Soft Food Diet 2fr

It has been a most exciting week...Wil fainted and hit his face on the tile in his bathroom annnnnnnd an oral surgeon, an endodontist and two dentist + 3 hrs later- his teeth look normalish and he is on a liquid/soft food diet for the next 3 weeks.  He begged me not to cook "good" food to torture him while he is out of commission- and so out of desperation was born soft food ideas for the family to eat:)

Our first go at "real" food he can eat (after several days of living on milkshakes and chocolate milk) was potato soup. This food experience got bonus points because it included one of my favorite foods- yep, that would be...hot sausage.

1/2 lb hot sausage
chopped onion
grated carrot
2 or 3 cloves minced garlic
chopped celery
2 cans chicken broth
4 peeled and diced potatoes
S & P
1/4 or so of fat free half and half

Drizzle olive oil in a stock pot, add onion, carrot, garlic and celery and cook for a bit stirring. Add sausage and chop it up with a wooden spoon while browning. Add diced potatoes and chicken broth and let simmer over medium for 15 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.  Salt and pepper to taste and stir in half and half.  Simmer 5 minutes.

So here comes the iffy part, because we needed soft food I turned off the stove top and blended the soup with an immersion blender- which to quote Wil, Keith and Dru (Ryan the vegetarian wasn't interested) was super delicious but looked terrible.  I LOVed the soup- but then I am not really turned off by yucky looking things- I drink green smoothies almost every day;)

In "normal" life, I would probably mash up some of the potatoes with a potato masher- or even cook the potatoes in the broth, separately from the vegetable mixture, and then take out and then whip up about 1/3rd of the potatoes with the immersion blender and then add the whipped up potatoes and the meat/vege mixture back into the pot.  I am sure this could be made with ham or meatless and I am also sure it would be super delicious topped with grated cheese and green onions- It was good stuff!!

AND this morning we had one of my favorite things on the planet- and it is a soft food :)))  

BREAD PUDDING- adapted from allrecipes.com

12 slices bread- (I used Pepperidge Farm Swirl Cinnamon Bread this time- last time we used Challah YUM)

3 Tablespoons melted butter

5 eggs- beaten

2 cups 2% milk

1 cup fat free half and half

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon (because the bread already had cinnamon in it)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

I took the bread out of the package and spread it out on the counter to "get old" for a couple of hours and then cut the crusts off the bread and cut them into cubes.  

Throw the bread in the bottom of an 8X10 pan (that casserole dish that is between an 8x8 and an 9X13) and drizzle the melted butter over the top.

Whip the milk, half and half, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla in a bowl and pour over the bread.  Press the bread down into the mixture and let sit for 10 minutes to absorb. 

Bake @ 350 degrees for 50 minutes.  Ahhhhhh, have I mentioned that I LOVE bread pudding ??

 I am putting berries on top next time-!!