Do you ever get the cooking blahs?!

[raro]

The summer produce isn't in yet and I hate store-bought stuff. It's too hot (my AC died) to make soups or stews, and I'm sick of salads with pink tomatoes and shriveled, waxed cucumbers. I am trying to eat less meat, and I eat only organic milk products, (which are too expensive to eat a lot of), so...what else can I cook?!?

What do you do for dinner when it's hot and you're tired from working all day and you're trying to be healthy but nothing looks good?!?

 

[keljonma]

I have been cooking for almost 50 years! I love cooking and experimenting with foods and new recipes. So cooking blahs for me are rare.

Since we have a limited growing season in our region, fresh produce that is locally produced is a treasure. Our farmer's market is only open from June through October. Some years it is harder to grow indoors during winter than others. The local CSA is hardly varied enough to provide what we don't grow ourselves.

I use the warmer months (I'm sure they are coming even to us here in NE Ohio ) to try out new recipes for salads, chilled Soups, black bean burgers. We eat lentils, quinoa, amaranth, brown rice, barley, beans regularly. We like veggie pizza with a whole-grain crust and lots of garlic. Make it before bed, refrigerate it and eat cold pizza the next day for lunch or dinner. Hummus or tzaziki with veggies is a great hot weather meal, imo.

One thing I have been doing for years is dividing meat (beef or pork) into 1/4 pound packages. Between the two of us that is 1/8th of a pound of meat at a time. It started as a cost-cutting thing; but I think we are healthier for not eating as much meat as we once did (of course this is just my personal opinion).

So you could look into a local CSA, or try to grow some things yourself in your off-season (if applicable to your area). Other than that try something new; get out of the rut that we all fall into after a while, of having the "same old, same old" all the time.

Crock pot cooking is a treasure. That way you don't cook after a long day.

Do some searches, there are a LOT of a variety of recipes here on SS. Something here is bound to whet your appetite.

And I am sure others will have something to share as well. Good luck!

 

[i_am2bz]

(Actually, that icon is funny b/c sometimes I do eat m/w popcorn when it's too hot to cook.)

I have a couple of bean salad recipes that are good...nice & cold on a hot day. Do you eat canned beans?

 

[lorihadams]

I feel you....I have gotten out of planning my meals because with the extra daylight I find that I don't realize it is dinnertime cause I'm busy outside. Then we end up eating sandwiches or something fast and we are feeling it.

I just need to get looking for new recipes to try too. I'm GF too so that requires some extra planning sometimes too.

 

[keljonma]

And isn't there a GF thread here somewhere....?

 

[patandchickens]

Yup! Or I don't get the blahs per se, but notice that I am making the same six things over and over and over again, and even if it doesn't bother ME I worry it may be stunting the childrens' tastebuds or something LOL

Cures for me: a) leaf thru box of recipe cards to find things I've forgotten about; b) leaf thru my favorite cookbooks; c) see what interesting new cookbooks the library has gotten since I last checked, not so much for recipes to follow exactly as for "inspiration"; and d) see what's on big sale at the supermarket and then go "whoa, I'd better look up a bunch of new cabbage recipes!"

I also usually ask husband and kids what they think we haven't had recently that they'd like... but they are all male and the response tends to be "I don't know, what about <something I made the night before>"

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[DrakeMaiden]

The summer produce isn't in yet and I hate store-bought stuff. It's too hot (my AC died) to make soups or stews, and I'm sick of salads with pink tomatoes and shriveled, waxed cucumbers. I am trying to eat less meat, and I eat only organic milk products, (which are too expensive to eat a lot of), so...what else can I cook?!?

What do you do for dinner when it's hot and you're tired from working all day and you're trying to be healthy but nothing looks good?!?

When I feel like that I make Thai food. Most recipes are light and quick to throw together. Definitely spices things up.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I also usually ask husband and kids what they think we haven't had recently that they'd like... but they are all male and the response tends to be "I don't know, what about <something I made the night before>"

Pat

 

[calendula]

(Actually, that icon is funny b/c sometimes I do eat m/w popcorn when it's too hot to cook.)

I have a couple of bean salad recipes that are good...nice & cold on a hot day. Do you eat canned beans?

My husband still teases me about the day he came home and we were eating popcorn and fruit and yogurt parfaits for dinner.

 

[raro]

Hadn't thought of bean salads, hmm.

I have a sister who will eat pretty much anything and a 9-year-old who...won't. We joke that if it has color, he won't eat it.

I like the idea of black bean burgers. Pizza is good except that I am lousy at making it. The crust is the hardest part. It always just...sort of sits there and does nothing.

Popcorn with fruit and yogurt parfaits actually sounds really good right now!!!