A special Christmas treat when I was a kid was the round tins with pretty winter or Christmas scenes on them filled with shortbread cookies! Another seasonal treat we looked forward to was eggnog. We would make our own eggnog with fresh eggs.
But until I saw this recipe online (Kristen’s Friends Cooking https://www.tiktok.com/@kristinsfriends/video/7305826341549657386?lang=en) I had never thought of putting these two favorites together. I really think you are going to love this very light, flavorful dessert to bring the taste of Christmas to your table.
I just love the beautiful and colorful layers. An added bonus is that it’s a dessert not only for your loved one on a pureed diet but for the whole clan.
Only 5 Ingredients and No Baking
Eggnog and Christmas Cookie Recipe
Ingredients you will need:
Tin of shortbread cookies. (I think sugar cookies would make an excellent choice too)
Eggnog to cover the cookies in a bowl
Can of Cherry Pie filling
Box of vanilla instant pudding mix
Cool Whip
*food thickener as needed
Instructions:
Keep cookies in a tin or place in a small bowl. Pour enough eggnog over the cookies to cover them. Set aside for 30 minutes or so until the cookies are softened. Add to a blender and blend until smooth. Empty into a bowl. My cookies came out slightly thick so I added 1/2-3/4 cup of cool whip and folded into the cookies to make it lighter.
Make instant jello pudding by adding 2 cups cold milk to 1 box and whisk until starts to thicken. Place in the fridge to set.
Add can of cherry pie filling to a blender and blend until smooth. Empty into a bowl. Add food thickener of choice as needed to achieve a pudding consistency. (I used 5 tablespoons of powder thickener).
Get a small bowl or glass. Fill container with cookie layer on the bottom, add a cherry layer, next to a pudding layer and top off with cool whip.
Eggnog soaked cookies – yum!
Conclusion:
“Mmmmm that’s good,” said Aunt Joanie when I made this dessert for her. She loved the cookie layer the most!
Dysphagia diets shouldn’t mean that you will never be able to eat your favorite seasonal and holiday foods ever again. We are lucky to be in a time when there are so many recipes at our fingertips. It is often just a matter of time to look up a particular food or ingredient and the choices of what to make with it is numerous.
My criteria for when I search for recipes to make, are first and foremost a recipe made with common familiar ingredients. My goal is to help the average home cook using simple cooking methods.
Secondly, I try and select recipes and foods that I feel would be fairly easy to modify and not require a lot of extra time to prepare. I keep in mind people that do very little cooking.
Thirdly, I like to focus on seasonal foods and holidays or possible special events we have to cook for. I hope caregivers will be inspired to try new recipes and take a look at their traditional foods and try and modify it for their loved on a pureed diet.
A Thanksgiving meal should be a special affair no matter if it has to be pureed. Or at least, that would be my wish for any person that has to be on a pureed diet.
As a speech language pathologist for over 35 years, I have had the opportunity to bear witness to a lot of people having to adjust to a modified diet for one reason or another. As one would expect, there’s a wide range of reactions to this news. My heart has always ached and broken a little more for the person that has to modify foods to the pureed level.
Pureed diet consistency is a bigger change to accept and it’s a fact that a big part of eating is with our eyes as much as with our taste buds. Unfortunately, most people are first introduced to pureed foods in a hospital or rehabilitation setting. This gives them a very poor start on this new diet for both appearance, taste, and acceptance. It can require a lot of encouragement and support to overcome this introduction to the diet.
It’s a good feeling when I am able to help to provide that teaching, support and encouragement to see pureed foods differently. I hope you find these recipes inspiring and helpful when planning your Thanksgiving meal. Let’s get blending up something good to eat!
Mashed potatoes, stove top turkey stuffing and turkey tenderloin all topped with gravy.
The Best Mashed Potatoes with gravy
I grew up on a potato farm in northern Maine so I KNOW POTATOES! For holidays and special meals I make Ree Drummonds, The Pioneer Woman’s, mashed potato recipe. Her secret sauce is cream cheese. It makes the most wonderful light, creamy and fluffy potatoes fitting for a feast. I have included a link to her post.
Instructions: Boil potatoes until cooked through and drain water. Add all ingredients and blend with hand mixer until smooth. Add milk or extra melted butter until pudding consistency.
Cooking in a cozy camp in the middle of the Maine woods.
Turkey Tenderloins with Fresh Herb Butter Rub
The centerpiece for Thanksgiving is the turkey. Grocery stores have great selections for turkey products if a whole turkey isn’t necessary for your holiday gathering. In the meat section you can find turkey tenderloins like pictured above. They also had turkey cutlets. In the deli where there is rotisserie chickens, around the holidays you can often find completely cooked and seasoned turkey breasts.
Ingredients you will need:
turkey tenderloins
1/4 cup softened /melted butter
1 tablespoon minced fresh herbs, I used a poultry blend of sage, thyme and rosemary
2 garlic cloves minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Extra thickened gravy or chicken broth
Instructions: In a small bowl mix seasonings and herbs with butter. Slather the rub all over the turkey tenderloins to cover all sides. Place aluminum foil on top loosely like a tent. Bake in oven until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. After cooling, chop pieces of turkey and add to food processor. Blend until sand like. Add thickened gravy or broth until a smooth , pudding consistency.
Cooking on top of a wood stove, the camp smells like Thanksgiving!
Turkey Stuffing Made Easy!
Hey, as every cook knows, some dishes you need to take shortcuts! Since I didn’t have a turkey to stuff, I took the easy route and made Stove Top stuffing. To add a little more flavor, I sautéed a frying pan of onions, celery, and mushrooms to add to the processor when blending. It came out good enough.
Instructions: Make stove top stuffing per box instructions. Add additional sautéed vegetables per your preference. Add all to a food processor with extra thickened gravy and/or broth and blend until smooth pudding consistency.
Don’t forget my previous post with these recipes for four more sides.
Things I Am Grateful For This Thanksgiving Season:
Thanksgiving time has me being very introspective looking back at the year and looking ahead at the new year laid out before me. I feel it’s important to take stock and count your blessings. With respect to this blog, these are some of what I am grateful for:
1. I am grateful that I started it! Imposter syndrome is real. It is scary to put yourself out there for all to see on the World Wide Web. I questioned myself if what I had to say and teach would add anything of value to the noise out there. I compared myself to others in this niche and whether or not I had the confidence to throw my two cents worth into the mix. In my opinion, I didn’t feel some of the information put out there on pureed diets from universities, hospitals, chefs and other institutions was relevant or realistic or up-to-date for the home caregiver. I feel I have a unique perspective knowing the medical side of dysphagia and the experience of teaching and educating caregivers to meet their needs in the home and could offer information that would be worthy and beneficial.
2. I am grateful that I get to keep learning how to bring my expertise to more people than in my immediate area. If I can help one caregiver and person with dysphagia have a better quality of life I will feel it’s been worth it. The world is a big place and I know there are many corners of the globe that don’t have the resources and professionals for all those who are in need.
3. I am grateful that I have a place to bring together my enjoyment of cooking and teaching. I enjoy trying new recipes and it brings me joy to cook for others. I think it’s my love language. I feel blessed if it brings inspiration to whomever may be reading this.
Conclusion:
I have born witness to thousands of caregivers and individuals of all ages face and manage medical crises that would change their lives dramatically. They all teach me something and to be thankful every day for what I get to wake up and do. To be there with them is a place to show strength, provide support, and above all , I feel is most important to provide hope to them. The human spirit and will to fight back is inspiring.
I really wish for you to have a very happy Thanksgiving together and to share a very special meal.
One of the best parts of any Thanksgiving meal is the variety of sides to choose from. These four sides are all classics with a few little twists to make them extra special to elevate them for a special holiday meal.
Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. It’s all about the food; celebrating the end of the harvest season; and cooking up all that bounty for your family! To me it has always signaled the end of a busy season and transitioning into the darker and colder months to come and settling into a different pace.
Holidays, however, do bring stressors as any person knows that is the main cook of the family. The key to managing the stress is to prepare in advance any foods that freeze well and get them made and into the freezer a few weeks ahead of the holiday. The squash and green bean casserole would freeze nicely. The cranberry sauce and sweet and sour beets can be made 1-2 days before the special meal.
Side #1: Roasted Squash with Sage
the ingredients you will need:
fresh sage leaves
winter squash (I used 2 butternut)
olive oil
sea salt and fresh ground pepper
Pureed thickened broth
Instructions: Peel squash and remove seeds. Cut into equal size cubes onto a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil , salt and pepper. Spread sage leaves on top. Bake at 400 degrees until tender and soft. Once cooled, remove sage leaves and add squash to the food processor and blend until smooth. (I did need to add 1 teaspoon of pudding thick broth when processing. Results may vary so thin or thicken as needed to fit a smooth pudding consistency.)
The smell in the kitchen is wonderful!It’s a beautiful color, a heady scent, and a smooth robust flavor!
Side #2: Green Bean Casserole
I don’t really know why I make this every Thanksgiving but I do. It’s the familiarity and ease I guess to throw a dish together that takes no thought to make or very much time. I follow the Campbell’s soup recipe.
It pureed to a light, soft and smooth texture. The green was a pretty color as well.
Ingredients you will need:
1 can Campbell’s Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon soy sauce
4 cups cooked cut green beans
1 1/3 cups French’s French Fried Onions
Instructions: Heat oven to 350 Degrees. Mix all of the ingredients including half of the fried onions (2/3 cup) and pour into a 1 1/2 quart oven safe casserole. Bake for 25 minutes or until hot and bubbling. Top with remaining onions and bake an additional 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Blend in food processor until smooth consistency. (I did not have to add any additional liquid to thin down or food thickener to thicken to achieve a pudding consistency. Results may vary so test for appropriate consistency before serving. )
Side #3 and #4: Harvard Beets and Cranberry Sauce
Beautiful color and texture. Tastes amazing and very little effort.
For the Harvard beets, I literally opened the jar and dumped it into my food processor, added 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and blended until smooth. I did not need to add any additional liquid to thin or food thickener to thicken it to get the lovely smooth pudding consistency. (Results may vary so do the spoon test on the beets you have purchased and add thickener if needed. ) Elderly people in the nursing homes loved Harvard beets any time they were on the menu. It’s a very quick and easy side dish for any meal and very pretty presented in a small bowl.
For the cranberry sauce I did doctor it up a bit to add extra nice touch for a holiday meal. I borrowed from homemade cranberry sauce recipes and came up with my own mix to add a little sweetness to cut down on the tartness of the cranberries. Take liberty and feel free to adjust the amounts of the added ingredients to your liking.
Ingredients you will need:
14 ounce can jellied cranberry sauce
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 teaspoons of apple cider
2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup (could use honey)
Instructions: Add all ingredients to a small food processor and blend until smooth consistency. Adjust taste to your liking by adding more sweetener if needed. I did not have to add any additional liquid or food thickener to this recipe to achieve a smooth pudding consistency. Results may vary so adjust accordingly to get an appropriate pudding consistency by checking your results by using the spoon test.
Conclusion:
It’s always a great feeling of accomplishment when you can be ahead of the clock and have a head start on having some foods prepared for the upcoming holiday meal! These four sides were very easy to prepare for the busy caregiver. Your loved one is going to enjoy eating these dishes.
Please check next week for the next post, Part 2, of more Thanksgiving sides to try. Some of the foods will be traditional but I’ll throw in a surprise to keep it fresh and interesting. If you would like to watch me make these dishes check out the YouTube video. https://youtu.be/L16hH8A0ktM
Soup season is upon us and is one of the easiest foods to puree! Homemade broccoli cheddar soup is one of my favorites for it’s easy to make and very, very flavorful. It’s quite possible you have most of the ingredients in your fridge or pantry right now so let’s get the pot on!
I use an instant pot when I make cream soups. This soup literally takes one minute in the instant pot once it gets to the proper pressure to cook the main ingredients. However, I’ve made this soup numerous times on the stovetop and the steps are unchanged. You could easily make this in a crock pot as well, just dump the ingredients in and let it cook until the vegetables are well cooked.
Step one:
Into a pot or crockpot, you are going to add 2-3 large crowns of broccoli cup up; 2-3 carrots in small cubes or shredded; 3 stalks of celery chopped; and one large onion. I add enough vegetables to fill my pot about 2/3 full. To this I add 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Pour 32 ounces or 4 cups of broth (chicken or vegetable) cover and simmer until all vegetables are softened and well cooked. ( I like to use Better Than Bouillon chicken base for my broth. )
Step 2:
On the stove in a sauce pan, I melt 1/4 cup of butter. In a bowl dissolve 2 tablespoons of cornstarch in a 1/2 cup water and stir to mix. Slowly add this to the melted butter and whisk for one minute on medium heat to make a roux. You could use flour vs. cornstarch. Reduce heat to low and slowly add 2 cups of light cream ( could use half and half or whole milk). Slowly stir in 2 cups of sharp shredded cheese. (In the photo, my block of cheese had been sitting in the sun and was very soft so I did not shred it.) Stir continuously until cheese is melted into a thick sauce with the milk. Pour the sauce into the pot and stir all ingredients to combine. Set aside to cool. I refrigerated mine overnight. It will thicken the longer it sets.
Step 3:
Pour amount of soup wanted into a small blender. Blend until smooth. Heat to desired temperature in microwave or on top of the stove. Add food thickener to a pudding thickness. My large bowl of soup took 6 pumps of Simply Thick to get it to IDDSI level 4, pudding thick. Use food thickener of your choice.
I am one of those people that could eat a bowl of soup every day. I find soup to be healthy, nutritious and filling. There are so many recipes online that you could make many variations of your favorite soups so you never tire of the same old ones. Soups also make large quantities to enjoy for several days or freeze for later for the upcoming crisp fall days that are at our doorstep.
Pour a glass of apple cider and dish a bowl for yourself and have a meal together! I hope this one you’ll enjoy!
Every caregiver or individual new to or familiar with a pureed diet, has days that they are exhausted and/or stressed with needing new food ideas to come up with. Pumpkin Fluff can be served as a dessert or snack, and anyone in the household is going to enjoy it!
Besides being light and delicious, this recipe has other huge benefits to the busy caregiver. It requires no cooking and takes only minutes to make with a few ingredients. You only need to dirty one bowl so this recipe won’t be adding more clean up work to your already full plate.
It is a seasonal delight and something easy to bring to a gathering or holiday meal. Your loved one will be able to eat this dessert along with everyone else and enjoy the social gathering.
Add all ingredients to a bowl and stir. Enjoy! It’s as easy as that!
*This may be too thick for some individuals on a pureed diet. You could add milk as needed to their portion to make it less sticky or thick.
If you have a seasonal recipe you make please feel free to share in the comments below. I think this recipe is highly adaptable with other food combinations. Can you think of any? Let me know and I’ll whip it up!
My goal is to build a community for individuals and caregivers cooking for those on a pureed diet to help others and feel supported and share what works for them.
