Thanks so much, everyone! I am passing along these helpful suggestions.

Just to clarify, she isn’t coming to visit and doesn’t know anything about this web board or the fact that I posted on this. She just mentioned to me that this is what she was thinking about, so of course I thought of DCUM and the collective wisdom here. She has a very complex mix of medical conditions and food allergies, and she is working with her doctors and a nutritionist. In the past, nutritionist, she has met with have not been entirely helpful because they don’t entirely grasp the extent of her extreme restrictions. I admire her so much because she lives with grace and even humor in the face of such limitations.

Stop for a minute and think what it must be like to live not being able to have citrus, tomatoes, nuts, too much dairy, many spices, chilis or hot peppers of any kind, or most processed foods that have any kind of spicing. And among her ailments, she is dealing with gout, which means that her meat intake has to be restricted. It’s rough and I feel for her. So I appreciate the helpful suggestions on here!

I’m sipping an oat milk based latte. Piggybacking on my sorbet/gelatin suggestion, if you don’t want to make something, is there a dairy free frozen dessert that meets your friend’s requirements? There are a few oat milk based options out there.

What about sorbet or granita? I like granita made from Earl Grey Tea. If there are drinks that she likes, then maybe frozen options with similar ingredients would make a treat. Similarly, I’ve used gelatin to make panna cotta variations, so maybe that would be an option too.