Complete Meals as Soups and Smoothies Blog 3

The first blog in this series gives a meal plan for 6 meals a day as soups and smoothies suggesting that fluid intake can become an easier task without having to constantly use prepared or ready made thickened fluids after every meal. Often these types of commercial fluids are unpopular and expensive. Inadequate fluid intake is common in dysphagic acute stroke and, I am sure, in other medical conditions. An article by Whelan (Inadequate fluid intakes in dysphagic acute stroke. Whelan, K. In: CLINICAL NUTRITION, Vol. 20, No. 5, 2001, p. 423 - 428.) suggests that most of the fluid in dysphagic diets comes from the foods served. I have also seen this in a slow rehabilitation setting with dysphagic diets after motor vehicle accidents, when patients refuse thickened fluids.  Obviously in the rehabilitation setting recovery is a priority and various fluid consistencies and food textures need to be challenged to meet patient goals. Complete meals as soups and smoothies, however, may appeal for the home setting or long term care.

These two thick soups contain parsnip, carrot, swede and turnip. I find these a useful addition to the recipes as they come with lots of flavour and give a creamy smooth texture when puréed. This is particularly useful when blending meat which, even when slow cooked, has a tendency to be fibrous and grainy.

Boeuf Daube Provençale Soup

Ingredients                                        Serves 5

500g boneless lean chuck steak cut into small pieces

2 tsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1 cup red wine

1 medium carrot peeled and chopped

1 medium parsnip peeled and chopped

½  large turnip peeled and chopped (or 1 small)

½ large swede peeled and chopped 9or 1 small)

1 can chopped tomato (400g)

1 cup beef broth

1 bay leaf/ dash of cloves/tsp fresh thyme

Mashed Potato to serve

Method

1. Add oil to slow cooker and seal pieces of beef. Add garlic and cook briefly.
2. Add all other ingredients and follow instructions for the slow cooker.
3. Cook until beef is very tender. Remove bay leaf.
4. Place in a high-powered blender adding more beef broth if required to achieve a smooth thick consistency.
5. Serve in a soup bowl with piped mashed potato around the edge. Place in hot oven for 10 minutes to give a golden look. This can be mixed in as the meal is being consumed.

Nutrition Information per serve: Energy 1536 kJ, protein 38g, fat 11.2g sat fat 4.5g, carbohydrate 17.7g, sugars8.3g, fibre 5.6g, sodium 400mg.

 

Boeuf Daube Provençale Soup

Lentil and Vegetable Soup

I have used green split peas instead of lentils with this soup. Split peas and lentils have similar macronutrient composition but can vary in vitamin and mineral content. Cooking times are also similar. I also used the vegetable kohlrabi that is a turnip with a sweeter taste than the classic turnip. However, the slightly bitter tasting turnip can also be used.

Ingredients                                                    Serves 5

1 &1/4 cups lentils

3 &1/2 cups broth (vegetable or chicken)

2 tsp oil

1 small carrot peeled and chopped

1 small parsnip peeled and chopped

1sticks celery chopped

½ swede peeled and chopped

½ Kohlrabi peeled and chopped

1 small onion chopped

1 clove garlic

1 can chopped tomato (400g)

½ tsp mixed herbs

salt to taste

Method

1. Add lentils to the broth and bring to the boil. Skim any surface froth.
2. Add oil to a frying pan and fry onion, garlic and other vegetables except tomato, for 2 mins.
3. Tip vegetable mix into the lentil/broth mix together with the tomato and herbs and simmer for 40mins until all vegetables are tender. Add salt to taste.
4. Blend until smooth even texture is achieved.

An alternative is to blend 1 cup of the lentil soup and add it back to the soup. If the chopped vegetables meet the standard size of <1.5cm for soft diet or <0.5cm for minced and moist diet this thick version of the soup can meet the requirements for texture modified diets. Check with the speech therapist if uncertain of the suitability for an individual.

Lentil and Vegetable Soup

Nutrition Information per serve: Energy 1104kJ, protein 16.7g, fat 4.0g, sat fat 0.7g, carbohydrate 35.3g, sugars 9.3g, fibre 10.3g, sodium 329mg.