Suggestions for Post Surgery Food Gift

[tigerlilly]

Hi all,

I'm a newbie to the boards, but have quickly become impressed with all your ideas and words of wisdom...I'm hoping you can help me. A neighbor of mine is coming out of a 4 day stint in the hospital. I've been walking her dog, but thought it would also be nice to make her a little something as a treat. She'll be having her daughter and son-in-law stay with her so she'll have plenty of home cooked meals. I thought I would leave her either snack food or a breakfast bread/muffins - something of that nature. The surgery she had is related to her weight problem which she is working hard to overcome, so I'd like to stay away from cookies and sweets and focus on something a little healthier.

Any thoughts would be most appreciated!

[JulieM]

Hi Tigerlilly! Interesting question... after surgery you tend to want comfort foods (like icecream ). I was wondering, is she now on a special diet or should she be avoiding high fiber foods? If not, healthy muffins might be a good idea, maybe in a basket with some good tea. Hot tea is so comforting with so many health benefits. And ginger tea is soothing for the stomach. And you might want to consider making mini-muffins instead of the full sized since her appetite may be light at this time.

[stefania4]

If she's overcoming a weight problem, how about an exotic fruit basket? A good fresh pineapple, some pomegrantes, mango, good strawberries if you can find them...

A coffee basket is another way to go.

[swquilts]

If she has had bariatric (sp?) surgery they are on a restricted diet (liquid I think) for a few days. Maybe a food gift that will keep for a bit or can be frozen.

Maybe a couple of paperbacks or a new low fat cookbook? How about an issue of Cooking Light?

(Correct me if I'm wrong though on the restricted diet thing.... )

[valchemist]

If you want breakfast food, how about some homemade granola?


* Exported from MasterCook *

Crunchy Granola
Recipe By :Kathleen Daelemans
Serving Size : 16 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
4 tsps pure vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
8 cups rolled oats
2 c chopped pecans or walnuts -- or slivered almonds
2 c chopped dates

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and reserve.

Combine brown sugar and water in a 4-cup microwave proof glass measuring cup or bowl. Place in microwave on high for 5 minutes and cook until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from microwave, add vanilla extract and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, combine oats, nuts, and brown sugar syrup mixture. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Spread the granola onto cookie sheets and bake 45 minutes to 1 hour or until golden and crunchy.

When the mixture comes out of the oven, it is still very pliable. You may choose to add in dried fruit as a finishing touch at this time. When granola has cooled completely, store in an airtight container.


Yield: 10 cups
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy


Source:
"FoodTV's Cooking Thin"



Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 370 Calories; 13g Fat (29.7% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 60g Carbohydrate; 7g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 141mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 Fruit; 2 1/2 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates.



* Exported from MasterCook *

Low Fat Granola

Recipe By : posted by SusanT on bb
Serving Size : 12 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 cup boiling water
1/4 c packed brown sugar
8 ozs dried fruit (blueberries, crasins, dried
cherries, dates, or raisins)
3 cups regular oats
1 cup chopped nuts (your choice)
2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 300. Combine the first 3 ingredients in a bowl, and let stand 1/2 hour. Combine oats and remaining ingredients and stir into the dried-fruit mixture (the oats will be wet). Sprinkle oat mixture over a jelly-roll pan. Bake at 300 for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Store in air-tight container.

Feel free to vary the nuts and fruits to your tastes. Some of our favorite combinations are blueberries and cherries with pecans or almonds or blueberries and crasins with almonds.

Keep a close eye on this while baking. It can go from perfect to scorched very quickly.

Enjoy! (This recipe doubles well or even triples for those with a convection oven!)


Source:
"modification of CL recipe (Crunchy Granola with Dried Fruit, July/Aug
1998)"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 301 Calories; 9g Fat (26.0% calories from fat); 10g Protein; 48g Carbohydrate; 6g Dietary Fiber; trace Cholesterol; 13mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 1 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

NOTES :
SusanT: This is my own adaptation of the CL Crunchy Granola with Dried fruit. The oats go in after the soaking. Lately though, I've been skipping the whole soaking process and just adding the dried fruit after making the granola. So I would amend the directions by first mixing the boiling water and sugar and stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Let the water cool for about 10 minutes, then add the oats, nuts, cinnamon and dry milk. The mixture will be gummy but don't worry. Spread it on the pan or pans and bake as directed. Before storing add the dried fruit. I stopped soaking the fruit after the fruit kept scorching and I realized the first soaking dried fruit and then baking it just didn't make a lot of sense. I'm not sure why the original recipe did that ....but what's the fun if you can't change something?

[tigerlilly]

Thanks for your great ideas!

[Paula H]

I'd definitely check out any (hospital enforced) diet restrictions first. When people brought me food after operations it was incredibly frustrating to be given chocolate and fruit and other things when I was first on a liquid diet and then on pureed food. (Although I must confess my theory on chocolate - if I suck on the chocolate until it melts in my mouth, it's no longer solid and therefore must be liquid and so must be okay. !!)

I'd vote for a basket of fruit for when she gets home. Maybe a voucher offering to cook her a couple of meals? Or, I know this sounds a bit sad, but when I was stuck for three days on eating hospital-jelly (always orange flavoured) I was so very very happy when a friend brought in a range of jellies made up in different flavours.

[wallycat]

I vote for coffee/tea basket or a book if you know what she's reading.
As you said, she'll have family and plenty of food...and something she probably doesn't want to be reminded of right away.

Maybe even offering to shop from a list for her after her family leaves (or other errands) ..I'm not sure how uncomfortable she'll be or for how long...

[TeriK]

I think the fruit or coffee/tea thing is great. You might also consider something like homemade chicken soup. It's soothing and can be frozen in smaller amounts to be used later, once family leaves.
I wish her well. She's lucky to have a nice neighbor like you.