Grocery Shopping Sure Has Changed
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relentless2121
Posts: 431 Member
My surgery was recently on Nov. 12. Today was my first real grocery shopping trip since surgery and I must admit it sure has changed than the old days before I started the program.
In my cart was skim milk powder, baby food, a small half pint of raspberries to blend with plain Greek Yogurt, 1% milk, cottage cheese, a few cans of low fat creamed soups and canned green beans and some frozen Tilapia.
I am still in the Pureed stage so can't have much meat protein yet and only tried canned tuna once so far. It seems like I've lost my appetite for it and I used to eat it so much. Perhaps it's because it's so cold here and I want to have warm foods.
I'm eating 1/2 a package of Cream of Wheat or Oatmeal daily mixed with protein powder and also 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes. I always end my day with a Premier Protein Shake. I'm hoping I can have a few bites of turkey on Christmas Day.
To all of you who have been thru this stage before do you have any protein suggestions? I did cook some chicken breasts in the slow cooker, but they turned to complete mush in the blender with some some gravy and I find it revolting. It's like cat food. lol. I'm going to defrost the portions and throw them out.
I'm craving real meat protein and cheese but cannot have it for a few weeks.
Any suggestions? Thanks everyone.
In my cart was skim milk powder, baby food, a small half pint of raspberries to blend with plain Greek Yogurt, 1% milk, cottage cheese, a few cans of low fat creamed soups and canned green beans and some frozen Tilapia.
I am still in the Pureed stage so can't have much meat protein yet and only tried canned tuna once so far. It seems like I've lost my appetite for it and I used to eat it so much. Perhaps it's because it's so cold here and I want to have warm foods.
I'm eating 1/2 a package of Cream of Wheat or Oatmeal daily mixed with protein powder and also 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes. I always end my day with a Premier Protein Shake. I'm hoping I can have a few bites of turkey on Christmas Day.
To all of you who have been thru this stage before do you have any protein suggestions? I did cook some chicken breasts in the slow cooker, but they turned to complete mush in the blender with some some gravy and I find it revolting. It's like cat food. lol. I'm going to defrost the portions and throw them out.
I'm craving real meat protein and cheese but cannot have it for a few weeks.
Any suggestions? Thanks everyone.
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Replies
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I purch a lot of small cans of tuna and Salmon which add a lot of protein for little calories.
I also use cottage and ricotta cheese with a little Torani - Sugar Free syrup
If I need a lot of protein I mix up a scoop of isolate and water and make a pancake. Use a little sugar free syrup and it does not taste too bad.
Tuna was not too bad for me not like other meats.
Good luck0 -
I was told to puree beans and add some salsa to it, not too much though, turkey chili, <<the beans pureed and the turkey little tiny kernels of it. I ate a lot of beans during that stage. I could not handle pureeing the cottage cheese, it was disgusting. cream of ? soups and chicken flavored protein broth.
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Could you try mixing a little plain greek yogurt with some canned chicken to make chicken salad? Or I saw a recipe for baked ricota with spices & spaghetti sauce? Or scrambled eggs w/cheese? even if you blend them they won't look very different than regular scrambled eggs. I start pureed on Wed, and I ordered a can of beef hash and a can of corned beef hash because they look bad to start with so they can't be any worse.0
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It is a hard stage. Some folk I read ate refried beans or I actually had some corned beef from a tin which is almost mush anyway. But basically I lived on baby food. Some of the newer stuff is not too bad but yeah it's not exactly meat. I wonder if your craving is for solid food as opposed to protein? I found even if I had my shakes etc,,,I just wanted solid food,,anything. But it wont be too long.0
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loriloftness wrote: »Could you try mixing a little plain greek yogurt with some canned chicken to make chicken salad? Or I saw a recipe for baked ricota with spices & spaghetti sauce? Or scrambled eggs w/cheese? even if you blend them they won't look very different than regular scrambled eggs. I start pureed on Wed, and I ordered a can of beef hash and a can of corned beef hash because they look bad to start with so they can't be any worse.
You can puree anything. Trust me. As many have laughed since i've stated this numerous times, I pureed a sirloin steak. I mean if they allow you to eat baby food meat why not? The taste is exactly the same just bland, but mixing it with mashed potatoes or adding just a touch of A1 is great. You must add in as you puree the steak the beef broth so that you get a good mix. What was leftover was placed in an ice tray and frozen for 1oz steak cubes. I was a little afraid of spices at first, since you never know how the stomach will react to them. The pureed stage isn't quiet as bad if you can get past the conventional thinking of how "nasty" something sounds.
Not that I still puree steak, but after the last couple steaks i've eaten.....you know, chew 1000 times. I'd almost rather have a pureed steak.
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i had refried beans and canned hash (Heather suggested that one, I believe) and I was allowed eggs with my smushy stuff, so I would heat up some hash and scramble an egg in it.
It was the hard stage, though. It will pass.
Rob0 -
Here are 2 of my go-tos in the pureed stage:
Shelly's Baked Ricotta
8 oz of Ricotta Cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 large Egg, beaten
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup Marinara Sauce
1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Mix ricotta cheese, parmesan, beaten egg, seasonings together and place in a oven proof dish. Pour marinara on top and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake it in the oven @ 450 for about 20-25 minutes (best) or nuke it till hot and bubbly. I usually made it first in the oven and heated the leftovers in the microwave.
Non-fried Refried beans
1 onion, peeled and halved
3 cups dry pinto beans, rinsed
1/2 to 1 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons minced garlic
4 - 5 teaspoons of salt
1 3/4 teaspoons of fresh ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cumin
9 cups of water
Place the onion, rinsed beans, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin into a slow cooker. Pour in the water and stir to combine. Cook on High for 8 hours, adding more water as needed (if more than 1 cup of water has evaporated during cooking, the temp is too high).
Once the beans have cooked, strain them, and reserve the liquid. Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding the reserved cooking water as needed to attain desired consistency. I throw in some pea protein powder. It really thickens is up so I add more liquid back.
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If you go to http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/ she has a TON of pureed stage recipes. Enjoy!0
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I have really started liking 1/2 c fat free re-fried beans with 2 T great value (walmart) peach/pineapple salsa and shredded cheese--it melts nice and fills that spot--0
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Thanks for the Ricotta recipe...sounds good and easy too
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Thanks for all the great ideas and recipes. I cannot have eggs or cheese yet on my plan, but hopefully in the next two week I'll be able too. I was thrilled to puree some Greek Yogurt and fresh raspberries today. You hit the nail on the head when you said that maybe I'm just craving something solid. This too shall pass. It's a temporary inconvenience for a new lease on life. 0
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relentless2121 wrote: »This too shall pass. It's a temporary inconvenience for a new lease on life.
What a FABULOUS attitude!! 0 -
I have a hard time with the texture of pureed food and kind of lived off of greek yogurt at that phase. I still eat that daily- but it's as close as I can manage that texture. Whipped cottage cheese, a creamy soup (that often made me gag), a pureed sweet potato and greek yogurt were about all I could handle at that phase.0
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I actually pureed the inside of a chicken pot pie - tried not to get much or any crust in there. It tasted fine, I just had to look past the obvious look of it. I'm on puree now, and am still doing some of the full liquids, but have done cottage cheese - as is, yogurt, and carrots. I made a batch before thanksgiving and added nonflavored protein to them to get some protein and the veggies.
I've also pureed some bean soup. Pre-op, I made this soup, which is amazing. It's meant to be pureed and goes down so easy. I want to get more non flavored protein so I can add it to the soup.
Pumpkin, Pear, and Butternut Squash Soup:
2 Tbsp. butter (I omitted this)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 sweet onions, diced (I may have used only one large)
1.25 to 1.5 lbs. butternut squash, peeled and chopped large
1 pear, peeled and chopped large
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
3 cups chicken broth (or water)
1 tsp. salt
Pepper
Thyme
1 cup half & half (or other milk substitute) (I used fat free evaporated milk)
Melt butter and olive oil and add onions. Cook for 5-10 minutes until tender. Add squash, pear, pumpkin, broth, and spices. Bring to a simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes until squash and pear are very tender. Remove from heat and blend using immersion blender (or in batches using a regular blender). Return to low heat and add half & half. Serve hot.0 -
I took any stir fried Chinese that wasn't noodle, sugar sauced or had batter dipped anything in it. Like Moo Goo Gai Pan-drained the gravy and pureed it. I also pureed the healthy choice gumbo and any lentil or black bean soup. I had chicken broth on hand for further thinning. skim ricotta, greek yogurt vanilla and plain, greek yogurt spread, egg beaters and carbmaster milks are my permanent shopping list.loriloftness wrote: »Could you try mixing a little plain greek yogurt with some canned chicken to make chicken salad? Or I saw a recipe for baked ricota with spices & spaghetti sauce? Or scrambled eggs w/cheese? even if you blend them they won't look very different than regular scrambled eggs. I start pureed on Wed, and I ordered a can of beef hash and a can of corned beef hash because they look bad to start with so they can't be any worse.
You can puree anything. Trust me. As many have laughed since i've stated this numerous times, I pureed a sirloin steak. I mean if they allow you to eat baby food meat why not? The taste is exactly the same just bland, but mixing it with mashed potatoes or adding just a touch of A1 is great. You must add in as you puree the steak the beef broth so that you get a good mix. What was leftover was placed in an ice tray and frozen for 1oz steak cubes. I was a little afraid of spices at first, since you never know how the stomach will react to them. The pureed stage isn't quiet as bad if you can get past the conventional thinking of how "nasty" something sounds.
Not that I still puree steak, but after the last couple steaks i've eaten.....you know, chew 1000 times. I'd almost rather have a pureed steak.
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I just started making protein powder pudding. Well, it's more like blancmange I suppose. Heat 1 cup milk (I use Kroger carbmaster because of the higher protein and lower carb content). into another 1/2 cup of the cold milk soften 1 tablespoon of Great Lakes unflavored gelatin (available in canisters, it will last forever). Into a second 1/2 cup of cold milk I mix 2 scoops of my Unjury protein powder, but add whatever flavor or brand you want.
Pour the cold 1/2 cup of milk with Gelatin into the heated milk - that helps the gelatin get activating and also cools the hot milk a little so it doesn't mess up the protein powder. Then whisk in the second 1/2 cup of milk with the protein powder into the bowl. Pop into the fridge and let set for a couple of hours.
1/4 of that mix is less than 100 calories and contains about 20 g of protein. Because it's a gelatin, it is more filling and it's a generous portion. Plus, it has a nice 'mouth fill'.
I'm experimenting with it all now. It's not real sweet, so if you want sweeter, try adding some sweetener. Also, I want to experiment with the chocolate flavored Kroger carbmaster milk and chocolate protein powder to make chocolate pudding. And I was thinking vanilla protein powder and coffee would make a coffee-flavored pudding with few calories because less of the milk.0
