Any healthy comfort foods cookbooks?

Hi- I have a family that I work for where the mother is going to turn 91 next month, and she was just in the hospital last week having a pacemaker put in, along with a few other problems being dealt with. The family has been told that she must eat a low sodium diet, and that she must adhere more closely to her diabetic diet that she is supposed to be on. The problem is that all she wants to eat is comfort foods such as meat loaf, chicken pot pie and Kraft macaroni and cheese, along with sweets such as pudding, cookies and cake. Can anybody recommend any cookbooks that are heart healthy, but are geared more towards comfort foods. She hates seafood. She is not crazy about tossed salads too. One of the daughters does the grocery shopping, and she buys a lot of processed foods loaded with salt. She has been told that she can't do that anymore. The mother has three different caregivers including me that do all the cooking, and the daughter realizes that she has to quit buying the processed food for at least a while, but she is at a loss on what she can buy that her mother will eat that is healthy. The daughter is at least going to start buying her sugar free pudding and yogurt, which she was not before. Anybody have any experience in cooking for somebody with diabetes and heart problems? Thanks, Nancy

I've cooked many of Ellie Krieger's recipes that she's published in Fine Cooking-- whilst her TV personality can be annoying, I've found her recipes to be generally really reliable and tasty-- for example, a really moist and delicious pumpkin bread with olive oil instead of butter (http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/oliv ... bread.aspx). She also has a mac-and-cheese with cauliflower puree, which blends into the cheese sauce.

Here is her book about comfort food:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Food-You-Crav ... 1600850219

Might be worth checking out from the library, at least...

Good luck with the healthy cooking!

Cheers, Jen

Hi- Thanks for the recommendation. I will have to see if I can get that book out of the library. I looked online today for a healthy meatloaf recipe. and one of the recipes I ran across had 1,600mg of sodium per serving. and another one had beer.

What's wrong with a little beer in your meatloaf?

Some things just don't lend themselves to being made as anything less than they are. Perhaps you can try to serve smaller portions of the things that are "unhealthy" and larger portions of fruits, veggies, and maybe add some whole grain dishes?

Eating habits are hard to change. When my dad was told to eat more fiber and substitute fish for some meat he pretty much flat out refused. He just added fiber supplements to his diet.

NFriday wrote:Hi- Thanks for the recommendation. I will have to see if I can get that book out of the library. I looked online today for a healthy meatloaf recipe. and one of the recipes I ran across had 1,600mg of sodium per serving. and another one had beer.

Yeah, I got some "healthy" black bean burgers-- they taste great, but the sodium is crazy-high. Good thing you read the labels!

I haven't tried this meatloaf recipe (my kid doesn't like meatloaf), but here is one of hers:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/elli ... index.html
She has a lot on The Food Network website. I've only tried her Fine Cooking recipes, which generally require a subscription.

Good luck-- and let me know if you find a great cookbook. leek is right that tastes can be hard to change-- plus, if one's sense of taste is getting less acute as they age, low-salt recipes might seem bland.

Cheers, Jen

NFriday wrote:Hi- Thanks for the recommendation. I will have to see if I can get that book out of the library. I looked online today for a healthy meatloaf recipe. and one of the recipes I ran across had 1,600mg of sodium per serving. and another one had beer.

Myrecipes.com has a feature in which you can specify particular nutritional parameters. See http://search.myrecipes.com/nutrition-search.html. When I search for "meatloaf" and specify that sodium has to be less than 500mg per serving, I get pages of hits with most closer to 200-300mg/serving.

Cook's Illustrated has a book available, "Comfort Food Makeovers:"

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/booksto ... sp?PID=570

I don't know if the recipes they list on that page are what your family would find interesting, but it's worth taking a look at, since I can only recall one clunker over the years of being a subscriber, and that was mashed potatoes, because I like them lumpy, and their master recipe is ultra-creamy.

If the recipes in this book are the ones they published previously in their magazines, I've read through them but can't say as I've ever made them. Count me as one of the people who would rather eat smaller portions than do wholesale substituting and revising.

List price is $24.95, but sale price on the website is $19.95.

Good luck!

Although I bought them years ago, we were always pretty happy with the recipes in Jane Brody's cookbooks.

Hi- Thanks for all the suggestions. The daughter bought some ground turkey last weekend, and if it is still in the freezer when I get there Saturday, I might do something with that. I love Jane Brody's cookbooks, and I cook out of them all the time, but a lot of the stuff in there that I love she won't eat. She has a turkey chili that I could fix, but the mother does not care for beans because it involves too much chewing. The first week I was there, I opened up a can of Healthy Choice vegetable soup that I brought for myself, and gave her some, and she eat all the broth, and left all of the veggies. One of the other caregivers fixed some chicken noodle soup last week, and she seemed to like that. She also likes Amy's tomato Bisque in a can, which is relatively low sodium, and so I might ask the daughter to buy some of that. Thanks, Nancy

NFriday wrote: She has a turkey chili that I could fix, but the mother does not care for beans because it involves too much chewing.

Doesn't she chew the meat? Anyway, you could puree the beans and then add them. Note that canned beans are often fairly high in sodium, so making them from dried will help. Puree some cooked veggies, too, to sneak them in. Also, you could put in some bulgar wheat - when cooked into the chili you can't tell it's there.

Hi- Yes she does chew the meat. She'll be 91 next month, and somehow she has been able to keep most of her teeth, even though she only brushes her teeth once a day, and never flosses. Something that involves a little bit of chewing like hamburger and meatloaf she is okay with. When she was in the hospital two weeks ago, I got there and one of the nurses aids had already ordered her lunch, which was chicken Marsala, and that was too much chewing for her. When I divided a clementime orange last month and gave it to her, she sucked all the juice out, and spit out the skin. I don't think that she is really crazy about veggies anyway, and no way would she eat a tossed salad, although she loves mustard style potato salad. If I tried to make some broccoli potato salad, which I love, she would not eat it.

Concerning the sodium in the beans, I rinse them really well when I use canned beans, and I probably get rid of 3/4ths of the sodium that way. Thanks, Nancy

Was watching the local NBC news this morning, and they did a couple of segments with Art Smith, who has a new cookbook out specifically on healthy recipes for comfort foods.

Hi- I noticed that Paula Deen is coming out with a supposedly healthy comfort foods cookbook on August 1st too. Paula Deen has never been one of my favorite cooks though, and her idea of healthy is probably totally different than mine.

When I asked the woman that I am a caregiver for what she wanted for lunch yesterday, and she replied sweet rolls. She thought that it was breakfast time, and I replied that it was 1:30 in the afternoon and time for lunch. When I mentioned the possibilities available, she wanted macaroni and cheese and only mac and cheese, although she did also drink some milk and eat some cantaloupe that the daughter picked up from Meijer's. The melon was really good. She also had some sugar free ice cream which she loved. Thanks, Nancy