milk-and-water

Usually these voluntaries were real milk-and-water affairs," he recalled, "but one day the organist did something really wild, which was thrilling.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 5, 2012

Paraphrasers suggested that Sir Austen meant, "A League which used raw, un-mellowed, strong-arm methods and thus antagonized its Member States would diadem sight quicker than will the present milk-and-water League."

From Time Magazine Archive

Anyway it seems to me more accurate about motherhood than the old bloodless milk-and-water Virgins of art history.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

Last week a sick dog took up its abode in the field behind our house, and after seeing the poor thing lying there for some time, I took it food and milk-and-water.

From Dog Stories from the "Spectator" being anecdotes of the intelligence, reasoning power, affection and sympathy of dogs, selected from the correspondence columns of "The Spectator" by Various

I don't think he cares for backgammon or checkers or dominoes or any of those milk-and-water games.

From Oldfield A Kentucky Tale of the Last Century by Banks, Nancy Huston