what to feed a picky boyfriend?

Hi all!

I'm going to visit my boyfriend next weekend. He's been ill recently (mono, ugh) and has had a complete loss of appetite and dropped a bunch of weight, which scared him a little - he's become a little obsessive with counting calories, actually, but isn't all that concerned with nutrition yet, so I want to help him get some more balance into his diet (and mine, come to think of it). He's a picky and pretty poor eater even when in the best of health (eats mostly pasta and white bread sandwiches and pizza and beer, etc.) but has expressed a desire to eat healthier and more diverse foods and wants me to help him get started when I'm there next week (or, as he put it, "I really shouldn't make fun of you for being a woman in the kitchen, cause that is something I actually need your help with").

I'm a fairly decent cook when I put my mind to it, but I'm a little rusty after living at boarding school for several months where I never had to put hand to knife (and, before that, not paying attention to my own dietary needs), and I could use a little help. Anyone have any ideas for some tasty, nutritious, "familiar" recipes? I'm expecting his kitchen to be pretty thinly stocked, so that's also a complicating factor.

Thanks, everyone!

My fiance is the same way. During our 5 years of dating I've slowly managed to convert him. He loves pasta and still makes it when I can't cook for him. However, I've stocked our kitchen with whole grain pasta (having him try it first, of course), which I feel is a step in the right direction.

He's also discovered a lot more foods that he loves because of me. We both love pierogies (Mrs. T's brand) and simmered in chicken broth or white wine they're so yummy and comforting. I've introduced him to pesto, which is his new-found love when I cook chicken. It is also great with pasta. Second to pesto on chicken, we love a cocoa rub mixture I found on Allrecipes. Check out my journal if you're interested.

He never liked fish either, but I can get him to eat Tilapia. I have a recipe that my Mom makes out of her Greek cookbook. It consists of diced tomatoes, onions, garlic, some oregano, parsley, cinnamon, and sweet dessert wine (or red wine). It's simmered then baked on top of the Tilapia and just wonderful.

I hope I've helped! Good luck!

If he loves pizza so much, why not make it yourselves and make it more healthy?

Make a whole wheat crust (I'd start by just swapping out some of the white flour - say 3/4 white to 1/4 wheat, then increase from there), use lots of good tomato sauce (you can make your own, but to be honest, I never do. Just pick one that doesn't have a lot of added sugar or salt), and pile on the veggies. One of my favorite pizzas involves caramelized onion, lots of minced garlic and really thinly sliced Japanese eggplant (the long skinny ones - less bitter, and looks sort of like pepperoni when you slice it). Add some lean meat (I like ham on just about every pizza) and go easy on the cheese, and you've got a pretty decent meal.

It's also easy to ease into extra veggies in spaghetti sauce (mince some carrots and celery, dice a bell pepper or eggplant, add zucchini slices) either over some whole wheat pasta or made into lasagne (go easy on the mozzarella, and use low-fat ricotta or cottage cheese). Serve it with some lean chicken.

Turn his sandwiches into salads - there's nothing wrong with a hearty salad if that's the meal. Lettuce, blue cheese, carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers and a crumbled hamburger patty (or just browned lean ground beef or turkey) are great with some reasonable ranch dressing. Taco salad gets a bad rap, but serve it on a plate instead of a fried tortilla shell and emphasize the salsa, tomatoes, corn and black beans over the cheese and sour cream. You can also bake strips of tortillas to add a crunchy topping. Call it reverse nachos, or something :)

Likewise with soups - try to keep what he likes (say, diced ham and potatoes) but improve it in other ways - leave the peel on potatoes, add plenty of veggies, go easy on butter, use low-salt broths, punch up flavor with herbs and seasonings, or things like sharp cheeses, where a little goes a long way.

Anyway, at least he's trying to change - that's always a good sign! Hope he feels better and that you two have fun cooking.

Get him to watch the food network. Overtime it will sublimely brainswash him in thinking there's more to life than pizza and beer, and there might not be for him, but he'll think so, and might breakout and try pan seared tuna with a wasabi dipping sauce.