie]

And one last thing....if they all have bad attitudes about it, don't take it personally.

 

Oh, I won't. If DD and I like it, that's good enough for me. The males can eat factory food if they are hungry. It's not like I'm introducing anything unrecognizable or skirting the bounds of good taste.

 

The main thing is to keep the males out of the kitchen while I'm cooking, to buy the unusual (to them) ingredients like snow peas myself, and to make sure the males don't find recipes lying around. If they read the ingredients, they will get anxious.

Edited April 20, 2010 by RoughCollie

[RoughCollie]

Soup and salad works well. I make sure that the soup is a hearty one for my dh who needs plenty of protein.

 

A friend of ours made dinner for us one night. We had a hearty soup, salad, and homemade bread. After he ate, DH told her he was ready for the main course.

 

Both of us were shocked that DH didn't realize he had just eaten dinner!

[RoughCollie]

You could serve meat on top of the salad.

 

I am going to do this. I can't wait to see DH's face - he will think it is really strange, trust me. :D

 

This, from a man who puts thousand island dressing on cottage cheese!

[RoughCollie]

I don;t know if you've ever seen Cooking Light Magazine (I read it at our library), but they regularly take old recipes and rework them to make them lighter, lol, healthier etc.

 

I used to subscribe to Cooking Light. When DH saw it, he said, "You aren't going to cook from that are you?".

 

The next night he came home with groceries -- 2 dozen Stouffer's frozen meals, Alpha-Bits and Cocoa Puffs, Pop Tarts, lots of ice-cream, cookies, and Campbell's Chunky Soups. I kid you not. He was afraid he would starve to death.

 

The man has issues. :001_smile:

[Liz CA]

You could serve meat on top of the salad. We eats lots of salads with slices of steak, chicken, tuna, salmon on top. You could serve the salad with bread, rice, couscous, noodles, polenta, muffins, mashed potatoes, soup...

 

Yes, we had Curried Chicken Salad tonight and the leftovers will even be better tomorrow after it marinaded in the dressing.

[ElizabethB]

I call what I have to eat "weird food" or "my allergy food," I'm sure most people have not even heard of most of it!

 

Try:

 

teff flour, or teff flour made into injera, a flat Ethopian sourdough bread.

 

Millet flour, jerusalem artichokes, malanga root, taro root, starfruit, jicama.

 

Being a meat guy, he might actually like some of my weird meats: yak, elk, guinea fowl, pheasant, quail, ostrich.

 

I can also eat a few things people recognize as food, but not many.

[Rosie_0801]

You are speaking a foreign language to me. I think pesto sauce is made with basil. Kelp is seaweed. I have no idea what capsicum is.

Pesto sauce can be made with basil. It can be made with other green, leafy type stuff too. You can even put kelp in ;) Capsicum is bell pepper, nothing exotic (I think!)

 

I know what all the ingredients are, and I would not dare to include kelp or tofu in any recipe because DH would not touch it with a 10-foot pole.

 

Tofu is nasty stuff anyway, so your poor (;)) dh doesn't need it. Seaweed can go into some interesting places. We're learning about this ourselves. I'd have learned more except I spent my cookbook budget on the vegan Indian book that arrived today!!

 

Rosie

[Jennifer in MI]

Your dh and you sound hilarious together!!! I was LOL about the mental problems!!

 

I've been slowly changing our eating over to mostly vegetarian/vegan. One of my biggest frustrations with it is that so much of it uses processed food! Sietan, tofu, and other fake meats. I don't want that!!!!

 

My suggestion is to have many side dishes. Cook a new main dish, but have a couple dishes that are familiar as sides. I'm cooking a peanut and sweet potato stew tonight for dinner. I'll have a HUGE salad, fresh bread, and steamed veggies as a side. I may also make some pasta because one of my children is allergic to peanuts.

 

Good luck!!

[JFSinIL]

I'd cook the new stuff every OTHER night (or less often at first) - and have leftovers from the night before for hubby (instead of poptarts, etc. - don't even buy those anymore!) in case he has to have his comfort food.

 

Away from the kids, ask him to not say anything negative about the new meals in front of the kids - his opinions at the table could affect whether or not they go for the new stuff.

 

Cooking a big roast or meatloaf once a week, to have leftover plain meat for him on your salad nights, might be a good idea.

[RoughCollie]

I'd cook the new stuff every OTHER night (or less often at first) - and have leftovers from the night before for hubby (instead of poptarts, etc. - don't even buy those anymore!) in case he has to have his comfort food.

 

 

That's a good idea about the leftovers.

 

I have not bought Pop Tarts in my entire life. I loathe them. IMO, they are fake food. DH does that on his own, and nothing I say stops him. Yesterday, DD read him the "nutritional" label on the box. She told him not to buy any more and he agreed. That's because he bought the huge, we run a diner size carton of Pop Tarts last week.

[JudoMom]

My Dad is fairly picky. However, he will try most anything I cook when they come to visit (I just don't mention what's in it, and try to make the name sound as normal as possible :lol:), and he usually likes it. It drives my Mom crazy--she had to serve him beef rollups for a couple of years because he doesn't like Mexican food (they were beef enchiladas :lol:).

 

Anyway, maybe your dh would handle the new food better if it's dd preparing/serving it?

[LibraryLover]

It doesn't spund like something you can discuss together rationally. I am hoping he is otherwise a nice guy...lol...seriously, I do. Bringing home 24 Stoffer's frozen meals would seem antagonistic to me, and not funny. "You think I plan to eat anything you make, ha!" That's not a good example for the children. What about the "Respect mom; she works hard to care for us" part of it?

 

Still, since you're not saying he is a mean guy, but just has food issues, I wonder what he does like to eat that you could acutally make with real ingredients. I never knew my father to buy groceries like that save the occassional bag of chips or cookies, but trust me when I say he finally was able to try new foods, and enjoy them. I always think if my dad can, anyone can....but maybe not. How old is your dh?

 

Some people are not going to change, and oftens it's better if we respect each other and our quirks. I imagine it would be difficult to watch my children eat that kind of junk food on a daily basis (because we do eat some junk), or tell them their father is making poor choices I won't support in them. That would feel wrong as well. If he hides it, that's a lot of work , and a lot of sneak- eating when the children are not around. I can't imagine that would be easy for him.

 

But really, it might be possible to add real ingredients to foods he does like without too much of an issue, espcially if you are not talking about it, and hide all the Cooking Light mags. ;)

 

 

 

I used to subscribe to Cooking Light. When DH saw it, he said, "You aren't going to cook from that are you?".

 

The next night he came home with groceries -- 2 dozen Stouffer's frozen meals, Alpha-Bits and Cocoa Puffs, Pop Tarts, lots of ice-cream, cookies, and Campbell's Chunky Soups. I kid you not. He was afraid he would starve to death.

 

The man has issues. :001_smile:

Edited April 20, 2010 by LibraryLover

[Nakia]

Your dh and you sound hilarious together!!! I was LOL about the mental problems!!

 

I've been slowly changing our eating over to mostly vegetarian/vegan. One of my biggest frustrations with it is that so much of it uses processed food! Sietan, tofu, and other fake meats. I don't want that!!!!

 

My suggestion is to have many side dishes. Cook a new main dish, but have a couple dishes that are familiar as sides. I'm cooking a peanut and sweet potato stew tonight for dinner. I'll have a HUGE salad, fresh bread, and steamed veggies as a side. I may also make some pasta because one of my children is allergic to peanuts.

 

Good luck!!

 

I would love to have the recipe for that peanut and sweet potato stew. :D

[Jennifer in MI]

African Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew

 

Oil for sautéing

2 medium-size yellow onions, chopped

3 garlic cloves, pressed or minced

2 red bell peppers, seeded and cut in to 1/2 inch squares

1 T light brown sugar

1 t grated or minced fresh ginger

1 t ground cumin

1 t ground cinnamon

1/2 t cayenne pepper

1/2 - 3/4 cup smooth or crunchy natural peanut butter

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 can (15 oz) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (15 ounces) diced tomatoes

4 cups veggie stock

1 t salt

1/2 - 1 cup chopped dry-roasted peanuts (optional)

 

Heat oil in a large-size saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add bell pepper, cover, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in brown sugar, ginger, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper, and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.

 

Stir in peanut butter, distributing evenly troughout. Hint: To think out peanut butter first, mix it with water in a small bowl before adding to pot. It will be easier to incorporate into the stew.

 

Add sweet potatoes, kidney beans, and tomatoes, and stir to coat. Add vegetable stock, bring to a boil, then reduct heat to low and simmer until sweet potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes. Taste and add salt, if necessary. Serve in individual bowls, topped with chopped nuts and cilantro, if desired.

 

 

Disclaimer - I have not made this yet!!!! So, I don't know how good it is (or isn't!). I think I'm making it tonight (but there's another recipe with portabello mushrooms that may win me over tonight!!).

[Jean in Newcastle]

A friend of ours made dinner for us one night. We had a hearty soup, salad, and homemade bread. After he ate, DH told her he was ready for the main course.

 

Both of us were shocked that DH didn't realize he had just eaten dinner!

 

That's when you hand him his soup bowl and tell him that there's more on the stove.

 

 

Oh - and capsicum? We call them bell peppers here in the US. (I got that from Amber in Aus's blog where she had some pictures of some from her garden)

[jenn-]

I have to kick some of the kids out of the kitchen when I cook a few of our meals. What is "yummy" in a meal, won't be touched if they saw it going in. Tonight I am going to try to convince them that a green smoothie is dessert, but they will be locked in a room (not literally) because I know if they see the spinach going in, even my most daring eater will turn their nose up. Good luck on your adventure into new foods. My advice is to keep it as normal sounding/looking as possible for the first few new meals.

[FlockOfSillies]

I think your dd has it backwards -- 1-2 nights/week of new stuff, and the rest "same old same old." I think you'll be more likely to get buy-in from the menfolk if you introduce things very gradually, going from less-exotic to more-exotic over time. You might also try just a new side dish along with the old standbys.

 

I crack up whenever I hear about people calling pizza, pasta, and tacos "foreign food."

[dangermom]

Well I am not married to Peela's husband, but my husband type person is mostly vegan. He gets his protein from tempeh, other kinds of beans, lentils, nuts, seeds and the veggies that contain protein. We eat a fair amount of greens around here.

 

Rosie

Thanks. I'm just wondering, if you don't eat meat and can't eat beans, what do you do? I'm presuming that 'beans' includes all legumes, maybe it doesn't.

 

My daughter is allergic to all nuts and legumes (and some seeds), so we've always figured that vegetarianism/veganism was not a real option for her, unless she was willing to put a lot of work into researching nutrition.

[Rosie_0801]

Thanks. I'm just wondering, if you don't eat meat and can't eat beans, what do you do? I'm presuming that 'beans' includes all legumes, maybe it doesn't.

 

My daughter is allergic to all nuts and legumes (and some seeds), so we've always figured that vegetarianism/veganism was not a real option for her, unless she was willing to put a lot of work into researching nutrition.

 

I can't see how veganism would work in that situation, but I think vegetarianism would. There are still eggs and dairy.

 

Rosie

[Jamee]

We love Cooking Light. I subscribe to their Dinner Tonight e-mails and everyday I get a new recipe to try. We've done several and have never been disappointed. They're usually fast, easy, healthy meals so that has been a plus. DH is the one who has converted me though, I never knew you didn't eat vegetables out of a can until meeting him. Since getting married, I have to say we don't buy any canned at all with the exception of corn. Good luck in your quest! I agree too, that one or two new meals a week would be the best start, and easier for you too. I can relate to the commissary thing though, as that is all we have outside of the Japanese markets. There have been many times we've found a recipe we want to try only to not be able to find ingerdients for it.

[tristangrace]

Just wanted to say "kudos" to all you women who are cooking 5-7 meals a week: good for you guys!

 

Most nights I am "assembling" meals, not cooking--we eat fairly healthfully, but it's SUPER simple. A green salad, raw fruits and vegetables, and then whole grain pasta or eggs or even oatmeal (yes, for dinner!), or else leftovers from the one or two nights a week I do actual cooking.

 

Happily, we're all fairly content with this system, and the other adult in the house (my husband) is also pretty adventuresome and appreciative when I do cook. We're on an Indian food kick lately.

 

To address the actual topic of the post: I agree with those who suggest reversing the old/new ratio and starting with just a couple new dishes a week. Food is a really personal thing, and being able to depend on familiar stuff would probably really help with easing into the new dishes.