Wisdom food

I had my wisdom teeth out on Valentine’s Day. I made my first visit to a Japanese dentist and before you could say ‘double extraction’ he’d whipped them out. All my usual feelings of fear and helplessness when visiting the dentist were accentuated by the language barrier, for although the dentist spoke near-perfect English his two female dental assistants didn’t speak a word. So, he’d leave me alone with these two impossibly beautiful, clinical girls who didn’t look a day over 16 to poke and prod and drill into my teeth and the fear would come like a freezing tide from my feet to my head. I must admit I’d watched Marathon Man only the week before and had horrific visions of dental torture in the forefront of my mind. Anyway, they’re out now and it wasn’t so bad really.

So I can’t chew any food, which leaves me reduced to the prospect of baby food-like stuff to eat for the next week until my gums are healed. And actually, I’ve been discovering lots of yummy ways to eat mush.

Here are a few of my faves from the last few days, these recipes are simple to make, healthy and great anytime:

Breakfast and snack meals

Tofu soymilk graintastic breakfast drink

Cook some quinoa and amaranth in a pot of boiling water until the tails of the quinoa have unfurled themselves and the amaranth looks like little shiny pearls.

Drain the grains and add to a blender. Add some silken tofu (‘nama tofu’ in Japan), soymilk and a dollop of maple syrup.

Whizz together and enjoy.

Grainy Banana milkshake

Cook some quinoa in a pot of boiling water until the tails of the quinoa have unfurled themselves.

Strain and add to blender with some milk and a banana.

Add honey or maple syrup to taste (The banana is quite sweet so you may not need a sweetener at all).

Blend and pour into a glass. I love this one !

- Benefits of quinoa : high protein content, high in calcium, good source of iron, phosphorous, B vitamins and vitamin E.

- Benefits of amaranth : high in protein, fibre, amino acids, vitamin C and calcium.

Meals

Flaked salmon on a bed of spinach with mashed potatoes

Cook and mash the potatoes, adding a little salt, olive oil and milk.

Place salmon en papillote in some aluminium foil with a sliver of butter. Place in oven or under the grill for 15 – 20 minutes.

Wash spinach and place in a pot with a little boiling water. Let it cook lightly, until soft, then add to a blender with a drop of sesame oil, a little soy sauce, a crushed garlic clove and some sesame seeds. Blend the mixture until it's a shining green paste.

Make a bed of mashed potato, top with the emerald paste and flake salmon on top.

This is fantastic !

- Spinach builds the blood and stops bleeding, quenches thirst, it is “rich iron and chlorophyll content (which) builds blood” (Healing with whole foods, Paul Pitchford).

Good old English leek and potato soup

Chop an onion. Chop leeks and potatoes into chunks. Cook the onions in a little olive oil until translucent, lower heat, add leeks and potatoes, cover for a few minutes for the vegetables to sweat it out in the pot. Add some vegetable stock, salt and pepper, a bayleaf and some crushed garlic along with lots of water. Cook for 45 minutes until its all lovely and mushy. Blend together, allow to cool and little and eat !