Bored with my food/menus. Any ideas?

Does this happen to the rest of you?  I'm sick of beef and chicken.  Tired of fish and eggs. 

Sometimes I'm just out of ideas.  This never happened before CC.  Then, one more pizza didn't matter, nor did chips and dip so I just ate whatever appealed at the moment.

Soup, like bean soup doesn't appeal.  I try not to overdo cheese because of sodium. 

This isn't fancy, but I'm thinking of buying a bakery bun and having a turkey burger.

What do the rest of you do when you get bored with your own food but avoid restaurants for the obvious reasons.

I love pork tenderloin!  It is the leanest part, very low calorie (don't buy the ones that are prepackage w/ flavor-high in sodium) and you can marinate in just about anything.

I like to keep it simple.  Sprinkle with garlic powder and baste with grey poupon mustard and bake.  Serve with veggies and long grain wild rice.  Leftovers I use in a salad the next day.

ok, thanks healthybmi.  I haven't had pork for probably a yr. but that's a good idea.

I'd recommend you 'go veggie' for a week.  Meat can get a bit samey if you have it too often but, if you get hold of a good vegetarian cookbook, you can really expand your repertoire!   Beans, lentils, chickpeas, tofu, nuts.... Given the right treatment they're fantastic.  Other ideas.... find out how to cook cuisines from other countries.  Indian, Chinese, Thai, Mexican, Morroccan... whatever appeals.  Having to hunt down ingredients and work through entirely new cooking techniques or recipes is a great way bring back the sparkle to your menu and add interest to your jaded palate. :-)

gi-jane, you just reminded me of the 'Moosewood, low fat" cookbook I got for Christmas and really haven't used much lately.  Now that winter is over, I enjoy driving to the big cities where the decent grocery stores are.  Thanks :)

I say branch out. Try Indian, Thai, Burmese, Japanese food... Get a few good cook books off eBay / library / borders etc and see what they have to say. Personally, doing this opened my palette to a whole whole whole new world of flavor and interesting yet crazily delicious and healthy foods. Indian food is the best IMO. Beware, the stuff you get out of a restaurant is lathered in oil / butter. You need to really stick to a cook book or even modify the recipes a little, but at the end of the day you can create hundreds of new meals you'd never tried before... Eventually baked chicken + broccoli will be an exotic change!

mgoyder:  I wouldn't even know what Burmese food was.  Out here in the country we only have the usual chains and the others are Amish, with pies and noodles, etc.  From the little I know of Thai I really like that.  The nearest Trader Joes is 75 miles and I just went for the first time recently.  I got some noodles with a peanut sauce that was quick to heat and delicious.  We do have several Chinese restaurants.  When I think of Indian I think of curry which I love.  I've never looked at cookbooks at the library since I have so many, but actually most of mine are similiar to one another, Southern Living, Cooking Light, etc., except for my Moosewood book.  I was just thinking of something I had 10 yrs ago when my daughter was in college, living in Gainesville, Fla, and that was falafel (sp).  It was really good but I can't find it here.  That would have hit the spot today!

experiment with herbs, spices, and healthy sacues and dressings.  You will probably discover something new soon.

if you do a google search for homemade falafel there are quite a few recipes using chickpeas. I love felafel but the ones I've had locally aren't nearly as good as those in NYC and Western Australia :)

I've never done it, but I know you can order ingredients off the web. You essentially get shipped to you the spices, herbs, broth bases etc and all you do it put it together with some sort of meat / veg etc... Maybe if you can find a website you can trust somewhat, this might be for you...

 

I got so bored with the same meals week in week out and ironically I'm sure that's why I ate too much - because I was never satisfied.  So I got a wok and a good chinese cookbook and with some forward planning cooked a lot of chinese meals over the last 2 weeks.  Wow, for the first time I was properly satisfied without overeating.  So when I get fed up with Chinese dishes I will probably do meditteranean or something - sort of an around the world tour.

okay after reading this I got hungry.. felafel's are coming up soon!

Wander around your grocery store, and speak to your produce/butcher/fish department person.  Most of the time they are quite knowledgable about the different items they have in stock, and if it's something you've never tried before, can give you suggestions on how to eat it, how to cook it, what it tastes like, etc...  It's a great way to expand your horizons. 

Even wandering around your packaged section can inspire you - I recently discovered canned turkey breast, and added it to shredded cabbage, dried cranberries and a home made dressing (f.f. mayo, white wine vinegar, and a touch of sugar) for a beautiful salad!

Browse through cookbooks, and try new things. There are several great websites where users upload their own recipes. The one I use is called recipezaar, and it has nutrition information for each recipe, so I can see if it's something I can eat or not.

I look at Trader Joe's.  They have some fantastic salads that I try to reproduce.  Thai chicken noodle salad, it's great and even better if you add a cup of shredded carrots and cabbage.

Get a burger.  One every few weeks doesn't have a large impact on your diet, but can impact your mood.  Buy a lean cut of steak and BBQ.

I do like going to the grocery store as sometimes that's the only time I see ppl.  Believe me I am always talking to the butcher, dairy and produce manager.  I'm sure when they see me they want to run away mumbling, 'omg theres that woman again with her insistent questions.  The shopping in this area is very dismal, the herbs are just the basics and I can't even buy arugula here.

What I found most bizarre when I moved back here 8 yrs ago was that every produce department had long tables with bins of candy.  Thankfully, those have gradually shrunk or disappeared entirely.

thanks everyone for the great ideas.

There are a couple of pasta salads that I'm nuts about and can pretty much reproduce:

Thai chicken noodle salad from Trader Joe's...flax noodles or whole grain noodles, 1 cup shredded cabbage, 1 cup shredded carrots, a few green onions diced, a few leaves of cilantro diced.  I can't find the sauce, but there are some similar thai peanut sauces that aren't bad.  I typically use maybe 1/3 of the dressing supplied in the original salad and save the rest for the salads I make myself.

Greek pasta salad from costco, my version is much better.  1 serving of noodles, flax or whole grain, as many baby tomatoes as you can stand to look at, a few artichoke hearts, a handful of black olives, cucumber and onion if you want, then use feta cheese, oregano, salt, and pepper to dress it.

 

I recommend eating what is in season, planing something for the weekend that fits with your plan and nice enough for guest, and last I brows the recipe web sites ie. recipe zaar for new things to add to my menu so it dose not get too narrow.

Go for the pizza!!  Just fill up on salad/veggies and then eat only one or two slices of pizza.  Avoid fatty toppings like pepperoni, ground beef, and ham.  Stick with veggie toppings like tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers. 

It's these times that can sabatoge you...  You're feeling bored so you pig out on the "bad" stuff.  I say:  Enjoy the "bad" stuff once in a while and in small quantities.  That'll keep you from really doing any damage to your plans.

For other ideas...

I often make casseroles using the same basic core ingredients and then adding whatever spices or other things I think might taste good and balance out my nutritional requirements for the day.  Sometimes I add a portion of meat.  An example:

1. 1 can stewed tomatoes
2. 1 serving whole grain pasta or rice (one serving for two people cuts the cals)
3. .5 - 1 zuchinni or eggplant, cubed
4. 1 - 2 tbsp black olives, drained & rinsed
5. 1 bell pepper
6. .5 cup cheese of choice
7. whatever spices you like (chili powder, italian seasoning, spaghetti sauce, garlic, onion...)

I'm tagging this for future ideas.  I just love all the ppl here who are so helpful!

I've never been to a Costco either and they are also 75 mi away.