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LOOKING for: Ideas for Meals for Ill Friend

suzieque
15 years ago

Hi -

My very good friend is undergoing chemo and radiation for lung cancer (she is not a smoker). She loves to cook and is excellent at it, but is much too tired and not feeling well enough now to do much now. Her husband has gotten take out for them a few times and she said that she made some soup. I want to take her some meals now and then so that they don't have to think about it.

Do you have recipes for things that I can make at home and transport to her the next day, for heating up when they want? I'm not looking for things that she can put in the freezer and use later, as she doesn't like to do that (doesn't use the freezer much). Just some things that I, as a "not-as-good-a-cook-as-her-by-any-means" could make to help out. Veggie sides, main dishes, etc.

She said that she doesn't have the metallic taste in her mouth (yet), but that things don't taste as good as before she started treatment.

Many thanks -

Suzieque

Comments (5)

  • lindac
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    soups.....home made by you would be good.
    Cream of mushroom soup, Italian wedding soup chicken noodle with home made broth.
    Or things like a flan or a nice dish of custard, fruit salad maybe?
    Linda C

  • teresa_nc7
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Potato soup, chicken and dumplings, PA Dutch Chicken Corn Soup, Barley Vegetable Soup, a chicken and dressing casserole, rice pudding, tapioca pudding, corn pudding, apple crisp, baked custard, and any favorite creamy casserole, potato, or rice dish.

    I think I would stay away from tomato sauces, citrus fruits, and anything acidic like marinated vegetable salads until you can ask her opinion on those.

    Barley Vegetable Soup

    3/4 cup pearl barley
    3 cups chicken stock

    Put in a pot, bring to a boil and simmer 1 hr. until liquid is absorbed.

    3 TB butter
    1 cup fine diced onion
    1 cup fine diced carrot
    1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms
    1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
    8 cups chicken broth or stock

    Cook vegetables gently in butter 5 minutes or until soft. Add the chicken broth and simmer 30 min.

    Add the barley and simmer 5 more min. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls - garnish with a dollop of sour cream and chopped parsley if desired.

    I sometimes add 1 can of cr. mushroom or cr. celery soup to this recipe to make it a cream version.

    Honey Custard - from Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine

    3 eggs
    1/2 cup honey
    dash salt
    2 3/4 cup milk
    1/2 t. lemon extract
    1/2 t. grated orange or lemon rind
    nutmeg

    Beat eggs well in a large bowl. Add honey and salt, beating well. Add milk and mix well. Add extract and rind.

    Pour into 5 or 6 greased custard cups or a 1 1/2 qt. casserole. Sprinkle nutmeg on top.

    Bake in a water bath for 45 minutes at 350 F.

    Basic Cup Custard serves 4

    2 cups milk
    4 TB honey or 1/4 cup sugar
    2 eggs or 4 egg yolks
    1/2 t. vanilla
    nutmeg grated on top

    Blend all except nutmeg. Pour into 4 greased custard cups. Set cups in a pan of water and bake at 350 F for 30 min.

    Chicken Corn Soup

    Submitted By: Teresa

    Prep Time: 30 Minutes
    Cook Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
    Ready In: 2 Hours
    Servings: 12
    "Rivals (a crumb-sized egg noodle) and hard boiled eggs complete this Pennsylvania Dutch recipe for chicken soup with celery and corn fresh off the cob."
    Ingredients:
    1 (4 pound) chicken
    1 onion, chopped
    4 quarts water
    1 (10 ounce) package frozen whole kernel corn or fresh corn cut from the cob
    1/2 cup chopped celery
    salt and pepper to taste
    Rivels
    1 cup all-purpose flour
    1 pinch salt
    1 egg
    1/4 cup milk

    2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped

    Directions:
    1. In a large stock pot cover chicken and onion with water. Cook slowly until tender, approximately 1 hour. Remove chicken, let cool and remove meat from bones. Cut meat into 1 inch pieces, discard skin and bones.
    2. Cut corn from cobs if using fresh corn.
    3. Add corn, cut up chicken, celery to stock pot and season with salt and pepper. Simmer soup for 10 minutes.
    4. In a separate bowl make rivels by mixing together flour, salt, egg, and enough milk to form small crumbs.
    5. Drop rivels into soup and add hard boiled eggs. Simmer for 15 minutes and serve hot.

    ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2009 Allrecipes.com Printed from Allrecipes.com 1/16/2009

  • suzieque
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sounds great! And I agree about what you (teresa) advised to stay away from. Thanks for the recipes; I will start with one this weekend and take it to her. And LindaC, I'll bet that flan or custard would go down easily and hit the spot. (Flan is one of my own favorite desserts!).

    Thanks, ladies.

    Suzieque

  • lindac
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    When I was doing the chemo thing....my brain wanted lots of things my mouth didn't like. Both from the burn from the chemo....and the strange taste thing. I felt well enough to cook and would frequently get a wild hair that I had to have.....
    And spend 1/2 a day making it, only to find out it didn't taste good at all!
    Once I remember having a huge yen for canned tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches made with white bread and Velveeta. Always my idea of what NOT to eat....but I had a huge longing....so I went to the store, bought white bread, canned souop and Velveeta.....
    I hated it! LOL!
    Another time I wanted chicken a la king on a biscuit....so I bought chicken and amde biscuits etc.....and didn't like that either.
    I also had a huge hankering for Margaritas....huge!! couldn't get them out of my mind! The salt on the glass hurt my mouth, the tequila made me woozy and the lime hurt my mouth and upset my stomach....but I had the yen all through out. I combatted it by buying the mix and sipping very slowly...
    So find out what she wants before cooking....you just might be able to strike a chord.
    Linda C

  • roselin32
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    These go really well with soup and the Barley Soup posted above sounds like a good one.
    Our favorite:
    2c flour
    1/2c sugar
    2 1/2 tsp baking powder
    1/4 tsp salt
    1 egg, well beaten
    1c milk
    1/3c salad oil
    1 tsp almond extract
    1c fresh or frozen blueberries or cranberries
    Combine dry ingredients and whisk well. Combine egg, milk, oil, and extract.
    Fold wet ingredients quickly into dry til just blended. Gently fold in berries.
    Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 full and bake in preheated 400° oven for
    25 minutes or til test done.
    Yield:12 muffins.