What about a shepherd's pie? It's a full meal of soft stuff, and you could season it lightly.

Im recovering from a wisdom tooth removal so i have a nice list of foods. Roasted veggies until they are nice and soft. I also ate alot of polenta and oatmeal, you can wait until they are cooled a bit. And of course, cooled off soups.

I suffer from tonsilitis every year, and I recently had to have a fair amount of dental work.

Other than than jelly (Jell-o to you colonials :) ), I became quite a fan of porridge. when that ran out, I had some packs of grits which my (American) mother-in-law had sent me. I'm not a fan of grits, but any food was better than none.

As also suggested, shepherd's pie (or cottage) pie also works, especially if it's left to cool a little. It works especially well as it can be made in bulk and split into smaller portions for frequent meals.

The default is always soup, moreso if left to cool, as with the shepherd's pie.

I hope he recovers quickly. :)
Thanks,
Dan

1. Rice and lentils cooked together with plenty of water or stock into a mush. Top with some butter.

2. Vanilla or chocolate pudding (thinned with milk if necessary), perhaps topped with chunks of soft banana.

After having a tooth out last month I lived on mashed potatoes and cheesy scrambled eggs for a couple days. Fruit purees/smoothies are good too.

That was me earlier this month - dental surgery. I ate a lot of Chinese rice congee (jook) made with meat. It was one of the few things that made me feel full. I did a lot of pureed veggie soups too, but only helped with the hungry feeling for very short periods of time. For breakfast, I did a lot of avocado/banana smoothies, banana/peanut butter smoothies, and sometimes smoothies with soaked cashews. I also tended to blend in some baby spinach. I drink half a smoothie before I went to work, and drank the other half during the mid morning. It would just keep me functioning into lunch. I have to say that without roughage, it's hard to feel satisfied.

This will provide next to no practical advice, but is a fascinating essay the Paris Review blog posted yesterday by Robin Bellinger on "invalid cookery," as perpetrated by one Mrs. Beeton.

http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/tag/invalid-cookery/

In my experience, the aftermath of sinus/nose surgery is more than just discomfort while chewing. My major problem was not being able to breathe out my nose, forcing me to be a constant mouth breather. Thus, I needed foods that didn't get in the way of air intake. Miso soup was my favorite because you can take it air with the warm broth. Also, it's heavy on umami, so the flavor tricked me into thinking I was eating something much heartier. Besides that, lots of oatmeal, applesauce, cottage cheese, and Edy's frozen fruit bars (my personal favorite treat after any major illness or surgery).

What about regressing to the good old days and take a trip down the baby food section of your local supermarket. I am a sucker for baby jarred food and any excuse to eat it without the guilt is a treat. I also love baby cereal/pablum made with milk to a thin consistency. My guess is that your patient may not be feeling like cooking after surgery, so why bother? Go for it - be a baby :) Heck, throw in some good old favourite cartoons or Sesame Street and Voila... pampering in the truest sense! If you want to take it up a notch, then stir any of the fruit purees into some god quality plain yogurt with a touch of honey if needed and that will add some protein too.

**good. Oops. Mind you, "god quality yogurt" sounds even better!

Chicken with ginger Rice Congee (Jook) - very easy to do in the crockpot and very soothing.

After I had my wisdom teeth out I had about a week of eating foods that required no chewing. I ate a lot of oatmeal and yogurt. I also made a lot of pastina with butter and grated parmesan cheese. Couscous or quinoa would work too.

For something different and a little more nutritious than just plain mashed potatoes, after roasting try mashing cauliflower, sweet potatoes, etc. You might even want to try that extra-long cooked broccoli recipe that's been going around, it's super-soft and delicious!

Also, great recommendations on the yogurt with mix-ins like jams, mashed banana, etc. Try adding a spoonful of chia seeds to the yogurt, and then letting it soak overnight. The chia seeds will swell and soften, and add a boost of fiber, which is hard to get enough of on a liquid diet.

One of my favorites, brown rice with lentils and caramelized onions is great for someone recovering, it's also a complete protein and you can top it with mild salsa to add some flavor without going spicy.
Another great way to make soup is to roast your vegetables separately, in groups on a tray, then combine with stock and puree as needed to make a serving of soup (that way you make quick work of cooking but each meal can taste different). For flavor you can drizzle a flavored oil oil on top - I keep Stonehouse California's Blood Orange olive oil on hand and it's great drizzled on most any soup (cauliflower's my favorite) including cioppino.
Yogurt, with toppings, is another great way to go. I take plain yogurt, add different flavors each time (vanilla or almond extract, jelly, soft fruits or fruit puree, cinnamon or cardamom).
Eggs: scrambled, omelets, frittatas, quiche.

After I had multiple mouth surgeries, I was on soft foods for six weeks. After about two you are sick to death of smoothies and soups. At that point I started to get creative. Over cooked pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs (that I mashed up with my stick blender when it had to be really soft) added that savory punch I was craving. Mashed up pasta and meatballs sounds gross, but it was just the ticket at the time. And it gave me a much needed boost of protein.

My sister just had a similar surgery last month.

For the first few days after surgery, her throat was pretty sore from the intubation, so she ate a lot of cold soft foods like yogurt, ice cream, and pudding. Later she moved onto soups (with pieces of veggies, because they were soft enough to not really require chewing) and mashed potatoes and other more traditional soft foods.

What about Indian foods? I realize your patient wouldn't probably want something like that right off the bat, but something like palak paneer or paneer tikka masala might be good eventually.

Jook (rice porridge) is really great. It's soft, soothing, and can be flavored with veg, meats, seafood, or naturally sweet things like pumpkin topped with a little brown sugar.

I just had major jaw surgery... still drinking a lot of smoothies, soups and soft foods.

Smoothies are perfect and really you can make them into whatever you want, not just fruit based. You can whip up delicious and healthy combos that satisfy. I know they can get old, but if the TASTE is there... you can really enjoy them for an extended period of time.

I chopped kale and greens up in food processor and froze in ice cube trays with a little water. I'd throw one or two cubes into my smoothies for extra nutrition.

Also, you can roast a whole pan of veggies and process with chicken stock in a blender for a nice tasty soup.

Scrambled eggs with mashed avocado was the first "real" food I ate. Great protein and fats.

Greek yogurt topped with cinnamon and maple syrup is delicious.

I also LOVE mashed sweet potatoes with cinnamon, maple syrup and a dollop of greek yogurt.

Here are my favorite smoothies:

THE PURPLE ONE
*one of my absolute favorites!!

8 oz. unsweetened almond milk
3 oz. frozen strawberries
2 oz. frozen wild blueberries
1/4 cup rolled oats
3 T unsweetened shredded coconut
3 Medjool dates
tiny pinch of salt (optional)

Process until very smooth.

See the gorgeous smoothie here!! It's so lovely.

- - - - -

SWEET POTATO SMOOTHIE
6oz. plain roasted sweet potatoes
4 oz. Kitchen Basics chicken stock
1 to 2 oz greek yogurt (Fage, fat free)
lemon pepper seasoning to taste

( I roast a whole pan, skin on, then keep the mash in the fridge to use in smoothies)

- - - - -

FRO-YO SMOOTHIE
*use equal parts of ingredients. 4 oz each makes a normal size, 6 oz of each makes a larger one. You could swap other fruits if you want.
Frozen grapes (seedless black, sweet ones are best)
Unsweetened almond milk
Greek Yogurt (Fage, fat free)

- - - - -

APPLE CINNAMON ALMOND BUDDY

1 apple
1 oz Greek yogurt
1/3 c cold water
1 T raw unsalted almond butter
Pinch of salt
Lots of cinnamon.

Process until very smooth.

- - - - -

RAW APPLESAUCE

1 apple
bit of water
cinnamon

Process until smooth.

Crock Pot Chiken and dumplings just make the dumplings and chiken bites small. Extra yummy, totally easy to eat. I had 4 wisdom teeth pulled one time and gum surgery another and this was easy to chew and not spicy.

I ate a lot of egg custards,rice puddings and tapioca puddings...comfort foods from my childhood..egg drop soup would be a good idea too!

Just made green onion potato soup last night. It's just potatoes and chopped green onions boiled in water not quite to cover, mashed IN the water (don't drain), add a little cream cheese, some milk, and a lot of salt and pepper and it's very good. If you leave the skin on the potatoes it sometimes tricks you into thinking you're eating something meatier, because it gives you something to chew on. But you can totally peel the potatoes if you really don't want extra things to chew on. Waxy potatoes work better (and mash up smoother) than mealy ones. I prefer waxy reds. I used local white potatoes (thin-skinned, not russet) last night and the texture wasn't quite the same.

Homemade macaroni and cheese could also be delicious, as could creamed vegetables on soft biscuits. Or crustless pumpkin pie or custard for dessert. Yum! Even people without chewing/eating problems could love this stuff.

Thanks everybody for such thoughtful and diverse suggestions! I love The Kitchn and its readers!

I had my wisdom teeth pulled last year and ate a lot of avocado soup: boil some chicken broth and remove from heat, add plain yogurt and mashed avocado, plus cilantro and lime if you like. Puree. You can make it as thick or thin as you like and it's delicious!

I had my wisdom teeth out last month (all four at once, ouch!). Have LOTS of good chocolate pudding at the ready. Yogurt, too, in a variety of flavors--make sure it's nothing with seeds in, so no raspberry/blackberry!

I also ate a lot of mashed potatoes with tuna or flaked chicken mixed in.

Bread that's really soft inside is good too. Crusts can, in this case, be discarded or cut off for croûtons. ;) Honestly, I just took a hunk of Italian bread and hollowed it out with a spoon.

If he's looking for a different taste for jello, make as normal with the hot water, but instead of adding cold water, add an equal amount of evaporated milk. The jello turns opaque, has a different sort of taste. If you want to be fancy, you can layer 4 packages of jello in a 9x9 pan, making the first normal, second opaque, third normal, fourth opaque, in whatever colors/flavors you like.