<p>My dearest and best friend has had surgery and is now home. Several friends have taken turns delivering an evening meal and now my turn is coming up. Everything they have had so far has been chicken. I need ideas, non-chicken ones. Baked penne? Anyone have a recipe? What do you take when you are called on for this?</p>
<p>I admit. I usually pick up a rotisserie chicken, bagged salad, deli sides and dessert but this time that won’t do.</p>
<p>I find myself wondering what your friend <em>wants</em>. Why don’t you call her and ask her? When I had surgery the summer before last, I desperately wanted raspberries and no one brought them for me.</p>
<p>What kind of surgery? How mobile is she? Would she like to go out to a neighborhood place if you make arrangements? Why don’t you call her and ask her? If she’s your best friend, she’ll know you well enough to give reasonable answers.</p>
<p>My answer would be steak, baked potato and salad. With raspberries for dessert.</p>
<p>Soup can be nice, especially since you KNOW they’ve been deluged with chicken. Any homemade soup, plus a loaf of bread and a salad, works well.</p>
<p>I am not a good cook. The last time I “made” dinner for a recuperating friend, I bought large frozen stuffed shells (manicotti) and baked them in a 9x13 pan with good (but store bought) spaghetti sauce, then brought them over with a nice salad (I am good at chopping veggies) and salad dressing and garlic bread (the kind you heat in the oven). It is good because you can bring it over warm but it can wait and easily microwave reheat if they are not ready to eat right then, and there will be leftovers.</p>
<p>I am sure you know what your friend’s favorite dessert is, a certain type of pie or ice cream - whatever you come up with for the dinner, you could bring that.</p>
<p>Thanks for the ideas. She had a hysterectomy and is pretty mobile already but not up to a night out. She also has a husband and three children and is diabetic. I have asked what sounds good and that is when I was told anything but chicken. </p>
<p>I’m thinking a regular meal and also soup that she can have for lunches or stick in the freezer for later. </p>
<p>And thanks for the raspberry idea…I’m now craving raspberries!!!</p>
<p>I had breast cancer this year and was the recipient of many meals for myself and family. I unfortunately had appettite/nausea issues but the meals did seem to rely heavily on chicken 
Meals I liked, Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes, turkey with gravy, fresh rolls, green beans and stuffing, chili, lasagna, a chinese style casserole with rice.
I would suggest not too large of quantities. We had food coming out of our ears. I would also suggest containers that can be kept or thrown away by the reciepient.
Thanks for being a good friend</p>
<p>I sent over a little something recently to a friend who had just gotten out of the hospital. She said that it hit the spot because it was “comfort food.”</p>
<p>Beef stroganoff on top of rice…</p>
<p>I used small frozen meatballs for the beef. Cooked in a sauce made of Cream of Mushroom soup, wine, Worchestershire (spelling) sauce, sour cream, and slice fresh mushrooms. Put the above into a crock pot and let it cook. </p>
<p>Took it over to her house in two throwaway containers–one for rice, one for topping.</p>
<p>I think that if you send a meal to someone it should be homemade. Really homemade. I like to take a soup or stew, salad, good hardy bread (you can buy this) and brownies.
The soups I like to make are: potato, corn chowder, or beef soup.</p>
<p>One thing you might check into is if anyone is making a schedule. BAck when I was recuperating from being hit by a car, one of my dearest friends set up a dinner schedule for all the playground moms, which soon branched out to lots of other people once they heard about it. It was so nice to know someone was going to make sure my kids got fed, and at the same time, the food came daily so there wasn’t too much at the same time.</p>
<p>We got various pasta meals, roasts, every kind of chicken, home-made soup, etc. It got to be a competition–someone would make a dessert, the next person would bring dessert plus coffee cake for breakfast. Someone else included junk magazines for me to read, which was nice because with the concussion, I couldn’t read books or anything that required thought.</p>
<p>Most people telephoned the day before their turn to check what the kids liked. A few “non-cooks” picked up readymade from Shop rite.</p>
<p>It was so nice; we appreciated anything anyone did. It made me feel great about my community. Kudos to all the food-angels!</p>
<p>When I had breast cancer my neighbors took turns making dinner for my Chemo nights. I had trouble with taste, so what they made didn’t always work for me. Of course, the dinners were not just for me; we had to have foods that also appealed to my husband and kids.</p>
<p>I found the meat dishes more to my liking-spaghetti and meat sauce, lasagna, and pastas with sauce. All you have to add is a salad and some bread and you are good to go.</p>
<p>I have also purchased gift certificates for restaurants in the area that deliver or have take out- chinese food, mexican, italian, american fare. It gives the family some flexibility and the cooked food doesn’t go to waste if too much arrives at once. I agree that it is a great idea to have one person coordinating a calendar for meal deliveries…</p>
<p>Because of several brain related hospitalizations we have had more than our share of meals from kind friends. Some were homemade some were purchased, but each were equally appreeciated because my husband didn’t have to deal with dinner. Since you don’t cook I will offer you several wonderful takeout meals (that I loved because I couldn’t go out due to immune issues). One was the Bob Evans take out dinners - they had everything with them and the ultimate take out comfort food, local italian restaurant - purchase a lasagne, manicotti, any pasta dish, salad and homemade bread and lastly, a local BBQ place - this was a great treat for us. The take out meals had their own brand of specialty with them, so you may want to do that and suprise the family with that.</p>
<p>I recently talked to a friend whose family had received many dinners from friends after a death in the family. She mentioned how delighted everyone had been when a friend showed up one evening with a stack of Domino’s Pizzas. There were a number of relatives staying with them, and everyone – not only the kids – enjoyed having something a little different from all the (delicious and very appreciated) homecooked meals.</p>
<p>If your friend likes a particular type of food (for me it would be Thai) how about take-out from that type of restaurant? Agree with murmur that it doesn’t need to be homemade to be appreciated – take-out is expensive, so it’s a real treat.</p>
<p>If she’s diabetic, that makes it a bit more complicated. I have gestational diabetes among other complications and have been the recipient of many kind meals while on bedrest at different times.</p>
<p>For most diabetics, it helps if you think “low carb” and separate the carbs from the meats so they can control portions of carbs. </p>
<p>A roast is great-- we did London Broil last night and it was fast and easy – just pick up a top round roast cut for London Broil (my grocer had some already marinated!). Put it in a flat roaster you’ve oiled under your broiler. Turn several times until it is medium rare (feels like the fat portion of your hand under your thumb when you touch your thumb to middle finger; if you cut it, it will be brown on edges and hot red on the inside). Wrap it in foil and recommend they cut in thin slices across the grain. Yummy.</p>
<p>Serve a carb on the side like baked potatoes (you can make pretty good ones in the microwave even) or bread or a pasta salad, a salad or low carb veggie like broccoli or cauliflower, and a low carb dessert (raspberries and blueberries are very low carb, you can include some whipped cream, too :-)</p>
<p>I have no idea if this appropriate for a diabetic, but this is how I make baked penne:
Cook the penne al dente (not quite fully cooked). Spray a 9 X13 pan with olive oil (pam will work). Drain the pasta, add sauce (I make my own, but store bought will work–I would use either Classico Tomato and Basil or Trader Joes–those don’t have added sugar). You want the mixture to be wet, but not soupy. Spoon into prepared pan, add shredded cheese one top. To serve, heat in 350 oven or microwave. I’d take bread and a salad. </p>
<p>If there is somewhere near you to buy meatballs, you can cook those in sauce in the crockpot, take sub sandwich rolls, cheese, and a salad and everyone could have meatball sandwiches. I buy the meatballs frozen at a local Italian market, they are precooked, I just microwave defrost them, drop them in the crockpot, cover with sauce and cook. Or sausage sandwiches–same thing, just precook the sausages first.</p>
<p>This is a wonderful thing for you to do…</p>
<p>I’m a huge pasta fan, but that may be a no-no for a diabetic. I think a roast would be a great idea. With nice rolls, or baked potatoes, and salad.</p>
<p>Burritos plus sides of nachos and a salad.</p>
<p>Regarding making something “really homemade”?</p>
<p>I am like Phyllis Diller. As she said, “Everything I make from scratch tastes scratchy.”</p>
<p>Does she like sushi? That’s a great carryout item that others are unlikely to have thought of. (I get sushi from Trader Joe’s.)</p>
<p>Lentil-bulgur salad is easy to make – takes time to prepare, but it’s easy – and is really good. It’s vegetarian, is good hot or cold (we usually eat it cold), and the recipe makes enough for leftovers the next day, or two, depending on the family. It’s not the prettiest dish, because lentils just aren’t the prettiest color, but it’s a huge favorite in my household. If you’d like the recipe, let me know.</p>
<p>My best friend was in the hospital for a week or so this fall. She could get around at home but not up to chopping/cutting and preparing a meal.</p>
<p>I dropped off a “dinner” with enough left overs for another night. I ordered take out at a local italian restaurant, ordering a variety of dishes so the family could graze through it all. I knew the portions would be generous so they would have leftovers to microwave. My choices were: eggplant parmesan, a chicken dish, and 2 pasta dishes. A vege comes with each so I had them make 1 very big portion of veges. Salad for each too and bread. The family was thrilled.</p>
<p>An acquaintance had heart surgery a while back. I got the family a gift card to the same restaurant knowing the husband could bring home take out on his way home from work.
I’m sure whatever you make/bring will be appreciated. </p>
<p>Soup and a quiche works well too.</p>