pleasure

Appreciation In August. #3. 2018.76.

My Alphabet of Appreciation FOR FOOD This Week in August 2018.

Some readers know that I have been without any teeth on top since my cancer diagnosis in May 2017 and after radical surgery in July 2017 a whole new inner /upper mouth was created and once I got home after 10 days, I needed to learn how to feed me. So much is attached to food: texture, tastes, preferences for savoury or sweet, crunchy food or smooth but I have been limited. Very much. It has been a big lesson for me in patience, creativity, adapting and making the best I can of the reason I had to do this hard work – cancer. The list here is all of the foods I have been able to eat. Often they are not in quantities I may have consumed pre-surgery as my mouth gets tired (and I get bored) with some food rolling around in my mouth for ages.

In a week or so, I will have had new top teeth added and I have no idea (yet) how this will be. This for now, is all I appreciate that I have been able to eat for the past 14 months.

avocado – in all manner of way: by itself and added to dishes.
apple: I have tried many times with apple – grated but it is too hard to get it swallowed as I cannot (yet) chew.

bread – no crusts but can eat white or wholemeal as a sandwich, or small pieces into soup
biscuits – dipping ones: malt, orange creams, plain biscuits. I have tried “choc covered’ ones: messy! I miss savoury biscuits as I cannot bite nor crunch
butter – my preferred spread and it is needed to help food like bread go down
beef casserole with chuck steak cooked all day – meat melts in my mouth

cake – my homemade cupcakes with icing and those from my friend Kyla’s shop
coffee – double shot latte when I go out, and I keep a range of packet coffee mixes here
crumpets – can be cut into 4 and spread with butter and honey, I can pop the soft part in my mouth and leave crust
cheese – kraft blue box cheddar, tasty grated cheese and parmesan grated
carrot – cooked and then blended and added to bol sauce, soups
chicken noodle soup
chicken mince made into sweet and sour dishes
chicken cubes cooked and made into a casserole with cream of chicken soup

dairy milk chocolate

egg (scrambled only) with C for chutney on B for buttered T for toast

Some photos of some selections of the foods I ate in the early days.

: Before 2017 major surgery I made lemon syrup cakes for the freezer.

: A staple for a few days post big surgery & at home

: Lemon cake with icecream & custard

fish – in the form of S for salmon in tins & smoked salmon in small pieces for lunch in summer
fruit – very limited. See P for pear, M for mango
fillet steak – cooked medium, and cut finely, with some sauce for flavour, added to 2 min noodles.

grains – nope. They stick in places in my mouth and cannot escape.

healthy choices. I make as many of these as I can each day knowing how much my recovery and wellness needs.
honey : good with plain yoghurt when I first came home from hospital last year
spread on crumpets

iodised salt is a daily condiment to aid flavour since I think my taste buds are slightly changed
ice-cream. Not a huge fan but it soothes my mouth after surgery and vanilla is my go-to.

jelly. Oh so much jelly when I first recovered after major surgery and sometimes cooling and soothing after smaller surgeries. In a little container. Sometimes with I for ice-cream.
jam. Adding some flavour to a toasted muffin. See M for Muffin and how this is eaten.

~~kale~~ K for kidding. I can eat NO leafy veges or salad other than what I list elsewhere

More foods from my challenging eating days. Imagination and creativity helps me with meals.

: Treats: one or two max!

: Summer Lunches some days. Yum

: Finding I could eat teensy (& best) bits of donut. Coffee of course.

lettuce in teensy tiny cut up pieces added to my taco bowl or a sandwich with vegemite and cheese

mango – could eat cut up in a bowl using a spoon. It was a great addition to lunch in Summer.
minced meat. How I learned to love you and cook with you for me:
minced beef: spag bol, savoury mince, taco mince
minced chicken: as above
minced lamb combined with the minced beef has made the best savoury mince to date
minced pork: a version of san box choy – just the seasoning, and the mince and on some 2 minute noodles
muffin: toasted white one: I can spread jam on a buttered one, cut into quarters and eat the middle part, leaving edge
milk: in coffee and tea and on my breakfast every day. Before the first surgery I was not a fan of cereal and milk and now I am. See W for Weetbix.

noodles – see above: 2 Minute Chicken Noodles added to meat dishes. I have to cut the noodles with scissors before eating so I don’t choke on a long thread!

oranges – cut and squeezed and drinking their juice

pasta – the spaghetti variety – cut up and sometimes tube one – but needed to be well-cut for swallowing
pumpkin soup – over it. So over it. Yet because it “is” a vegetable and healthy I had made and eaten this a lot.
potatoes – as long as they are mashed and buttered they went down well on top of my savoury mince.
pikelets: these are great with some butter and a spread. Warmed even more so.
peanut butter: sometimes on bread and sometimes on a toasted muffin.

nothing comes to mind for Q.

roast lamb dinner. Ok. Three times my dear husband cooked this and it was delightful, drowned in gravy and with burnt baked pumpkin and potatoes
rice. Oh how I have used rice: white: fried: and it is a staple that I can generally ‘get down’ with a meat/fish in some kind of sauce.

Meals and more meals. Dinner was easier than lunch often.

: Baked Lamb Dinner. Bliss.

: Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Soup. Gave Dad a few of these: “over” soups.

: Taco in a Bowl. Proud of this dish!

sweet potatoes have been good, blended with regular potato and added to meat dishes as well as soups
soups. I know they are good for the body and soul. I made many: chicken and veggies, ham hock and veggies and each was blended and frozen for future consumption. I have a range of packet soups on hard always. I can only eat (and have always preferred) a thinnish soup. Not thick at all.
sweets. I can eat some very soft sweets: this has been in recent months: milk bottles, strawberries & cream, pineapples.
sandwiches. I know that they are hard to get down but I do because I missed bread. So, the fillings – spreads or cheese or salmon need some butter or condiments and then I cut off all the crusts, and then the sandwich into cubes. I can now get down 8 rectangles. Before the past month or so it was 16 squares. Takes ages to eat.

tomato condensed soup from Rosella in the can, with milk added is a comfort food from childhood and it gets a run regularly.
tomatoes. I long(ed) for the taste of tomatoes but their skin made eating impossible. Lately though, I have bought small vine grown ones, and I cut out the middle with seeds and juice and that goes on a taco or even a crumpet for a savoury taste
tacos came about when I was looking for NEW tastes. I make up the taco mince with the powder and freeze the cooked portions, making myself ‘taco in a bowl’ with added: tomato & lettuce (see above), tasty cheese, avocado, lite sour cream.
tea: cups of …and often with biscuits I can dunk.
toast…is eaten rarely but I have tried it in very small squares with some creamed corn on top and eaten with a spoon as well as with scrambled egg.

unhealthy but delicious at times: treats that I “can” eat when I am out: bits of donut edges, some cakes with no nuts and some icing, a part of a scone with jam & cream. Chocolate: including latest I can eat: freckles.

variety is what I try to have but it can be V for very hard some days and I just retreat to ‘old faves’.
very good advice from the dietitian before I left hospital in July 2017 was to aim for enjoyment AND nutrition in my meals and snacks and I do remember that often.

water. I always have water near me and particularly when eating. I have not choked but water is a good lubrication in my mouth anyway so I have sips and swigs during my meal
weetbix. Who knew? Before surgeries for cancer I rarely ate cereal. For the past year it is my standard and ONLY breakfast: 2 weetbix, some sugar (oh come on, I cannot do these plain) and lite milk. And I will continue this breakfast when I have my teeth and it is a healthy one.

of course nothing starts with X in this list but I will say taking eXtra care before attempting to eat food, and not talking as I eat (before surgery Denyse did) helps my food stay IN and then go down.

yellow foods: cheeses, butter, custard are dairy-based and they are part of my meals and snacks and I try to have
yoghurt in the fridge most weeks so when I feel like I need to be ‘virtuous’ I have some.

zooper doopers are always in the freezer. They are awesome post mouth surgeries but need to be cut into small, manageable pieces as I cannot suck. Seriously, not even using a straw with success. Unsure if this ability will return.

Treats have become a daily event but in limited quantities. I have remained around the same weight for the past 12 months and wish to stay that way. Increasing activity now I am very well is helping.