My Second Recipe -Frank and Beans (PICNIC) -100 Meals You Never Thought You Would Eat Pureed - Recipes for Head and Neck Cancer patients

My second recipe for the new cookbook - Franks and Beans

Over the summer, one of the scariest things for people who need to eat pureed food, is that picnic and summer outing which can be a nightmare.  Nothing looks puree-friendly.  I went to an outing in New Hampshire at my friend, Sue Alexander’s place.  She welcomed me with opened arms, and the first thing out of her mouth was – “I have a blender in the kitchen for you.”  YIPPPPPEEEEE.

While I was there, I also experimented with other classics like pasta salad, potato salad, and Chips and cheese sauce.  Pasta salad purees well, but can be rather neutral on the “satisfying the soul meter”.  I can drink a couple of cups of frank and beans, but more than a cup of pasta salad is more than enough.

If you are having an all-day event, potato salad is the perfect dish to add to the meal.  Potato salad has the same level of enjoyment as Frank and Beans, but it lacks protein and is a little harder to use to hide other healthy ingredients.  Remember that potatoes soak up a lot of water.

The most surprising food of the day was corn chips and cheese dip.  No they weren’t pureed.  The chips were the extra-large chips, so I could smother a corner with cheese and take a small bite.  I don’t have an issue with swallowing which allowed me to take small bites – about ten bites per chip.  YUM – lots of cheese with a little bit of corn chip.  I recommend keeping a beverage on hand in case a sharp piece of chip gets stuck in the mouth or throat.  Three corn chips was quite an adventure in eating.  It might have taken at hour but was well worth it.

RECIPE

1 hot dog

1 medium can of baked beans

Shot of yellow mustard

2 tablespoons molasses

1 can of water (or more)

Puree until smooth

I love this recipe.  The nice thing is there is a huge variety of “Franks” – beef, pork, chicken, turkey, tofu, nitrate-free . . .  Most of the issues with turkey dogs and tofu dogs is texture – pureeing solves this.  I love my beef dogs roasted on the grill so there is a nice smoky flavor.  I cook up an entire package and keep the rest chilled in the refrigerator.   The color and the aroma are pure summer-time. 

Beans also come in many shape and sizes too.  I have discovered that I cannot eat vegetarian baked beans – not that they taste bad, but my daughter will eat them all before I have a chance to get any. So now I buy both vegetarian and pork beans.  (Update Feb. 22, 2017 - I have to hide the vegetarian beans so my daughter will not eat them as soon as they come home.)

This is one of the best recipes for hiding healthy extra ingredients like pea protein powder.  Green leafy vegetables make a great add-in too.  You will be surprised how well turmeric goes with frank and beans.

WARNING

The two big issues with this recipe are the molasses and yellow mustard.  Yellow mustard, does give a nice aroma, but can have more of a “bite” than you might expect.  Molasses has the “sugar” issue, but I am a fan of molasses.  Molasses can also overwhelm the favor.  Yes, I have added to much molasses, but just once.  

Update: A member of my support group told me he tried the recipe without the mustard, after three bites, his mouth was on fire.  He thinks it was the hot dog.

Summer time Picnic

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