Do you have time (before she arrives) to make a simple chicken stock? If you do, get some chicken backs and wings (ask the meat manager) or roast a chicken with no seasonings, remove the meat, and save all the bones. Spread the bones on a sheet pan and roast them for about an hour at 400 degrees until they're a rich dark (but not burned) brown. I usually cover the sheet pan with non-stick foil so I don't lose any of the meat or small pieces that may fall during the roasting time. Transfer all of the bones and any juices and bits and pieces to a large stock pot and cover with cold water. Simmer for a couple hours, then strain all the pieces out. Use a fine mesh colander or a colander with cheese cloth to strain the stock well. Then you can either use it as is, or reduce it by a third to concentrate the flavor. Then you have a beautiful chicken stock with no seasonings, just flavor.
If you don't have time to do that, buy the Kitchen Basics brand low sodium chicken stock. It's in a box, like a juice box, and the ingredients are about as close to real as you can get without making your own stock.
I would then place some carrots and celery on the bottom of a crock pot, lay chicken breasts on top of them, add enough stock or plain water to cover the vegetables, and cook it on low for the day while you're out. Have some white rice ready to cook when you get home.
Another thing you might do is poach some chicken breasts beforehand. I poach chicken by first flattening out the chicken breasts (I just kind of split them with my hands so they aren't too thick, or else I use a knife to butterfly them), then covering the chicken breasts in cold water, and then I bring the water just to a boil (when large bubbles just begin to break the surface of the water). You have to watch it carefully so you don't let it boil any more than that. When large bubbles reach the surface, take the pot off the heat and cover it tightly. Leave it, without touching it or uncovering it, until you can comfortably hold your hand on the side of the now-cooled pot. That usually takes a couple hours (the cooling) but there's no work involved. At that point you will have tender, never-rubbery, chicken breasts. You can dice them up and add them to a soup made of pure stock, some plain noodles, some boiled carrots. Or you could combine diced poached chicken with a little good quality mayonnaise and some halved green grapes on lettuce leaves for a nice salad. Or you can serve poached chicken with tomatoes (squeeze the seeds out and quarter them) and a bread roll.
One thing my daughter loves is panko crusted chicken. I marinate chunks of chicken (a little bigger than bite size) in organic plain Greek yogurt (thinned with water), then dry the chicken and coat the chunks in panko crumbs. I brown them very briefly in pure olive oil and then bake them just until they're 160 degrees. I let them sit for several minutes at that point to get the temp to 165 without over baking them. They just take a few minutes to prepare. I serve them with tender roasted carrots.
You can also make a simple soup of good quality chicken stock (either your own as described above or the Kitchen Basics), carrots and some kind of winter squash (butternut or acorn or pumpkin) that have been steamed without seasonings until they're very tender. Puree until smooth and heat through. You can add a swirl of plain organic Greek yogurt on the top.
Another idea is eggs - scrambled, or a simple omelet or frittata with just some good quality mild cheese, diced and seeded tomatoes, and if your mom can tolerate it, some cooked crumbled natural bacon or good quality ham in a small amount. But a nice simple supper would be scrambled eggs and white bread toast with maybe some quartered, seeded tomatoes on the side.
Also, an acorn squash, halved and seeded, baked cut side down until tender. Then turn them over and fill the hollow with diced apples, and a little cinnamon (just a pinch if your mom can handle that) and some butter. Bake until the apples are tender. Or you can fill the baked squash halves with diced cooked chicken and apples. Sprinkle with a little real Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. I haven't looked, but I bet acorn squash halves would do well in the crock pot too. I'm sure there are recipes online that you can adapt. Or you could bake the empty halves the night before, and then when it's time for supper, fill the hollowed baked squash halves with your fillings and bake them quickly.
If you cook with cream, you can often substitute plain organic Greek yogurt and it is often more digestible. And cultured butter (available in a lot of health food stores like Whole Foods) is much more digestible than regular butter due to the culturing process.
My daughter is on a very restricted diet due to medical issues, so I'm learning a lot about this type of cooking. What is recommended for her sounds like it would work for your mom. We buy only white rice, no brown or wild. We have to only use fiber-less white bread, and she can't have oats or quinoa or any other grains. We were told to serve canned or steamed carrots, green beans and squash only (and I don't buy the canned - I steam them myself until they are really soft). Organic Greek yogurt is allowed, and if I need a cream sauce I make a simple sauce but I use just a touch of cream and use homemade chicken or beef stock for the other liquid (more of a Veloute than a white sauce). For seasonings, I use only Himalayan pink salt (sparingly) and lemon juice or a little white wine. The panko crumbs are from a special white bread so they've been great. I make simple meatballs from good quality ground beef or turkey, panko crumbs, some yogurt, and a small amount of vegetables (a little shallot, carrot, garlic) that have been sauteed well and pureed. I bake them with just a spritz of olive oil. You could serve that on plain egg noodles. I also use real Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (a little goes a long way since it's such good quality).
I hope your mom appreciates your meals!
