i was turned on to a new smoothie last week - vanilla flavored kefir with some canned pumpkin seasoned with cinnamon. it's delicious! and really healthy. i prefer coconut milk kefir but you can find it soy, goat or cow milk based.

i also love really ripe avocado smashed up with goat or cream cheese seasoned with lime juice and cumin or hot sauce. usually i would spread this on chips or crackers but eating it straight up would work.

also, in the same vein as the avocado spread, hummus or other bean dips would be tasty and super nutritious. chick peas with tahini and lemon juice, black beans with lime juice and cumin or white beans with basil. all could be eaten cold, at room temp or heated up.

You could look at some of the baby food recipes. There are several that involve blending meat and vegetables. You could add more spice than the recipe to give it a little kick. I really like www.wholesomebabyfood.com for inspiration and ideas for different recipes.

Ice Cream? "Dips" without bread/chips/etc (hummus comes to mind). What about small sized grains-and-grain-like-foods like bulgur, couscous, orzo, Israeli couscous, or quinoa? Perhaps even rice? The best bet is probably couscous or really fine bulgur in teensy spoon fulls.

Does he like yogurt? Greek yogurt has lots of great protein in it so it's healthful plus it's thick and creamy so it's satisfying. Delicious with a touch of honey or some jam.

Hmm Cottage cheese, pudding, rice pudding (easy to make from leftover rice if you're already making some rice for yourself)..

Anything made with mushed up avocado. Delicious..

Apart from the obvious you mentioned, humus, roasted eggplant puréed with yoghurt sauce and all other kinds of "meze" from Mediterranean cuisine will be both healthy and tasteful.

How about some creamy polenta?

I can completely sympathize...many years ago I was on a liquid diet for 6 weeks. I hate eating the same thing over and over again, so I quickly got sick of eating anything sweet (too many milkshakes and yogurt), or anything that tasted like soup. The only thing that I can recommend is making pasta dishes with lots of watered down sauce and overcooked noodles cut into in very small pieces that don't need to be chewed. It was enough to fool my stomach into thinking that it had got a "real" meal, and you can change the sauces to add variety!

Mashed potatoes & mashed mix-ins: anything from pureed caramelized onions, to cheese, to pureed broccoli, cabbage, artichokes, etc. Custard-y desserts are another realm to explore.

My brother was on a liquid(ish) diet for about 3 months with a broken jaw (wired shut), and lost 40 pounds so fast the doctor told him to live on mashed potatoes with extra butter at every meal. The poor kid was so miserable and bored, he tried to puree a cheeseburger - it kind of worked! You can try to puree just about anything in a blender, especially vegetable-based foods like curries, or fruits - think pie fillings minus the pie.

Good luck to you & your husband.

assuming you and your husband are meat-eaters... how about beef pho broth (satisfying even without the noodles, etc), parmesan-enriched chicken broth (with egg scrambled in last minute?), lobster or shrimp bisque, or cream of wheat made savory with broth.

Try looking at an Ethiopian cookbook. They have a lot of wonderful, savory mushes (for lack of a better word). Usually eaten with a flat bread, but you could leave that out.

I immediately thought of the blog Jaws Wired Shut, which was written by a girl who had her jaw wired shut (obviously), and had to be on a liquid diet that she could drink through a straw. She tried a lot of things, and there might be some ideas on there.

I was on a liquid diet after a jaw surgery (wired shut for 44 days) and one of my favorite drinks was a peanut butter drink that was in a packet of recipes the hospital gave me.

1/2 cup vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup whole milk (I think I used 2% or skim)
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup

combine ingredients in blend and mix.

I would make 2 servings at once (the recipe is just for one serving; it was one of the few ways I got all the protein I needed). According to the recipe: one serving has 479 calories, 28g fat, 15g protein 246mg calcium, 1.5mg iron and
2.6g fiber.

Hope this helps! Good luck!

I second the polenta. Could he do something like eggs or small curd cottage cheese?

I was also going to plug www.wholesomebabyfood.com as well as mention that there are lots of baby food cookbooks you could look into (I never got any because we were over the puree stage so fast with my daughter, but I've seen some that look great).

There are lots of great "baby food" recipes out there that an adult could love. The key I think is just seasoning things instead of sticking with bland flavors. We do this with my daughter's food - she loves the spices and her food is not that jarred bland stuff they sell in the store. Oh, and one of my favorite soup recipes: chickpea leek soup. I could live off that stuff.

Congee/jok! Just put something like 1 ratio rice to 8 ratio water and simmer till porridgelike. In Thailand, they serve with stir-fried ground pork (don't know if that's too big to eat), and with other garnishes like fried minced shallots, ginger, fried garlic, steamed veggies, soy sauce, fish sauce, cilantro, hot sauce, etc.

Or you can eat it sweet (butter, cinnamon, maple syrup) or with just butter and soy. Make with brown rice for more nutrients!

One last thing from me. I just happened to have this tab open right next to Mark Bittman's current blog entry on dal: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/dining/06mini.html?ref=dining - so I had to point that out. Good luck!

I love soothing a sore throat with Jimmy Carters. Toss a banana, 2 tbsp of peanut butter (give or take to taste), 2 scoops of vanilla frozen yogurt and a few splashes of milk to thin it out. Little bit of fresh grated nutmeg if you've got it around.

You may have already tried this, but what about daal? A nice lentil dish can be chew free and very satisfying.

Daal is a great idea. I don't have much to add but here's a blog that occasionally posts interesting baby food recipes: http://www.latartinegourmande.com/2009/10/15/homemade-baby-food/

Might want to check out http://pimpmyproteinshake.blogspot.com

What about tofu? You could use the soft variety and season it up different ways. It blends well into smoothies or dips. You could marinate it in soy, sesame oil, a pinch of sugar and some hot sauce then briefly saute it in a pan to heat it through. Sort of like a steak, but no chewing required, just a bit of mushing it with the tongue.

Good luck to your husband. I hope you are checking into his thyroid. I have Grave's disease and an early sign was choking due to my enlarged thyroid. I hope he is healthy again soon.

All the best to your husband!

As someone mentioned in a previous post - anything can be blended.

My friend started a blog last summer about her attempts to blend and eat after having her jaws wired shut.

Not every experiment worked - but her blog has lots of good suggestions, honestly, and bits to make you laugh.

And she continues to post, even though she now is wire-less.

http://jawswiredshut.tumblr.com/

I'll assume that the largest problem is getting used to a nearly liquid diet.

Unlike people who have their jaw wired shut, it sounds like your husband simply needs to avoid anything that can't be dislodged easily from the throat/windpipe (not a doctor, just re-stating what I think your goals are). This is well summed up by your "doesn't need to be chewed" point.

To that end, I'd suggest variations on already relatively chopped, mashed or otherwise smoothed foods. Hash comes to mind.

Try slow-roasting some pork until it falls apart (spice to taste, using whatever slow-roasted pork recipe you prefer). When it's almost done, boil some potatoes and carrots until very tender.

The results can be chopped roughly and then pulsed a few times in the food processor to yield a nice smooth hash that's not so uniform as to be off-putting.

Another route would be over-cooked veggies that get nice and loose when treated this way. Broccoli comes to mind. Remove all stems, cutting off just the bundled florets (they have a stem inside, but that's fine) and then steam until you can't pick them up without them falling apart. Now rinse in cold water and shake roughly in a sealed container. This should yield a loose mix of individual flowers and slightly larger, spongy pieces. Take this one slow and see how it works. I don't know if your husband would be able to eat it, but if so, it might be a welcome break from blender-food.

Other fun things might be medium tapioca pearls (not as large as used in chain booths, but larger than those used in pudding) in various kinds of sweet drinks; over-cooked spaghetti with a meat sauce, pulsed in the FP until it's reasonably smooth but still distinct might also be workable; there are chessecakes and various forms of custard and creamy pie that would be nice.

I wonder if you could make a nice "appetizer" by combining cream cheese with various ingredients such as veggies for the base layer and then sharp cheese for the middle layer and then olives or pimento for the top layer. The result can be served with a fork and formed into all sorts of fun constructs.

@lotusmoss - I was going to suggest jook too! I had my jaw wired shut for four weeks and ate a lot of it - I like it savory, with lots of garlic and ginger. The strong flavoring somewhat makes up for the fact that it's still not "real" food.

On that note - I can say from experience that the hardest part is psychological - we derive a great deal of emotional satisfaction from the act of eating. Even though I was getting enough calories (I was having two or three milkshakes a day, plus several cans of Ensure, which is the world's most disgusting food), I never stopped thinking about food - my mind was hungry all the time even if my stomach wasn't.

Oh man, how scary! All the above suggestions are so great, I feel bad offering a soup recipe. But it's really good, I think. It's pretty much an all-vegetable soup with broth. My mom would make it for me when I was little with the vegetables from our farm, and it was really tasty.

Use a huge pot and medium to high heat. Fry in olive oil: Garlic, Onion, Celery, and any other vegetable that would become "clear" when fried. They don't need to be cut superfine or small or anything. Fry all these until they are clearish. Don't be stingy with the oil. Fry so as not to burn, just make the vegetables soft and clear.

Then add (again not cut superfine): Potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, zuchini, pumpkin, eggplant, peas, carrots, corn, spaghetti squash, cucumber, whatever else you want. Throw all that into the pot and fill with chicken/vegetable broth until covered. Add any herbs or spices if you wish. Simmer that until everything is soft.

When everything is done and cooked through, blend in blender. It can be eaten hot or cold. I like it as a soup with black pepper and big chunks of bread. It may not be very fancy but it was a good way for me as a child to get my vegetables in, and even today it does not irritate my stomach.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

I recently had oral/sinus surgery and was searching for similar foods. Goat cheese polenta with TJ's vodka sauce was a good alternative to the soups I was growing tired of.

I'll agree with trying pureeing or grinding foods. At one point, out of desperation, I took the moo shu my husband ordered and whirled it in the blender. It wasn't even good Chinese food, but it was one of the more satisfying meals I had in those weeks!

The things we take for granted, like swallowing! My heart goes out.

Martha just (on today's show) made a blended rice drink, with leftover cooked rice, skim milk, honey, and (I think) peanut butter, but all blended. Doesn't sound the dreamiest, but it's the best I can contribute! Perhaps check her website.

For more protein, you might like to add a powdered supplement to the blender batch. Most grocery stores have them, my fave is "Aria" at Trader Joe's. Ooops- the label says for women, but can't imagine anything untoward happening-!

People who make their own baby food usually just take whatever they're having for supper and put some in a blender. For something like a casserole or stew that's suppose to be all mixed together anyway... Or really you could stick anything in a blender. It wouldn't look pretty, but it would taste the same.

Yes to avocados. Nutritious and tasty.

I've recently been soft cooking an egg in my oatmeal. When there's still a little bit of water left (probably 1-2 minutes left in cooking), I'll make a hole with a spoon in the middle of the oatmeal, throw in an egg, and put a lid on the pot. It's really (surprisingly) nice with a little bit of melted cheese.

Thank you SO much, everybody! I have been so stressed out about his health (he's never been large and now he's lost like 15 pounds in the past month, and of course the choking) and I was almost in tears reading through all your comments-thank you so, so much for your kind words and your AMAZING suggestions. This was seriously the highlight of my day. I am making a list right this second and can't WAIT to try all these great ideas--there are so many things I would never have thought of that are totally going to work.

Thank you so much!!!!!!

My grandmother had some similar issues. Eggs, mashed starchy foods (potatoes, corn, taro, spiced yams) Pureed fruits (strawberries, mangos) always good. But also she was able to eat a few food in it's natural form like custards, yogurts, flan and puddings. You should also try CHEESE PUFFS too. They practically dissolve in your mouth when eating and a lot of people on liquid and pureed diets are able to eat them with some supervision.

If he is having trouble maintaining a healthy weight you should supplement his diet with Ensure or something.

Also never feed him with a straw.

All great suggestions. If it were me, I would be looking towards great tasting saucy things to eat, like Indian and Thai curries without the meat. (Blenderizing meat is unappetizing to me, personally)

Also, please pick up a protein powder and make him protein drinks. On a diet like this, getting enough protein can be hard. The Muscle Milk line is very good tasting, and comes in a bunch of flavors.

I'm sure you've already done it, but make sure to get a proper swallow eval from a speech-language pathologist.

Good luck!

If he gets a hankering for something sweet, batter is always delightful. Cakes, brownies, etc. You can puree fruit right into the batter & have a tasty liquid "treat". (Yellow cake mix blueberries, chocolate brownie mix raspberries, et. al) Since you're not baking, you won't need the eggs so you can leave them out & not worry about salmonella.

What about dhal?

Most of the great ideas have been mentioned already. I second bean dips. I also like to make a mushrooms walnut pâté of sauteed mushrooms, onions, garlic, & herbs in olive oil, with toasted walnuts and a bit of balsamic all thrown into the food processor. Yummy!
This also bring to mind traditional meat-based pâté, which you could either buy or make. I'm don't eat meat, so I don't have a recipe but I'm sure there are plenty out there and a traditional liver pâté seems like it would be very nourishing. If you're buying one, just make sure it doesn't have chunks of fat, as that might pose a hazard. From what I remember, pâté comes in various degrees of firmness, and I imagine that if you can't find one that's rather soft, you could just pulse a firmer one in the food processor and get good results.

Also, Sambar, a South Indian spicy tangy lentil soup would be a good meal as well. It's often made in a pressure cooker (though you could simmer it for a long time in a stock pot if you don't have one, or maybe use a slow cooker if you have one of those) and the lentils all but completely disintegrate. I usually have it with whole chunks of veggies but those could be left out or pureed into the soup.
http://southindianfoods.in/south_indian_food_sambar.html
That's a simple recipe, they get much more elaborate if you look around.
This soup is often served with idli, a pillowy steamed dumpling made of fermented rice & lentil batter. Perhaps your husband could eat these? They are very soft and practically dissolve in your mouth, especially if you serve them soaking in the sambar! To make them, you soak rice (white basmati is traditional, but I've used brown basmati as well and enjoyed the nutty flavor) and urad dal or other lentils (I use a 2:1 ratio) for at least 7 hours or overnight, then drain them and blend them into a paste, adding a bit more water so they batter is still thick but slightly pourable and smooth. You leave the paste in a slightly warm place (I use my oven with the pilot light on and door slightly ajar) for about 24 hours. Usually they're steamed in a special idli steamer or egg poacher, but you can use a bamboo steamer, one of those metal steamer baskets or colander with a piece of cheesecloth lining it, or anything else you can think of. I've even used Bittman's plate on a ramekin method, though the lack of holes in the plate left them a bit denser than usual. You steam them for 15 to 20 minutes. You can add anything you like to the batter for flavor as well; I usually add salt, cumin, grated ginger, or any other variety of things. Geez, that recipe sounds super long and complicated, but the actual amount of active time is really minimal. I love putting aside a bit of time to make the batter, because when it's ready I can have idli or dosa ready in no time.

Sorry for the lengthy comment. Good luck to both of you and I hope your husband recovers soon!

If he likes cream of wheat, perhaps you could try grits or polenta. They are both lovely with some cheese mixed in. You could season them up in any way you like. You could cook up a few pieces of bacon(saving them for the cook), and use the fat to sautee some very finely chopped onions. This added to the creamy grain with some non stringy cheese like parmesan or cream cheese would be pretty satisfying. I don't think it would feel like baby food.

These suggestions are so wonderful and I send my very best wishes to you and your husband. Swallowing issues can be so scary-- and I feel it's my duty as a speech-language pathologist to urge you to get a full swallow study by an experienced speech-language pathologist ASAP (if you haven't already). Changing diet textures can be helpful but an SLP can also give your husband some other strategies (e.g. pacing, positioning, other adaptive measures) that can help him to eat and enjoy meals more safely. And yes, unless an SLP tells you otherwise, I'd recommend you avoid straws.

Best of luck!