Make it mushy: Notes from a post dental surgery menu (and a bonus smoothie recipe)
Monday, April 24, 2017
I've been off the Motrin 800 for more than 12 hours now, which means I might be over the pain hump of Wednesday's periodontal surgery. Some gross little infection had set up shop below a molar implant, and while it didn't hurt one bit, it was causing the bone around the implant to recede. Not good.
So Wednesday, I had my gum split open (TMI?), every thing cleaned up and some bone graft packed in there. It was a fairly short procedure but the healing part is going to take awhile.
- Nothing crunchy
- Nothing spicy
- Nothing too cold
- Nothing too hot
- No seeds
- No straws
So obviously, all I want is sriracha and chia seeds -- the heart wants what the heart wants.
I've spent the past few days basically sacked out in the den with ice packs, soup and straw-less smoothies, brushing my teeth and rinsing with that gross antiseptic mouthwash multiple times a day.
Hey, how was your weekend?
But I woke up this morning and am feeling like I can brave the discomfort without any meds. Feeling better, I whipped up this super simple smoothie that I poured into a bowl so I could eat it with a spoon because sucking through a straw might suck the stitches right outta my face.
A smoothie bowl! How trendy! But, alas, I couldn't decorate it with kiwis and chia seeds like all those Pinterest-pretty ones. Still, it was yummy and provided plenty of calcium and protein I need to regrow all that bone around the implant.
Super Smooth Mango-Green Tea Smoothie
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 cup frozen mango chunks
- 1/4 avocado (I keep my avocado wedges in the freezer)
- 1/2 cup chilled green tea
- Stevia to taste (optional)
Blend everything together (I use a Nutri Ninja to make sure it's super smooth) and enjoy.
Other smooth and mushy things I've been enjoying, in case you're going to have dental surgery:
- Carrot ginger soup: Pacific Natural Foods makes a good one, as does Trader Joe's. I mixed in half a scoop of unflavored Quest protein powder to pump up the protein and surprisingly it blended well and didn't taste weird.
- Campbell's Well Yes Tomato Carrot Bisque: Holy yum, this was good.
- Pizza Loft's eggplant Parmesan: We threw an 80th birthday dinner for my mom and my aunt (they're twins), and the eggplant parm was the perfect mushy comfort food. If you live in South Florida, Pizza Loft in Davie is a longtime family fave.
Other less exciting things: oatmeal, avocados, yogurt, kefir, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and of course, smoothies. But I have to set aside my beloved Wyman's berry blend because SEEDS. Here's a list of what I came up with for smooth smoothie ingredients:
- Mango
- Peach
- Banana
- Cherry
- Peeled apple
- Papaya
- Avocado
- Smooth nut butter (none of that stone-ground stuff)