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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1005 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 5, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

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I'd normally ask this in the wellness thread, but it doesn't quite fit.

My father is going through chemotherapy, which has absolutely trashed his appetite, and he has some issues with swallowing due to previous radiation treatment. He's managing to keep his weight stable now by pounding shakes made from ensure, ice cream, protein powder, and peanut butter, but he doesn't exactly enjoy it.

I recently made him bread pudding from scratch (with homemade bread) and he nearly made himself sick eating it. I think part of it is that his usual staples aren't quite appetizing enough to cut through the side effects of the treatment, and he might have better luck with something new.

Cooks of themotte, can you recommend any recipes that are tasty, easy to swallow, and have absolutely degenerate amounts of calories in each serving? The doctor has said that all the usual rules about healthy eating are out the window here, if it tastes and smells good enough to give him an appetite, and it fattens him up, it's a win.

Desserts are going to be a solid win here. This is one of my favorites, it takes very little effort, is delicious, and has a ton of calories.

Make a graham cracker crust (look up any recipe you care to, they are all basically graham cracker crumbs + melted butter + sugar), press into a 9x13 pan. Cream together 8 oz cream cheese and 1/2c peanut butter, fold in 1c cool whip and 1c powdered sugar. Spread over graham cracker crust. Prepare 2 packages of instant chocolate pudding, pour over previous layer. Spread rest of cool whip container over pudding layer. Chill in the fridge for at least a couple of hours, decorate with some shaved chocolate if you like.

It's obviously very empty calories, but I assume that is fine given the criteria you set out. It goes down easily (cause it's all soft stuff), and I at least think it tastes absolutely delicious.

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