Christine,

Thank you for the list! There are several soups, which most people eat warm to hot. Basically, I have not been able to bring myself to eat anything warm for almost seven months. Just the thought makes my mouth dry and hurt. Am I wrong and should I just try?

You are so right about how the taste buds and saliva change all day everyday! It is kinda funny the looks you get from friends, and family when you tell them this. They can not comprehend at all! The reality that I am having to live with this hits me hard at times. But the key word is live! My PET scan on 8/29/13 came back cancer FREE!!!!God answered hundreds of prayers!!!!!

So on the topic, I am looking for a good shake type supplement . Where might I find the Carnation Instant Breakfast VHC? I am post mod. left neck dissection and left tonciectomy. All major structures in neck were spared save for the jugular.

Its now Boost VHC and Amazon has it, they ship it to you and if I remember correctly its about $45 for a case

Please dont forget to use the Amazon link on the main forum page. That can be used for any purchase (please remember this when doing your holiday shopping). By clicking on the green Amazon box, OCF receives a 6% kickback from all Amazon purchases. This may seem like its not much but it does add up and is an easy way to help OCF.

Thank you. I just ordered it.

Giving this thread a bump as we have a few newbies around who might not have seen the list, but I'm also adding to it.

- Bake a potato low and slow (150c for around 90 minutes). This will make the skin crispy but the flesh oh so soft and, as you've baked it, it'll have more flavour than mashed or whipped potatoes. Scoop flesh out and pop into a warmed bowl. Add enough butter and mash it to a smooth consistency. Add chopped chives, who natural yoghurt and some grated cheese (or soft cheese) of your choice. Depending on where you are in your treatment depends on how much butter and yoghurt you add for the desired consistency.

- Mashed cheesey beans. Heat up your favourite brand of baked beans. Add some butter to them while they heat up. When the butter has melted add grated cheese of your choice. Mash the beans to the desired consistency for you. Add more butter or sour cream if you need to slacken off the mixture.

- Macaroni cheese. Put uncooked macaroni in a bag. Bash with a rolling pin to get little bits. Cook broken pasta as per box/packet instructions. Make your cheese sauce as you would normally (I make a white sauce using flour, butter and milk, then add 5 different cheeses to the sauce) Mix a little bit of pasta water into your sauce. Drain pasta and add to the sauce.

- Broccoli & Cauliflower cheese. Cut both into little florets. Cook until nice a soft. Drain and put into a bowl. Use a knife and cut into little bits. Add warmed cheese sauce.

- Tuna Pasta. Cook broken pasta as you would for broken macaroni. Mix tuna with a mix of mayonnaise and sour cream (or natural unsweetened yoghurt) until quite sloppy. Add drained cooked pasta to the tuna mix. You can also sautee some finely chopped onions and peppers in a bit of oil or butter and add them to the tuna mix for additional flavour.

- Overnight oats. Put 1 1/2 tablespoon steel cut oats into a bowl. Finely chop 3 semi dried apple rings (they're really soft) and add to the oats. Finely grate 1 eating apple of your choice onto the oats. Add 1 tsp honey and enough milk to cover the oats to make them really sloppy. (You can add cinnamon but I'm not using it as it affects my ulcers). Put a lid on and pop into the fridge. In the morning the oats and apple will have absorbed the milk. Add more to slacken the mix. Add yoghurt of your choice, or cream for indulgience. You can experiment with dried fruits, honey/maplesyrup/sugars, different fruits, different milks, nuts (flaked, nibs etc) whatever it is that makes you happy for a different breakfast. Maybe do a savoury overnight oats (no idea how or what, I might have to look up recipes)

If anyone has warm, savoury recipes that don't include cheese, tomatoes and are not soup, please would you share as I'm running out of inspiration and am now going to have some ensure for my dinner as I failed to go to the shops for food.

What good food ideas, Dizzy.

Thank you.

The overnight oats seemed to make enough for 2 portions, so that night I put them in my blender container with 2x raspberry ensure plus shakes. I added a bit of extra cinnamon and some extra soft apple pieces. I sealed it up and left overnight for the oats and apple to soften even more.
The next day I blitzed them until they were teeny. The mix was nicely thick enough to challenge my swallow, but I could really taste the apple and raspberry combo. It made such a nice change.

I've also played around with the ensure flavours, combining banana and chocolate (1 of each) with a frozen banana, cocoa, honey and chia seeds. Or banana ensure with peanut butter, frozen banana and honey. I've yet to do a peanut butter, banana and jam (jelly) version, but I think I could do it with an addition of raspberry flavour, frozen raspberries to a banana flavour with frozen banana. Mmmmmm I'll also find a way to do it with overnight oats (PBJ) and keep you posted.

When it's cold I can also warm up the overnight oats into something yum.

Eggs, fried in a mixture of butter and olive oil. Done to an “over easy” consistency and topped with a splash of white truffle infused olive oil. Tasty, nutritionally and fat “dense”, easy to swallow and very tasty. My go to breakfast at this point. Top it off with a portion of the nutritional supplement of your choice to up the calorie consumption..

My dietitian has asked me to aim for double the RDA of protein a day, so that's 100g. Here are a few things that are great protein providers:

Pea protein powder = 20g protein per serving
Whey protein powder = 43g protein per serving
Chia seeds = 4g protein per tbsp
Prunes = 1g protein per 30g (5 prunes)
Duck eggs = 13g protein per egg (soft boiled takes 6-7 minutes)
Peas = 4.6g protein per serving of 85g
Protein yogurt = Between 14g - 20g protein per pot
Banana = 1g protein
Avocado = 2g protein per 100g
Jersey/Channel Island Milk = 4g protein per 100ml
Smooth PB = 4.1g protein per 15g (tbsp)
Nutella = 3.9g protein per 40g

You can easily make a smoothie with 300ml Jersey milk (12g protein 225 kcal) whey protein powder (43g 240kcal), 2tbsp peanut butter (8.2g protein 188kcal) and 2 tbsp chia seeds (8g protein 139 kcal) which will give you a tasty and filling breakfast with 71.2 g protein and 792 calories.

I do find if I have something like that, then I'm not hungry until 3 or 4 in the afternoon, pr I've split it in half and had the 2nd half for lunch after blitzing it again with some ice to freshen it up. It's good for days when you're at the hospital, especially during lockdown as there's not much open.

Chia seeds, when soaked a liquid, go jelly like. So really easy to swallow and very nutritious.