Few ideas for 'plain dinners please

[Feckinlego]

DH just out of hospital after some bowel trouble. Docs have told him to eat small amounts of food for a few weeks, plus no pork lamb or beef. We are strict carnivores here, plus everything I cook has a lot of spice. So I'm stuck for chicken/ veggie recipes that have no spice but are tasty enough for the rest of us to eat. All I can think of is a roast chicken and a risotto, so I'd be grateful for some inspiration! Thanks

Shepherds pie
Sphag Bol
Fish with parsley sauce
Gammon and pineapple

Chicken stew/casserole
Fish pie
Omelette
Vegetable tagine
Any kind of risotto - not just chicken!
Mild veg or chicken curries
Soups
Pasta and roasted veg

Have a look at the Green Roasting Tin recipe book - all vegetarian and most of the recipes are tasty without being spicy.

We are strict carnivores here

Why?
If he can eat turkey you can use turkey mince to make shepherd's pie, and burgers
Pasta with various vegetarian sauces - pesto, tomato sauce, muxhroom sauce
Spanish omelette
Risotto (butternut squash, mushroom, pea and mint, prawn), pilaff
Stir fries
Jacket potatoes, halved, fillings removed and mashed with butter and cheese, sprinkled with cheese than baked until browned
Soups
Fishcakes
Fish pie

Macaroni cheese. With steamed veg on the side

Turkey mince tastes a lot like lamb in a shepherd's pie, you can also use it in meatballs / burgers etc.

Pasta with tomato sauce or with cream cheese.

Eggs on toast, beans on toast, cheese on toast.

Fish fingers. Fish cakes. Fish pie.

rice, frozen mixed veg, tin of cocoanut milk and some hot water, stick it all in a pan or rice cooker for 20 mins.

Macaroni cheese, baked potatoes with veg and tuna or cheese, chicken or veg stew with pricks with mash or rice. Italian obvs has loads of options without red meat and spice- I’m veggie and husband isn’t, so Italian one of our favourite crossover cuisines. Plus loads of potato based dishes as we are both Irish/ Scottish potato lovers. Cream and Parmesan and rosemary in potato gratins, mustard mash... so many options!

Stew.

Griddled chicken add sauce at the table.

Fish as above

Breaded fish or chicken in a wrap with salad. Salsa at the table

• Shepherds pie Sphag Bol Fish with parsley sauce Gammon and pineapple*

Lamb, beef and pork there!

What about
kedgeree
linguine with minced slow cooked turkey mince
smoked haddock with mashed potatoes, salmon with dauphinois potatoes (assuming not also a low fat diet)
soups
Chicken casserole
Lentil Ragu

Traybakes with chicken joints and various vegetables
Roasted vegetable couscous with feta cheese
Spanakopita
Delia's spinach and ricotta canneloni

Ooh loads of ideas there! Can't believe I forgot fish, we love fish

Noodle dishes with salmon or prawns, chicken

Stir fry: ditto

Chicken Cacciatore

@Feckinlego

Swordfish tastes a lot like pork, if you don't already know.

On the veg side - stuffed peppers, stuffed onions, stuffed courgetes.

Butterfly boneless chicken breasts so they are opened out and thin. Marinade with salt, pepper, olive oil and herbs (and crushed garlic if not excluded by the diet). Cook on a griddle.

Open out chicken breasts and stuff with ricotta mixed with baby spinach nuked in microwave. Wrap in Parma ham and bake for 25 mins

Depending on the kind of bowel troubles does it need to be low fibre?

Chicken pie

My Dad had this a few years ago. He was most ok with 'sloppy spaghetti bolognaise', possibly not heavy on the mince.

I cooked him sausages and mash once and that did not agree with him. Found it unexpected but learned that lesson. It took a long while for him to be able to tolerate pork again. I have a feeling he had to go easy on cheese as well (which he loves).

Fishcakes and similar (some places also do corned beef cakes etc) were good.

You need clarification from the doc. Does he mean low residue/low fibre? A lot of veg are high fibre. e.g. jacket potato skins, anything with seeds or nuts. Peas, pulses. Lots of sample diets on line. They are usually the opposite of what we think of as a healthy diet. White bread, not brown. No high fibre cereals, like Weetabix or Shredded Wheat.

Basically, the idea is to give the bowel a rest. Food needs to be bland and non-irritant. Perhaps the rest of you can pep up your portions with hot sauce or condiments?

Agree with this ^ I'd avoid brassicas and legumes they can be gas-forming. Plenty of fluids to avoid constipation. Veg can be good in soups as it's been whizzed up. Nothing with too much fat. I'd be thinking of nice roasted fish with tender veg. I'd personally avoid potato as well.

Fish pie with cod, salmon and prawns might be easy to digest? Turkey instead of beef in a cottage pie?