This has probably been done before but thought it might be nice to post favourite recipes that you just cant do without or simply love on chemo: Mine is chemo chicken soup (Slinky calls it Bone MArrow Soup and is very similar) and is basically just a whole chicken dumped in a stock pot with couple of chicken stock cubes, carrots, onions, herbs, celery, leeks and any other veg to hand cover it all with water bring to the boil and then cook for about an hour. You could also add diced potatoes, pasta or anything else that floats your boat (I put dumplings on top of mine)
Take the chicken out - take of as much as you want and put it in a bowl and then ladle on the soup.
Leftover soup works brilliantly with noodles, ginger and a bit of garlic or you could veg it up with more fresh veggies - courgettes, brocolli, runner beans - you get the idea!
And best of all - on those days when lifting a chicken is too much for you then even the most useless of hubbys could probably cope with this!
Grill, chargrill or toast as many slices of Ciabatta or baguette as you fancy - they need to be crispy but not burnt
Rub each one lightly with a cut in half garlic clove (this gives a taste of garlic without it being too strong)
Brush lightly with olive oil and put on a plate
Cut up a large handful of good ripe tomatoes plus half a small red onion - put in a bowl with salt, pepper, torn fresh basil and a good glug of extra virgin olive oil. Mix up and leave for a few minutes if you like for the juices to mingle!
Tip on bread
Pour a glass of wine (unless of course it tastes like battery acid!)
I like the idea of this thread. I love to talk about food but the food threads can sometimes get a bit scary when people feel strongly about the pro’s and cons of eating certain things! So I like the idea of a simple recipe thread! I have finished chemo now but good luck to those of you still going through it. I look forward to reading some recipies for nice easy foods!
One of my favourite easy meals is based on a Nigella recipe she did in her last series. Chicken thighs, potatoes, onions, and if you like, any other veg you have lying around. Just bung them all raw in a roasting dish, chuck a bit of oil and some seasoning and stick in the oven for about 45 mins. At the last minute put some chorizo in (I used the cooked, sliced kind from the sandwichy-meats section of the supermarket) and then simply tip it all on a plate! Yummy and feels like a proper home cooked meal but has absolutely minimal preparation and clearing up.
I would say try and eat as healthily as possible when you can. My lovely husband is a bit challenged in the kitchen but got into making smoothies as he kept saying I needed vitamins! Just blend a banana with any other fruit you have and a splash of milk, pouring yogurt or fruit juice. The bags of frozen fruit they sell in supermarkets are really good as you don’t have to worry about them going off, you can just use as much as you need and as a bonus they make the smoothie nice and cold and ice-creamy! Slips down easily, refreshing and cold and makes you feel like you are getting some nutrients!
I would also say though, don’t stress too much about how healthily you are eating, it can be so hard to even thing of anything you want to eat sometimes, so just eat what you can, when you can. I used to really look down on ready meals - since my diagnosis I found it invaluable to have a few in the freezer. Great for those can’t cook/won’t cook days! Also, my taste went so weird on chemo that having single-serving meals meant husband and I could easily have different things, as it was very hard for me to know what I fancied. My mum was lovely and cooked up loads of curry, shepherds pie etc and put them in my freezer so it was as easy as a ready meal but cooked by mum! If you CAN manage cooking at any point, try making double so you have a meal for the future. (If you can’t get your mum to do it for you that is!)
Seafood chowder … in the oven bake fish fillets, I use 1 x smoked haddock and 1 x cod. Flake into chunks removing bones.
In a saucepan fry one chopped onion, one clove garlic, some bacon strips or lardons (smoked is good)- however much you like.
Add one tin of tomatoes, salt, pepper, whatever herbs you fancy.
Add the fish, and half a cup of uncooked rice. Add one cup of water. Bring to simmer with lid on until rice is cooked. Add peeled prawns 250g or less. Add a glass of wine (optional) and tom puree to thicken.
Serve with crusty bread. (Makes enough to freeze a batch or keep in fridge for tomorrow)
I sometimes put a swirl of cream on top !!
Great thread idea and I too hope it doesn’t get side-tracked into unhelpful areas.
I started my chemo 17 Sept 2010 which feels a life time ago and my BCN’s advice was ‘lots of lovely home made soup and smoothies’ so most of my ideas have already been shared. The one thing I do recall making (beyond endless pots of soup similar to those described already) and which was dead easy was what I called ‘butternut squah not curry’ (I have a few quirky intolerances which mean real curries are out for me )
Cut one large butternut squash in half, peel (if you can be bothered, the peel is edible) and scoop out the seeds, then cut into cubes
Chop up one onion
Finely chop about 1 inch (2.5 cm for younger readers) fresh stem ginger
Crush two or three cloves of garlic
Chicken or veg stock - about a pint
S&P if you like
Rice or naan bread or whatever
gently fry the onions and garlic for about 10 mins, add the ginger and butternut squash and brown lightly. Pour on the stock, bring to the boil and simmer until soft. Serve with boiled rice or naan breads or even eat on its own.
Ginger good for jippy tums
Garlic drives away vampiures but not (unfortunately?) phlebotomists
Butter nut squash taste yummy imo
And its easy to cook, freezes well and doesn’t need too much effort to eat.
For those going through chemo just now, be kind to yourselves, in the ‘week 3’ have a few treats when you can taste them, and I hope you feel as good a year on as I do
Totally agree Ladies about this not getting sidetracked - I personally feel that you should eat what feels right for you, and whilst information is certainly useful and relevant particularly on chemo I dont think the guilt trips are necessary at all.
So another favourite recipe on chemo for me
Creamy Mushroom Taglietelle
Chop a couple of handfuls mushrooms and cook over high heat with a couple of drops olive oil and salt and pepper to taste - this is to get the water out and intensify the mushroom flavour.
Put some Taglietelle or any other pasta you fancy onto boil
When mushrooms lightly browned and no water in pan add one knob of butter (as big or small as you like) one garlic clove if you like garlic and a good lug of double cream (about 3 tbsp seems to be about right) then let it bubble for a few minutes until the sauce is reduced a little.
Bung in the cooked taglietelle to the sauce and mix - serve with parmesan cheese and a little parsley as a garnish - scrummy and it only takes the time for the pasta to boil to make.
You could also do the same thing as a kind of egg free carbonara using bacon then adding cream and parmesan before mixing in the spaghetti!
One of my favourites is almost the same as Rev’s butternut squash not curry.
I use basically the same ingedients, but no frying required - Just cop up the squash, remove seeds, but keep peel on.
Bung everything in a slow cooker, plenty of liquid. Can be stock - real or pretend, tinned toms, water.
All sorts of variations. I often do add curry powder or chilli flakes,smoked paprika, whatever you like really.
Cook it for hours. You can whizz it into a puree or have it like a stew.
I like it smooth with a dollop of natural you and ground black pepper.
Lovely with crusty bread.
Easy to keep a large jug in the fridge and heat up when you like.
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