Serves: 5

"Food just tastes different during chemotherapy, not like it used to." Sound familiar? Due to chemotherapy or radiation and the effect these treatments have on the way food tastes, finding ways to enjoy your food can be a real challenge.

What works for one person may not work for another some patients find that eating bland or plain foods is best, and some find they tolerate highly seasoned or spicy foods and even crave them. Try a few of these ideas to boost the flavor of your foods.

1. Add grated lemon, lime or orange, or the juice from these fruits, to cookies, cakes, chicken and fish.

2. Marinate chicken breasts or turkey breast slices in soy sauce, teriyaki sauce or sauté sauce (such as Dijon chicken sauté sauce) for 30 minutes before cooking.

3. Add pesto or salsa to pasta, fish and main dishes.

4. Use fresh herbs when cooking chicken and fish.

5. Use small amounts of foods that pack a lot of flavor: Kalamata olives, anchovies, capers, roasted garlic, blue cheese, feta cheese, Dijon mustard, toasted walnuts, crushed red pepper.

6. Use garlic to boost the flavor of meats, side dishes, pilafs, salads and soups.

7. Cook rice in broth or apple juice instead of water.

8. Sprinkle toasted nuts over fish, salads and main and side dishes.

9. Caramelize meat by sprinkling brown sugar, drizzling with orange juice or molasses and cooking until the mixture thickens and coats the meat.

10. Experiment with balsamic, raspberry, tarragon, white wine and seasoned rice vinegars to add zing to cooked vegetables, pasta, soups, salads and cooked meats.

11. Use curry powder and coriander in chicken salads and casseroles and to add a jolt of exotic flavor to soups and stews.

From "Betty Crocker's Living with Cancer Cookbook." Text Copyright 2005 General Mills, Inc. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

More Recipes from the Betty Crocker's Living With Cancer Cookbook Cookbook:
Angel Hair Pasta with Avocado and Tomatoes
Cantaloupe and Chicken Salad
Caramelized Pork Slices
Caribbean Chicken Salad
Carrot-Tuna Salad
Chopped Vegetable and Crabmeat Salad
Chutney-Salmon Salad
Cream of Broccoli Soup
Creamy Quinoa Primavera
Easy Beef Stroganoff
FLAVOR BOOSTERS
Fettuccine with Asparagus and Mushrooms
Fiesta Taco Salad
Honey-Mustard Turkey with Snap Peas
Loaded Potatoes
Macaroni Pasta "Soup"
Mediterranean Couscous and Beans
Pasta with Chicken in Chili Sauce
Potato-Tomato-Tofu Dinner
Savory Scallops and Shrimp
Spinach-Shrimp Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing