Wisdom food

I'm not going to lie to you: it's been rough. I'm probably as well positioned as anyone to make post-extraction food, but I still miss the solid stuff. I miss the pasta--which, theoretically, I could have as soon as tomorrow but I don't want to tempt fate. When you've got the internet to feed your paranoia about the chances of dry socket, you don't want to take any chances. What I could probably do is get back on oatmeal, but I ran out and I have another few days' worth of breakfast smoothies prepared. I do miss the chocolate, the pistachios, the peanuts, the tempeh. Oh, and I really miss the wine, but that's going to have to wait until I'm off the antibiotics.

So, here's what I've made to tide me over until the holes where my wisdom teeth were, heal:

Smoothies. On day 1, it was all smoothies. You can use either soy or coconut milk (if coconut, which is all I had at the time, mix in some protein powder; I use Garden of Life Raw Protein). My understanding is that even if you're not a vegan, you probably want to stay away from cow's milk. I mean, particularly if you've had your wisdom teeth pulled.  If you used soy and you want some more fat, toss in some ground flax seeds. Anyway, you have your milk and your thickener; add some cacao powder if you wish, and then toss in some fruit. I switched it up, with various combinations of farm share yellow watermelon, while it lasted; orange; banana; and papaya. Don't use anything with small seeds that you can't remove, like most berries.

Chowder. I'd previously roasted the farm share veggies, so I blended the roasted potatoes, zucchini and squash, a little bit of fennel, and leek. And added some raw corn. The leek was of questionable judgment--great for flavor, but a bit stringy for day 2. It was okay by day 3. Oh, I also added brown rice and coconut milk.

Gazpacho. Blend (organic, preferably farm share or farmer's market) tomatoes, cucumber, basil, and just a splash of sherry vinegar.

Lentils. I cooked some red lentils with onions and tomatoes. They came out very soft and didn't require additional blending.

Dips. Hummus, baba ganoush, and guacamole. I'd made the first two before the surgery, and the third takes seconds.

Sweet potato pie filling. Mashed sweet potatoes, coconut milk, cinnamon, and a pinch of garam masala.

Tofu. I finished the tofu scramble I'd made the previous week--definitely a day 3 and later food--but then made tofu ricotta (process a pound of tofu, a few cloves of garlic, some olive oil, and oregano) and blended in some peas and lemon zest, as per Heidi Swanson's plump pea dumpling recipe.


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This sounds like a lot of food, but I haven't had the appetite to eat a lot of any of it at a time. I just had a lot of the ingredients already (some already partially prepared) and felt the need to mix it up. The first day especially, I really had to force myself to eat, partly because you can't take penicillin or large doses of ibuprofen on an empty stomach, but also you need to keep the nutrients coming in order to heal. And you'll note that the above foods are a good mix of macro- and micronutrients.