Tips to get Creative in the Kitchen and Excited about Food Again

Chicken again for dinner?  Another apple in the lunchbox.  Yogurt for breakfast for the past two years…. Having a routine for meals is healthy and convenient, absolutely.  Not having to think about what to eat for every….single….meal…. can make things a lot easier and less stressful.  That being said, it can get pretty boring.  However, the idea of thinking of new things to eat means spending time googling, or taking longer in the grocery store to find new foods.  Now you have to learn how to prepare a new food or risk messing up a new recipe.  (No? Breaking into a sweat thinking about trying a new recipe only happens to me….great).

Fear not!  It doesn’t have to be that overwhelming.  Adding some new foods or recipes into your routine can be easy and gasp….dare I suggest….fun?  Check out these suggestions and see if anything tickles your fancy.

Instead of a whole new recipe, pick one item on the menu

If you make a mean chickpea curry over rice with peppers, try switching out the rice for couscous or swap the peppers for cauliflower.  Maybe you make the best mac and cheese; try pairing it with different proteins like tofu.  Love your burger, fries and side salad?  Keep everything the same and try a new burger- black bean burger, salmon cakes, veggie burger, chicken burger, turkey burger stuffed with cheese, so many options to keep it interesting.  Swapping out 1 item (instead of the whole meal) can be much easier to handle.

At the grocery store, narrow your new food down to a specific item

Wandering the aisles looking for a new food to try might lead to a lot of wasted time since there are so many options.  Or for me, who is very indecisive, it will lead to nothing, since picking an item amongst all the options will leave me completely overwhelmed.  Next time you go to the grocery store, pick one item, say, salad dressing, or a fruit, or a snack food.  Then when you hit that section of the store, you know you’re walking away with something new to try.  It might be as simple as a new yogurt flavor, or as complicated as an artichoke heart (I’m Irish/German, there would be a lot of googling to see how the heck to eat that thing).  Next week, pick a new section to browse, I’m thinking a fun new salsa….

Ask your family, or yourself!

Next time you sit down to a meal, alone or with your family, talk about the meal!  Think about what you like in the meal, or what you might like better.  Really enjoying a meal and tuning into the tastes and textures, is not only healthy, but can lead to better recipes!  Less or more of a certain spice- maybe a different spice altogether, possibly adding a sauce to the chicken next time to keep it from drying out.  Zhush up the quinoa with some lemon pepper seasoning.  Take the meal you made and see if you can make it better!

Use Social Media to your advantage

Instead of watching funny cat videos, try following some people who cook (I mean, keep watching the cat videos, but add some new accounts too)!  There are tons of people posting recipes and pictures of their food.  Find someone, or a few people, who inspire you.  Want more vegetarian dishes, look for people who are plant based- like Vegetarian ‘Ventures.  Not a lot of free time- watch for Easy Family Recipes to show you how to get dinner on the table….well…fast!  You can even follow your favorite cooking celebrities, or the entire Food Network for inspiration.  My husband loves following America’s Test Kitchen for the best recipes for things he didn’t even know he wanted to make.  He’ll save the recipe, add the ingredients to the shopping list on his phone and boom, new recipe in the rotation for next week.  Works for me, I get the benefit of that one:)

Replicate something

Did you know there are recipes out there for the Big Mac sauce?  Me either, until I looked it up for a client who said the reason she likes the Big Mac is not for the burger itself, but for the sauce.  Now she makes the sauce at home and can eat it with anything she wants. If you like it, there is probably a recipe out there for it: Panera copycat soup recipes, lemon cake from Starbucks, pretty much anything from Taco Bell. Try your hand at making your favorite restaurant recipe at home.  Aim for one a month and see where it gets you.  You might find yourself eating in more often, and that’s never a bad thing.  

Another option is to take ideas from eating out and try them at home.  Let me explain: my basic lettuce, tomato, cucumber salad at home is SO BORING.  Eating out, I love getting a salad with goat cheese and/or sunflower seeds, maybe some pear slices.  Hello…I can totally do that at home.  Next time you eat out, ask yourself what appealed to you about the meal you ordered and think about that when you’re making your meals at home.

Trying one new food or recipe a week will get you 52 in a year.  That’s a lot of new foods/dishes to spice up your routine.  Having kids get involved in choosing new foods makes it more likely they’ll try it.  Packing yourself a “fancy” new lunch (and by fancy I mean a pita wrap in place of your standard old bread) can make lunch something you look forward to, instead of eating just to eat it.  Cooking at home is healthier in general since you get to control the ingredients.  All signs point to – try some new foods!

Comment below with a new food or recipe you’ve been wanting to try, we’d love to hear about it!

Stay Happy, Stay Healthy

This blog was written by Chris Henigan MS, RD, LDN, co-founder of Simple Start Nutrition.  For more blog posts and nutrition information follow @simplestartnutrition on Instagram and Facebook.  Also feel free to contact us, by visiting our website (simplestartnutrition.com) to schedule an appointment to discuss your nutrition related needs.  We’re here to help.