Confession time

I had been toying with the idea of writing this blog post for awhile now and after several recent Twitter conversations, it seems now is the perfect time to write it. 

Hi. My name is Kristin and I'm a picky eater. Or maybe more a naive eater. Or perhaps a combination of both. 

My friend recently posted on social media a foodie quiz. One of those to see how many out of the foods listed you've tried. I'm proud to say I reached double digits...barely. I had 12 of 100. The majority of the 12 is in great thanks to my days waiting tables as a Cajun restaurant during college. My friend had 42. 

During one of the weekly #dsma chats, a question was asked what we ask for help from others with regarding diabetes. My response was I tend to just ask for help in the sense of just needing ears to vent, rant, whine, cry, complain, etc. to. I then added a second response. I tend to ask for help regarding nutrition. Not in the traditional sense. I'm a pretty healthy eater however my diet is pretty limited and I need help in trying new foods. Confession time, I only recently tried red peppers and who would have thought, I liked them and have made it a point to eat them since. 

I had a side conversation about my statement with one of my closer friends from DSMA. She was shocked that there were so many foods I hadn't tried. I explained to her how I'm hesitant to try new foods because I don't want to shell out quite a bit of money to try something that I might not like. She suggested I go out to eat and order new foods. Sounds great in theory but again it comes down to spending money as well as I rarely go out to eat (I prefer to make things myself so I know what I'm consuming and it is almost always healthier) so when I do go out to eat I want to get one of the items I really enjoy. She also suggested perhaps just ordering an appetizer as it is less expensive and not quite as big. Valid suggestion. 

One thing I've done to help me try new foods while also learning new techniques (because we all know I love baking and cooking) is attending the free technique classes at Williams-Sonoma. (Bonus! You also get 10 percent off any purchase you make the day of the class in the store!) Not only to the show how to use items in the kitchen and prepare provided recipes but you get to sample the featured recipes they make during the hour long class. Some of the items I've been able to try through these classes include the previously mentioned red peppers as well as meatloaf, hummus (LOVE), seven layer salad and more. 

Playing on Pinterest, I'll find recipes featuring items I can't recall ever eating but have had no appeal to me and at least pinned the recipe. But alas, pretty much never make the recipe.

Around the start of the year, I decided I wanted to try cauliflower. I found a recipe on the American Diabetes Association's website for a recipe that sounds appealing -- Savory Cauliflower and Cheese Cakes. How can you go wrong with cheese? Also, the recipe included nutrition information and was low carb. I made them for dinner and was excited to try them. Took one bite. Couldn't finish the bite. They were beyond disgusting. Someone told me on Twitter after the fact they had tried the recipe also recently and had a similar opinion to mind. 

An example of how I'm such a picky eater would be my unwillingness to eat leftovers. As a child, we often ate Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Don't be judgmental, you know you ate it as a kid too. As a child I found leftover mac and cheese disgusting. I'm sure I would as an adult too but I personally find this product far from delicious as an adult. We had one specific pot we always made mac and cheese in. In an effort to get me to eat the leftover mac and cheese, mom would place the pot on the stove with a spoon in it to give the impression it was freshly made. Never worked. Partly because there wasn't a box laying around and also because with one bite I knew it was a leftover., Wouldn't eat it. Sorry Mom. 

Basically, I'm a picky eater but probably more so due to the fact there are quite a bit of foods I've just never tried and now are hesitant to try. My hesitation isn't due to not wanting to try new foods (I actually do want to try new foods) but rather I don't want to spend significant amounts of money and/or I'm not sure how best to prepare the foods to give it the best chance of me liking the food. 

Do you have recipe suggestions that you swear by that might help me try new foods? Are you a picky eater also? What food have you never tried but know deep down you should try it?