What's easy to eat after dental work?

[weinoo]

11 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Is cacik the same as tzakziki?    ☺️

 

I call it cacik when it's a soup, and tzatziki when it's more of a dip or a sauce? But maybe it's just an interpretation thing; cacik is Turkish, and tzatziki is Greek?

[kayb]

I feel your pain on the dental work. During my own saga with it this summer, I have found shredded chicken is a game-changer. It's gone in pot pies, soups, assorted casseroles. I've eaten several casseroles of squash and onion, stewed soft in butter then blended with cracker crumbs, cheese and eggs and baked; one could add chicken to that, or have in another preparation on the side. I've been able to handle ground beef; meatballs, meat ragu over pasta, meatloaf. The crumbly texture may not work for your partner's dental issues. A cheese and veggie lasagna might be workable; a risotto with, again, shredded chicken or some kind of chopped seafood. In fact, most seafood is flaky and soft enough I would be able to handle it; YMMV. Good old fashioned tuna salad, with eggs, is nice and soft, as well. I've also been relying on fruit and cottage cheese.

 

[mgaretz]

10 hours ago, Dave the Cook said:

 

If we can get past the lentil issue, then we have to pass the Oatmeal Rubicon (good band name, btw). But I think this is worth a try, actually.

You can directly sub split peas. My wife is currently off them but lentils are fine. Not that she’s eating any of this. 

[Shelby]

As you all know I had major surgery last fall and then some more (more minor) surgery a few weeks ago.  I will be up front and say that with the first surgery, I totally lost my appetite.  My mouth felt so horrid that just the thought of food getting in there was just not appealing.  So, I lost weight, too.  I honestly kept making the same food as we always ate, but then threw something on the side that I could get down.  Also, I know I ate more solid-ish food sooner than they said I was allowed to.  I took very very small bites and chewed very very carefully.  I don't know what teeth your partner has or doesn't have, but I still could chew using front and a side tooth (my problems are all in the very back).

 

Right now at least you can probably get some decent produce.....if it were me I'd be making for myself:

 

Mashed potatoes (lived on those for a bit).  Either brown gravy or a cream gravy.  I'd do that quite a bit and have breakfast for dinner.  Scrambled eggs I could eat.  I'd make some biscuits and take the softest part and crumble it up in some gravy for me.  Then I'd make sausage or bacon or whatever Ronnie wanted.

 

Tomatoes--peeled and as many seeds out as possible.  Mixed with cottage cheese....or even a caprese salad minus the basil leaves (I had major problems with lettuce even though it's not that crunchy it would get stuck in bad places).

 

Stewed down squash and onions.  Add tomatoes for a change.  @Jaymessquash is excellent.  I've posted all over the place here about it lol.

 

Macaroni and cheese (no crunchy bread crumbs or anything like that)

 

Fish--a flakey white baked.

 

Stuffing (no celery or anything crunchy)

 

I know you're sick of soups but French onion--cut the crust off the bread and make sure it's nice and cheesy and soggy.

 

I did ok with ground beef (in my case venison) so I made a lot of stroganoff, goulash.....

 

All of these ideas may still be too much structure but maybe they will spring up an idea for you?

[Dave the Cook]

Such helpful responses. Thanks, everyone!

 

13 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

What about chicken pot pie? 

 

As we found out with the quiche, crust is a problem (unless you're the family dog). But we did manage chicken and dumplings the other night, with the chicken chopped very finely and the dumplings having been softened by the sauce. 

 

6 hours ago, kayb said:

I feel your pain on the dental work. During my own saga with it this summer, I have found shredded chicken is a game-changer. It's gone in pot pies, soups, assorted casseroles. I've eaten several casseroles of squash and onion, stewed soft in butter then blended with cracker crumbs, cheese and eggs and baked; one could add chicken to that, or have in another preparation on the side. I've been able to handle ground beef; meatballs, meat ragu over pasta, meatloaf. The crumbly texture may not work for your partner's dental issues. A cheese and veggie lasagna might be workable; a risotto with, again, shredded chicken or some kind of chopped seafood. In fact, most seafood is flaky and soft enough I would be able to handle it; YMMV. Good old fashioned tuna salad, with eggs, is nice and soft, as well. I've also been relying on fruit and cottage cheese.

 

 

Shredded chicken from a roast chicken, or chicken parts? Our usual method of sous-viding breasts is a non-starter unless we drastically overcook it, and who wants that?  Squash-and-onion casserole is a good idea; ground meats, which I thought would be okay, just don't work for her. We have been eating a lot of eggs: poached, scrambled, even gently fried. I suggested tuna salad, but it seems that without celery, it's just no fun. Ooh, risotto!

 

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

 I'd make some biscuits and take the softest part and crumble it up in some gravy

 

Yeah, that's worked.

 

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

Macaroni and cheese (no crunchy bread crumbs or anything like that)

 

Fish--a flakey white baked.

 

We might be trying mac and cheese soon (though mac and cheese without a crunchy top is about as much fun as tuna salad without celery). So far, pasta has been iffy. We're going to try some sort of fish with saag aloo tomorrow (potatoes way over cooked and fork-smashed).

 

Thanks again!

[Shelby]

6 minutes ago, Dave the Cook said:

So far, pasta has been iffy.

I did better with shorter type pasta (macaroni) than long.  Long would get somehow lost in my mouth.

[kayb]

12 minutes ago, Dave the Cook said:

 

Shredded chicken from a roast chicken, or chicken parts? Our usual method of sous-viding breasts is a non-starter unless we drastically overcook it, and who wants that?  Squash-and-onion casserole is a good idea; ground meats, which I thought would be okay, just don't work for her. We have been eating a lot of eggs: poached, scrambled, even gently fried. I suggested tuna salad, but it seems that without celery, it's just no fun. Ooh, risotto!

 

I've done both poached chicken breasts and meat from a roast chicken. I dice it in decent sized dice and then put it in the mixer for a minute or two while it's warm to get the consistency I wanted. 

 

I don't like celery in tuna salad, so that's no loss for me.

 

A potato dish my kids always loved that is soft and easy to eat is what we called cheesy potatoes -- peeled, diced, boiled, then make a white sauce, add lots of cheese, and pour over.

 

[Dave the Cook]

45 minutes ago, Shelby said:

I did better with shorter type pasta (macaroni) than long.  Long would get somehow lost in my mouth.

 

Maybe not because it was shorter, but because it was fatter?

 

38 minutes ago, kayb said:

A potato dish my kids always loved that is soft and easy to eat is what we called cheesy potatoes -- peeled, diced, boiled, then make a white sauce, add lots of cheese, and pour over.

 

I would eat this three or four times a week, dental issues or not. 

[Toliver]

1 hour ago, Dave the Cook said:

We might be trying mac and cheese soon (though mac and cheese without a crunchy top is about as much fun as tuna salad without celery).

Just a thought...if it's the flavor of celery you miss and not necessarily the crunch, you can always use celery leaves and not the stalk.

[MetsFan5]

Orzo and pastina worked well for me while dealing with pain. 

[Orbit]

Cold pureed soups are good for this. Potato soup, celery soup, gazpacho etc.

[MokaPot]

Another vote for soft scrambled eggs. They're good with tomato soup. You can add some cheese to the eggs. Some sour cream on the side as well.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

19 hours ago, Dave the Cook said:

Maybe others can do this, but we can't. It's probably nutritious, and might be tasty in a way, but please see above (". . . turning normally chunky soups into smooth purees without allowing them to look like pond scum"). Six years ago, I spent two weeks in the hospital. For the first week, thanks to a "joke" I made that didn't land AT ALL, I was on a puree-only diet. The food was so unappealing that I lost fifteen pounds that week (which of course put everybody into a new tizzy). We're not going to do this, but thanks for the suggestion.

 

Interesting, in that this is essentially a concept for French soups that we, without oral problems, enjoy at least weekly.    But I do understand that if your are being fed this by need rather than choice that is can become tiresome or be perceived as pond scum.    We love these soups, whether using leftovers or fresh ingredients.

[TdeV]

15 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

this is essentially a concept for French soups that we, without oral problems, enjoy at least weekly.    But I do understand that if your are being fed this by need rather than choice that is can become tiresome or be perceived as pond scum.    We love these soups, whether using leftovers or fresh ingredients.

 

Margaret, could you please talk about what you do here, with some examples?

[Margaret Pilgrim]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

 

Margaret, could you please talk about what you do here, with some examples?

A French hostess served us a delicious and elusive soup one night.    Asked about it, she said it was a standby, "three veg soup", always three, never more than 5.    One should be the heavy lifter, the other two accents or supporting players.     Zucchini, onion, potato.    Asparagus, green peas, shallots.   Green pea, lettuce, onion.    Sorrel, onion, potato.    Actually, any combination that is on hand will be interesting.    When all vegetables are soft, blend until smooth with an immersion or upright blender.    Whisk in broth or cream or butter or nothing.    To make more visually interesting, serve with croutons or shower of chive or parsley or green onion or crumbled bacon or drizzle of EVOO or...

Edited August 1, 2020 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[Dave the Cook]

On 8/1/2020 at 1:27 PM, Margaret Pilgrim said:

A French hostess served us a delicious and elusive soup one night.    Asked about it, she said it was a standby, "three veg soup", always three, never more than 5.    One should be the heavy lifter, the other two accents or supporting players.     Zucchini, onion, potato.    Asparagus, green peas, shallots.   Green pea, lettuce, onion.    Sorrel, onion, potato.    Actually, any combination that is on hand will be interesting.    When all vegetables are soft, blend until smooth with an immersion or upright blender.    Whisk in broth or cream or butter or nothing.    To make more visually interesting, serve with croutons or shower of chive or parsley or green onion or crumbled bacon or drizzle of EVOO or...

 

 

This work quite well, and is the basis for several of the soups we've been making: creamy poblano; leek and potato; garlic with poached eggs, bacon and spinach; curry shrimp and rice; corn with red-pepper puree; carrot with chive oil; and a few others.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Husband in for two extractions today.   Started making soft food for afterwards.    However, he found and has "tested" the custard that was for later.

 

Saga to follow.

[TdeV]

I recently succumbed to eG enablers and bought a Vidalia Chop Wizard manual dicing device.

And I've just had serious oral surgery.

Can I dice up chicken breast finely enough to mix in with some rice, ricotta cheese and bottled sauce?
(I think it's possible to peel the breast into thinnish layers [sous-vided]. And then dice it?)

Would that work?

 

 

Edited August 10 by TdeV
Spelling (log)

[rotuts]

@TdeV

 

do you have a blender to use after the chopping ?  adding some stock or yogurt to thin it ?

 

the issue after dental surgery is to be very careful to not disturb the ' clot ' on the surgery side.

 

you can disturb it w blended food , but it helps not to chew first .

 

so think about keeping the food on the other side of the mouth from the surgery 

 

small amounts might be a good place o start.

 

and don't use a straw .  using a straw created negative pressure in the mouth and can disturb 

 

a clot.

 

good luck.

Edited August 10 by rotuts (log)

[Smithy]

On 8/10/2024 at 10:59 AM, TdeV said:

I recently succumbed to eG enablers and bought a Vidalia Chop Wizard manual dicing device.

And I've just had serious oral surgery.

Can I dice up chicken breast finely enough to mix in with some rice, ricotta cheese and bottled sauce?
(I think it's possible to peel the breast into thinnish layers [sous-vided]. And then dice it?)

Would that work?

 

This may be too late to do you any good, but I'll throw in my two cents' worth anyway. If the chicken were already cooked (you mention sous vide) and then you used the finest dice grid on the Vidalia Chop Wizard, I'd expect it to be fine.

 

Now that I've posted an opinion (late) and you've no doubt already made your choice, what did you do and how did it work?