{picky eater}

I never considered myself a picky eater. I love all kinds and varieties of foods, will try almost anything, and definitely don't turn my nose up at any food served to me in someone else's house. But when it came to the list of foods I didn't like, I was surprised to realize how many foods were on it. At the top of the list are tofu, caviar, eggplant, goat milk, and shellfish. Those are foods I simply would not touch.  Then there were the foods I didn't enjoy but would choke down if served by an unknowing innocent: zucchini,  yams/sweet potatoes, squash, mushrooms. Growing up, I remember having to sit at the table until I'd eaten several bites of zucchini. And I remember sitting there for a long, long time. 

But something strange has been happening to me. My tastes have evolved with age and I am venturing into the deep adult waters of actually buying and cooking with foods I formerly loathed. 

Last summer, my in-laws brought me a giant zucchini from their garden. This thing was enormous. I shredded it all and made a giant gluten free chocolate zucchini cake, and it was very very good. But I still had a lot of shredded zucchini left over. So I started experimenting with it. I cooked it in butter with lemon pepper. And, to my surprise, YUM! I spent the latter half of last summer buying up and cooking zucchini in all sorts of new ways, and I'm still loving zucchini. My very favorite new recipe is zucchini bites. You can find the recipe here. 

But my tastes weren't finished evolving. This summer, I was eating dinner at my mom's house, and I decided that, for the sake of my health, I would eat half a baked yam with my dinner. I put a little butter on it (rather than the usual sugary/marshmallowy stuff) and it was actually pretty good! When I came home I bought yams for the first time in my adult life! And my very favorite thing to do with them is make fries, of course!

They're delicious and so super easy! Just cut the yams into fairly thin slices, drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and bake at about 450 for around twenty minutes. I stir them at least once to make sure they get evenly baked. 

I'm also learning to really like cooked mushrooms, some squash, and even some goat cheeses!

But the biggest taste change surprise of all? I no longer like tomatoes. I guess you win some and lose some!

Have you ever experienced a change in your taste?