Meals to Make for Your Grieving Friend: Recipes!

Home-cooked meals are one of the best ways to find comfort. From your favorite foods to that midwestern hot dish, many meals offer solace and bring joy to your tastebuds, especially after a rough day and in grief. Here, let’s discover recipes and inspiration for meals and recipes to try for your grieving friend. If you also want to read part one of this blog, find the link here.

Recipes for Comfort: Sauerkraut Hot Dish

This is a one-of-a-kind midwestern recipe. Channel your Norwegian, Polish, Czech, and German heritage! Sauerkraut isn’t for everyone, but you might surprise yourself when you taste this comforting recipe.

Ingredients: 1 lb hamburger, half package (10 oz) of flat noodles (like vermicelli), 1-2 lb can of sauerkraut, 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, 1 small onion chopped.

Instructions: Can add celery, and brown onion and celery first in a skillet to soften. Then, brown hamburger. Cook noodles as directed on the package, and drain. Drain and wash kraut if you don’t want it sour. Combine all ingredients. Put it in a buttered hot dish. Bake 1 hour in a moderate oven at 350 degrees. If you need to enhance the sour flavor you can add a bit of pickle juice into the mix. If you need more of a milky sauce, you can add a bit of milk to go with the cream of mushroom soup. Sometimes, cooking is a “guestimation” or an “eyeball-it” moment!

Recipes for Comfort: Crack Chicken

This recipe has surfaced over the past number of years and has become quite popular. This easy chicken crockpot recipe is addictive (hence the name) and delicious! Try it today!

Ingredients: 2 lbs chicken breasts, 1 packet of Ranch dressing mix (be careful, you may only need half of it), 1 cream cheese package (an 8 oz block), half to 3/4 cup of cooked crumbled bacon depending on how much is desired, 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (or how much is desired. Let’s be honest, you’re from Wisconsin), and 4 green onions sliced (or as desired). Don’t forget your buns!

Instructions: Add a splash of water at the bottom of the crockpot to avoid burning, put chicken in the crockpot, and sprinkle Ranch over it. Start with half of the packet as Ranch can be strong (half is personally recommended). Shred the chicken when tender in the crockpot (like halfway or so). Add the rest of the ingredients last (especially the cheeses), when it is around the last few hours or so (just eyeball it, don’t let the cheeses completely dissolve). Cook on low for 8 hours. Stir up the ingredients too!

Seasonal Recipes

As it is currently summer, below is one idea that is quick, simple, healthy, and delicious.

Summer fruit salad. If you know your friend loves fruit and has plenty of food already, why not make a side dish? Fruit salad is a summertime favorite! There are plenty of options for you: blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, grapes, pineapple, watermelon or melons, mango, kiwi, and more. Combine what you think compliments each other the best. You could also make a fruit dip with cream cheese, marshmallow whip, and vanilla whipped together to add a nice side dip.

Recipe ideas for the rest of the year include an autumn apple pie dessert to treat your friend, a winter stew or soup like ham and potato soup or beef stew, or a springtime egg roll recipe! One other idea if you want to give them a warm breakfast treat is homemade cinnamon rolls. The possibilities are endless!

Bakken-Young is Here

Bakken-Young is here to help you during this time of grief. We have grief groups, Coffee & Conversation, free grief webinars, and other events like our 25-Year Celebration. Contact us today about our free grief resources. Let’s find something that works for you. You are not alone.

Click this link to read more from our previous meal blog.

The source for the sauerkraut hot dish recipe is River Falls, WI St. Bridget’s Catholic Church (1986) book with some modified personal tastes.

Baked ziti is pictured in the featured image.