Give me your best liquid recipes!

[foxfirefey]

So, my boyfriend is going to be having jaw surgery soon, and for a couple weeks he'll be on a liquid diet when everything is wired shut--while simultaneously needing MORE calories than normal, for healing. SO. Do people have any favorite recipes for liquid foods? We've gotten a badass blender and a small booklet, but asking can't hurt.

Comments

[acelightning]

I read something a long time ago - some celebrity had jaw surgery, and her jaw was wired shut so she could only consume liquids, and she was really craving familiar foods, and her boyfriend used an industrial-strength blender to liquefy pizza for her.

Also, it's difficult to get enough fiber when you're on a liquid (or even just "soft") diet for weeks. Try to add as much fiber as you can to the "smoothies" you make; your boyfriend's digestive tract will thank you.

[copracat]

Smoothies are great and you can vary them with different fruit, different milks (soy and almond can be great) and you can add some of the good stuff he'll need with malted milk powder (protein, also tasty) or LSA mix (ground linseed, sunflower seeds and almonds - a big fave in banana smoothies at our house).

[azurelunatic]

I cannot recommend oatmeal with blue cheese dressing.

All Naismithery aside, I like applesauce with the orange mountain dew in it.

You could probably make some pretty badass mashed potatoes with caramelized onion, butter, extra cream, and a bit of bacon grease (for flavor).

[st_aurafina]

Lentils! Pea and ham soup is like protein with extra protein.

More a technique than a specific recipe

[vass]

Precision Nutrition Super Shakes:

1. Ice cubes. Fewer for a more liquid consistency, more for a more slushy shake.
2. A vegetable. Spinach, cooked sweet potato or pumpkin, or a serve of greens powder, or whatever else works. If it's spinach, note that it will turn the whole thing bright green, but you probably won't actually taste it. Keeps the fibre and vitamin content up, and makes it more filling.
3. A fruit. Frozen berries are very popular, so are bananas.
4. A scoop of the protein powder of your choice. Or you could put in a largish chunk of tofu, I guess.
5. A fat. Peanut or other nut butters are good if he can do nuts. Or some coconut? Or some full fat yoghurt? If he takes fish oil, you can add that here. You might want to double the quantity of whatever you're adding, since he needs the calories.
6. A liquid. Water, juice, soy/nut/hemp/dairy milk, whatever works with the other ingredients. Depending on what else you're putting in the shake and if he's allowed caffeine post-surgery, you could add cold green tea or a shot of cold espresso here.
7. Optional: a sweetener. Sugar, honey, the fake sugar of your choice, whatever.
8. Optional: a topper. Some people like sprinkling something on top of the shake when it's served, like cinnamon powder or cocoa or whatever.

Cover and blend for at least a minute on high. Serve immediately.

Here are some examples:
- ice, spinach, banana, whey powder, yoghurt, milk, honey, cinnamon.
- ice, sweet potato, pumpkin, soy powder, coconut oil, coconut milk, maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice.
And so on.

Re: More a technique than a specific recipe

[feuervogel]

This sounds awesome! I'm going to bookmark this entry just for your comment.

Re: More a technique than a specific recipe

[j00j]

Smoothies with kale in them don't tend to taste like kale, either-- that might also be good for fiber. The fruit smoothies I've had with kale look frighteningly green, but mostly just taste like fruit.

Re: More a technique than a specific recipe

[mfb]

*also bookmarks this entry for your comment*

I love recipes that are more general than specific (eg. most stews, chilis, stirfrys) as I get far more mileage out of them, and this is the epitome of a general recipe. :D

Re: More a technique than a specific recipe

[dragonwolf]

To add to the "vegetable" and "fruit" parts - any squash, really (well, maybe not spaghetti squash) works well. Applesauce and avocado are good blender-friendly fruits (avocado can also double as your fat, too, or at least some of it; and applesauce your sweetener if you get a sweeter variety). Applesauce + avocado actually makes a good snack that tastes like applesauce, but has the added nutrients of the avocado (like the kale and spinach, it doesn't do much to the flavor).

Regarding nut butters - This is a good idea, too, though I recommend the "natural" varieties over the typical peanut butter shelf stuff. Things like Jif Natural creamy peanut butter seems to blend better than the standard stuff, probably due to the amount of other oils present in the typical peanut butters. In short, watch the ingredient lists and pick ones with few ingredients and where the added oil (if there's any) is low on the list.

Another random tip - check out any books on "baby's first foods" for ideas, too. They're typically mashable and blendable foods, usually packed with nutrients. Thinned out a little, they'll probably all be drinkable.

[kyrielle]

Most soups can be put through a blender and turned into something basically liquid; some stews can, but only if they're mostly soft veggies (not enough liquid to solid otherwise).

Beans/lentils/chickpeas generally puree down nicely.

Savory/curry soups with proper spicing might be nice to occasionally offset the fact that most of the liquid-only stuff (storebought and homemade) tends to be smoothie-sweet. I imagine that would get old after a while.

[grammarwoman]

I would recommend kefir (kinda like liquidy yogurt) with probiotic cultures, to keep his intestinal tract happy with (I'm assuming) the antibiotics he'll have to take.

[mfb]

Seconding kefir, I'm taking it with my antibiotics and it's keeping things working great. I should go have a glass right now, actually.

[ranyart]

On smoothies: I started making mine with greek yogurt and a good-sized dollop of peanut or almond butter to fill me up more. You can also add cooked/soaked oatmeal (probably rolled/instant oats are fine to add dry, but steel-cut ones don't blend up that well without being softened first) which I was often to lazy to do but enjoyed when I got around to it. Flaxseed meal adds a nice nutty flavor; I have tried to throw whole flaxseeds in but my blender never does much to them.
I've heard that avocados are nice in smoothies but haven't ever tried it.

Soups: Many soups are easy to puree; a lot of lentil, potato, and tomato soups are great for this. I love this soup; it's ridiculously easy and delicious.

[janinedog]

If you have a slow cooker, you can make bone broth pretty easily, and it's full of good vitamins, minerals, micronutrients, etc. http://nomnompaleo.com/post/3615609338/slow-cooker-beef-bone-broth is a recipe I just tried this week! You can use it as the base for soups, or just drink it as is.

[foxfirefey]

He does have a slow cooker! I could totally do that!

[rainbow]

You can puree most foods if the blender is good enough. Pizza, burritos, tacos, lasagna, chili, mac & cheese, scalloped potatoes, baked potatoes, roasted root veg, stroganoff, etc. Thin with tomato juice, broth, or other fluid of choice. A dollop of yogurt or sour cream will add extra calories and richness.

Most canned soups will puree well; homemade soups will if the meat (assuming he eats it) is denatured enough (if the meat is falling apart, it will generally puree nicely). Veg soups puree beautifully.

I like adding yogurt to cold soups for the extra calories, the tangy, and the probiotics (I often eat my borscht cold for just that reason. *g* Borscht is wonderful pureed. I like to add lots of dill and yogurt to it.)

[cougars_catnip]

Barley water, soups and stews as mentioned. Aqua fresca.

[brigid]

There is a movement among some people who use feeding tubes for themselves/people they care for to make their own feeds. This is one website http://lucysrealfood.com/basic%20instructions.htm . Obviously you aren't dealing with a feeding tube situation, but there's emphasis on balanced nutrition and calories that might be more helpful than smoothie recipes that assume you're getting nutrition from solid foods as well. It looks like you have some GREAT smoothie and soup recommendations upthread, though. :)