Soft Food for Sore Mouths Part 2

Gum surgery was so fun I went and had the other side done three weeks later! ;) While Sarah did an amazing job of meal planning after the first surgery, we did want to change it up.

There were several excellent soups we hadn't had yet (African groundnut, creamy tomato, corn chowder, etc.) but we started with simple refried beans. I didn't want to eat them plain, so Sarah had the brilliant idea to serve them over soft polenta!


Next was one of our favorite recipes adjusted to not require any chewing. It's supposed to be chickpea crepes with a sweet potato curry, so we skipped the crepes and also just roasted the sweet potatoes whole and blended them rather than chopping them up and eating them as cubes.


Getting more creative, Sarah came up with the idea for  blended Shepherd's pie! Each layer (mashed potato, lentils/mushrooms, carrots, peas) were separately seasoned and blended before being assembled:


For breakfast I mostly relied on blending up oatmeal with some almond milk, peanut butter to help me last until lunch, and thawed frozen blueberries. It comes out kind of goopy and gross honestly but it was easy to drink:



And then I forgot to take photos of the African groundnut stew with red swiss chard in it, but that was also delicious and creamily soft! This definitely made the recovery process much more pleasant! I find that even weeks later I still can't eat cold foods like ice cream, so milkshakes (a frequent suggestion for a soft food) were definitely not going to work as well as these did.

Soft Food for Sore Mouths: Four Delicious Hearty Soups

After gum surgery, I had to eat nothing but super soft foods for about a week, and was pretty bummed about it. But Sarah managed to think of five delicious and creamy soups in a row for us to eat! Anyone who has to avoid hard and crunchy foods and stick to the soft (for whatever reason), rejoice! Your recovery can be delicious. Sadly I forgot to take any pictures until the end of the week when only the last two were left, but hopefully you can visualize the rest (they are all pureed so look similar except for color). An immersion blender is a great way to make soups creamy without having to wash a real blender.

1. Butternut Squash w/ Apple
This recipe came from Appetite for Reduction. Fortunately I had a half-bushel of gold rush apples that added some wonderful tartness and flavor to the soup. It didn't have that many calories, so we added 3/4 cup of cashews (which also added a nice creaminess as well). I've had many butternut squash soups, and a few with apples, but I think this is my favorite.

2. Black Bean w/ Avocado
This recipe from the Bold Vegetarian Chef is kind of like the best things about black bean soup, guacamole, and salsa, all rolled together. I mean, sure it would be nice to eat it with corn bread or tortilla chips or something, but it does the trick by its lonesome too when you're sticking to soft foods.


3. Creamy lentil

This one (from Garlic Garlic Garlic) comes out pretty thick, so you may want some extra water if you want it more like soup instead of stew. It seems like it should be boring, but the sherry somehow makes it different, and the chives are great too if you have them.

4. Split pea soup
This recipe from the Bold Vegetarian Chef works best when not pureed (it has some nice potatoes, and pieces of tempeh bacon), but it still has a nice combo of the split peas, smoky tempeh, and other veggies. This soup is nice and filling, and if you get sick of it, swirl in some Sriracha which adds a pleasant twist.


5. Chili
There was a chili cookoff competition for our neighborhood, and Sarah decided we should make a vegetarian chili to show people that you can have a great chili without meat. Sadly, I put beyond meat beefless crumbles in it, which only add a dry, rubbery, flavorless series of chunks to get in the way of an otherwise delicious chili. But otherwise it was pretty good.

Recipes for all but the first one are at http://fish.freeshell.org/recipes.html

Need something pleasant to drink, but can't have alcohol (b/c of medication, or inflammation, or whatever)? I relied heavily on homemade fake beer.