Making a milchig dinner for a mother who just gave birth

I need an idea for what to make for a lady who just gave birth. I have never made dinner for someone who just gave birth.

Do I make soup, salad, main dish, side dish and dessert?

Her husband is on the south beach diet so he doesn't eat a lot of carbs. Please give me suggestions of dinners you have sent to a mother who just gives birth.

thanks.

Diamond Member Joined: Dec 26 2006 Posts: 4316

First of all, I think a salad with lots of fiber is a good start. any comforting food, warm soup, a good pasta dish, really fresh fruit. Let her feel cared for and also get well fed. I would also send along some nice bottled water, to encourage her staying hydrated.

Practically speaking : tossed salad with alot of chopped veggies, maybe some nuts too, and dressing on side. Thick hearty vegetable soup. Spinach Lasagna. fresh melons, berries, mangoes, like that.

But then I would also send fresh cookies!

Platinum Member Joined: Aug 29 2007 Posts: 12057

call the mother and ask if there are food allergies or major food dislikes. also ask if they have gotten a lot of one kind of food for supper. I had a baby a month before pesach & everyone thought that it would be great to use up their pasta on us. it was a good thing pesach was coming, b/c I couldn't eat anything with noodles for a really long time.

Diamond Member Joined: Apr 27 2006 Age: 30 Posts: 2528

if its not too expensive do a fish. you can do teriyaki salmon, just put teriyaki sauce on the salmon and grill/bake.

or I do this fish at home and my kids love it.

use sole/tilapia fillets.
I make a sauce of 3 TBl. melted butter
juice from one lemon
grated lemon rind
2 chopped scallions
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3 TBS. lemon juice

I mix up the sauce, pour it over the fish and let it bake for 30 minutes covered and 10 minutes uncovered. depends hoe well done you like it. oh, and no carbs!

u can also do a milichig smoothie fro dessert. very easy. just put frozzen fruit like strawberries, mango peach, whatever into a blender with vanilla yogurt and milk. I also put in a banana.

Posted: Wed, May 28 2008, 10:21 pm Post subject:

a salad is good
fish like fried breaded flounder
mashed potatoes with butter and sour cream
spinach as a side dish
blintzes if you want to add something
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Gold Member Joined: Mar 08 2006 Posts: 2405

Avoid foods that may affect the baby if she's nursing. Eggplant, peppers, cucumbers are a few. DD1 was affected terribly from these things.

Make sure it's kid friendly if she has other kids.

I do soup, main dish, salad with dressing and I always send dessert. People love that!

We got "mommy meals" for 2 weeks after dd was born. A woman from our shul organizes it such that you get milchig and fleishig on alternating days. We actually ended up with very similar meals every night - pasta with meat or pasta with cheese. We got so sick of pasta (even though that's one of dh's main foodgroups). I appreciated not having to cook for those weeks, but I was also glad to get back to our usual dinners. I decided that next time I was asked to make a post-partum meal I would call up the family and ask if there was something that they were particularly in the mood for or something they were sick of. Oh, salad was nice (but don't dress it in advance!), but I appreciated cut up fruit much more.

Diamond Member Joined: May 26 2008 Posts: 2613

I appreciated it so much when people sent me meals, but wish it had been coordinated better or people would have asked me what I wanted. I got so much milchigs. My husband doesn't really eat milchigs (says he has a bad reaction) and I was craving so much some real protien to give me strength I was so hungry and weak. (like chicken or meat) lasagna is nice but I really needed something else.

Posted: Wed, Jun 11 2008, 12:49 am Post subject:

OP, we never give (or recieved) 3 course meals for weekday, just for Shabbot (and then they usually split it between 2 families). Mostly what we got the last time was a salad, a main dish, and maybe a veggie on the side depending on what the main dish was. Not many people sent desert, but those that did it was appreciated.
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I try to include plasticware so that the new mommy can avoid washing (or even seeing) one more sinkfull of dirty dishes.

Send everything in disposable containers so that she does not have to remember to whom to return them...and she doesn't have to wash them.

Including a yummy cold drink is nice, like oj or cranberry juice.

Sometimes I add single sized treats for the kids.

Some kids will only eat processed frozen foods like potato borekas or soy hot dogs. It may seem like the parents can just pop those into the micro, but when it arrives warm and ready to eat, it is appreciated.

Even cutting up her own fruit can seem like a chore to a new mother. So sending simple foods, nicely arranged, is a big chessed. Even a platter of crackers, cheese and sliced veggies.
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One more thing, I get frustrated with droopy weak aluminum pans. Double up so that the exhausted new mommy won't drop your tomato saucy pasta dish on her kitchen floor.