ISO: Lunch Ideas

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monj

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I'm having my 83-year-old Aunt for lunch next Saturday and was thinking about serving the following below. (5 people total) She has trouble with her teeth and needs to have soft foods. Would like to keep it light, she doesn't like a fuss or seeing a ton of food. (not sure why LOL)

I'm thinking Lobster risotto (with shallots and peas) and mixed green field salad. Butternut squash soup instead of salad?
Maybe a nice flounder or other fish, but not sure the other 2 guests are fish eaters. I may have to check.

Thanks everyone!
M
 
halibut is easy to grill with a little basil pesto on it. Easy to eat.

Salad might be trouble for some. (thinking about my old mom and now I'm getting to that age) It's also a bit fiddly if any of them is shaky. Any dessert?? Even just baked squash would be soft and easy to eat. It's also terrific with rissotto. Or the lobster rissotto with baked, mashed squash drizzled with sage brown butter on the side. Squash rissotto is my favourite.

Or

Good squash soup:

Butternut Squash Soup with Spiced Crème Fraîche Serves 8

3 pounds butternut squash
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups sliced shallots
1/3 cup smashed garlic cloves
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 spice purse (1 bay leaf, 1 thyme sprig, 1 star anise, 4 peppercorns)
1/2 cup white wine
1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
8 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated licorice root (optional)
Spiced Crème Fraîche , for accompaniment

To roast the squash, preheat the oven to 350°F. With a vegetable peeler, remove the skin from the squash. Carefully cut the squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out and discard the seeds. Place the squash on a baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. Roast the squash until it is soft and caramelized, about 30 minutes.

To make the soup, in a large soup pot over medium heat, melt the butter and then add the shallots, garlic, salt, white pepper, and spice purse. Cook until the shallots are soft and translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the wine and cook until the mixture is reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add the squash, sugar, stock, and cream. Cook until all of the flavours meld together, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove the spice purse and season with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and licorice root.

Puree the soup in a blender, being careful not to overload the blender with the hot soup. (Before turning on the machine, be sure the lid is tightly secured and covered with a towel to prevent the hot mixture from escaping.)
Strain through a fine strainer and serve with

Spiced Crème Fraîche; 1 cup crème fraîche, 1/4 t. salt, 1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper, 1/4 t. freshly grated nutmeg, 1/4 t. ground ginger.
 
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The risotto would be lovely. Would a fruit salad be a nice side with pieces being cut smallish? I sort of agree about the green salad being "fiddly".
 
Dealing with that right now. I'm visiting mom (94) who will only wear her top dentures. So this trip I brought up tons of various soups with beans (for protein since she has trouble chewing meat). But once a week I take her out for her favorite meal which is deep-fried cod (fish and chips) and we sit down by the river and eat in the car. She has no problems with the cod, so I think your lobster risotto idea is great. She will eat a leaf salad if I put it on her plate, but it gets pushed around a lot. However, she'll blow through cole slaw, macaroni salad or potato salad. Avoid large nuts...I made banana bread and put a ton of walnuts in it. Then I noticed Mom secretly picking out the nuts because they were hard to chew.
 
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I'm also going to include this because everyone I've fed it to loves the weirdness...hot charred lemony tomatoes on top of chilled lemony yogurt.
I've served it at dinners, took it to a baby shower (with all the grandmothers) and made it here for mom...who loved it. Although the charred lemon rinds confused her a bit.

Oh, I feel so continental. Made Ottolenghi's Charred Tomatoes with Yogurt for breakfast.

Let's all remember that I grew up in a house where breakfast options included sulfurous runny eggs, burnt oatmeal or soggy cornflakes. Just writing that sentence makes me nauseous, meaning this might be the reason I don't like breakfast, but have come to like breakfast foods. Just not, you...
recipeswap.org recipeswap.org
 
marilynfl said:
Dealing with that right now. I'm visiting mom (94) who will only wear her top dentures. So this trip I brought up tons of various soups with beans (for protein since she has trouble chewing meat). But once a week I take her out for her favorite meal which is deep-fried cod (fish and chips) and we sit down by the river and eat in the car. She has no problems with the cod, so I think your lobster risotto dea is great. She will eat a leaf salad if I put it on her plate, but it gets pushed around a lot. However, she'll blow through cole slaw, macaroni salad or potato salad. Avoid large nuts...I made banana bread and put a ton of walnuts in it. Then I noticed Mom secretly picking out the nuts because they were hard to chew.
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Great advice, thanks Marilyn. I'm glad you're having a good visit. :) Good fish and chips are hard to find!
 
Marg CDN said:
halibut is easy to grill with a little basil pesto on it. Easy to eat.

Salad might be trouble for some. (thinking about my old mom and now I'm getting to that age) It's also a bit fiddly if any of them is shaky. Any dessert?? Even just baked squash would be soft and easy to eat. It's also terrific with rissotto. Or the lobster rissotto with baked, mashed squash drizzled with sage brown butter on the side. Squash rissotto is my favourite.

Or

Good squash soup:

Butternut Squash Soup with Spiced Crème Fraîche Serves 8

3 pounds butternut squash
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups sliced shallots
1/3 cup smashed garlic cloves
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 spice purse (1 bay leaf, 1 thyme sprig, 1 star anise, 4 peppercorns)
1/2 cup white wine
1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
8 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated licorice root (optional)
Spiced Crème Fraîche , for accompaniment

To roast the squash, preheat the oven to 350°F. With a vegetable peeler, remove the skin from the squash. Carefully cut the squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out and discard the seeds. Place the squash on a baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. Roast the squash until it is soft and caramelized, about 30 minutes.

To make the soup, in a large soup pot over medium heat, melt the butter and then add the shallots, garlic, salt, white pepper, and spice purse. Cook until the shallots are soft and translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the wine and cook until the mixture is reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add the squash, sugar, stock, and cream. Cook until all of the flavours meld together, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove the spice purse and season with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and licorice root.

Puree the soup in a blender, being careful not to overload the blender with the hot soup. (Before turning on the machine, be sure the lid is tightly secured and covered with a towel to prevent the hot mixture from escaping.)
Strain through a fine strainer and serve with

Spiced Crème Fraîche; 1 cup crème fraîche, 1/4 t. salt, 1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper, 1/4 t. freshly grated nutmeg, 1/4 t. ground ginger.
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Sounds delicious Marg, thank you so much for posting.
 
An idea for your mothers to have on hand--a twice baked potato with chopped broccoli, and a protein like chopped ham or browned sausage. They freeze well. If you get the big restaurant size a half could be a good lunch or maybe dinner.
 
I’m just going to mention in case anyone has diverticulitis. My mom did and they flushed a ton of tomato seeds out of her, so be mindful of seeds and nuts in case anybody has that. The risotto sounds lovely, maybe just a simple strawberry parfait for dessert. Alternately, maybe something like a cranberry chicken salad or whatnot, but the risotto is decidedly fancier.
 
Good point. I had diverticulitis decades ago and now just eat loads of fiber. They had said NO MORE STRAWBERRIES! Well, fiber and I have been enjoying strawberries, raspberries, blackberries...ever since. This may not be a solution for anyone else, but it worked for me.
 
mariadnoca said:
I’m just going to mention in case anyone has diverticulitis. My mom did and they flushed a ton of tomato seeds out of her, so be mindful of seeds and nuts in case anybody has that. The risotto sounds lovely, maybe just a simple strawberry parfait for dessert. Alternately, maybe something like a cranberry chicken salad or whatnot, but the risotto is decidedly fancier.
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Yikes! Makes me want to re-visit "The Plant Paradox!" Thanks for the parfait suggestion, I like it to possibly augment. I'm going to attempt my Mom's (her sister) Anise Biscuits. She used to bake them in old metal ice cube trays, sans cube form :) which I still have. I remember her cruising garage sales to find those 50's trays.
 
monj, just took mom for our Fried Fish Friday trip and thought I'd show you her standard meal: It's 4 (sometimes 5) pieces of cod. Three are always thick and one piece is always a thinner end piece. This batch was over-fried a bit but that made it extra crunchy, which she loves.

...and, of course, because it's western Pennsylvania, it's from a bar.


cod.jpg
 
marilynfl said:
monj, just took mom for our Fried Fish Friday trip and thought I'd show you her standard meal: It's 4 (sometimes 5) pieces of cod. Three are always thick and one piece is always a thinner end piece. This batch was over-fried a bit but that made it extra crunchy, which she loves.

...and, of course, because it's western Pennsylvania, it's from a bar.


View attachment 2327
Click to expand...
good looking cod--thanks for sharing! Hope your Mom enjoyed.
 
So, here's the lunch update. Most importantly, we had a very nice visit. I didn't mention that while she's 83, she's very young at heart and keeping her figure is most important to her. So, once at the house, I let her know we were having lobster risotto with green peas (frozen), thinking soft foods would be best for her. Tells me she doesn't eat carbs, but "I'll pick." Had told my SIL in advance what I was making. At the table, she says she doesn't eat lobster. My brother exclaims he doesn't eat peas. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE AND HOW DID THEY GET INTO OUR HOUSE? Everyone agreed the risotto was delicious, my brother picked out his wife's lobster for himself. Aunt "picked" and ate more than I thought she might. The anise biscuits and sangria were a hit. :) Huge vote for pressure cooker risotto, fantastic hands-off company meal, as long as you have the right company. 😂
Thanks everyone for your suggestions!
 
I love it when a plan comes together. And no matter how "picky" Aunt was, I'm sure she hasn't had lobster risotto in a LONG time, if ever. Kind of you to consider her needs with such a delightful treat.
 
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