My Sixty-fifth - Surf and Turf - 100 Meals Pureed - Recipes for Head and Neck Cancer Survivors

My Sixty-fifth,  Surf and Turf


1 unit lobster tail
1/2 baked potato
1/4 pound Filet of beef
butter
cream
Lobster boiling broth
Option Vegetable


It was a tradition when I was young, that you could go out for dinner on your birthday and order Surf and Turf.  Lucky for me this meant Lobster instead of Shrimp.  The advantage of growing up in New England instead on New Orleans.  The birthday boy would have Lobster, while the other siblings would have sirloin, like a NY sirloin.  My birthday is in July so chicken Lobsters were plentiful

All this summer, I have been craving Lobster, although not one in my ladies eats Lobster, and I'm even so desperate, that McDonald's Lobster Roll is looking great at $9. WAIT WAIT WAIT they are going to Maine without me in August.   PSYYYYCHED.

LOBSTER
You don't need the whole lobster, and many stores now offer lobster tails both cooked and uncooked.

BAKED POTATO
It's a must.  As a boy I liked a fully stuffed potato, which included bacon bits, chives, butter, and sour cream.

CREAM AND BUTTER
Garlic butter is a  MUST!  Especially, if your nutritionist is looking for you to put on weight.

BOILING BROTH
Why use plain water, when you can add hot broth.  The broth will also help melt the butter.

BEEF
Make sure you include some fat, but look out for grizzle.

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My Sixty-fourth - Spaghetti and meatballs -100 Meals You Never Thought You Would Eat Pureed - Recipes for Head and Neck Cancer patients

My Sixty-fourth - Spaghetti and meatballs -100 Meals You Never Thought You Would Eat Pureed - Recipes for Head and Neck Cancer patients

Last night I was watching Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, about a restaurant that makes meatballs bigger than a baseball, when I realized that I have not added meatballs in my blog, even though I have been eating them for years.

Growing up "Spag and Meatballs" was a great way to feed an army of eight kids.

For puree, meatballs are great because they already have bread crumbs.

1 unit meatballs
2 units sauce
2 units water
1 unit vegetable
use spaghetti as a thickener



POTLUCK
Pasta is pretty common at potluck meals,  often times the spaghetti are tube-type pastas instead.  No worries.

Spaghetti must have been on my mind, because my sisters make great lasagna, and I bought my tickets to visit them over Christmas

HIDING THE VEGGIES
All the classic Italian vegetables can be pureed - peppers, zucchini, broccoli, etc.  The tomato sauce will hides a multitude of veggies

GARLIC BREAD AND OTHER YUMMIES
Adding a chunk of buttery garlic bread, adds a nice pop to the flavor.

CHEESE
Cheese is always the difficult thing to add to tummy tubes, but not an issue to cup sippers.  I find Parmesan works really easily either way.

Local Steve's Pizza

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My Sixty-third - Cherry Dump Cake -100 Meals You Never Thought You Would Eat Pureed - Recipes for Head and Neck Cancer patients

My Sixty-third recipe for the new cookbook - Cherry Dump Cake perfect for Pot Luck Parties

One of my favorite treats from my childhood is Cherry Dump Cake.  It is one of the recipe I have brought into my kitchen and modified slightly.  I make mine Gluten-Free.  I can't remember the exact reasons my mother would make it, I just remember, that it was easy to make from memory; however, it is not ingredients that are typically found in the pantry.

Simple to make:
in 9" by 13" corning-ware pan
Dump one can of cheery pie filling
Dump one can of crushed pineapple pieces with juice
Dump one box of White/Yellow cake mix
Smooth top and place pats of butter on top with a 1/4" spacing
Bake at 350 degrees until top browns (for about 30 minutes)

Yesterday, I was at an outdoor picnic, and I didn't bring my portable blender.  There was a ton of fabulous food there, I brought my pre-pureed food, so life was good.  At the very end, the call went out to TAKE FOOD HOME WE HAVE TOO MUCH HERE.  The grilled summer squash were staring at me all day.  The grilled zucchini were staring at me all day.  The brownies were staring at me all day.  So, I had to suffer and bring some home . . . .poor me . . . and I also brought the rest of my Cherry Dump Cake home . . . which pureed wonderfully with waffles and coffee.  Ok, somehow a hot-dog jumped into the to-go box to . . .

POT LUCK DESSERT PARTIES
One of the hardest things about pot luck parties, is that most of the items cannot puree well - especially desserts - chocolate chip anything, rice krispies treats, brownies with walnuts, M&M cookies, etc.  The typically issue is that most of the treats are finger food, because guest don't want to force the host to provide plates.  I always provide paper/plastic cups.  They can always be used for drinks, so I plan to bring extra.  I also call it Cherry Pineapple Cobbler for brunch parties, so it sounds more "brunchy".

GLUTEN-FREE
For my variation I use gluten-free cake mix.  This is the number one treat that I bring to parties because there are so many people with allergies that I know that 99% of people can eat it including me.  I try to find red-dye-free cherries.  Selection of gluten-free products have gotten quite good recently.  I have friends who are celiacs; a son who is sensitive to hazelnuts and chocolate; and countless friend allergic to peanuts - so I try to be sensitive.  If I'm going to bring my families famous no-bake cookies (chocolate and peanut butter)  I'll try to bring a treat that is mostly allergen free.

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My Sixty-second - Lamb Souvlaki -100 Meals You Never Thought You Would Eat Pureed - Recipes for Head and Neck Cancer patients

My Sixty-second  recipe for the new cookbook - Lamb Souvlaki

One of my favorite restaurants in Watertown, MA was Demos. They made the best lamb shish kabobs in the area.  The dinner was served with a Greek salad and rice pilaf.  I used to work for a video company, whenever I had a delivery in Watertown we would time it so we could stop in for lunch.  Recently I've started digitizing old home movies, so thoughts of lamb kabobs are popping back in my head.

Now that I need to puree, I don't go there as much, but I have created a quick version so that when I crave it, it is only an hour away.

The recipe is based off my old favorite of hamburger and rice my mom used to make.  Ground sirloin, mushroom soup and rice.  A great stick to your ribs recipe.  It always reminds me of rainy days in Astoria, OR.

This is a great Summer and Fall recipe.

JHO LAMB SOUVLAKI
COOK:
1/2 pound ground lamb in olive oil
1/4 cup Greek salad dressing (or more)
2 leaves of sage
1 teaspoon Greek Oregano
After meat is browned, in a same pot

1 box of rice pilaf - follow instructions on box

PUREE - makes 4 cups

1 to 1-1/2 cups of Lamb/Rice
2" of a cucumber
squeeze 1/2 of lemon
1/2 to 1 cup of yogurt with fat
dash of vinegar
enough water to achieve proper consistency 

WHY ARE THERE VAGUE MEASUREMENTS
It takes a little practice to puree the right amount of rice.  Cooked rice really varies in water content.  I always start with the shorter amount, and add more if it is too thin.

Yogurt also varies in thickness.  Some are runny, while others are more like tofu.  I refer Greek Yogurt with milk fat, which is not always easy to find.

BLASPHEMY
In a pinch, I will add cooked zucchini or cooked cherry tomatoes to the puree.  I have also been known to add sour cream if I am out of yogurt.  Usually this is because the yogurt grew mold sitting in the refrigerator.  It wouldn't be past me to add ice cream in a pinch.  OH COME ON, don't shake your head at me, you would do it to if people aren't looking.

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My Sixty-first - Crab Cakes -100 Meals You Never Thought You Would Eat Pureed - Recipes for Head and Neck Cancer patients

My Sixty-first  recipe for the new cookbook - Crab Cakes

So a couple of weeks ago, I was watching Diner, Drive-ins, and Dives on Food Network and they were cooking up crab cakes.  I realized that I hadn't had a crab cake in quite a long time.  SO, I checked with my Maryland transplant friend, Bill Carruth,  who also races sailboats in Baltimore Harbor,  what I should recommend to turn crab cakes into a meal.  His response - "It's usually corn on the cob, potatoes, and beer. Mostly beer."

I couldn't have agreed more.

So you can argue about the proper mix of lump crab meat, so, I'm going to punt and just say that I cheat, and pick up pre-made uncooked pre-scooped crab cake balls at my local grocery store. OH THE HUMANITY.  My wife is not a crab-eater, and my daughter is a vegetarian, so it's just me.

I crave crab cakes, but I don't crave eating crab cakes for every meal for the next week and half.

Since I'm making these selfishly for myself, I'll include my other indulgences . . .

JHO CRAB CAKES PUREE
1 cup ale (non-alcoholic if needed)
2 scoops of raw crab cake

1/8 inch of bacon grease

1/4 cup frozen corn
2 pats butter

1 roasted red potato you can also brown these in the bacon grease

fill the blender with above ingredients, then fill the rest of the blender to the "4 cup mark" with hot water

ADDITIONAL OPTIONS EXTRAS

roasted zucchini - if you feel the need to add veggies
pinch of extra Old Bay seasoning
1/2 a squeezed lime
Ritz crackers

BACON GREASE
Everything taste better cooked in bacon grease.  Most of us are trying to put on weight, I find bacon grease very friendly.  Listen, cancer didn't kill me twice, I'm not worried about the long-term effects of bacon grease.

My wife hates the smell of bacon in the house, so I cook my bacon out on the deck on my Weber grill with the side burner.  OK, I cook a lot of my summer meals on the grill.  This morning, I cooked my pancakes in bacon grease on the grill.

I like about an 1/8 of an inch of grease to have the proper thickness to create the crust on my crab cake.   The important part is to let the crab cake sit, and not flip it over too many times and have all the great juices inside run out.  With the heat on medium, cook each side for 5 minutes each.  Only flip once.  Do not drain the crab cakes, not place them on a paper towel to soak up the extra grease.  Add it right into the cup of beer already in the blender.

RED BLISS POTATO
In the summer time.  I roast red bliss potatoes all the time.  I keep them on hand to add to any puree.  I prefer them because they roast on the outdoor grill better than most potatoes, and skins puree well, without a funky texture when you drink it.  Whenever I am grilling, there is always room for a couple of red potatoes on the top shelf.  I typically quarter them before I had them to the blender.  In this case, I typically slice them and brown them in the grease with the crab cakes.

BEER
Use what you have on hand,  I'm more of a fan of English Style Ales and IPAs.  Of course in Boston, we like Sam Adams.  For non-alcoholic I typically use O-Douls Amber.  Leinenkugel’s® Summer Shandy® adds a nice lemony flavor.

CORN ON THE COB
When I can, I buy corn on the cob and cook them on the grill keeping the husk on.  Although, I posted a recipe from FoodNetwork, I typically slow cook them on the top shelf of my Weber grill.  I'd like to say that I use my grilled corn in my puree, but my daughter usually eats them before I get them in the puree.

PUREE
So I typically make 4 cups worth of crab cake puree.  For me, that is two 2-cup meals.

RITZ CRACKERS
Hopely the purist don't read down this far, because crab cakes and Ritz Crackers are awesome.  I just throw a couple in the blender.

VEGGIES
If you really have to, you can add a little coleslaw.

COMMENTS
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My Sixtieth - Chili Dog -100 Meals You Never Thought You Would Eat Pureed - Recipes for Head and Neck Cancer patients

My Sixtieth  recipe for the new cookbook - Chili Dog

My mom made one of my favorite chili con carnes, when I was growing up.  Slow cooked ground beef, McCormick's chili spice, canned stewed tomatoes, dark red kidney beans . . . YUM.  I'm sure she still has the index card with the recipe on it.   When you are feeding a family of ten, it is a great way to feed the masses  and have leftovers.

I continued that tradition with my two children; although, the recipe changed over time.  The beef changed to bison, then the bison changed to zucchini.   My son is the meat-eater and my daughter is the vegetarian.  The simple McCormick's chili powder was supplemented with extra cumin.  The stewed canned tomatoes, changed to tetra boxed purred tomato sauce.  Now, I always add rice to make it thicker.

If both children are home, I make a vegetarian version with cooked bison on the side.

VEGETARIAN VERSION - FULL FAMILY MEAL
1/2 cup veggie oil

2 medium Zucchini (or summer squash)

1 large Vidalia Onion (or large yellow onion)

cook on medium heat until they start to bown turn heat down to low

1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tetra box kidney bean/black beans/ pinto beans
dash of garlic
dash of cocoa powder
2 cups cooked white rice, or you can cook the rice in the chili pot

ADDITIONAL OPTIONS EXTRAS

1/2 red/green bell pepper
pinch of fresh cilantro
1/2 a squeezed line
avocado on the side - I add it to my puree too


ALWAYS SERVE TOPPED WITH CHEDDAR CHEESE OR DAISY SOUR CREAM

So, I bought my first Red Sox tickets for this season, and I have been craving hot dogs and Italian sausage.  The nice thing about hot dogs, is that you can cook a package up on the grill and save them in the refrigerator for pureeing them later.

HOT DOG
Pick your favorite.  I've used most of them, including Italian sausage in a pinch.  Beef, Pork, Chicken, Turkey, Soy are puree just fine.  Recently, I've been into Kayem hot dogs.  Since hot dog have already been pureed, they work great. Favor why, I prefer grilled hot dogs to boiled hot dogs.

PUREEING
Typically I use one dog, one cup chili, and one cup water to make two cups of puree.  Depending on how dry the cooked rice is, you might need to add more water

HOT DOG BUN
Skip it.  I mean really, the bun it just to keep the chili from falling in your lap, and it doesn't do a very good job of that.

COMMENTS
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My Fifty-ninth- Chicken Pad Thai -100 Meals You Never Thought You Would Eat Pureed - Recipes for Head and Neck Cancer patients

My Fifty-ninth  recipe for the new cookbook - Chicken Pad Thai

Serendipity is one of the greatest ways to create a recipe.

For the last couple of months, I have been only posting recipes that are part of a larger meal that everyone is sharing.  The other day, I felt lazy.  I didn't want to spend a lot of time making my lunch, so I thought I would just puree a box of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup.  I was about to puree it when I saw the jar of PB2 (powdered peanut butter) next to it, and it dawned on my I had most everything I needed for a quick version of pureed Chicken Pad Thai.

I was probably inspired, because on Father's Day, my whole family visited my son at college in Waltham, MA.  We ordered Chinese food, because I knew I could puree Sweet and Sour Chicken.  After dinner, we took a warm Summer night walk to the local Ice Cream Shop - Lizzy's. While we walked back we talked about the variety of different ethnic restaurants there are on Moody Street.  The Thai restaurant smelled so good.

I always keep tetra boxes of soup in the pantry for those days when I just don't want to fuss in the kitchen.

TWO SERVING SIZE

1 box/can of chicken noodle soup

1/4 cup of PB2

dash of fish sauce

1/2 a green onion - you can decide whether you want the top half, the bottom half, or split down the middle

dash of lemon juice

1 pat of butter

ADDITIONAL OPTIONS EXTRAS

dash of crushed red peppers

tablespoon of peanut oil

pinch of bean sprouts

pinch of ginger

pinch of cilantro

floret of broccoli 

enough water to puree (about 2-3 cups) thickness is a personal preference

WHY PB2

Vultures.  I have a house of Vultures.  The vultures will eat my peanut butter and take several days to replace it.  I find that they will not steal my powdered peanut butter.  Also, since it is powdered, it is a lot easier to measure and puree.

WARMING THE SOUP

I have a SOUP Setting on my Vitamix that warms up the puree while it whirls.  If you don't have that, you can always warm the soup on the stove or microwave first.

OPTIONS

The list of OPTIONS are listed there because not everyone has these in their pantry/refrigerator.  I'll add them if I have them, but it won't break my heart if I don't.

UPDATE: 1 Jan. 2017

My wife makes a great Asian coleslaw, and was asked to make some for New Year's Eve. I asked her to save any extra dressing.

Today, I took some noodles, cabbage, Asian coleslaw dressing, and peanut powder and made myself a pureed vegetarian pad thai noodles for lunch

COMMENTS

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