Creative, vegetarian dishes for a newly picky eater?

October 10, 2014 4:06 PM

Hi all, Please help! I am a newly picky eater, meaning I used to love all things rich and spicy, but due to recent medication changes, I absolutely can't stand the thought of so many once-loved foods. Alternatively: starch+veg+bean combos that taste good are also being sought! Thanks in advance!

I used to love spcy--and heavily spiced-- foods! Now that I have an entirely new slew of medication, I am dealing with some very severe nausea. This will pass, but in the mean time, I need to come up with recipes that don't make me feel like I'm going to puke just thinking about them! I know many people on ask.mefi have gone through restrictive diets and I am hoping peeps can help me out with suggestions!!

Things that make me feel pukey:
-Tomato-y dishes, specifically canned tomotoes (chili, tomato soup, curry-esque dishes etc)
-anything really acidic that isn't sweet
-meat/fish/chicken
-anything with a smoky flavor/smoky spice (cumin, curry, chili powder etc)
-coffee (again, acidic)
-anything richly spiced
-pasta (might be the texture, blurrrgh)
-peanut butter ( I used to love pb, sigh)
-mixed greens/raw greens/spinach
-hummus


Things (that I can think of) that are okay
-most veggies/fruit
-dairy, yogurt, cheese (full-fat)
-beans
-oatmeal/hot cereals
-tofu

For the past few weeks, I've been subsisting on tortillas with cheese/cream cheese, oatmeal, apples, and skillet I cooked up containing acorn squash/collards/beans/onion. I'm trying to avoid the ol' "eat a big bowl-o-carbs" answer, because I have long days at work with few breaks and need to stay relatively full!

I've seen other questions like this, but I absolutely can't handle meat right now :(


On different note: The starch+veg+bean thing seems to work pretty well. Any suggestions with combos like this would be greatly appreciated. I have access to a big box supermarket and that's about it. I can order stuff from amazon too, if anyone has any recs

I do not know how long this severe nausea will be with me, likely a few months.

Can anyone recommend some less boring, yet bland (?!, I know) meals that are easy? Or, websites with such recipes?
Thank you!

posted by eggs to Food & Drink (17 answers total)

Vegetable pot pie
There's a world of salads with beans
Interesting vegetable sandwiches with seasonal veggies
Roasted vegetables with beans and rice
Have you tried different grains? I love an interesting grain salad.
Black bean burgers
Stews with grains
posted by Nimmie Amee at 4:16 PM on October 10, 2014

You didn't mention rice. Brown rice, if you can stand it, has good nutrition. There are other grains to try as well.

http://www.shilohfarms.com/pages/Sunny-Mountain-of-Rice.html

You might research grits.
posted by SemiSalt at 4:18 PM on October 10, 2014

How do you feel about coconut milk? Cook rice with coconut milk (this is not coconut water, or coconut cream, which are different products) in place of other cooking liquid. I like to do a combination of coconut milk and veggie broth. I put in a knob of fresh ginger and a couple cloves of garlic, and top it with cilantro and peas. This is great with any kind of bean you like, especially black beans cooked up with a little onion, or baked cubed extra firm tofu, and a big squeeze of lime all over the top. It's creamy but not overly sweet. For texture try some crunchy cucumber, sliced bell peppers, grated carrot, chopped nuts.

You could try some flatbread pizza type things with different non-tomato sauces. Garlic with herbs and oil, pesto, pureed mushrooms and almonds, blended browned squash, caramelized onions, bell pepper "marinara", the list goes on. You can even put ranch dressing on a pizza (if you're not me.) Cheese as you like, toppings can be stuff like broccoli and olives or you can go nuts and do peanuts and tofu crumble, go wacky. You can buy bake-at-home focaccia in a lot of places now, I think those are better for bringing to work than pizza doughs.
posted by Mizu at 4:20 PM on October 10, 2014

garbanzo beans + feta cheese + (some kind of vegetable or a grain like quinoa or barley)

Roasted squash is pretty sweet. We usually top it with butter & a little brown sugar or maple syrup.

Cook a sweet potato & top with protein (black beans, cheddar cheese, or cottage cheese).
posted by belladonna at 4:25 PM on October 10, 2014

Quiche might also be good for you; it can be as bland (or not) as you prefer. Add whatever cheese & veggies sound interesting that day. If you don't want the crust, you can make crustless mini-quiches by baking the filling in muffin tins; these are also easy to take to work for lunch.
posted by belladonna at 4:29 PM on October 10, 2014

Bob's Red Mill sells whole-grain cornmeal that I cook into polenta; it even has the water/cornmeal ratio for polenta printed on the bag. You can do this with any old cornmeal, but I think it's dumb that most cornmeal has the germ processed out, because whole grain cornmeal tastes the same and is better for you. Given that you are restricting your diet, the more macro&micro nutrients you can get in the better.

So, polenta is awesome and flavorful but still pretty neutral when you cool it with stock instead of water, or when you add cheese at the end of cooking. Honestly, any cheese is awesome just stirred in until it melts.

I like to top it with a mixture of sautéed onions and mushrooms. You can add other veggies if you'd like: some that seem like they'd go well are sugar snap peas, corn, and bell peppers.
posted by Juliet Banana at 5:14 PM on October 10, 2014

Response by poster: Yo!
these are all amazing answers! I am trying to stay away from carbs being the main part of the meal but am realizing this might just restrict the things I am willing to put near my face way too much. However, protein-rich foods are more of what I'm looking for, I guess. Quiche, bean salads, roasted veggies w/beans are all a yes!! Thanks and keep em coming!
posted by eggs at 5:19 PM on October 10, 2014

Ful medames (Egyptian fava bean stew) – hold the cumin, add some herbs instead.
posted by dontjumplarry at 5:34 PM on October 10, 2014

I'm glad you asked this question because now I can tell you about cauliflower rice, the only low carb carb-substitute that I actually like more than the carb in question.

You will need:

cauliflower
oil (vary the kind according to the dish)

a large frying pan/shallow saute pan, preferably a heavy one
a coarse grater

seasonings

Grate your cauliflower. I find that half a medium-small cauliflower makes a big plate of cauliflower rice. While you grate it, heat your pan on medium high.

Add oil and test the pan temperature by making sure that the oil runs over the pan really fluidly. Add your cauliflower. Salt lightly. Stir. Stir intermittently for about five minutes, tasting periodically for doneness. It will be dry rather than moist like mashed cauliflower turns out. It's done when it tastes nutty/cooked.

Season with salt/pepper/butter/parmesan

You can also grate in a little bit of carrot at the beginning - but it will taste sweeter and it doesn't get as dry.

You could stir in chopped greens toward the end of cooking so that they would cook as well.

You can also top with fried egg, scramble a couple of eggs in with it at the end, top with tofu scramble or fried vegan sausage. (I make mine with fried cashews and curry paste, which is insanely delicious if you're ever back to spicy foods.) I also bet that if you were to scramble an egg in with this and add a little sweet soy sauce and black vinegar it would be terrific.
posted by Frowner at 5:44 PM on October 10, 2014 [5 favorites]

Polenta, made with cream, topped with roasted veggies and optional cheese of your choice. I usually cut smaller pieces if I used whole milk/cream instead of water, but I find I don't get quite so carb/glycemic index ravenous afterward.

'Nacho pizza' actually doesn't have sauce, just a normal pizza crust with cooked/seasoned black beans and avocados, feta cheese, sometimes lettuce (I add tomatoes but you can skip those).

Baked sweet potatoes topped with black beans are what I live on during my work week.
posted by theweasel at 8:33 PM on October 10, 2014

Oh, and if you've got a cast iron skillet, instead of making quiche I just roast the thin rounds of sweet potato in a single layer, then when they're soft dump my veggies (usually greens,mushrooms or caramelized onions - whatever you can stand) and eggs/cheese on top and bake it all together with the sweets as the crust. Takes less time to cook in the cast iron too!
posted by theweasel at 8:37 PM on October 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

You can put just about anything you feel like into a quiche or an omelette. Try roasting a bunch of vegetables in one go, and then using them as quiche or omelette fillings over the course of the week.

Minestrone soup is also just as flexible; a can of beans, a crapton of whatever vegetables you want, and a handful of pasta or a chopped potato thrown in towards the end of cooking. Boom.

If you're looking for non-spicy, you can't go wrong looking at traditional dishes from the British Isles....There's an Irish dish called "Colcannon" which is just mashed potatoes with chopped kale mixed in. If you're feeling fancy, spread it in an ovensafe dish once you've mixed it up, sprinkle some grated cheddar on top and run it under the broiler to melt the cheese. "Champ" is similar, but uses chopped scallion instead of the kale.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:54 AM on October 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

My favorite bean and veg combination is roasted Brussels sprouts with roasted chickpeas. I like to put a dollop of plain yogurt on top. I like it best with wheat berries or couscous but quinoa or rice are also good.
posted by mskyle at 5:45 AM on October 11, 2014

Dal (Indian lentils) and rice. You can flavour the dal any way you like, not necessarily with Indian spices, and it can be as bland as you want it to be. You could try different lentils and flavorings and add a vegetable side. Also, pumpkin + red lentil soup.
posted by miaow at 6:12 AM on October 11, 2014

Since it is autumn I have just made some stuffed baby pumpkins:

Take the top off a pumpkin and scrape out the seeds.
Fill with a mixture of brown rice cooked with garlic/thyme/garlic/stock, and either blue cheese and walnuts/pecans, or red wine and mushrooms and cheddar.
Roast in oven at 200C for about an hour and a half.

Serve with salad or other veggies. It is lovely and rich, but quite sweet and not spicy or acidic at all. I use the really mini pumpkins and hollowing them out is practically no work at all because they're so titchy.
posted by tinkletown at 7:11 AM on October 11, 2014

Armenian Apricot Soup from the Soup Peddler's Slow and Difficult Soups sounds weird but is very simple and tasty.

I'm guessing you eat eggs if you list quiche? I love a good frittata (just skip the ham), and it's easy to throw in different veggies/cheese to change the flavors. Also pairs nicely with a side of roasted squash or veggies. I like mine next to sauteed kale with garlic (garlic optional).
posted by carrioncomfort at 9:56 AM on October 11, 2014

Spinach and goat cheese baked potatoes are high in protein. Recipe - the beans are optional.
posted by DarlingBri at 11:09 PM on October 11, 2014