The claim that spinach isn’t considered very nutritious any more surprised me too. Everything I’ve read is much like this in its praise for spinach.
Spinach is really, really good lightly sauteed in a bit of olive oil with lots of garlic. Just be sure the spinach is really well rinsed first. Grit is a mood killer.
RE: Spinach not being so good for you
OK I should say it is still pretty good for you, just not the super-vegitable it was once considered to be.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinach spinach is not much higher t`in Iron content than many other vegitables.
Also oxalates in Spinach actually inhibit iron absorption.
See http://www.nms.on.ca/Secondary/iron_is_good_for_you.htm especially the section on Iron absorption vs’ contents.
The following .edu also shows that despite the high content of Iron in spinach you don’t tend to absorb more than for instance the Iron in dried apricots or beef burgers.
http://sun.science.wayne.edu/~bio340/StudentPages/Labadie/
Still, Spinach is a good source of vitamins, and the scare stories about advising people not to give spinach to young children. I read at the time I heard about the iron uptake blocking, do seem to have dissappeared.
Wheat bread: try to get a good, fresh home- or bakery-made loaf. NOT the pre-sliced stuff that comes in a plastic bag at the grocery store. Toast up a slice, butter it and put some honey on top. It is delicious that way. One of my favorite breakfast foods. And once you get used to the texture, it might be easier to use for sandwiches and other things like that. Really though the biggest thing (for me anyway) with wheat bread is to have GOOD wheat bread and not the mass-produced crap. (My opinion, YMMV.)
Sorry for the double post, but after reading everyone else’s posts, I just have to say that I’m so glad to know that I’m not the only one who doesn’t like eggs! I get such weird looks from people when I say I don’t eat eggs.
And it’s also good to hear that there are other people out there who think alcohol tastes bad. People keep trying to figure out if I had a drinking problem in the past (What past? I’m 26!) or if one of my relatives had a drinking problem or what. No, it just doesn’t taste good!
And I’ll add one more vote to the anti-fresh-tomato crowd. Sauces, soup, chunky, smooth, whatever are all fine. But fresh… eh. I can eat a slice or two, but that’s about it.
Definitely onions. God, how I wish I could eat something with onions in it. Even if they’re chopped up uber-tiny, even if it’s just those dried onion flakes in a can that people put in soup and stuff, I still cannot for the life of me stomach anything with onions in it. I actually check the ingredients list of almost everything I buy just to be sure that there are no onions in it.
Add me to the list of people who want to like tomatoes! Tomato soup is good, ketchup is good, spaghetti sauce is good, but chunks of raw tomatoes? Probably not.
Also: Beef. I got the “pleasure” of visiting a slaughterhouse a few months ago and let’s just say that I was greatly disturbed and now refuse to eat any sort of beef. No hamburger, no steaks, no beef broth, nothing. It’s hard to realize just how much of our food contains beef products until you are actively trying to avoid it. Well, I guess I really shouldn’t count beef because I dont “wish that I liked it”, I just wish I didn’t have to deal with it being everywhere.
Salad. I’m very picky about vegetables: I love carrots, cucumbers, and cauliflower, but I’m not a big fan of most of the vegetables that end up in salads, like tomatos and lettuce. Especially tomatos. I don’t know why I don’t like tomatos; I live in New Jersey and my mom grows them fresh in her backyard ferchrissake. Somehow I convinced myself as a child that I wouldn’t like tomatos and I’ve always found them kind of icky.
I really wish I liked more condiments. All of my friends think I’m a giant weirdo because the only condiment I use is salt.
Between my aversion to vegetables and condiments, I don’t eat sandwiches that often. Try ordering a sandwich without any lettuce or mayonnaise and see how many funny looks you get.
I might be able to help you out with the in-laws.
I too dislike the taste of venison unless it is cooked using my dad’s method. Take thinly sliced deer steaks and marinate them in orange juice concentrate and worchestershire sauce for a few hours. Shake off excess marinade and dredge in flour seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, etc. and pan fry.
The OJ helps make the meat tender and takes the gamey, “rancid”, flavor out of the deer and the worchestershire adds a lot of flavor.
As for my wannabe favorite food, I really wish I liked grits. They look good and smell good but they taste like wallpaper paste. I have tried them every way imaginable but I still end up wanting to use them to grout my tile.