Invalid cooking

Phoebe was recently very ill, as some of you know, and she didn't really want to eat. She lived on soup & smoothies for a week but as she recovered, her appetite improved. She lost about 4 kilos so needed fattening up. She was hungry but nothing tasted very nice so I had to be quite creative to provide meals that were appealing for an invalid. These days we tend not to have prolonged illness and don't often need to provide meals for convalescence.
One of the things Phoebe likes is tinned tomato soup but that didn't seem nourishing enough so I made a version using tinned tomatoes. I softened onion, celery & garlic before adding the tin of tomatoes & enough chicken stock to make a nice consistency. Simmer for 20 minutes or so then add milk and/or cream to serve. I made croutons - Phoebe always eats soup if you add croutons & cheese. To make croutons I cut some white bread into chunks. I use whatever I have lurking in the breadbin -Turkish, French, Italian, potato bread, which I toss in garlic infused oil & bake in the oven (about 180) until crisp (about 15 mins). Put the croutons in an ovenproof soup bowl, pour over the soup, grate over some cheese & grill until cheese melts. Now she chooses my soup over the tinned even without the croutons.
One morning she wanted pancakes for breakfast and I served them with lemon, a dish of mixed berries and both plain & cinnamon sugar as well as some maple syrup. My mother always maintained that presentation contributes to the appetite of the recently ill and I do think that had some effect on Phoebe.
The other meal she ate with enthusiasm was pasta which I cooked, then mixed with homemade tomato sauce (from the freezer) & very small sprigs of steamed broccoli. I topped with grated cheese mixed with panko crumbs & put under the grill until the cheese melted & the crumbs turned golden.
These ideas would also work for a child or any occasion where you need to produce a nutritious meal for one with minimum effort but don't want to resort to a packet.
I kept the fridge stocked with dishes of jelly and I made custard to serve with stewed apple or rhubarb. One day I got quite carried away & made something I remembered from my childhood called Pineapple Bavarian Cream. You will find this on p 138 in your (well, my edition of) Edmonds book - accept no substitute. Soften a packet of pineapple jelly (I couldn't get pineapple & used lemon, for the colour) in 1/2 cup cold water, make a custard with 2 tbsp custard powder & 3/4 cup milk and mix the 2 together. Cool then beat into 150ml whipped cream & fold in 230g tin crushed pineapple. Recipes on the internet just use pineapple, jelly & cream but the custard is essential. Set in individual dishes to serve to your invalid on demand. Phoebe liked this so much she has feigned a relapse on several occasions in the hope of it reappearing on the menu.