Cream of vegetable soup - soft food diet for the dentally challenged

Husband had dental implant surgery and is now on special soft food diet for the next 4 months until the screws that they drilled into his jaw - ouch - have settled and the bone has healed. First realising the impact of this on my cooking regime I might have felt a bit cheated if I was a selfish person. Like was I supposed to feed him mashed banana for the foreseeable future.

This weekend having forgotten all about the surgery I had planned to grill some jerk chicken and do this new exciting reggae potato recipe and I could hear the steel drums and smell the gang coconut, but now I can't do it because he wouldn't be able to eat it.

But I rallied quickly, because that's what we do in Britain. We keep calm and carry on even when the continent is collapsing around us. I actually love this new situation (husband's diet, not the whole Europe hating us)! I think I would make a great disaster / crisis person. Maybe not a huge crisis like war, hurricane or tsunami, but something like a milk strike or a series of planned electricity blackouts or similar considerable but not disastrous disaster.

I remember the milk strike in Finland in the 1970s. My parents knew some farmers so we could get some horrible clover tasting milk that I was too young and stupid to appreciate, but I remember it was fun to drive to the farm with our buckets and see all the cows and collect the milk.

I also loved the smallest power cut when the TV died and we had to light candles and play board games. Although I hated board games because I was a bad player and a bad loser so it all ended in tears for me a lot of the time. Monopoly was particularly painful. I just couldn't take the bankcruptcy, so I would always ask to not play but just to be the banker. I made all kinds of special financial deals with the players. Good early training for my life as a businesswoman.

So husband's mouth is pretty fucked up to put it in medical terms. He will be better in a few days once the gums have healed a bit, but even then he will be on soft food for several months.

On the day of the surgery I woke up to the crisis and immediately upped the smoothie ingredient and dairy contents in the fridge.

Coming home from the surgery husband was predictably pathetic. "How was it", I asked. "Awful, awful" he kept saying lying on the couch in a fetal position hugging a cushion. I stroked his head, gave him some vanilla yoghurt and mango and banana smoothie and made ice packs of frozen peas.

The next morning before work I made him a big bowl of porridge with honey. I just love the thought. There are few things that say LOVE more than a bowl of oat porridge with honey. The only thing I can think of is a bowl of oat porridge with organic honey that you have collected yourself regardless of your deadly bee allergy wearing a Dustin Hoffman type space suit that in the final moment will leak that one deadly bee.

After work driving home I texted husband if he wanted me to pick up vitamins of anything else for him. His answer was that I should just come home as soon as possible because he was missing me and also very hungry not having eaten anything since the breakfast porridge *bawling face*. So cute.

So I rushed home, which is not really possible on M4, you just crawl but sligthly more impatiently and with more swearing. I then made him a lovely thick but easy to swallow vegetable soup and served it with soft white bread which he could soak in the soup.

This will unfortunately only last for a limited time, not that I want husband to be in pain an discomfort any longer thant necessary of course, but during the time it will be great to think of new ways to get enough protein and calcium and fill him up in a soft jawfriendly format.

Inspired by this I bought pretty much all the root veg available in my supermarket, celeriac, turnip, swede etc. These I will cook and mash with herbs and cheese and other yummy things.

Cream of vegetable soup for a dental patient

Oil
1 onion
2 carrots
3 medium potatoes
1 parsnip
1/2 bell pepper
Vegetable stock pot / cube
Water
Salt
Blackpepper
1 tsp cumin
Small can of chickpeas
2 heaped tablespoons of cream cheese or creme fraiche
Milk

Peal and chop all the vegetables. Heat a tbsp of oil in a saucepan. Add the onion and saute for a few minutes. Add the rest of the veg and continue for another 5 minutes. Add the chickpeas, stock, seasoning and enough water to cover all the veg. Bring to boil and cook until the vegetables are soft. Blend until smooth adding the cream cheese or creme fraiche and enough milk to bring it to your desired thickness.

Serve with soft white bread that can be dipped in the soup.