This is really off topic of lasers, but I am going in for surgery in February. After care requires 7 days liquid only diet. I asked the nurse if they made liquid tacos, but it doesn’t seem they do. Nothing thicker than chocolate milk. That is followed by 3 weeks soft diet. Nothing more solid than mashed potatoes or cream of wheat.
So hit me with your best suggestions to keep me alive, because eating might be one of my favorite sports. It hate to lose my form.
Thanks.
If you’re allowed bone broth, that’s more filling (and fulfilling) than regular broth or stock. I basically lived on bone broth and jello last time I had a liquid diet for a couple of days.
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I second bone broth. It takes a bit to prepare, but you can make a lot and eat it for a long time. Here is a recipe to make a Korean one, which is my favorite. In the end you just add salt and pepper (and green onions, which you probably can’t eat) and drink it.
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/sagol-gukmul
I often make bone broth by boiling a pound or two short rib bones with a bulb of garlic (peeled), a knob of ginger, and one whole (peeled) onion. I boil that and keep adding water until the meat falls completely off the bones.
But I always do an initial boil to get the “scum” off (like the blood, bone fragments). Once it’s starts to boil and there is all that gross stuff on top, drain it and rinse it, then put it in a clean pot with water and the other ingredients. Then boil it until the meat falls off the bones. Then after that, strain it to remove the chunks, season with salt to your taste, and drink that.
It doesn’t go milky white like if you use oxtail or the larger beef bones. It remains like a golden brown, but it tastes much less time than the other ones, maybe 2 or 3 hours compared to say 10 hours. They all taste good. Maybe I should make some tonight…so good for warming the body in cold weather.
I do something similar with chicken too, pretty much the same recipe, but with a stalk of celery for homemade chicken soup base.
You can do it much faster with a pressure cooker. My chicken bone broth recipe is 2 hrs in the instant pot.
Nice! I don’t have an instant pot. I gave it away before moving 
I only have a big stock pot now. It’s hours of boiling for me.
This ends up in a blender so smooth for surgery recovery:
Bacon Corn Chowder
★★★★★
Savory
Ingredients:
12 bacon strips, diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 cups hash browns
2 cups chicken broth
2 (14.75 ounce) cans cream-style corn
1 cup milk
1 cup half and half
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
In a large saucepan brown bacon
Remove bacon from pan and set aside; crumble when cooled
Cook onion over medium heat until browned
Drain
Add crumbled bacon, hash browns and chicken broth
Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until potato is tender
Stir in remaining ingredients
Simmer for 20-40 minutes, or until broth has thickened
Blend until smooth and serve
I usually serve this chunky, but the original recipe ran it through a blender
Butternut Curry
Savory
Prep Time: 1 1/2 hours | Servings: Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1 cup red lentils
1 medium sized butternut squash, cubed
1 medium onion or rhubarb, diced
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoons fresh grated root ginger
2 teaspoons fresh grated tamarind (optional)
salt and pepper (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
This is one of my favourite “healthy” desserts. You can also replace the chocolate with any sweet flavouring. I found lemon curd to be especially good!
Chocolate Silk Tofu Pie
★★★★★
Sweet
Ingredients:
1 package silken or firm tofu (~14oz)
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 Tbl milk of choice
12 oz chocolate chips (a little over 1 and 1/2c or more)
optional: extracts, flavorings, or liqueurs
Directions:
Melt the chocolate (either on the stove or in the microwave), then throw everything into a food processor and blend until super-smooth. Pour into a pie pan. Refridgerate until chilled.
This gets firmer and firmer the longer it sits. (It’s firmer if you use firm tofu and more like mousse pie if you use silken.)
Hadn’t thought about desserts. Now you’ve got my attention.
Not a recipe but some general info.
I always keep protein shakes on hand and i am non dairy so my fav is Ripple protein shakes in either chocolate or coffee. They really help if I miss a meal. Make sure you figure on getting protein in some form or other! You could also get some Boost drinksv and ensure to have on hand just in case. I know kids with special needs who pretty much live on these things, so it’s a great backup.
Smoothies are also great and you can customize their thickness easily. You could add things like avocado for some healthy fat that helps fill you up that doesn’t mess up the flavor of the smoothie.
Whenever I’ve had to do GI prep, the sugary stuff gets old quick. So I just really would make sure you look for things that are savory. And go for things that are filling.
My grandma used to always make the best chicken noodle soup (with frozen Grandma egg noodles) and chicken cooked in the pressure cooker. So it’s very nostalgic for me and makes me feel happy to make some (even if I don’t make it as good as hers lol). Basic seasonings like just salt and pepper and I don’t remember anything major beyond that but you can probably easily find some great seasonings to use with other chicken soup recipes. I think the noodles are much heavier and more filling, and I wonder if you blended it up, it would still have a nice flavor. To me, regular chicken noodle soup just doesn’t fill me up like hers did. You might even be able to sneak in some full fat dairy with the soup for bonus nutrients.
In these cases, I would focus on quality vs quantity - meaning that it may be harder to find things you enjoy eating that you are allowed to have, and if you focus on things that are enticing to you, find ways to make them fill you up and then you can just add on plenty of drinks to stay hydrated. Adding things like full fat dairy, blended cottage cheese or yogurt, avocado, banana, etc will help a lot even popsicles might be allowed.
Sorry for any typos, I’m typing with my glasses on and my vision sucks without my contacts.
Boost drinks. I have lived for days on them when doing long-distance motorcycle endurance rides. The chocolate one actually tastes like a decent chocolate milk.
They’re also good for the elderly who often don’t get the nutrition they need but don’t eat well enough to get from their normal diet.
And kids with special needs who have feeding problems!
I just made a very, very similar pie today to give to a neighbor! I got it from a Food Network Favorites cookbook. Alton Brown called it “Moo-Less Chocolate Pie.” It is delicious! It was the first time I’d ever had tofu anything, and was surprised at how good of a texture it was. It also makes it somewhat a little more healthy, and it’s also very rich, so I definitely can’t eat a big slice of it. The only difference in the one I used was that I used espresso powder instead of cocoa.
@tjones - praying your surgery goes well and you have a quicker-than-expected recovery.
Hmmmm. One of my favorite recipes should work for you: Mark Bittman’s tomato soup. Just blend it until smooth. Even my spouse the picky eater loves this one.
I’d also suggest exploring different spices & roasted root vegetables to keep things interesting within that textural constraint. Ex: roasted sweet potato pureed with cinnamon & nutmeg one day, chili/cumin/salt the next, smoked paprika/ black pepper the next…
Root veg: consider rutabagas, turnips, parsnips
You don’t mention this, but depending on your body reserves, you may want to consider if you’re ingesting enough calories & protein to avoid significant weight loss. If that’s the case, consider mixing protein powder into those milkshakes (and/or the root veg purees), liberal amounts of Parmesan into the savory purees, and don’t skimp on the butter. And definitely enjoy that Mooless Chocolate pie, key lime pie, banana cream pie, etc.
Best wishes for a swift recovery!
I would put in the dietary restrictions into ChatGPT and let it go wild, I’m sure it could come up with many great ideas. I have moved to it for designing plant-based recipes for me and it rarely misses the mark.
I think I have reserves enough to just drink water for a month and survive. 
right? some of us enjoy that side benefit of illness or food restrictions. Covid is what got me under 200lbs (and so far i’ve been able to stay there)
I would consider having Greek Yogurt and Chocolate Levels protein powder. lots of protein of course, and if you need it more liquid, add some whole milk. My daughter also likes the flavor of the Ascent brand.. I like levels the best.
Being a Registered Nurse and a Diabetic