HELP I am bored with food!

I never thought in a million years I would say this, but here goes.. I am bored with food!  I noticed this weekend I dont like to eat anymore (which I guess is good, but I need to eat) I think I am just bored with the same foods.  I have found that the trips to the grocery store and painfull to say the least sometimes spending upwards of 2 hours reading labels and staring at the selves thinking what am I going to make. It seems  I have no idea what to make anymore. I seem to always buy seafood, fish, chicken, pork, and then we always have a supply of vension, but mixing it up to make a fun dinner seems to be the  challenge. In a few weeks my daughter will start soccer and then cheerleading so quick and healthy meals will be the challenge, prior to WLS McDonlalds and hot dogs were the quick meals. I have a wonderful pressure cooker and I love my crock pot! Any suggestions on meals or web sites to look at would be greatly appreicated!

Hummm well what are the meals that you usually make that you are bored with? That'll help us come up with other ideas. Now with spring here (YAY YAY YAY!!!) we can break out the grill and change things up.

Liz, Typically when I make chicken I mix greek yogurt with hidden valley ranch mix and parm cheese, or throw it in the crock pot with chicken broth and mushrooms, Bar B Que was a favorite but I have found that my taste towrads Bar B Que have changed. Pork chops, baked usually with panko breading or with some pork gravy, I make chicken or turkey taco's, chicken chili, seafood usually old bay and lemon. I love spicy but not sure how my pouch will take alot of spice at 16 weeks. I know what is safe at this point so I feel that holds me  from venturing off the path.

AMEN to spring, we spend alot of time outdoors and the grill is used often!

Well what you can do from this point is take what you know works and make it different ways. Experiment with marinades, sauces and cooking methods. Use strips of meat and veggies to make a stir fry - you can serve it over rice for hubby/kids if needed. I make meatballs in gravy and serve with a steamed veggie and noodles for hubby. Maybe try a different kind of BBQ - I make my pulled pork in the crock pot with apple juice and just a little BBQ sauce.  I'll coat fish in a little panko and pan sautee, I love that because I get the crunch of fried fish but it is all healthy. I am a bit further out so I'll make a salad and put leftover meat on top. I pack my lunches for work too most of the time and I'll make a "salad" with tuna, cucumber, onion, cheese and a balsamic vinigarette. I make chicken fingers using a little panko and lots of parmesan cheese then bake them in the oven. You can also use this method to make chicken parm - just top it with a little sauce and some mozzarella cheese. I also make a chicken "lasagna" using chicken (or grilled zucchini or eggplant) as the noodles and layer in the ricotta cheese.

Like Karen mentioned too go to Borders and wander the cookbook aisle. "low carb" is all the rage these days so there are lots out there. The websites she mentioned are great too.

Good luck!
Liz

There is a lady named "Eggface" on this site who has a lot of great recipes.  In addition, any recipe you find can be useful, it doesn't necessarily have to be WLS-friendly.

I got a cookbook on Thai food--very aromatic and nice flavors.

Good luck!

Think about the TYPES of flavors you like... spicy?  sweet?  savory?  sour?  Now think about changing up what you usually do in those ranges and get experimental... try a different type of ethnic cuisine, for example.  Or a different cooking technique. Heaven knows I love my crockpot, but if I were to use it all the time, I'd get bored with what comes out of it, so I make sure to pan-sear, bake, broil, roast, sautee, etc...

Get a couple of good cookbooks to use as jumping off points for experimenting.  For example, the "Fix it and forget it lightly" cookbook is for crockpots, and is lower fat / lower cal recipes.  Not at all WLS friendly, some of them, but they're jumping off points for ideas.

Bariatriceating.com (www.bariatriceating.com) has some great recipes.  The Barix Store site (http://www.barixclinicsstore.com/recipe_main.html) also has some excellent recipes, and I just posted a Thai cooking site with easily adaptable recipes like Hot and Sour Soup with Shrimp (ต้มยำกุ้ง – tom yum goong) ).  Eggface's blog (theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/) is a phenomenal source of ideas.  And Liz's cooking class is, too!  (next one is March 20th if you can get to it - if not, look at the recipe postings that will come out of it)

The key is experimentation and the realization that virtually anything can be made "friendly" with a little thought. 

Karen

Thank you everyone! I pass a Borders on my way home from work I will stop tonight and take a look at the cook books! You have all given me some great ideas. Thank you! It just seems so hard when in my past life there was no boundries and I ate what I wanted with no cares in the world, now it is a daunting task sometimes but well worth it. Thank you again!