@mom60 , we like chicken caesar salad. I marinate chicken tenders in zesty italian dressing x 24 hours. Grill or fry for the salad. Very tasty and pretty tender. It’s too bad he won’t eat thigh meat. It’s very tender as I’m sure you know. No way you could persuade him? Regular old chicken breasts are a challenge as I can never seem to get them tender no matter what. I do slice the boneless, skinless ones horizontally and pound them to help tenderize.
I do buy bone in, skin on chicken breast to make a pot roast meal with potatoes, carrots and onions in the oven, cooked slowly. And that is pretty tender.
How about beans? Like a bean soup. There are lots of varieties like Tuscan bean soups, ham and bean soup. Does he like veggies?
A Vegetarian Casserole we enjoy:
Saute diced onion, thin sliced zucchini and garlic in olive oil.
Add crushed tomatoes and light red kidney beans, oregano to taste, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Makes a tasty stew. (I add mushrooms and the original recipe calls to transfer to a casserole dish, top it with provolone and bake it at 350 x about 20-25 min)
I get it, I have a picky husband. And it’s hard because I am a very adventurous eater who doesn’t need your typical (meat, potato, vegetable) meal.
I love the potsticker stirfry idea. Or soup dumplings. Buy them ready made at Costco.
If he likes soup - I don’t know what climate you live it - but soup is NOT just for winter! If you love soup, many like it anytime! You can have a bowl of hearty soup or chili (white chicken chili?) with a cold side like fruit salad or three bean salad or something.
And I also have to agree if you’re out of ideas tell him he needs to make a list of 5-10 things he’d like to eat over the course of a couple weeks. Insert them with some things you like too and he can eat your choices or have some left overs!
How about gazpacho, basically salsa you eat with a spoon. I also have a Bloody Mary version that will make him forget about being picky…or what he’s eating.
Here is a gazpacho recipe that I make every year (and sorry in advance for the formatting). If you wish to avoid pasta and cheese, I guess just leave the tortellini out:
TORTELLINI GAZPACHO
(Serves: 6)
Ingredients:
28 oz. can tomatoes: crushed or pureed
4½ - 5 oz. uncooked cheese tortellini
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1+3/4 cup (= 14 oz.) water
3 Tbsp. canola oil
1½ tsp. chili powder
½ tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cumin
½ tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 sm. yellow/white onion: diced
2 cloves garlic: minced (approx. 1-2 tsp.)
½ med. green bell pepper: finely chopped
3 sm. (pickling) cucumbers: peeled, seeded, finely chopped (approx. 1 cup)
grated Cheddar cheese (for serving)
Directions:
(1) Cook the tortellini; drain and set aside.
(2) In a large mixing bowl, combine the tomatoes, vinegar, oil, water, chili powder, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper. Stir thoroughly to combine.
(3) Add the onions, garlic, bell peppers, and cucumbers; stir gently but thoroughly to combine.
(4) Fold in the tortellini, and stir gently to combine. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours to overnight, in order to let the flavors come together.
(5) Before serving, let the gazpacho come to room temperature. (This is very important!)
(6) Serve in individual bowls, with the shredded Cheddar cheese sprinkled over the top.
Thanks for some good ideas. I have a recipe for a tahini version of Caesar dressing. He won’t eat anything with anchovy flavor. He will eat chicken if it’s in a salad. The chicken just needs to be not straight up piece of meat. He will eat almost all vegetables aside from mushrooms.
I cook thighs when the grandkids come over.
It’s not soup weather right now. @ChoatieMom if I don’t feel like cooking he will make something for himself. He isn’t creative but can microwave a bean and cheese burrito or make a quesadilla. He’s also happy to go out.
I think tonight I’ll give him some cheese and crackers before dinner. With the lentils I’ll give him hummus, pita and raw veggies. I have a leftover chicken drumstick for me.
He’s a very healthy eater. He eats very little processed food and almost no sugar. Weight has never varied more than 5 lbs in the 26 years I’ve known him.
I have found that buying organic chicken, and cutting off the ends of the white strip that runs through the chicken has helped my own “chicken issues.”
This is the only way I make pork chops lately, it’s my favorite and H loves them. I use lean, boneless pork chops for these.
Brown a couple pork chops with S&P in a (preferably not non stick) skillet. I use bacon grease for this
Into the skillet put about 1/2 c white wine and 1/2 c water, and a little blop of chicken Better Than Bouillon, turn it down to simmer (covered) for maybe 40 min or so. (Turn the chops over once or twice, add water if too much evaporates)
Take out the pork chops to rest, add some water to the skillet liquid, then make a gravy with a flour/water slurry.
Will he eat eggs? Frittatas?
I find the older I get, the less I want to eat meat. I never eat meat in restaurants but now I’m finding that even trout i ordered was dry.
My DIL was here last weekend, and she is a vegetarian. We ate at SEASONS 52, which has a vegetarian menu. Their flatbread is good.
We also went to a salad place, where you choose what goes into your bowl. If you don’t want one of their proteins, you can add extra veggie.
I do make a lot of Mexican and Chinese food. Unlike your husband, I like cheese and pasta, which makes meal prep easier.
He will eat cheese and pasta. I have a medical condition that is worse when I eat gluten and dairy so I try to avoid it.
Last night was simple avocado toast with fresh tomatoes inspired by a post on another thread about a “California lunch”. I even used gluten free bread and it was delicious.
I had forgotten all the things I can do with cauliflower. I’m thinking cauliflower and black bean tacos or a cauliflower shawarma recipe I saw on the NY Times cooking site.
My husband is 98% dairy free because it tears up his stomach. The 2% is the butter I occasionally cook with which doesn’t seem to bother him much, but he never uses butter on his toast or anything. Together we are 95% vegetarian, but we do eat fish and seafood occasionally.
I think I am making Chik’n satay with Quorn cutlets tonight. Last night was a veggie pasta dish with all the veggies (incl mushrooms, eggplant, onions, garlic, peppers, zucchini, sungold tomatoes) olive oil and balsamic glaze and seasonings. No marinara. We use cheese as a condiment in our house so people who want cheese can add it as desired. This would have been good as a risotto too or maybe with gluten free noodles.
I do a lot of Asian noodles, Mexican food – both easy to make gluten free and can have cheese as a topping for the Mexican food.
We like veggie burgers and veggie hotdogs. Made a big potato salad the other day I served with veggie hotdogs.
Indian food might work for y’all if you like the flavors.
