Your first instrument is sensitive and needs your love and attention. It will respond in the most amazing way. What you put inside this beautiful instrument, will give you fantastic rewards and joy. Or will give you pain and misery. You have a choice. Satisfaction comes in different colors and can be so temporary. If it is short term satisfaction, you have to repeat the performance to a devastating end. Are we talking about food? I think so. I'm on a soft food liquid diet. When my doctor told me, I didn't have a choice. Nothing compares to what my whole body went through.
How does one survive on a soft food liquid diet? I'd rather be dead. But survival is an amazing emotion. We learn how to deal with it and we become creative. First we suffer, then self pity, and then "why me?" That lasts for a short time, until we become inventive. Your taste buds give you the information you need to create what your gastronomical needs are. What flavors you crave and how to add them to your soft food and liquid diet.
Depression has never been a word in my vocabulary, but at this moment, it was quite appropriate. Something about chewing, seemed really wonderful and never to chew again was completely devastating. Amazing how quickly the body and ones mentality adjusts to a situation questionable. Cooking has always turned me on, so I had to create a liquid and soft food diet that would inspire me. That takes imagination and listening to your desires and how to satisfy them, and no cheating.
It wasn't long before my recipes were intriguing enough to share.
You will need a blender and a grinder.
Recipe # 1 Cream of Spinach Soup
2 bunches of raw fresh spinach
1 clove of chopped garlic
1 leek cut in thin slices
1 handful of walnuts
2 cups of chicken broth
½ cup of half and half milk
2 tablespoons of oil
Wash spinach thoroughly using both leaves and stems and drain in a large frying pan, add the oil, then the chopped garlic, leeks and walnuts. Simmer until the leeks are soft and mushy. Then add the clean spinach, turning them over, until all the leaves are coated with oil. When the spinach has diminished in size cover with lid and cook for 5 minutes. Cool and then turn all the ingredients into the blender and add chicken broth. Blend until creamy and add the half and half. Add salt to taste. Can be eaten hot or cold. Add cream if a richer taste is desired.
Recipe # 2 Carrot Soufflé [appetizer or side dish]
2 or 3 carrots cleaned and cut in ¼ inch slices
½ onion chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons ground pistachio nuts
2 tablespoons of butter
Cook carrots until soft in water. Then drain.
Sautee onion, garlic in a small saucepan with oil.
When soft, add carrots and cook until slightly brown.
Turn into a cylindrical vassal and mash with a blender.
Preferably a Smart Stick made by Cuisinart.
Otherwise turn into a dish and mash with a fork.
Add ground pistachios and brown sugar.
And 2 tablespoons of butter to the puree.
Nuts are great fiber, so I use them in every thing I can think of. This soft food liquid diet has kept me out of the emergency room, so it's worth all the effort and imagination I can muster. I'm enjoying this new way of living and I've become a really creative cook; inventing things, I never would have thought of using before. This is my diet for the rest of my life and I'm enjoying the journey. For weight gain, it's all about calories. More calories, more often, and do not back off on exercise. The most progressive is yoga, to gain or not to gain.
Life is really all about what you put in your mouth. When we pay attention to what our body's can and cannot tolerate, our lives will take on an amazing awakening. Life is a tall ladder from the moment of birth and it requires choices. The more experience, the better the choices. So be creative, welcome the challenge and your diet, whether it be -- weight gain or weight loss, it is a great learning journey.
It really is, "To be or not to be."