10 Easy Recipes For Senior Citizens

Preparing food is a task, for everyone irrespective of the age. But elder people have their own limitations; issues with standing for a long time, reduced appetite, hampered digestive health, hard time chewing the food, are some of the issues. Thus, they have to opt for simpler recipes that can be prepared quickly, digested easily, and most importantly, are tasty too.

Choosing the right ingredients from the right stores is as important as choosing the best simpler recipes. If you are trying out these simpler recipes, make sure to use fresh fruits and vegetables that will make your dish healthy and mouth-watering, at the same time. There are plenty of BigBasket offers running currently that you can use for your grocery shopping this month. BigBasket is one place for all vegetables from zucchini to garbanzo beans, from fresh parsley to tarragon.

Here are 10 recipes ideal for senior citizens that can be prepared in minutes.

Greek Salad:

Salads are one of the best foods in summers, as these will not be too spicy or hard to digest. The best part about salads is that their preparation takes minutes only. These will be rich in fibers and all vital nutrients, and most importantly, these can keep you full for long hours.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups of salad greens (lettuce, arugula, napa cabbage, escarole, etc)
• 3 tablespoons of chopped mint
• 4 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
• 2.5 tablespoons of chopped olives
• 1 cup of garbanzo beans
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• Rock salt or iodized salt to taste
• Crushed pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Wash the salad greens with salt water and tear them using your hands and transfer them to a mixing bowl.
2. Then add mint, feta cheese, chopped olives, beans and toss thoroughly.
3. Next add the olive oil, vinegar, and salt and toss again. The greek salad is now ready.

Onion-Mushroom Soup

Soup is another best food to curb hunger for long hours. It will also help in boosting your digestive system. Soups play a significant role in body cleansing or detoxification.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium-sized yellow onion – diced
• ½ cup chopped mushroom
• 1 escarole – roughly chopped
• 1 cup white beans or lima beans – cooked
• 2 cups of vegetable stock or chicken broth
• Salt and pepper for taste purpose
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

Preparation:

1. Pour a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil to the pan and saute the onion and mushroom.
2. Then add the vegetable stock or the broth and bring it to boil. In the next step add the beans.
3. When the soup is boiling add the escarole.
4. Bring the soup to boiling for one more time and then bring to a simmer. Then add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Mixed Vegetable Soup

Soup could be that one food that can provide with all the necessary nutrients and also keep you full for a long time. You can get as experimental as you want when it comes to soups. Here is one such experimental recipe.

Ingredients:

• Ready to use peeled and chopped vegetables – 1 pack
• 2 cups of chicken broth
• 2 celery stalk diced
• 2 tablespoons of pecorino cheese
• 1 medium-sized online – diced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Cook the celery and onion with 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.
2. Then added the frozen vegetables and the chicken broth. Allow the soup to boil.
3. Next, add salt and pepper according to the taste.
4. Add pecorino cheese on top while serving.

Garlic-flavored Black Beans

Who doesn’t love legumes; one of the richest sources of proteins? Here is one easy and tasty recipe that could be a salad, evening snack or even a starter.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of cooked black beans
• 1 medium-sized onion – finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic – grated or minced
• 1 tomato – diced
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• Salt to taste
• ½ cup cilantro –finely chopped

Preparation:

1. Chop the onions and garlic and keep them aside for 10 minutes.
2. Add all the ingredients except the cilantro, including the onions and garlic in a pot, allow it to cook for twenty minutes.
3. The serve the cooked beans with the cilantro on top.

Grilled Tangy Salmon

Salmon, which is again a rich source of proteins and essential vitamins, is one of the underrated healthy food. With a little bit of twist, you can make wonders with this ingredient.

Ingredients:

4 salmon fillets

1 cup fresh pineapple – finely chopped

1 medium sized onion – finely chopped

3 tablespoons of cilantro – finely chopped

Rice vinegar – 1 tablespoon

½ tablespoon ground red pepper

Salt to taste

Extra virgin olive oil – to grill

Preparation:

1. In a mixing bowl, add pineapple, onion, cilantro, rice vinegar and ground red pepper and mix well.
2. In a nonstick grill pan, spray some cooking oil and cook the fish by sprinkling salt on it. Cook the fish on each side for 4 minutes; check with a fork if the fish is cooked properly.
3. While serving, place the cooked fish on the plate, and top it with the salsa prepared in the first step.

Potato-Cauliflower Fry

All the above-mentioned recipes were continental. For the rest of the article, we will be talking about Indian recipes. This fry takes not more than 10 minutes. Both potato and cauliflower are rich in carbohydrates and easy to digest.

Ingredients:

Potatoes – 1 cup ( diced)

Cauliflower – 1 cup of medium-sized florets

Tomato – 1 cup finely chopped

Coriander powder – 1 spoon

Red chili powder – 1.5 spoon

Turmeric powder – ¼ spoon

Cooking Oil – 3 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Preparation:

1. Wash the vegetables and chop them as instructed above.
2. Heat 3 spoons of oil in a pan and saute the potatoes and cauliflower.
3. After these are mostly cooked, add the remaining ingredients and stir well.
4. Cook and stir for next 10 minutes.
5. This can be served hot with some chopped coriander on top with rotis or rice.

20-minutes Jeera rice

We Indians are rice-lovers and one can’t simply go to bed without a filling meal. Jeera rice has a simple cooking procedure and is an extremely tasty recipe.

Ingredients:

Basmati rice or normal rice (soaked for 15 minutes) – 1 cup

Shah jeera – 2 ½ spoons

Ghee – 4 tablespoons

Salt to taste

Cooking Oil – 2 tablespoons

Sliced onion – 1 cup

Preparation:

1. In a cooking pan, add the cooking oil and saute the sliced onion until they turn golden brown.
2. Wash the rice thoroughly and soak it for 15 minutes, in order to reduce the cooking time.
3. In another pan, add ghee, shah jeera and fry till you can smell the aroma of the shah jeera. Then add the soaked rice and saute for 5 minutes.
4. To the fried rice, add two cups of water, add salt and turn to a simmer till the rice is cooked.
5. Serve the hot jeera rice with side dishes.

Simple Moong Daal Khichdi:

Khichdi may be a boring dish, but it a secret-favorite-dish to many. Here is the recipe for the simplest, yet tasty khichdi that is good for the health too.

Ingredients:

Rice – 1 cup

Moong daal – ½ cup

Ghee

Tomato

Cumin seeds

Finely grated ginger

Salt

Asafoetida

Preparation:

1. Soak the rice and moong daal for good 15 minutes and wash thoroughly.
2. In a pressure cooker, heat some ghee, add hing, cumin seeds, tomato and saute for two minutes.
3. Add the rice and moong dal to the cooker along with the other ingredients.
4. Then allow the khichdi to cook for 10-13 minutes.
5. Serve the prepared khichdi with ghee or pickle.

Egg Curry:

Boiled eggs or scrambled eggs are everyone’s favorite and here is one such recipe that is sure to enter into your weekly cooking timetable.

Ingredients:

Boiled eggs – 5

Chopped onion -1 cup

Ginger-Garlic paste – 1 spoon

Turmeric powder – ¼ spoon

Coriander powder – ½ spoon

Garam masala – ½ spoon

Red chili powder  – ½  spoon

Tomato puree -1 cup

Salt to taste.

Cooking oil – 3 spoons

Preparation:

1. To a frying pan, add three spoons of cooking oil, chopped onion, ginger-garlic paste and fry properly till the onion turns to brown color.
2. Once the onions are done, add all the powders mentioned in the ingredient list, and saute again.
3. Then add the tomato puree, salt, and the boiled eggs.
4. Boil this curry for around 20 minutes, until the boiled eggs are thoroughly coated with the curry.

Idli Upma

Are you still left with morning idlis? Not sure what to do with them? Here is a simple recipe that will help finish your morning idlis in no time.

Ingredients:

Leftover idlis – 10 – thoroughly crumbled

Urad dal – 1 spoon

Chana dal – 1 spoon

Red chilies – 3

Curry leaves -10-12 leaves

Cooking oil – 2 spoons

Finely chopped onion – 1 cup

Turmeric powder – ¼ spoon

Salt to taste

Preparation:

1. Mash the leftover idlis into crumbles.
2. In a pan heat 2 spoons of oil, add mustard, urad dal, chana dal, red chilies, curry leaves and saute till the urad dal becomes golden brown.
3. Then add the turmeric powder and onion fry again. Once the onion is cooked, add the mashed idlis and salt, and mix well.
4. Grated coconut and finely chopped coriander could add extra flavor.

Those were some quick and easy recipes for elders that can be both tasty and healthy at the same time.