Good eats the Bariatric Way

One of the things I feared about getting bariatric surgery was not being able to be a "foodie" anymore. After all, I need to eat healthy for the rest of my life, and there are certain things I should avoid entirely (like white bread, white rice, white pasta, etc - stuff like that can really gum up the works in the beginning, but honestly, it's not that good for anyone).

I digress. I'm quickly discovering that there is plenty of room for love of cooking and recipe development after bariatric surgery. In fact, it has focused my desire to develop healthy recipes that are tasty for not only the Weight Loss Surgery patient, but the family as well.

With that in mind, I had a great dinner on Sunday with my geeky friends. I decided to make three courses, and had the extra challenge of not only making all three courses bariatric friendly, but vegetarian, as many of my friends don't eat meat. Luckily I didn't have to go vegan, because there IS cheese and dairy in the meal!

Following is the video I did of the recipes. After that, I'll put in the recipes if you want to try them yourselves:




Recipes

Summer Corn Salad

(This recipe is large; it'll feed up to 12 "normal-eating" people, so you might want to cut it if you have fewer mouths to feed - guess one ear of corn for each person)

12 ears fresh corn on the cob (you can use frozen or canned, but fresh is best)
1 medium-sized box grape tomatoes
1 medium-sized vidalia onion
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (put in what you like - no strict measurements here)
2 to 4 tbsp white vinegar
1/4 to 1/2 c. olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Boil corn for 7 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool, then cut corn off the cob (helpful hint - if you have a small cutting board, lay it in a rectangular casserole or cake pan - that way, when you cut off the corn, it will fall into the pan and not go everywhere). Clean and cut grape tomatoes in half, adding them to the corn. Dice onion and add to mixture. Chop fresh basil (make sure it's fresh - the dried stuff does NOT suffice) and add to mixture. Mix in white vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Cover and refrigerate, allowing mixture to sit for at least an hour before serving - this allows the flavors to mingle well.

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Main Course: Cheesy Quorn Casserole

(Note: Quorn is a vegetable product that was developed to mimic chicken, both flavor and texture, and I find it much better tasting than soy "chick'n" products - you can find nutritional information here: http://www.coheso.com/nutridata/Quorn/Chicken_Patties/item_details.html).

Mix:
1 Package Quorn Patties, diced
1/2 large bag frozen hash browns (or "home fry" cut)
1 bag broccoli (to taste)
1/2 bag shredded cheddar cheese
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1/2 pint Nonfat Plain Greek Yogurt (this is GREAT protein)

(If you feel there is not enough moisture in the mixture, add more of the yogurt; also, this casserole lends itself well to change - if you want more of a mexican feel, add black beans and salsa. Also note that while this casserole is "homemade," it is made from things bought at a grocery store - I'm not a purist - if there is something at the store that tastes as good as you could do from 'scratch' then USE it!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake casserole uncovered for 45 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Add remainder of the bag of shredded cheese to the top of the casserole, and return to oven for 3 to 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

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Dessert:

Roasted Pears with Sweetened Ricotta and Caramel

I got this recipe from a WONDERFUL bariatric recipes website: The World According to Eggface. Shelly is a wonderful cook, and also a great example of how Bariatric Surgery can change a person's life, and I HIGHLY recommend her site.

For the Pear recipe, I stuck pretty close to Shelly's, though I added a touch of sugar free hazelnut syrup to the Ricotta Mixture. Here is my picture:





What's great is that all of the above recipes are made with no added sugar, or I used sugar free products. Both the main dish and dessert are packed with protein, as Quorn, Broccoli, Cheese, and Greek Yogurt all are high protein ingredients.

Happy Eating!