I’ve been wanting to post this for a long time so I can share some memories of my dad from my childhood.  We found out about four years ago that Dad has Alzheimer’s Disease and he is currently mid-stage.  He started showing signs of memory issues about two years before that, at around age 62.  We have seen the disease progression over time, but also are amazed at what memories and abilities that he has retained.  He can watch a TV show and laugh at all the right places.  He listens to music from the 60s to the 80s and he knows all the words.  I’ll randomly start to sing a song and he immediately whistles along with me.  We are always looking for ways that Dad can participate in everyday activities, so here are some ideas for cooking with a parent with Alzheimer’s.  He helped me make this recipe for Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup last winter.

Childhood Memories – How to Properly Pour a Soda

One of my favorite stories I recall from my childhood is when I learned how to properly pour a soda.  You wouldn’t think it would be that complicated, right?  I was probably about 10 or 11 years old when one night, my parents turned on a movie downstairs and settled in for the evening.  This was back in the day when you couldn’t pause your television show, so my dad asked me to help out with snacks.  He asked me to make popcorn and to pour him and Mom each a glass of RC Cola.

I took this task seriously, as Dad was almost always the snack-maker in our household.  For years, he made our popcorn on the stove top, using a dedicated popcorn-popping pan.  It had a seasoned black layer on the bottom of the pan.  He would pop it up and one of us kids would melt the butter in the microwave.  Good times!  There was also a Tyler process for maximum and even distribution of butter over popcorn, but I’ll save that for another time.

Soda Pour Fail

Eventually, we got an electric air popcorn popper.  It wasn’t nearly as good as the pan on the stove top, but worked in a pinch or for when we kids wanted to make popcorn ourselves.  While the air-popper was warming up, I got out two glasses and filled them half full with ice.  I went to the pantry/closet where we kept the glass 6-packs of soda, pulled one out, popped off the cap and poured their glasses full.  There was a lot of fizz and it took me awhile to pour as I had to wait for the bubbles to settle down before I could top it off.

I proudly delivered my bounty of snacks downstairs.  My dad took one sip of his soda and immediately asked how I had poured it.  He listened, knowing already how I had ruined the pour, then told me I needed to learn the right way to pour a soda.  I had unfortunately provided him with a low-carbonation, diluted RC Cola, which as I learned, was a huge faux pas in the Tyler household.  Dad was willing to miss part of his show to walk upstairs with me and show me how it’s done. Plus, he really wanted a good soda.

Soda Pour Training

He pulled a cold RC Cola out of the refrigerator.  He tilted each cup at an angle as he slowly poured the soda down the inside of the glass.  He then gently slid a few ice cubes into each glass with the technique of a professional protector of all the carbonation in the universe.  Bravo, Dad!  He had me take a sip of his pour and compare it to the one I had poured.  Wow, who knew???  So, to this day, I always order my fountain soda with no ice.  It’s already cold, has no carbonation-stealing qualities, no dilution with melting ice and you get more soda in your cup when it’s not filled with ice.

I miss those days with Dad and his quirks.  He had some really ingenious ideas, for example, our soda storage in our closet.  The closet had a shelf at the bottom that was about 18 inches off the floor.  My Dad, a former Mechanical Engineer at Caterpillar, thought of a great use of the space.  When we replaced an old dishwasher, he saved the bottom rack and put it on the closet floor.  We used it to store 6 packs of the tall glass containers of soda.  The rack was on rollers and the closet was fairly deep.  When you wanted a soda, you just rolled the rack out, grabbed one, then rolled the rack back in.  If you were an educated Tyler, you would be sure to put the soda in the refrigerator and cool it down prior to pouring.

Fast Forward to Today

Fast forward 30 years… we found out about four years ago that my dad had early dementia, likely Alzheimer’s.  Since then, he has declined, but we still see glimpses of his former glory peek through.  A few things, like listening to older music, playing instruments like the tambourine and playing on his favorite video game let us know that he’s still in there.  Things change over time, and we adjust to continue to find a new normal.  Dad spends most of his time with my brother and his fiancee, so his decline is more obvious to me when he visits once in the summer and once at around Christmas.

During our last winter visit, I was thinking of ways I could keep Dad engaged. I thought maybe that food prep for cooking may be an option and it turned out pretty well.  It’s very similar to when my girls were younger and they would help me out.  Before they were old enough to measure liquid in a measuring cup, I would measure it for them and have them pour it into a small prep bowl or pour it right into the meal I was making.

TIME SAVERS FOR BUSY FAMILIES

If you’re a busy mom like me, you really should check out the rest of my website!  I post recipes and products that save time for my busy family, like my favorite kitchen gadgets.  Be sure to subscribe to my page to get new time-saving recipes and ideas in your inbox! SUBSCRIBE AND NEVER MISS ANOTHER POST!

Here are a few of my most popular posts:   Steam Boiled Eggs with Cooking Times – make the perfect boiled egg every time!  DIY Gelish Manicure – save time and money by doing your own manicure.   One of my most popular recipes is this Twist on Trader Joe’s Gnocchi – a 15 minute meal that’s great for a weeknight.  Also, here’s a helpful Acne Product Review for Proactiv vs. Curology and which one works best for my older daughter.

Cooking with Dad

Here are the pictures I took last winter of Dad helping me prep food for this Chicken Noodle Soup and some ideas for cooking with a parent with Alzheimer’s.

I cut the celery and carrots into smaller strips so that they wouldn’t be too hard to cut with the Vidalia Chopper.  I talked him through each chop and had him transfer the diced veggies into a small prep bowl.  I pre-measured the milk and had him pour that into a small prep bowl as well.  Last but not least, the noodles were pretty long, so he and I took the time to break them into smaller bite-sized pieces.  When it was time to cook, I had him transfer the ingredients in the prep bowls to the soup pan.  He was interested in helping and seemed to enjoy his accomplishments!  I love that he’s wearing a Caterpillar shirt and you can see that the logo is just barely showing from under his flannel shirt.

We made my Quick Parmesan Garlic Bread to go with the soup.  Dad loved it!

Hope you enjoy this recipe!

Save Print

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

Rating  5 from 1 reviews

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup Author: Root Family Review

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• ½ cup diced carrots
• ½ cup diced celery
• ½ cup diced onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 cups chicken broth (Swanson's - regular sodium)
• 1 cup no yolk egg noodles (No Yolks Broad Noodles)
• meat of 1 small rotisserie chicken, shredded
• salt and pepper to taste
• ½ cup milk (or half and half)

Instructions

1. Use Vidalia Chopper with your preference of either small or large dice option for carrots, celery and onion
2. Heat a soup pan to medium on stovetop, then add 1 Tablespoon of olive oil
3. Add carrots, celery and onion to pan and saute several minutes until translucent
4. Add 2 minced garlic cloves to pan and saute about 1 minute until fragrant
5. Add chicken broth and egg noodles to pan and bring to a boil
6. Cook for length of time as listed on package instructions, about 10 to 12 minutes
7. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remember that you'll lose some of the liquid as the broth condenses, so I usually wait until nearly the end before adjusting the salt
8. Add shredded chicken near end of cooking time
9. For a creamy stew, finish with ½ cup of milk or half and half

Notes

I enjoy having my Dad help me cook when he is visiting. He is in the mid-stages of Alzheimer's, so I adjust his tasks for what he can do at any given time. I took these pictures about 6 months ago. Dad chopped the veggies on the Vidalia Chopper, then transferred them to a small bowl. I poured the milk into a measuring cup and asked him to transfer it into a small bowl. The noodles were somewhat long, so he and I broke them into smaller pieces before they were ready to be added to the soup.

Make it fun and adjust for the abilities of your loved-one!
3.5.3229

3.5.3229