Soft but tasty recipes?

[Scarby9]

Does anyone have suggestions for tasty, not spicy, recipes that are quite soft to chew?
Currently enjoyed:
Cottage pie
Shepherd's pie
Fish pie
Lasagne
Cauliflower cheese
Scampi
Salmon
Not keen on chicken, pork, beef or even sausage meat as 'too hard'. For some reason, pasta is also not popular.
Extra points if it is relatively easy to prepare (to be made by my dad, aged 86, who makes all of the above).
Thank you

Moussaka
Risotto
Mild chilli con carne
Bubble & squeak with a fried/ poached egg
Fishcakes
Cod Mornay
Jacket potato with cheese or tuna (without the potato skin obviously)

For a snack peel and grate finely one big carrot and one apple. We often eat it as a side dish with mashed potatoes and Ketley like in this recipe. They come out quite soft I would use minced pork or ground turkey. Or a mix of them.
www.allrecipes.com/recipe/221401/eastern-european-kotlety/

I love frozen squash, the little cubes cook beautifully in the over. I'd team it with some frozen fish (Lidl do a very tasty white fish in a lemon-and-black pepper fine breadcrumb coating, very soft and nutritious), and then another vegetable like frozen peas. You can put the fish and squash in the oven at the same time.

Would meat slow cooked until it falls apart be soft enough? I made a mock up of an Irish stew recently which was amazing and really easy. I browned some stewing steak, with (frozen) onions, added beef stock and some (frozen!) casserole vegetables, put the lid on, turned it down low and left it simmering for about 2.5-3hrs and served it with mashed potato. It warmed my soul and Irish heritage and the beef just melted in the mouth

My mum used to make a cheese and mashed potato pie, served with cakes beans. Total comfort food and couldnt be simpler to make. Use frozen mash, any grated cheese, some finely chopped onion (you can buy pre-cooked onion to save him the bother).

Ragu and polenta

Does he dislike just heat-spices or all spices?

If he like warming spices without heat, red lentil dhal? I don't use chilli in it, just onion, garlic, cumin and ginger.

Some easy ways to add flavour and extra portion of veg to the mash that's going on top of a 'pie' just to vary things a bit: add some cooked cauli or swede or sweet potato (or tinned butter beans/cannellini beans that could also be steamed or chucked in with the potatoes to heat through) when mashing the potato.

Traditional Burns' Night entree is haggis,mashed potato and mashed turnip.You can microwave haggis and also get ready made both mashed potato and turnip. It has to be the softest menu ever. Black or white pudding is another soft but tasty item that can be microwaved. Pea or lentil stew/mash take time to prepare from scratch, but you can cheat by getting Condensed soups ( e.g. Granny's) and not diluting them. Once again, these can be microwaved. Look at toddler and baby products. You can get some very superior ones now. Great for fruit puddings.

Is it a teeth issue or a swallow issue? Because if the latter, he should get that checked.

My dad has similar requirements and to add to your list he would have:

Soup
Eggs - usually in the form of a quiche. But sometimes he scrambles them.
He buys crumbed chicken or fish which he cooks in the oven and has with vegetables and a cheese sauce.
Fried fish eg cod or hake - dip in egg then flour and fry for a few minutes each side.
Slow cooked lamb stew so that the meat is falling apart (and cut in small chunks).

Gnocchi bake

Thank you everyone.
It is a teeth issue (plate), @BlingLovingbut also a dementia issue, so she has likes and dislikes that are not always logical. It is my mum, whom my dad is cooking for.

Apparently yesterday she took against egg sandwiches with the crusts cut off, which have always been a winner. Rice also gets behind the plate, asdo breadcrumbs as a crunchy topping. Yet she will happily eat crisps.

@Scarby9

Thank you everyone. It is a teeth issue (plate), *@BlingLovingbut* also a dementia issue, so she has likes and dislikes that are not always logical. It is my mum, whom my dad is cooking for.

Apparently yesterday she took against egg sandwiches with the crusts cut off, which have always been a winner. Rice also gets behind the plate, asdo breadcrumbs as a crunchy topping. Yet she will happily eat crisps.

Tricky. My Dad adds the cheese sauce specifically to avoid the breadcrumb issue. Ie makes them a bit soft and soggy, not sure if that helps?

Omelette? Plain or with v softened veggies? Or soft boiled eggs and soldiers?

It's very hard, I sympathise.

I would have thought scampi would be too crunchy?

• Pea/ham soup
• Slow cooker beef cheeks or oxtail soup
• Poached haddock with boiled egg on top
• kedgeree
• quiche/fritatta (using a pre-bought pastry shell to save time)

gnocchi in tomato/veg or cheese sauce.

@Hairyfriend By the stated preferences, scampi should definitely be too hard! But so should biscuits, but those are still acceptable. As I say, it's not always logical...

Risotto (pre prepared!) shouldn't get behind a plate. Also rice / semolina pudding things.

People with dementia often prefer sweet things. My Mum was like that. She loved chocolate puddings and other sweet treats.

I know it is not the most nutritious but sometimes you just have to go with what works.

So custard, pudding, rice pudding etc. can be quite enjoyable.

Bake sweet potatoes then scoop out the middles and top with crumbled feta. Sweet and sour and salty all at one. My DD ate this after every orthodontist appointment for her braces and it is easily eaten and nothing can get caught.

Wiltshire fine foods do a large range of softer meals, if your dad wants to keep some for the days when he doesn't fancy cooking. Parsley box have meals you can store in a cupboard (no need to freeze/fridge) but I don't know what their range is like.

It might be worth looking at the dementia UK website for possible ideas and support. Does your dad receive any respite?

www.dementiauk.org/

@Hairyfriend My brother and I are the respite. We also leave homecooked frozen portions as well when we are there.
Rather than Wiltshire Farm Foods my dad mixes in Charlie Bigham meals to vary his own cooking. But the range my mum likes is narrowing.

Sime good ideas here - thank you everyone.
I am up there this weekend so will try some of them and leave my dad the successful recipes.

I forgot to say that they do always have pudding - stewed fruit, trifle, yoghurts, gu pots, lemon tart, chocolate eclair, berries. All with generous quanties of cream or ice cream. Puddings are NOT a problem!!

@Scarby9- I'm sure you have already been in touch with adult social services, to check your mum doesn't qualify for any other respire- other than you and your brother? Support for your dad with washing your mum and dressing or doing the laundry, mowing the lawns, help with shopping etc?

• respite, not respire!

@Hairyfriend Nope. 'No help needed'.

It will take a crisis for any outside help to be accessed, and to be fair, my dad manages amazingly day to day. He just has no life beyond my mum and the house and is just running himself into an early grave.

My mum is very aware of her difficulties and both terrified and upset. She gets very distressed by anyone else in the house or a change to routine, so we are going with it for now.

I’ve got this which has a few weird combinations but certainly covers your soft food criteria.

www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=20535755738&searchurl=an%3DKarmel%26n%3D100121503%26sortby%3D17&cm_sp=snippet--srp1--title9