What can I feed this person??

[whiterabbity]

Relative coming to stay. For health reasons, she has a very restrictive diet. When I ask her what she eats or what I can make for her, she just says ‘anything’. I’m wondering specifically for dinners.

Her dietary requirements are:

Vegan except small quantities of cheddar cheese
No sugar
Very low fat
No pasta/pizza/heavy carbs
Not too keen on salads

Any suggestions would be so appreciated!

AI is your friend here - ask a chat GPT (or similar) for recipe suggestions that fit your criteria. Sounds like a nightmare guest - good luck!

Minestrone sans pasta and double the cannellini beans. Make a big batch and it will do for lunches/dinners over a couple of days.

Last night I did a veg plate which was essentially just butternut squash roasted in olive oil, chilli flakes and garlic powder; boiled cauliflower, broccoli par boiled then stirfried in sesame oil and roasted potatos.

I also like to wilt spinach in a mix of olive and sesame oil, add sesame seeds and serve with rice that has been cooked in veg stock.

Other than that, well- she needs to give you some ideas.

If I ate such a nutritionally poor restrictive diet I’d bring my own food. How tedious!!

You need to tell her to stop being so ridiculous and to start giving you some examples of what she can eat.

I would go back and say ‘well you can’t eat ‘anything’ can you as you have a very restricted diet’.’ Please can you give me some examples of what meals you eat at home’.

Did you invite her or did she invite herself? She needs to give you some ideas!

Vegan jambalaya is good and you can make it in one pot so it’s not too much effort.

She can tell you what she actually wants to eat, or sort it herself. Honestly.

She may have perfectly valid reasons for having such a restrictive diet so I don't think that's necessarily problematic. But not just telling you what she'd happily eat? That's unreasonable in the extreme.

Is this someone who suffers with one or more digestives issues or disorders, or just someone whose enjoys being the centre of attention and can't pass up an opportunity to cause problems for well meaning people around them?

It would be good to know if she eats Quorn sausages/nuggets or bean burgers, say, then you could have some easy shove in the oven/air fryer meals as well.

Brown rice.

Ottolenghi’s confit chickpeas with brown rice

Loads of recipes here

Also things like this are very easy.

https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/vegan-pineapple-fried-rice/

Vegan moussaka with a green salad

Dust anybody?

Roast aubergine with coconut yogurt & pomegranate and some Merchant Gourmet lentils on the side
A butternut squash, chickpea & spinach curry
A vegan chilli
Lunch with be soups & salads. She may not be too keen on salads but she has ruled out many other options!

What kind of vegan eats a small amount of cheddar cheese!

I love tomatoes on toast! Just a dash of salt... I'd be happy 🤣

Googling "vegan keto recipes" gives some good ideas e.g. https://www.delish.com/cooking/g4837/vegan-keto-recipes/

I wouldn’t go to massive amounts of trouble pratting about with lentils and fancy recipes. Just give her a plate of whatever vegetables and potatoes you’re having with your dinner with a bowl of grated cheese and leave her to it.

I’m a restrictive vegetarian and I’d always rather have veg and potatoes than anything with pulses or tofu.

Stuffed big mushrooms or peppers-
You could put bulgar, couscous, lentils, chopped other veg and herbs in them? With a breadcrumbs topping?

Boulanger potatoes- just omit the milk and just use stock and oil instead of butter.

Snacks can be crudités and nice bread sticks with dips like tzatziki, hummus and guacamole?

Ah sorry I completely missed that it's for health reasons!! Assuming it's genuine health reasons I'd give him/her much more leeway.

Maybe ask for some favourite meals or food combos to give you some idea.

She eats what you do or she brings her own?

Vegetable curry
vegetable stir fry
cauliflower steak and veg

Urgh, we have a similar relative with different, but equally restrictive, dietary restrictions (until we eat out, then this person eats all sorts 🙄).

I was going to suggest this, but then noticed the vegan bit.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/aubergine-rolls-spinach-ricotta
But apparently you can make vegan ricotta by essentially blending tofu.
https://thehiddenveggies.com/ricotta/#recipe

Fun times

Dust