Liquid until june 4th or 5th ....

Im still on a liquid diet until the 4th or 5th. I have had some tomato soup and mostly shakes and water with some juice. Anyone have any other things I can try ? Cream of chicken soup put in my magic bullet is what im thinking to blend it up very well. Any ideas are welcome!
~~jessica

So it is important that you get in your protein and soup can be tricky to get that in so my trick is to add "silken tofu" as the cream part of any soup. I don't use a lot of recipes as I just love to mix things up in the kitchen, but here are 3 soups that are a staple for me right after a fill. I wish I had discovered these during my post op.

Soup recipes

Roasted Tomato with Roasted Garlic

This recipe yielded about 1 cup.

Ingredients:
½ container of grape tomatoes
4-6 cloves of garlic (depends on size and strength of garlic desired)
4 oz of silken tofu
2 TBSP of fresh basil (2-3 tsp of dried basil)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Peal the garlic and wrap in a small piece of aluminum foil.
2. Place the tomatoes on a cookie sheet and spray with PAM, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Put the tomatoes and garlic in a 350 degree oven until done.
a. Tomatoes will burst and shrivel a bit
b. Garlic will be soft and mash easily with a fork
c. Tomatoes will probably finish before the garlic
4. Place the tomatoes and garlic in a food processor (or blender)
5. Add the tofu and blend until almost smooth.
6. Heat through and add the finely chopped basil at the end.
7. Simmer for a few minutes to let the flavors blend.
8. If necessary thin out with FF evaporated milk.


Grilled Asparagus Soup

Ingredients:
¼ pound or more of asparagus
2-3 cloves of garlic (depends on size and strength of garlic desired)
4 oz of silken tofu
¼ small onion (more or less depending on taste)
¼ -1/3 cup of LF shredded cheese.
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Either boil grill on BBQ (much better!) the asparagus until just undercooked.
a. To grill on BBQ spray with PAM and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in aluminum foil if you do not have a flat grill on BBQ.
2. Sautee garlic, onions and cooked asparagus
3. Place veggies in a food processor (or blender)
4. Add the tofu and blend until smooth.
5. Add FF evaporated milk until correct texture.
6. Heat to desired temperature






Sautéed Mushroom and Tuna Soup
(This was my way of eating tuna noodle casserole…soup style!)

Ingredients:
½ pound or more of mushrooms (any kind will work)
2-3 cloves of garlic (depends on size and strength of garlic desired)
4 oz of silken tofu or white beans
¼ small onion (more or less depending on taste)
1 can of tuna fish
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Sautee mushrooms, garlic and onions until desired texture.
2. Add to food processor or blender.
3. Add 4oz of silken tofu or ½ can of white beans (depending on your taste!)
4. Add drained tuna fish (or any other canned fish)
5. Puree to desired texture.
6. Heat and add FF evaporated milk to thin if needed

So as you can see, the base for these soups is pretty much the same. If you don’t like tofu I would assume that white canned beans would work just as well. Experiment with different spices, add a little parmesan cheese, or different veggies. Right now you shouldn’t be worrying as much about calories, but rather about healing. If you would like add meat to any of these it would work just fine. Ground chicken, hamburger, and ground turkey all pulverize very well. You will most likely just have to thin it out with the FF evaporated milk. That one ingredient has changed my way of cooking. Once you graduate to real foods you can have chicken Alfredo for VERY few calories by using this one ingredient.

Another soup that has good flavor is to just take some refried beans and beef stock. It has a lot of flavor and a lot of protein to keep you fuller longer. Also take some spaghetti sauce and add some pulverized veggies to it and it makes it better. Adding some pureed white beans also helps it feel like more food.

Thanks for the recipes, they look good.

Salsa's tips are great! I also use silken tofu as a base for a surprisingly healthy mac & cheese (obviously not for liquids or mushies though).

Only thing I would add is you can get creative and blend and thin anything to the consistency that would go through a straw. I did that with beans--thinned some refried (ff) beans with broth, ran them through the blender, then nuked them with a little shredded cheese and enjoyed. It's the consistency that is important, so anything sort of soft that can be blended and made thin enough is fair game. Your cream of chicken soup blended well would be fine.