This year we decided to do the January cooking challenge where you have to make a different meal each day. We wrote them down in the calendar and we only cheated three times. It was so much fun. I subscribe to a lot of cooking (recipe) web sites. We also subscribe to the NY Times which has a great recipe web site. If I like a recipe, I put it on Pinterest. Sometimes DH and I debate the merits of a recipe, whether the combination of ingredients sounds good, etc. It's really lots of fun and especially fun to critique the final results. You have to allow for repeats for those meals that you love and want over and over again (for us it's Nachos Magnifico).

Edie, leeks are alliums. I think they must just have less of what you are allergic to than other members of the allium family.

I just thought that something different to do would be to cook up something different every day, enough for at least 4 extra meals, freeze the extra into individual portions, and then not have to cook for the next 6 months!!!

For me, I like to challenge myself to learn a new technique, like I'm just starting to explore the idea of fermenting my own vegetables.

You're in California, right? Turlock pita is good, but it's Middle Eastern style rather than Greek. Trader Joe's has something called "Mediterranean Flatbread" that isn't exactly Greek, but pretty good and more like it than the Turlock. But why don't you make the pita? That would be a nice challenge to the malaise.

I've been there - what to cook? - differently? - challenging? - unique? What I did was to take us (DH and I) to several restaurants totally out of our "normal" places. We happened onto a hole-in-the-wall local cafe 25 miles from home. Different atmosphere - different clientele - different offers of food. I'd never had jambalaya, though I knew what went into it. Not really in my "normal" cooking repertoire. We ate - we enjoyed - we were happy to have "something different". I won't cook it at home but it sparked another avenue. "Go somewhere else" is now our motto. Home cooking is wonderful - can't match it - but someone else making something so out of our 'Normal" is enlightening and challenging - enough so that everyday food is again special.

Thanks all. Part of this I think is just the late-winter blahs, compounded by leftover ick. Nothing we have in the house sounds good - stuffed peppers is about as exciting as it is getting tonight. But I did get everything I need for the souvlaki tomorrow night which I am very much looking forward to!

I'm right there with you! So So bored with cooking right now!

The January cooking challenge sounds like a LOT of trips to the store!

I'm more with rita, cook and freeze so I can pull something out of the freezer once or twice a week.

Waiting for BBQ season!

Me and SO are both kinda picky eaters. So when I make something he likes,it goes in a regular rotation. I hesitate to cook something new for fear that he or I won't like it. I get sick of the same thing over and over but I don't have one of those men that eat anything put in front of them. I try to make one new recipe a month. Many times it's the only time I end up making it.

I would find it very hard to cook without garlic or onions....

When you decide to fly to Central Europe, here is a very good Schnitzel recipe.

I also binge on certain interests & certain foods. I get cravings for certain kinds of foods then suddenly wake up and could care less if I ever saw it again. I was told food cravings was my body telling me it was lacking something that the particular food provides. Who knows 😏. Being retired with only the two of us at home makes meal time hard to plan without accumulating leftovers. I agree our appetites and preferences vary during the year. Eating out can get old quickly as well ... or is that just me? I love Thai food, the hotter the better but it's easy to regulate the heat. I'll see if I can find a few recipes I wrote down that I really liked.

bbstx, oh goodness yes I am going to make that Schnitzel! Yummmm. I laughed reading the intro though. Never ever have I heard a hot dog called "scnitzel" before either. Obviously a California thing :-) Thanks so much!

Seconding jerzeegirl re: the New York Times Cooking. You can subscribe just to Cooking (sans the paper) online if you prefer, or just sign up for the free e-newsletters. Yes, they plug recipes, most of which you won’t be able to see if you’re not subscribed, but they also serve as good inspiration for what direction to think about cooking in. I use the Paprika app to save any recipes that catch my fancy.

People in California, other than the author of that blog and similarly ignorant ones, don't think Wienerschnitzel is a hot dog. There is a hot dog drive thru chain originally called Der Wienerschnitzel, though they removed the "Der" some time ago. They knew perfectly well that they weren't selling schnitzel (though they did advertise they were starting to sell it recently). They just thought it was a cool sounding word, and perhaps liked the whimsey of being named after something they don't sell. There was a common taunt among kids when I was growing up: Wienerschnitzel is the wurst! (I've never known anyone who liked them, but they're cheap). If you want to buy a hot dog in Southern California, the two favored ones are the big Hebrew National one outside Costco and Dodger Dogs (you don't have to be in Los Angeles or at the stadium to get Dodger Dogs. They're popular in pubs, and you can make them at home.) There are several other SoCal chains that started as hot dog vendors but evolved into hamburger chains or family restaurants, or went out of business.

A young friend of mine is wild about schnitzel. It doesn't have to be veal. She likes it all. :)

I have one of those husband’s who will eat whatever is put in front of him, as long as it isn’t eggplant. Actually, DH is food-indifferent. Left to his own devices, he would eat cheap, frozen pizza every night of the week. (Has anyone read the Anne Tyler book where one of the characters makes a large pot of chili every Sunday and eats it all week, every single week, and has done so for years?)

The pork w/ dill schnitzel sounds interesting! One of my favorite 'local' restaurants is a Bosnian place that makes excellent schnitzels... their creamy lemon grilled chicken schnitzel is amazing.

Re the chicken souvlaki, I always lean toward Lebanese and serve it with things like tzatziki, tomato salad, tabbuli or rice pilaf, hummus, garlic green beans, etc., and it's one of my favorite meals. Sorry, I can't help with the pita recommendation, but I've made it before and I wouldn't bother. The only Greek recipe that I can recall to recommend is baked chicken/potato/lemon recipe that I haven't made in years.

ETA, I also cannot imagine cooking without any onions or garlic!

I bought some pita last night that feels nice and soft and I will warm it in the toaster oven for a bit. I'm actually excited about dinner tonight! I'm going to start the marinade here in a few so the chicken will have lots of time to absorb the flavors. And cook the brown/wild rice for the salad. Gonna be yummy in my tummy tonight! DH even agreed to eat it. Shock!! I offered to get him a shrimp meal just in case but he said no. Progress!!!

It's a good thing neither Hubby nor I mind eating a tasty meal several times in a row, since I often make dishes that last for an extra day or so. It sure makes it easier if I have a late work night, since Hubby's 'work' in the kitchen usually makes a mess and breaks things.

I like having several different types of leftovers in the fridge that can be combined in different ways, like roasted veggies, cooked pasta and rice, sauces, beans, salads, etc.

From time to time, I buy a family size package of polish sausage type 'hot dog-like' sausages. I fix 2-4 at a time, sometimes with beer in the bottom of the pan, or even extended time in the crock pot. We add sauerkraut and whatever else [ I like the mustard-relish], slip them into pitas, buns, or even tortilla shells and nosh away. Really easy and quick ... unless you crock pot them ... and every bit as good as a 'ballpark frank' ... or better. The rest freeze well ... IMHO

Have you tried the Korean Beef recipe that floats around? It's super easy/quick and different, though you would need to omit the garlic. I make it with thin-sliced beef rather than ground beef, add tons of stir-fried broccoli at the end. :) Here's the original recipe:

Korean beef bowl

• 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes, or more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound ground beef
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• Cooked rice, for serving

• In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes and ginger.
• Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add ground beef and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat. Stir in soy sauce mixture and green onions until well combined, allowing to simmer until heated through, about 2 minutes.
• Serve immediately with rice.

party_music50, thank you! Yes I am interested in trying this!! I appreciate it very much.

I got the cooking blahs recently too. I decided to up my Spanish/Latin/Hispanic game and ordered up some seasoning and soup mixes from Amigo Foods. Triguisar from Columbia, Paellero from Spain, dry bean seasonings from a few countries, chicken veggie noodle soup and plantain soup from Cuba, Cau-Cau stew from Peru...a handful more stuff too.

The chicken veggie noodle soup is a new fave- way better than Mrs. Grass so far as a dry packet soup goes. And less expensive. After I tried it I checked the local ethnic store to see if they have it- they do :) The cau-cau stew mix was a winner too. Supposed to make it with tripe (ew), but can also make it with chicken, yum. Light yet filling soup, good broth with just a touch of heat. I'm now going to work on replicating that in a homemade version.

I am going to make the schnitzel recipe posted above by bbstx tonight. I don't know how I missed it, because I love all of Elise's on Simply Recipes. I have also printed party_music's Korean Beef Bowl for later this week.

https://goatsandgreens.wordpress.com/2020/01/24/thai-soup-tom-kha-gai-chicken-galangal-soup-for-asian-lunar-new-year-whole-30/

This is my Thai Tom Kha Gai chicken soup from my blog. Checking it over, I don't see any garlic, alliums, or other ingredients from that family. They could always be omitted should I've not been visual enough.

That's a tasty looking soup artemis_ma. And bless you for not having a novel with a gajillion pics to get to the recipe.

Artemis, thank you!! No "forbidden" ingredients to adjust for and it sounds so flavorful. Definitely on my "must make" list. I wonder - do you ever make the broth in advance and strain and then refrigerate it then make the soup later?

how about char Siu pork?

I use pork loin roast ...

all recipes char siu pork link

Ingredients

• 2 pork tenderloins
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup brown sugar

• 1/4 cup Chinese rice wine
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring (optional)
• 1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder (optional)

Directions

1. Cut pork with the grain into strips 1 1/2- to 2-inches long; put into a large resealable plastic bag.
2. Stir soy sauce, honey, ketchup, brown sugar, rice wine, hoisin sauce, red food coloring or red bean curd (see Cook's Note), and Chinese five-spice powder together in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook and stir until just combined and slightly warm, 2 to 3 minutes. Pour the marinade into the bag with the pork, squeeze air from the bag, and seal. Turn bag a few times to coat all pork pieces in marinade.
3. Marinate pork in refrigerator, 2 hours to overnight.
4. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat and lightly oil the grate.
5. Remove pork from marinade and shake to remove excess liquid. Discard remaining marinade.
6. Cook pork on preheated grill for 20 minutes. Put a small container of water onto the grill and continue cooking, turning the pork regularly, until cooked through, about 1 hour. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 145 degrees F (63 degrees C).

Bragu, that sounds really good also. Fortunately for me, grilling season is almost here. Once it warms up some we will nake this!

I make it in the oven, using a rack over my cookie sheet.

ETA

skewer the pork into kabobs, makes them easy to rotate.

That does sound delicious. As luck would have it, I have all the ingredients, it's snowing, my daughter gave me an electric Foreman grill last week, and we will have char sui pork for dinner! Yum!