Would you please share your favorite type of food? (or guilty snack), or recipe? I need to get excited about eating or cooking again...

Mom and I both love salads with fresh vegetables; when we had gardens we fixed some kind of salad every summer day for lunch. These days I keep a "winter garden" mix of white and red cabbage with carrot shreds in the fridge all the time (it lasts a couple of weeks) and add more watery and perishable items at meal time. I love the boneless, skinless flaked salmon available now in tins like tuna as a protein topper. So we start with the winter mix and add some combination of cucumbers, tomatoes, green pepper, celery, baby spinach, broccoli, shredded cheese, boiled eggs, turkey, ham, chicken or salmon along with a favorite dressing (mine is blue cheese but Mom prefers bacon ranch) and some toasted bread or Ritz crackers. Mom enjoys being useful so mornings she is here (instead of day care) I put her to cutting up vegetables while I cook or clean in the kitchen. Putting the salads together is quick and easy when all you need to do is open the containers of sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. and pile them on.

My guilty treat is a rich butterscotch pudding made from my grandmother's recipe. You caramelize the brown sugar and butter, then add in milk (to cool it down) before stirring in eggs, salt and corn starch mixed with the remaining milk. Bring it a boil while stirring constantly, then take it off the heat and add vanilla. This recipe was my father's favorite too and he endured many far less than perfect batches while I learned to cook it around age 12 as I made every mistake possible (brunt sugar, sugar not melted, eggs fried when mix was too hot, pudding thin when not cooked long enough, etc). My grandmother died when my father was only 22 but her pudding/pie filling is still a hit with her great-great-grandchildren. I used to make a double batch every week so I could take some to my father in MC; now the kids insist I continue making it often.

Tiger55,
be sure to cook the pasta before mixing it with the rest of the cooked stuff. Then after everything is mixed together, cook for about five minutes to blend the tastes.

isthisrealyreal, If the recipe was handed then it is truly a depression era meal.
It is named after Pres. Hoover. It is called a depression era dish after him because he was blamed for the depression.
I thought it was just my Mom's recipe.

My Mom’s favorite semi-home cooked dishes has been some of the following items, which is good for gentle chompers. ;)
-Baked Sweet Potato with butter, sugar and cinnamon (this also cares for her sweet tooth! ;)
- BBQ drumsticks
- Cheeseburger hamburger helper with a can of diced tomatoes added to it, with extra cheddar cheese
- Pasta salad (with pepperoni, cheeses, etc.)
- BBQ ribs
- Butter corn

Hope this helps! :)

I like CM's suggestion of a slow cooker. One of my favorite and easy meals is slow cooked chicken breast with carrots and potatos. You can omit the potatos if you've already had enough of those. Be sure to get the chicken with skin and bone because it really adds to the flavor. I put a little water in the pot, put in the chicken, throw in a few carrots and cook on a higher setting for four hours. Go about your business while the house fills with a great aroma, and when done the meat falls off the bone.

Some people eat to live but I live to eat. I've planned entire vacations and road trips around food including diners, food trucks, restaurants, festivals, and even ingredients like onions. There's an onion festival in New York that's amazing.

I'm a fan of savory and seasonal recipes.

Artichokes with a beurre blanc dipping sauce.
Asparagus grilled on the barbeque.
Fennel slow roasted.
Fiddleheads sauteed with garlic and oil and drizzled with fresh EVOO.
Mustard greens simmered in veggie broth and smoked paprika.
Vidalia onions - and lots of them - slow cooked and caramelized with white wine and parsley until they become a sauce for your favorite pasta.
Chilled watercress soup.
Eggplant parmigiana made with fresh tomato and basil pan sauce and fresh mozzarella cheese.
Red, orange, yellow and green bell peppers with chicken sausage.
Kohlrabi with cream sauce. [A favorite of my mom's and my childhood]
Mushrooms mushrooms mushrooms strudel.
Stuffed zucchini boats.

Now I'm hungry.

Virtuous favourites worth the (minimal) trouble:

omelettes. Even a plain omelette feels posh with a pinch of tarragon beaten in with the eggs. If you're feeling up to slicing a mushroom or two so much the better.
proper salad dressing. Make up several helpings in a screw top jar and keep it in the fridge. Olive oil, white wine vinegar, hazel or walnut oil, pinch salt, pinch white pepper, pinch sugar/tsp honey, shake hard. Takes seconds and is so much nicer than bought.
fish cooks like a dream in a microwave oven. Even frozen fish - 4 minutes for a single helping, and it keeps its flavour and texture beautifully.

Do you have a slow cooker? If you have, you can take advantage of more energetic times of day and do your chopping then, and let it cook all day, then by six or seven o'clock the aroma will give you an appetite. I tend to find that I'm either not hungry and can't be bothered to cook, or I've got so hungry I can't wait to eat. Doing the work well in advance is one way round that problem.

If you used to like cooking, another idea that works well is making the full-sized dish - e.g. shepherd's pie, chilli, chicken fricassée - and then freezing individual helpings of it. That way you get four-six dinners from one stint of work and clearing up. It's especially worth doing this if you like curry, which is a faff to make but for which there is no substitute when you happen to fancy one.

Don't do what I do and eat so many fruit pastilles or Cadbury's chocolate eclairs that you don't want any dinner. Your teeth will hurt, your stomach will ache, and your children will laugh at you.

I like one dish meals. My current favorite is a version of Hoover Stew.
Cook one half pound of ground beef in skillet.
cook one cup of elbow macaroni.
One can of diced tomatoes.
Mix all ingredients in skillet with meat and cook to blend.
season with your favorite seasoning or spices.
If desired add chopped onions.

NOTE: original recipe called for hot dogs to be sliced for the meat.
I sometimes add sweet chili sauce for a different flavor.

So interesting to hear all these different ideas! I feel more motivated already😳.

Please do yourself a huge favor....look into a low carb diet.

i have followed this diet for years. I eat very well. Yes, at first it seems expensive...but over the first few weeks you discover that you are eating less but enjoying it much more....and the cost is actually lower.

my favorite is low carb cheesecake. It is easy...

chop ops raw almonds (I use a bullet) .. mix with enough butter (whole, real butter) till it is easy to press into the bottom of the pan,

mix 48oz of cream cheese with 1 cup Swerve (or other alcohol based sweetner.....no carbs...avoid stevia and other artificial sweeteners....they just taste awful s) 1tsp of vanilla extract

it is much easier to mix if you soften the cream cheese first.
add 1/4 sour cream. Whole cream, do not use the low fat

pour into pan. Place pan in a larger cake pan with water...to keep it all moist. (Make sure the bottom of the cheese cake pan is sealed..I use tin foil around the bottom to prevent water leaking in)

back at 300 for 1 1/2 hour....check to see if center is firm....

Net 2 carbs per slice.

add water to the to pan if needed to keep it from drying out while baking.

Here is one of my comfort dish:
Boiled chicken dinner!
I use a whole cut up chicken with season salt and parsley (dried) in the water when chicken is almost done I add potatoes and carrots.

However, if you are only cooking for one or two people than use chicken breast and chicken stock with parsley. A meal that makes me feel warm and cozy!

Another meal for you. Rice and Roni 3 cheese or broccoli cheese cook as directed on box. Pull left over rotisserie chicken off the bone put into rice when rice is almost done. Take one package of frozen veggies and heat up in the microwave then take warm veggies (don't let veggies get over cooked and don't worry if some veggies are still cold) and spread them on top of rice and spread mozzarella cheese on top then pop into a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Super easy and filling! People love this!

My guilty snack is black cherry ice cream with chocolate sause. Yum 😋

For some creamy deliciousness I sometimes make Thai pumpkin soup, but to boost the heartiness and protein I borrowed from a similar but different recipe and add in red lentils. I don't really follow a recipe, just saute some onion, garlic and ginger in whatever oil you like, add vegetable broth, squash or pumpkin and red lentils and cook until very well done, then add in a can of coconut milk. Whiz with a stick blender. On yeah, a little curry type seasoning, whatever you like and have on hand.