What to eat when you can’t bite

While recovering from my frenectomy, I’ve been having to adjust my eating habits so as to avoid anything I need to bite into, like sandwiches, hot dogs, pizza, etc.  Actually I can have those as long as I cut them into bite-size pieces (an ironic apellation for pieces you don’t need to bite into), and I have done that a couple of times, but that’s kind of awkward.

I wanted to avoid hot foods for the first few days (the instructions only said 24 hours, but I’m extra-cautious), so I made some pasta salad of my own once I used up the varieties I got from the grocery-store deli (only one of which I liked).  I used some multicolor rotini I had on hand, broccoli, cucumber, green pepper, cherry tomatoes, and canned chicken (which I figured would be softer than the frozen diced chicken I generally use) with olive oil, Italian dressing, and grated parmesan.  I made nearly five servings’ worth, so when I went to the store a couple of days ago, I picked up some feta cheese and added some of that to the pasta salad; and I supplemented the final serving with more tomatoes and cucumber.  So there was a little variety instead of just being the same thing over and over.

Also at the grocery store deli, I looked for other types of thing I could try, now that I wasn’t limited to cold foods anymore.  I came upon a tub of chicken and sausage gumbo, and I thought that gumbo was something I’d tried before and not minded, so I bought it.  Only afterward did I remember that what I’d tried before wasn’t gumbo, but jambalaya.  But I was stuck with the gumbo, so I tried it, and I’m not crazy about it.  It’s too spicy, and the pork sausage flavor is way too dominant.  I’m thinking maybe when I have the rest of it, I’ll dump the remaining feta into it, in the hope that a dairy product will ameliorate the spiciness some, and just to make it taste different.  I have no idea if that will be any good, but I have to use these things up somehow.

As of this afternoon, it will have been a week since my procedure, so I’m halfway to the point where I can start eating normally again.  Still, knowing me, I’ll probably be overcautious and wait a few days longer.