Looking for a good recipe to take to family in need

[Grace and Granola]

A friend of ours, mother of 5, is having health problems and needs to "take it easy" for a couple weeks. I would like to take a meal to the family. 2 Adults, plus 5 kids ages 1-7. They are used to eating a nutritious whole foods diet, so I'm looking for a nice, wholesome meal that is good for making a massive amount! Frugal would be good too!

[Magelet]

I haven't figured it out in winter (without summer veggies), but I LOVE lentil salad in summer. soak french green lentils, cook them with some kombu and whole garlic cloves. cool them, add feta cheese, tomatoes, carrots, sweet peppers, and salad dressing (more vinegary and salty than usual for beans. usually about half acv half olive oil, a lot of salt and some molasses.) you can make really big quantities and they taste better the 2nd or third or fourth day.

Lentil soup: caramelize onions, cook red lentils in enough stock to cook them (they turn soft and almost mushy, its a very soup-like consistancy, and yellow). Once soft, flavor them. I like to make curried lentil soup. Usually I add coconut milk and salt to start. Then I either add things like peanut butter, garam masala, fenugreek, ginger, cumin, coriander, lemon juice (you need plenty of acid to make it bright) and other "indian curry" spices to taste. OR I add thai chili paste, lemongrass, lime juice, and other "thai curry" spices to taste.

The other day, I just cooked lentils and caramelized onions in chicken broth, added the pan drippings from roast chicken, and then some salt and lemon juice and it was very chickeny and very good.

[karne]

I find bringing food so hard, personally. I never know what people will actually eat. I'll tend toward a beef stew, or chicken stew, or a pasta dish like homemade mac and cheese. Sometimes a big platter of sandwich fixings and whole grain bread, spreads and maybe some TF pickles. A bowl of fruit to go with the sandwhich fixings.

Many years ago I was in need of some meal support (very sick child). The meals were great, and I remember being so grateful for something like a sald, salad dressing and cookies for dessert, in addition to the main meal. But the best was when a few friends stocked my freezer with a few meals, loaves of bread, frozen fish-most things were whole foods related. When we were out from under the main crisis I could still go to the freezer and either pull out a meal or the ingredients for a meal someone had thought ahead to shop for.

[tanyalynn]

I made a big pot of chili recently for a friend, there was enough for a dinner for us and a dinner + leftovers for them. Add some cornbread, a green salad if you like, and I think it's good, and not too strange in flavor for the kids.