Preparing for a liquid diet

Borscht (beet soup) simmering on the stove

Next week is my big jaw surgery.  I am having both upper and lower jaws advanced to open up my airway and reposition my teeth so that my bite is optimal.  There are all kinds of technical terms for the procedures, but they are lumped into the category of orthognathic surgery.

Bottom line is that my normal soft diet (which is already driving me crazy) will be limited to a liquid diet for 10 days or so.  I will only be drinking my Thanksgiving dinner, so I think I am going nearly meatless this year.  I don't think pureed meat sounds very appetizing, so will be sticking with broths.  I have been making and storing soups and hot cereals thinned out with soy milk or almond milk so that I can easily heat them up for a meal.  My darling husband will also be making me high-protein smoothies, like the ones I have featured on this blog.  They all still have to be gluten free and pretty much free of cow's milk too, as it hasn't been sitting well with me lately.  Yogurt and butter and cheese seem to be ok though.  I made my usual butternut squash and apple soup for the holiday and my plan for dessert is to have hubby liquify some pumpkin pie filling.  Hopefully when it is all over and I can eat real food again, I will be done with the soft diet thing.  I surely hope so.  It has been far too long.

Borscht (loosely based on the Russian Tea Room recipe)
1 T olive oil
1 onion peeled and chopped
2 large carrots peeled and grated
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1/4 green cabbage, shredded
1 can diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken stock
3 large beets, peeled and diced
1 T each sugar and red wine vinegar

Saute the onion in olive oil while you prepare the other vegetables.  Add them (except the beets) to the pot and season with salt and pepper.  Add the tomatoes and cook a bit, then add the broth and bring to a boil.  Turn down the heat and simmer for 10-20 minutes while you peel the beets.  Add the beets, sugar and vinegar to the soup and simmer another 10-20 minutes until the beets are soft. (you can partially puree at this point with an immersion blender) Serve with sour cream.

I started a new blog to journal my way through the surgery and recovery.  If you're interested, it is www.herjawsurgery.blogspot.com

Karen, herself