Looking for ideas to "spice up" a cooked grain/legume mix

[Dunkaroo]

My 29 y/o Patagonian conure has eaten seed and human food (anything healthy that we eat) for his whole life. When I got him 6 years ago I made a few unsuccessful attempts to switch him to a pelleted diet. Thanks to this board, I've recently tried to make up a few of the cooked mixes.

However, the grain/legume mixes taste awful. He would happily eat lentil soup or barley soup or chili, but this stuff is WAY too boring. I realize that it takes time to get them used to a change in diet (and of course I am not depriving him of seed, just hoping to start to minimize it's percentage in his diet), but I am looking for some healthy ways to spice it up to help with the switch.

I'm tempted to add a packet of chili seasoning, vegetable soup stock, or spaghetti sauce to help make it taste better. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

[Tom Lawless]

I add cinnamon. I know some of the commercial mixes have ginger in them. You can also add hot pepper if you think this is what your guy likes. I would worry about some of the seasoning mixes, broths, and sauces on the human food market because they tend to be high in sodium. Other than that I personally don't know of a reason not to use them but that doesn't mean that they are not there.

Good luck.