I am going to be editing this page a lot and upload various delicious recipes. It doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom! All of these recipes are either my own or from recipe books/online – all tried by me and tested! The purpose of this page is to put a collection of recipes together, and provide you with a collection of ideas for post-surgery or those tough times after your braces adjustments. Check out the recipes, ideas and advice below 🙂
Before your Jaw Surgery it is important make a list and stock up on a variety of different foods, immediately after surgery you will not feel like eating, even the word food may feel nauseating, well it was for me anyway. So, my honest advice is, you got to force yourself to eat, because you don’t want to end up in hospital again due to dehydration. Nutritional foods are so important for your recovery, it means your body will recover quicker and you will start to get your energy back slowly even it seems tedious and slow eating through a syringe your body will thank you for staying strong mentally and physically. Whilst you can indulge in ice cream and mashed potato it won’t give you the essential vitamins and nutrients your body needs to recover from a big surgery like this, nutrition aids the healing process. You will be on a liquid diet for at least 6 – 8 weeks, (if you’ve had double jaw surgery), so the intake of protein and fibre are even more important! For me I wanted to get varied amount of vitamins, so I incorporated different foods into my diet. I didn’t really indulge in high calorific foods till about week 5 because I wasn’t really thinking about the taste I was thinking of food which would provide me with energy and nutrients mainly due to the fact I found it hard to get my appetite back, I only started craving foods at about week 5 – 6.
For your recovery it is essential to have: a blender, a sieve, plastic cups or any cups with a silicone / soft edge, straws if you are able to use them, a bib, towel or muslins (you will dribble and make a mess everywhere), plastic baby spoons, multi-vitamins to take once a day, plenty of protein powder, different sized syringes to administer food (provided by hospital).
Here is a list of ideas for a liquid diet, a soft no-chew diet, and a soft-chew diet (savoury and sweet):
Food & drink list: (wait for hot foods to cool down)
Fruit & Chocolate Yoghurt / Mousse
Cream cheese
Rice Milk / Coconut Milk
Coconut Water
Watered down Guacamole
Pineapple Juice, Cherry Juice, Soya Protein Juice, Fruit Juice
Watered down mashed potato
Ice Cream
Milkshakes
SOFT DIET (some liquid and soft diet recipes)
Food & Drink list: (wait for hot foods to cool down)
Tea / Coffee
Ice Cream
Berroca – multi vitamin drink
Peanut Butter, Chocolate spread
Cream cheese
Coconut Water
Watered down Guacamole
Pineapple Juice, Cherry Juice, Soya Protein Juice, Fruit Juice
Protein Shakes (it’s easier to buy your own protein powder, check out MyProtein or Bulk Powders)
Gravy
Soggy / Soft cereal (corn flakes, weetabix)
Potato and sweetcorn fritters
Cream
Chips
Overcooked noodles
Soft wafer ham
Fish
Soft chicken
Soft fruit – blueberries, strawberries, mango, banana, watermelon
Portebello Mushrooms
Lentils – red, green, yellow.
Cheese on toast (lightly grilled)
RECIPES:
SOUPS:
Red Pepper, Tomato & Red Lentil soup
Makes enough for (3-5 days for 1 person)
Serves 4
Method: Easy!
Ingredients:
Roast in a pan with foil: 2 medium Red Pepper, a mixture of 20 – 25 cherry and plum tomatoes, thyme.
Pan: 2 large Onions, 2 Carrots, a handful of Basil, Thyme, Salt and Pepper, Garlic 3 handfuls of red lentils.
Stock: 2 Vegetable OXO cubes, basil, thyme, dried oregano, tomato puree, 1/5 tspn of red chilli flakes.
In order:
1) In a roasting pan roast the Red Pepper and Tomatoes along with a bit of Thyme, Salt & Pepper for 15 minutes, in a pre-heated oven at gas mark 4.
2) Meanwhile, fry off the onions with the herbs and garlic until soft.
3) Add the Carrots – leave to fry until the carrot soften.
4) Add the roasted tomato and pepper and mix in then, then lastly add the red lentils.
5) Put stock together – boil a jug of water (800ml) and add the ingredients listed above.
6) Add to the pan and stir, leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes.
7) Turn off the heat, once cold blend it with your hand blender
8) Then put the pan back on the heat and return to the boil and serve hot with a lovely rustic piece of bread!
Vegetable and Lentil Soup:
Makes enough soup for a week, adjust as necessary)
Method – Easy!
Ingredients: 3 small Onions/ 2 Carrot / 4 sticks of Celery /1 Large Potato /4 florets Broccoli / 1.5 Leek/ 1 Courgette / small handful of Parsley, Coriander & Thyme / 3 small handful of Red Lentils / 1 tbsp of garlic / Pinch of Sugar, salt / Black Pepper
Stock: Vegetable Stock OXO – x3 , Garlic – 1 tbsp, Black Pepper, Dried Basil, White Pepper, Thyme, Red Chilli Flakes – 1 tbsp
In order:
1) Fry off the, onions with the garlic some black/white pepper and pinch of sugar and salt (season to taste!)
2) Then add the potato, carrot – until soft or starts cooking through
3) Add half of the coriander, thyme and parsley celery, leek, broccoli & courgette
4) Finally add the lentils red lentils and stir away until mixed through
5) Whilst the vegetables are frying – make the stock as listed above with boiling water, pour into the mixture, bring to the boil and stir – turn heat down to low and cover with a lid, leaving a tiny bit of the top exposed to let the steam out a little bit! Let it simmer -cook through for 20 minutes!
6) Take off the gas, place to one side until cold
7) With hand blender – blend the soup
Reheat – Eat – ENJOY!
PROTEIN SHAKES/MILKSHAKES/VEGETABLE & FRUIT SMOOTHIES:
Berry/Peanut Butter Smoothie: (adjust amount as necessary)
Super simple – Recipe makes 3 glasses – lunchtime/afternoon drink
Strawberries – A handful
Raspberries – A handful
Blueberries – A handful
Oats – 2 tablespoons
Honey – 2 tablespoons
Peanut Butter – 1 teaspoon, just for background flavour
Milk – roughly 300ml or enough for however many glasses you want
Blend all of this together.
Then top with raspberry, sprinkle of oats and cinnamon to finish off
Journeywithme-throughjawsurgery 