For those who are managing a restricted diet, you’ll also find inspiration. Whether it’s gluten free or Celiac Disease, or perhaps you’re dairy free and soy free, there’s ideas here for everyone.
First: Cooking Basics
I don’t want to keep you all day with the basics of cooking. If you are new to cooking at home, or don’t do it very often, I’d encourage you to take an online course so you can learn more about the mechanics of cooking and how to build flavor, so you can “wing it” more, rather than feel trapped by a recipe.
Now, it’s critical that your basics are covered, or all of your meals are going to taste bland and boring. So, let’s start with salt. Unless you’re following a low sodium diet for medical reasons or specific health benefits as directed by your doctor, please make sure you’re salting your food. Not only that, but experiment with different types of salt (sea salt, pink salt, smoked salt). Just having the right amount of salt can make meals feel WOW.
Next, fat. If you’re not cooking in fat, it’s time to start, unless again, you have a medical condition. Fat is flavor, so it’s critical that you add it. Additionally, there are some health benefits to cooking in fat such as the better absorption of fat soluble vitamins. Basic cooking fats include butter, dairy free butter, olive oil, avocado oil, ghee, and tallow. These are all great starting points, and each one brings a different nutrition profile to the table, so have fun rotating through as many as you can.
From there, we could talk about cooking methods, texture, and other tools you can use to make food taste great, but for now, let’s move on to flavor.
Second: Flavors
Often times, we get stuck in a food rut because we’re eating the same handful of meals over and over again. Now, this can be helpful if you’re feeding a child and these are their favorites and it makes your meal times easy. However, changing up the flavors of a meal you already love can be an easy way to go, and you can choose flavors that are great for kids and adults.
Let’s look at a basic pasta with red sauce. If this is a regular meal in your home, here’s how we can add variety:
- Add seared mushrooms to your pasta sauce
- Change the red sauce for a white sauce
- Swap the red sauce for a butternut squash sauce
- Add ground meat to the sauce or meatballs on top
- Make a pasta bake with bread crumbs and cheese on top rather than cook pasta on the stove top
- Purchase a different noodle (preferably one with a different flavor like a lentil pasta if you never eat that)
With just these six ideas, you can easily jazz up your regular pasta, and the neat thing is that for each idea, you can branch off of it. If we look at the cheese, there are SO many different cheese varieties to choose from. You could rotate through 10 different cheeses and feel like you’re eating something a little different each time.
Third: Cooking Methods
There are quite a few different ways you can cook the same basic ingredients you love to get different results, which will add variety to your food. Let’s look at broccoli as an example.
- Oven Roasted Broccoli (put a little oil on the tray, season with salt and onion granules, then roast for *chef’s kiss*)
- Air Fryer Broccoli (great if you want something on the crispy side without needing to use oil)
- Tempura Battered & Fried Broccoli (you’ll want to partially cook the broccoli first so it’s not super hard)
- Steamed Broccoli
- Pan Seared Broccoli
- Braised Broccoli
- Raw Broccoli
Hopefully you’re able to think about what each of those cooking method produces: different textures and experiences. You can use different seasonings each time to add more variety to your food.
As you find yourself in a rut, try different kitchen tools and cooking methods you usually skip. You end up finding something new that you simply love eating.
Great Ingredients to Keep on Hand
As you go about trying to add variety to your diet, an easy way to add variety to your food is to really lean into sauces and spice blends. Here’s a basic list to get you started:
- Alfredo Sauce
- Asian Condiments (soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, orange sauce, fish sauce, XO sauce, etc.)
- Pasta Sauce (red, white, butternut squash, pumpkin, etc.)
- Pizza Sauce
- Pesto
- Salsa
- All Purpose Seasoning (I love the one from Paleo Powder)
- BBQ Seasoning
- Cajun Seasoning
- Fish Seasoning
- Garlic Salt
- Herbs de Province
- Italian Seasoning
- Lemon Pepper
- Sumac
Now, with this list, you can take a very basic food such as steamed rice, add one, and have a whole different tasting experience to enjoy. Don’t forget to explore the different aisles in your grocery store for an array of sauces, condiments, and seasoning blends to stock your pantry with.
What to Eat When You Want Something Different AKA: How to Make Dinner More Exciting
In the image below, you’ll see six different ingredients you can use to make your meals more interesting:
- Spicy Spice Blend (available in a wide range of options)
- Liquid Smoke
- Savory Spices
- Mushroom Powder (other veg works as well)
- Sauce (lots of options available)
- Granulated Sweetener (different sugars you can rotate thru when cooking include maple, date, and coconut)
These six items are only scratching the surface of the world of flavour. THAT is what you eat when you’d like something different, especially if you have a limited number of safe base ingredients.
As you continue through this article I’ll keep expanding on this idea. Just know that there are hundreds of combinations you can use in your kitchen to make the same-old same-old seem fresh and exciting.
Tips on Adding Variety to Breakfast
So, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right? We should try to make sure it’s not too boring then. Here’s a list of ideas on how you can add variety to breakfast without adding too much work.
Oatmeal
Change up the toppings. If you normally sprinkle cinnamon on your oatmeal, try with banana slices and maybe even a few chocolate chips. Blueberries, strawberries, peaches, dates, apples, and many other fruits pair well with oatmeal. You can also make a savory oatmeal which is pretty incredible.
Yogurt
One fun way to add variety to your life is to make a yogurt parfait. Mix a little maple syrup into your plain yogurt, then layer with granola and fresh fruit. It may seem obvious, but sometimes we forget how powerful a few extra additions can be.
Yogurt can also be mixed into smoothies, waffles, muffins, and pancakes to give them a different taste, and to alter their texture.
Pancakes, Muffins, & Waffles
When it comes to carb focused breakfasts, there’s so much fun to be had. For example, if you’ve never had a pepperoni and cheese muffin or waffle, you need to try it. My kids say it’s genius, and an amazing way to start the day.
There are basic ways to alter these types of breakfasts such as using a different sugar (maple, date, coconut, etc.), using different toppings (almond butter + fruit, maple syrup + cinnamon, etc.), or using freeze dried fruits when you cook/bake. You can fold in freeze dried apples, bananas, strawberries, raspberries, etc. to give your goods a whole new flavor.
Overnight Oats
There are quite literally hundreds of thousands of recipes online for overnight oats. The easiest way to add variety to this type of breakfast is to spend 20 minutes online looking through ideas. Jot down at least ten that sound super interesting to you and them to your meal plan for the next month.
Change Up Your Sides
When my kids were younger, I made it a point to rotate through several different frozen vegetables with breakfast each morning. Not only will this add variety to your diet, but it can also add diversity to the nutrients you’re consuming. Vegetables are also an easy way to start your day with extra fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
My children really enjoyed vegetables that were oven roasted in bacon fat (I saved the drippings when I made organic bacon in the oven), and they also loved when I did veggies + olive oil + onion granules + nutritional yeast. They gobbled up those vegetables so fast it was wild to me.
In addition to rotating through veggies, I rotated through proteins as well. For my children who could have eggs, I’d use those a couple of times a week. Other days I’d use a little salmon, shredded chicken, seasoned ground meat, and anything else I had on hand. Remember, sides at breakfast don’t need to be traditional, just safe and delicious.
Tips on Adding Variety to Lunch
One of the best tips I have for you when it comes to lunch variety: use a bento box. These are divided lunch boxes and honestly, the formula just writes itself. Use the large opening for your main (chili, pancakes, sandwich, etc.), and use the smaller openings for fruits, vegetables, and a packaged snack. Here are several images to show you practical examples. You can also see more in my lunchbox cookbook.
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If bento boxes aren’t your jam and you’re more of a sandwich person, check out this article on sandwiches. There are so many fantastic ideas and you can add quite a few to your lunch rotation to create an awesome variety over the course of the week/month.
Next, purchase seasonal produce. If you have a robust farmer’s market in your area, start there (it’s also usually less expensive). You can find the freshest of the season, which means you’ll naturally rotate through different fruits and vegetables, but you’ll also create a variety in the nutrients you’re eating.
If you love a specific type of cuisine, such as Italian or Japanese, make the foods you love, but put a little spin on them each time. For example, if you’re an avocado sushi fan, try different sauces, or try adding different vegetables to your sushi (carrots, cucumbers, eggplant, etc.). Not only will this add dietary fiber and have a positive impact on your gut health, but it also keeps your meals fresh and interesting.
Tips on How to Make Dinner Less Boring
This is really where I can help you shine! Here’s the thing about dinner: no one really wants to be cooking for hours and hours on end at home to make one dinner. Sure, there are some foodies who want to invest their time, especially when hosting friends and family, but even they don’t want to do that every night.
The key to making dinner less boring is to rotate through different flavour profiles, basic ingredients, and cooking techniques. Let’s look at rice for example. You can steam rice, make a risotto, or rice pilaf. That’s three ways to make dinner more interesting.
From there, we change up how we season said rice. We can use spices, herbs, mushroom powder, Italian seasoning, BBQ seasoning, herbs de province, sweeteners, and more. With each new flavour change-up, you’ve made your dinners more interesting.
Then, we start changing the pairings. If you always eat beans and rice, how about sausage and rice? Or, what about beans and quinoa? Beans and couscous could be interesting as well. Making these small changes equates in successful, exciting meals at home.
You can also try new condiments and garnishes: sometimes a drizzle of this or a sprinkle of that can take your standard dinner to a whole new place. This is perhaps one of the easiest ways to make your normal meals much more exciting since you can purchase sauces and even salad dressings at stores for this purpose.
From there, you can try different cuisines, or look into fusion food. If you’re used to only eating food from your home country, look for international inspiration, as this can add variety to your diet but also have the possibility of health benefits from potentially adding new vegetables and ingredients as well.
Tips for When You’re Bored of Cooking the Same Meals
If you’re tired of cooking the same meals, I’ve got some advice for you to help break you out of the cycle. First, assess your safe list of ingredients. Are you cooking the same meals because you’ve exhausted the list of safe ingredients, OR, are you just cooking the same few things again and again without fully using your list? Perhaps you’re unaware of the hundreds of ingredients to choose from.
For those who have exhausted the list, my advice is to invest in new kitchen tools that sound fun to you. Using different cooking tools and techniques on the same old ingredients can give them a new lease on life. Take a look at the picture of zucchini below. If you employ this technique with all of your safe ingredients, then suddenly you have a lot more to choose from. Be sure to read the article as well to learn how to create a range of textures when working with limited ingredients.
For those who are cooking the same thing again and again, take a look at the proteins you aren’t cooking with. Then, determine some fun ways to prepare them. The Advanced Recipe Search on RAISE includes an option for a main protein. Plug in your restrictions, then scroll down a bit and pick a protein. Ta-Dah!! Now you can see recipes that are safe for you and protein focused. Use this as an inspiration to find new meals to enjoy.
For those who can eat out at restaurants, each time you go out, order something new. This can also give you inspiration for cooking at home. As you taste new flavours, think about how you can apply them to meals you’re already comfortable cooking. Giving pasta and chicken a flavour profile makeover is pretty easy when you use this method.
What Should I Make For Dinner if I Hate Cooking?
This is one of my favourite questions to answer because as it turns out, one of my kids hates cooking. Even though he grew up in a home where cooking was made to be fun and meals were mega delicious, it’s just not his jam. Here’s the advice I would give to someone in this boat, and know that I draw some of this from how my kids are making things work for themselves.
Cook what’s easy! I try to find free-from convenience foods that the kids will enjoy such as frozen ravioli or hot dogs made with clean ingredients. It takes my kids less than 15 minutes to get the food served. On top of that, they’re generally pretty happy with the results.
Use a Pressure Cooker! This is an essential tool for people who hate to cook, in my humble opinion. Pressure cooking is a hands-off cooking method. You put your ingredients in, season, mix, add water, put the lid on, press some buttons, and walk away. The next time you come back, dinner is ready and if you play your cards right, there are leftovers as well.
Chili & Sloppy Joe! These are two very easy to make meals that most people love. The BIG bonus is that both meals can be batch cooked so you have leftovers in the fridge and freezer. You can also pair these with a range of carbohydrates including toast, and my personal fave- chips. Oh, and might I add, both are great vessels for adding vegetables that you won’t even realize are there.
What to Cook When You’re Tired of Everything
My first piece of advice: NOTHING. If you’re tired of everything and you don’t feel like cooking, don’t cook. Often times we get caught up in the idea of traditional and I’m here to tell you to toss those ideas out the window. You know what’s awesome for dinner? Cereal. You know what else? A plate of random snacks.
It’s totally OK to eat a collection of foods that seem unrelated and call it a meal, because at the end of the day, as long as you have *something* at dinner time, you’ve had dinner.
In my case, when I’m tired of cooking everything, I lean into the freezer stash and pull from things that are already made. Since my kids aren’t able to eat out much, this is a way to at least not have to cook. Plus, what’s in the freezer is probably something they haven’t had in a while so it doesn’t feel repetitive.
The next big tip is to cook what you love or what excites you right NOW. If you’ve been watching a cooking show and are excited about an idea, cook that for dinner. It’s new and exciting and you’ll probably enjoy the process. If you love specific foods, cook that, as this will at least make you happy with the outcome. This is also another way to add variety to your diet and find new favorites to add to your weekly or monthly meal plan.
I’ll also add this: Humans are creatures of comfort. If there are particular foods that bring you comfort, or maybe remind of the good times of your childhood, cook those meals as well. Sometimes when we’re tired of everything, going back to our roots is a helpful direction to move in.
What to Cook When You’re Too Tired to Cook
Wow, have I been where you are. There are a few things to think about. One, set yourself up for success. When you do have the energy, batch cook and freeze leftovers so you can tap into them on the tired days.
Second, utilize your pressure cooker. It’s a hands off cooking method that requires a minimal amount of prep work. The same is true of sheet pan meals.
Third, don’t be afraid to serve a collection of snacks and call it a meal. You served food and you kept everyone fueled. That’s a job well done.
Here are my top resources to help you when you’re too tired to cook:
- Easy Pantry & Freezer Meals To Keep You Fueled
- Easy Meals To Make With Frozen Vegetables (Gluten Free, Allergy Friendly)
- Easy Cooking Video: Shredded Chicken Recipe (GF Top 9)
- Easy Gluten Free & Allergy Friendly Snacks
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How to Get Out of a Cooking Rut?
If you’re tired of cooking the same meals, welcome to Rutville! We’ve all been there before and there are a few things that can help you leave that desolate village. First, make foods that make you happy. I don’t care if you’re on the latest fad diet by choice. If you want a cookie, eat one.
Next, ask yourself, what interests me? Do you love the idea of Korean street food? Perhaps something you saw on the cover of a magazine? Maybe you’d like to learn more about Southeast Asian cuisine or fusion food. Look for recipes that align with your current interests.
A different way to look at that: eat a meal one of your favourite fictional characters would enjoy. This takes you into a whole different process of cooking and can oftentimes help you forget your regular cooking woes.
If you have some extra time, take a trip to your local bookstore. Spend some time browsing cookbooks and magazines, and purchase anything that seems like you’d have fun making. Take what you can from the books and modify as needed.
The point I’m really trying to make here is that the best way to get out of a cooking rut is to add some creativity or a new challenge. Changing things up is exactly what you need.
For those who have a very short list of safe foods, changing things up may mean using a new tool or cooking technique to add more variety to your meals.
Healthy Things to Cook When You’re Bored
For those who are really into healthy eating but finding themselves bored of their regular meals, here are a few thoughts for you. First, make a healthy version of the foods you crave. Whilst I’m all for striking up a colorful healthy balance, sometimes you want something that seems really rich.
You can do an online search and find results for pretty much every indulgent food out there. Healthy pizza, healthy cookies, healthy ice cream, and much more. Perhaps you’re just burned out on the same-old healthy go-to meals you’re used to, and creating something outside of your norm is just what you need.
Another option is to look at what’s being served in Michelin starred restaurants. A lot of the meals are starting with healthy seasonal ingredients and elevating them to fine dining. Browse through menus and make a list of what you find interesting, and especially take note of textures and crunchy elements such as nuts and seeds. This should give you some great dinner inspiration, just make sure you have the elbow grease to spare.
If you’re really not feeling the kitchen at the moment, have a collection of healthy snacks. Remember, anything you serve at dinner time is dinner. The same is true of breakfast and lunch. No matter what kind of eating habits you’re sticking to, there will be snacks you can rely on. You could create a lean meat, cheese, vegetable, and fruit platter for yourself, or have something as simple as quinoa with maple glazed chickpeas and carrots.
A homemade basic taco with ingredients such as tortilla + legumes (black beans, pinto beans, etc.) + guacamole + salsa + corn can be incredibly satisfying, but also delivers a wide range of nutrients and dietary fiber. If you prefer your foods with crunch, swap the tortilla for something like Masa Chips (organic, no seed oils, made with tallow).
For those who are on a health journey for one reason or another, I also want to encourage you to batch cook. When you have portions that are ready to go in the freezer, this can eliminate the need to think when it comes to meal times. On the Advanced Recipe Search on RAISE, Freezer Friendly is an option. Plug in your needs then scroll down and select freezer friendly as well to see options just for you.
Cool Things to Cook For Dinner
Now THIS is what I’m here for. First, let’s define cool, because we may be thinking different things. To me, something cool falls under one of a few categories:
- Something that seems “impossible” when free-from.
- A meal that’s served in Michelin starred restaurants.
- Something that’s just over-the-top epic like those crazy videos you see on the internet.
- A recipe that uses an ingredient or cooking technique in a way you weren’t expecting.
I’m sure there are other categories, but these are the ones that stand out to me. Make sure you know what cool means to YOU.
From there, start looking online at recipes that inspire you, then adapt and make them. On RAISE, I’ve tried to share really cool recipes that fall under the “seems impossible” category. A few of my top favourites:
- Gluten Free, Top 9 Free Orange Chicken Recipe
- Top 9 Free Queso Recipe
- Top 9 Free Thin Mint Copy Cat Recipe
- Chicken Chow Mein Memories (soy free, top 9 free)
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How to Spice Up Side Dishes
When you’re thinking about how to spruce up side dishes, focus on flavours. Let’s look at potatoes. If you make mashed potatoes once or twice a week, let’s change them up. Most likely you’ve tried garlic. How about we fold in some bacon? Consider trying the restaurant version of mashed potatoes which uses up to 50% butter in the butter: potato ratio. I KNOW. It’s a LOT. Yet, people love it.
There are a long list of spices and herbs that work really well with potatoes and you can give them all a try. In the end, you may end up with 10 – 15 different ways to make mashed potatoes, and now you’ve successfully spiced up your side dish.
Take this concept and apply it to all of your sides. If you’re looking for good flavour pairings, The Flavour Bible is a reference book that’s incredibly handy.
Quick and Easy Side Dishes
For folks who’d like to add variety by creating easy side dishes, here are several recipes I think you’ll enjoy.
- Bacon Bomb Potatoes
- Cranberry Chicken Salad
- Dried Mushroom Soup
- Easy Spiced Carrots
- Cauliflower & Zucchini Soup
- Dairy Free Scalloped Potatoes
- Vegan, Dairy Free Cheesy Green Beans
- Simple Sweet Potatoes
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Hopefully this article has given you some great ideas to get creative in your kitchen and reinvigorate your meals. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out the Advanced Recipe Search. Plug in your needs then look at all the pretty pictures. Not going to lie, I do that sometimes 🙂
