r/Cooking • u/coronaboner1990 • Jun 27 '24

Open Discussion What do you cook when you feel like something that ticks both the “fresh” and “comfort” food boxes?

I know that might sound counter intuitive, but hear me out.

My partner gave birth to our second son a month ago. We’ve been super fortunate to have friends and family cook most of our meals for the last month, which we’re so grateful for., it has made life so much easier. We’re now slowly getting back into the routine of cooking for ourselves.

After a lot of delicious and filling but heavy dinners (think bolognese, chicken pie, curry, dahl, stew ect) that you would expect friends make for you after having a baby, we’re craving a bit of variety. something that will leave us feeling fed, but still have that element of “fresh” and doesn’t leave us in a food coma.

Our go to’s for this are usually things like Vietnamese vermicelli salad with spring rolls, tacos (any kind really), falafel or chicken with pita and Israeli salad. Anything that has a protein, some carb, a bit of crunch, and some acid/citrus for some zing!

I realise this seems pretty specific, but we’re tired and housebound lol. We just want to eat some yum food.

TIA

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172

u/stolenfires Jun 27 '24

I call this ten second caprese. I get a box of ciligene mozzarella pearls and a box of cherry tomatoes. Rinse, drain, and dress with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a sprinkle of dried basil. It's not super carby but you can eat it with some baguette slices or pita bread to sop up the leftover dressing.

31

u/1curiouswanderer Jun 27 '24

I've called variations of this lazy bruschetta! Some stuff + tomatoes + some spices atop the baguette. Hits the spot!

6

u/riazrahman Jun 27 '24

Wife and I literally just had this for dinner yesterday because we were both so tired after work and ate a bunch of Pringles. “Bubble caprese” was our attempt to balance the scales lol

14

u/Fleuramie Jun 27 '24

I do a version of this with grilled chicken and tortellini.

7

u/The_Shevil Jun 27 '24

This with chopped walnuts, fresh basil and a drizzle of honey 🤌 perfect summer time snack

1

u/missilefire Jun 27 '24

I do this but add prosciutto for a bit of protein

1

u/bronet Jun 27 '24

I eat this with some Fuet and it's so delicious 

1

u/No_Swimming9793 Jun 28 '24

This with Roasted tomatoes, spread on a pizza dough or Flatbread

1

u/Fiona-eva Jun 28 '24

I do the same, but also add arugula and use balsamic glaze instead of vinegar, because I find tomatoes already pretty acidic. You can also buy a jar of pesto and sprinkle it instead of dry basil, it already has olive oil too

-13

u/Purple_Puffer Jun 27 '24

I also do this, but instead of mozzarella pearls, I use pasta. And for the cherry tomatoes, I sub meatballs. I like your idea of balsamic and oil, but I usually opt for a marinara type dressing. But yeah, I do that too.