[Ayrlin]

I have a friend who is rather ill right now, I forget the name of what she has but it causes her to be severly anemic.

She is no longer carrying oxygen through her blood stream properly and can not move around much at all and the massive doses of iron she has to take are making her sick also.

She asked me to make her some soup which I am all to happy to do but what kind?

She is an Omni but I will not be cooking meat she can not tolerate beans or cabbage right now, dosnt like spinage.

I am trying to find a few ideas on what to make her, and I figure I'll make some soda bread to take along with it.

Right now I'm making a basic veggie stock ( onions,carrots,garlic,leeks,celery & thyme)

 

[Tesseract]

You could make her some Ribollita and just leave out the beans, spinach, and cabbage. There's still plenty of other stuff in there to make ahearty soup, and it's easy to make.

Or how about miso soup? Vichyssoise? Corn chowder? Cream of mushroom? Broccoli cheese? There are dozens of soups you could make her that don't have beans, cabbage, or spinach in them.

Doesn't like spinach... poor child.

 

[jeneticallymodified]

carrot and coriander (i think americans call it cilantro?) soup? i hate coriander though, so i use parsley though, lol. or carrot and cumin, carrot and orange, etc. i'm also a big fan of pea soup, but made with frozen garden peas, not beans. you could do a french onion soup too, but use a fake beef stock or marmite/vegemite stock (i also thought you could use miso, but miso is made from chickpeas or soybeans, right?- so might not be so ok). tomato soup is always good... and you could add a few grated sauted veggie too. what about leek and potato? my mum used to always make this, lol.. i hate leeks, but its really nice and creamy.

it must be nice for her to have a kind soup bearing friend like you! i bet any soup you take will go down really well.

 

[Tesseract]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoodedclawjen

(i also thought you could use miso, but miso is made from chickpeas or soybeans, right?- so might not be so ok).

Oh, I hadn't thought of that. So scratch miso.

 

[Lothar M Kirsch]

Use a cast iron skillet and simmer tomatoes in it then fill up with any kind of soup you like. Contains lots of iron.

 

[rabid_child]

Make her a nice big blackstrap molasses gingerbread cake! Or blackstrap molasses gingerbread cookies. Lots of iron!

 

[codemonkey]

I tomato soup would be nice. Or a veggie noodle soup. And that gingerbread cake sounds WONDERFUL! There's just something about gingery food when your sick.

 

[Tesseract]

Yeah, I always drink ginger ale when I'm sick. To the point that I can't drink it any other time.

 

[bstutzma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tesseract

Yeah, I always drink ginger ale when I'm sick. To the point that I can't drink it any other time.

So I'm not the only one!

I'm not sure why she can't have any beans, are lentils also out? Because lentil soup is awesome. You're a wonderful friend to try!

I make my husband a "feel better soup" that has rice, pasta stars, diced carrots and peas, and little bits of tofu in it (the tofu wouldn't work for you, probably.) I make it with a basic veggie broth and some simple seasonings. Its really easy on the stomach due to the rice and pasta, and lack of much else, lol.

 

[Tesseract]

I feel crummy (rough night last night) and I wish I had some ginger ale right now.

 

[missbelgium]

Parsley and any other green leafy vegetable is supposed to contain lots of iron as well. Parsley can be added to nearly anything. In my house, we particularly like pumpkin soup in these months. Nice, smooth, creamy (no cream has to be added), blended pumpkin soup ! The other kinds my very fussy daughter likes are broccoli-tomato or cauliflower-tomato. Emphasis on tomato !

Seaweeds are a good iron source too apparently. So are many other foods. I think if you would make wholegrain bread at home and add a few spoons of molasses, you'd get some very iron-rich bread to go with the soup...

Remember iron absorption is enhanced by the presence of vitamin C (raw fruit & veggies). Soy products actually inhibit iron absorption. Except for soy flour which contains quite some iron. I found some of this info by googling stuff so don't ask me to explain it... LOL !

 

[Ayrlin]

Thank you all for the feedback!

I ended up taking her a soup I cooked in my cast iron dutch oven.

Barley, and pretty much a little of any fresh veggie I had in the house and some heavy rye bread for her.

Several herbs from the garden to but it was heavy on the parsley and bay

I love the gingerbread idea, I'll have to do that.

Her illness has been going on for a bit now, several months and seems to be getting worse.

I also took her some veggie lasangna this week, not high in iron but a good food none the less and a classic comfort food.

 

[missbelgium]

Do you mind telling us what type of illness we are speaking about here ?

Just so we could maybe narrow down the advice.

 

[Ayrlin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by missbelgium

Do you mind telling us what type of illness we are speaking about here ?

Just so we could maybe narrow down the advice.

She has a shortage of red blood cells and is severly anemic, which has resulted in her not getting enoughb oxygen to do simple things like move around much and such.

She told me the name of it a couple times but I just can not remeber it but that is the overall look of the problem.

She is on a bunch of supplaments but they are in high doses and tend to make her sick as well.

I'm just doing little things like helping her cook so she dosnt have to.

Not as if she has the energy anyway the poor woman is sweating and goes pale just walking across the lving room

 

[Lothar M Kirsch]

Ayrlin, the discussion with missbelgium sharpened my mind!!! I should have ask you this before. Do you know that your friend is suffering from iron defiency anemia or is it an assumption?

 

[Ayrlin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lothar M Kirsch

Ayrlin, the discussion with missbelgium sharpened my mind!!! I should have ask you this before. Do you know that your friend is suffering from iron defiency anemia or is it an assumption?

Nope she is being treated by a doctor for iron defiency.

 

[CharityAJO]

Ginger helps with stomach issues/nausea. And lentils boost the immune system. I always eat lentil soup when I'm sick.

 

[missbelgium]

Sounds like some form of thalassemia ?

Yikes ! That's one disorder I really wouldn't like to have ! It must be so discouraging !

 

[Lothar M Kirsch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ayrlin

Nope she is being treated by a doctor for iron defiency.

Even if it's so let me tell you that I see every week people who are treated for iron defiency but don't lack iron. Lots of GPs routinely do an iron count, if it's low chances are great that it is iron defiency, but there lots of other conditions where iron is stored but not lost, e.g. rheumatic diseases, infections, tumors etc. Please ask if her doctor has done a ferritin count. And if that's low it surely is iron defiency.

You might ask yourself why I insist on this. Iron in a soup won't do harm but an iron supplement might cause nausea, slow dowm bowel movement, and do other harmful things.