Good luck. I've lost five pounds, but I'm healing up a bit so I'll probably gain them back. Actually, the doc says my nutrition is exceptional and I'm healing faster than anyone he's ever seen so I have graduated to mashed potatoes (which I love) and pasta (which I don't). I did find that I could eat a fresh tomato sandwich on squishy white bread with Miracle Whip, though, it's mushier than you might think with the right bread choice. A square of cornbread in the bottom of a bowl of chowder or bean soup might be doable for you, I hit the beans with the immersion blender and so barely had to chew, LOL, and chopping the vegetables very finely and cooking in soup might be a way for you to enjoy some of the fresh vegetables that you're missing. Hummus is good but I haven't found anything to dip in it other than tiny scraps of fresh pita bread which still required more chewing than I cared to do right away that first week. Pancakes get pretty soft too if you put enough maple syrup on them and/or top them with a soft over-easy egg. It's amazing I lost anything at all. (grin) Good luck, I hope you heal quickly. Annie

If nightshade veggies don't bother you, try this yummy dish I made a couple of weeks ago. It's perfect for the last of the garden stuff. Eggplant chickpea stew with tomatoes from the Williams and Sonoma Vegetable Cookbook 2 small to medium eggplants about 1 1/2 - 2 lbs. total weight. (Note: I just used one big one because that's all I could find, but the littler ones are less bitter, supposedly) 4-5 TBLSP olive oil 1 red onion, cut into wedges 3-4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped 1 lb. fresh tomatoes pureed with a grater or shredder (Yeah right . . . NOT! I just chop them up, or use another can of chopped tomatoes in the off season) 1 1/2 cups canned chickpeas (I usually cook my own, put them in pint jars and freeze, then thaw or microwave to use) 1 lb. diced tomatoes with juice (Like I said, I usually just use one big 24 oz. can of the diced tomatoes, or buy a snazzy can of San Marazano tomatoes and dice them myself before adding) Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 1/4 tsp. of sugar 1/8 tsp. crushed dried thyme Pinch of ground cinnamon (Don't leave this out, it won't predominate and will give this dish the needed oomph) 1/2 cup dry red wine (Or use a dash of balsamic vinegar if you don't do wine) 2 TBLSP chopped fresh flat leaf italian parsley. (I often don't have fresh parsley, I sub 1 TBLSP dried parsley) Juice of 1/2 lemon (Again, I often sub reconstituted lemon juice, like maybe 1 TBLSP) Sautee the eggplant in half the oil until it is soft, then set it aside. Then sautee the onion in the remaining oil til soft, and add all the other stew ingredients except for the lemon juice. Cook gently to thicken, about 10 min, stirring occasionally and taking care not to smoosh the chickpeas too much. Adjust seasoning to your taste. I DOUBLED the seasoning and might even have added in some oregano. When the sauce is thick and tasty, add the eggplant back in and reduce the heat to med. low and cook 10-15 min. more. Add the lemon juice to brighten the flavors just before serving. (This is not absolutely necessary) I served it with some goat cheese sprinkled on top. Would be great with brushetta with tofu pesto, or pita with spinach dip, but I usually serve it with rice. Goes good with whole wheat pasta too. BF loves this stuff. Oh, and I peel eggplants because I am not a fan of the peel. I also salt them for 15 min. and rinse them afterwards, before sauteeing. I can't usually find good fresh eggplants. Here's another salad I am making later this week to use up my stash of cukes. I probably won't use 4 cukes in it though, and will adjust the ingredients to suit my taste. I usually find that these Eating Well salads don't have enough dressing, so I end up doubling that. Skimping on the dressing is how they cut the calories! Plus I use lowfat feta, or goat cheese crumbles I can get, which supposedly aren't as inflamatory as cow's milk cheeses. Cucumber & Black-Eyed Pea Salad from "Eating Well." Ingredients 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons lemon juice 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried Freshly ground pepper to taste 4 cups peeled and diced cucumbers 1 14-ounce can black-eyed peas, rinsed (I will use canelinni beans becuase I have a ton of them. Plus, that's the kind of bean I usually use for this salad. Could use garbanzos too.) 2/3 cup diced red bell pepper (I almost always use green peppers, red are too expensive) 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (or less or leave out) 1/4 cup slivered red onion 2 tablespoons chopped black olives 1 can of tuna (LR's addition) Can also add celery and garnish with cherry tomatoes just before serving. Fine to just use bottled italian dressing for this, and you can serve it over lettuce garnished with croutons too.

My favorite is Grit tofu from their "Golden Bowl" The Grit is a fantastic vegetarian place in Athens GA. 1 container of extra firm tofu (best from your store's refridgerator section and not the boxed tofu) a few tablespoons of nutritional yeast soy sauce or tamari sauce oil for frying or deepfrying or a non-stick skillet Although they deep fry the tofu at the restraunt, I pan fry it. I slice the tofu in half, place it on a plastic cutting board and then prop this up with a plastic lid or jar lid so it's angled into the sink. Place a piece of plastic wrap, or a clean towel on the tofu and balance a thick telephone book on top. This will press the extra water out. I drain for 1/2 an hour. Cube your drained tofu and toss into your skillet. I use a non-stick skillet with no oil. It browns the tofu nicely. Brown tofu on all sides, then turn off the heat. Quickly sprinkle on about a tablespoon of soy or tamari sauce, then let it sizzle a bit until it dries up. Finally, toss the nutritional yeast on and coat your tofu. SUPER DUPER DELIOUSLY YUMMY!!! We eat this several nights a week as 'croutons' on large salad as our main course! GGG

Okay, because I didn't get a response, I invented my own. Please feel free to critique or suggest changes. I'm really winging it here. Tofu Crumbles 1 lb. hard Chinese-style tofu or extra-firm Japanese-style tofu 1/4 cup olive oil 1/2 tsp. salt to taste(may not need is soy sauce used) 1 tsp. garlic powder 1 tsp. onion powder 1 tsp. dry basil 1 tsp. dry oregano 1 Tablespoon soy sauce or liquid aminos Dice the tofu. Then put in a bowl and squeeze the mixture with your bare hands until it is very crumbly. Sprinkle olive oil over tofu mixture and mix well with spoon (or again with bare hands). Then add remaining seasonings together in a separate bowl. Sprinkle seasonings over tofu mixture and mix well, squeezing with your hand those cubes that have not yet been crumbled or that are too large or that need squeezing. Sprinkle soy sauce over mixture and mix again. Use small 13x9 or flat cookie sheet. Parchment paper works well but can spray pan with Pam instead. Spread crumbly mixture as consistently as possible in the pan in a flat layer. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. After 15 minutes, remove pan and mix the mixture with a big spoon and return it to the oven and cook for another 15 minutes. Do this one more time. (Total of 45 minutes, could have done it again...) Now freeze the crumbly mixture for about 4 hours. Then remove from freezer (if you remember) and mix with your finger tips trying to break up any tofu chunks that are stuck together. Put back in freezer hopefully at this point, the crumbles will keep separated. Should result in about 1.5 cups of tofu crumbles.