I'm allowed to start fork-mashed white fish and tuna, but was told to mash them with something to keep them moist. Any ideas of how to cook white fish in some liquid that'll keep it moist? And what can I mash tuna with that is NOT mayo or dairy? I don't eat dairy and hate mayo more than words can express!

I plan on trying to mix it with guacamole or avocado or salsa. I also bought some hummus to mix with canned chicken breast. Tuna creations also had some sauces/flavors. One was a tangy sweet & spicy sauce, if you don't have it available by you, maybe you can find a recipe for a sauce or salad dressing to mix it with (vinaigrette/oil & vinegar, balsamic).

Let me know if you find anything else that work well for mushy/ soft food stage. I start soft foods on Wednesday! ?

Poach the fish. You can poach in milk or water. Lots of recipes about. I sometimes add ginger & lemon grass or dill to the milk. Generally cover or just cover the fish with the milk or water, cover your dish with foil & bake in the oven for about 15mins+/- . I always poached my salmon in milk because it’s too oily for me plus it reduces that salmon smell that permeates your house. You can also steam fish too. Just pop some aromatics of your choice in the water under your steamer.

I tried pureeing tinned tuna & salmon with Mayo (too sweet) & also cottage cheese (just disgusting). But that was my taste buds.

Good luck.

You can use plain greek yogurt instead of mayo. I also hate mayo.

I don't like mayo, but I do like miracle whip, so you could try that. I make a sauce of mayo mixed with mustard and curry powder (it doesn't taste like mayo AT ALL). You could try bolthouse yogurt ranch (or any other bolthouse flavor - they are about 45 calories for 2 tablespoons). They are in the produce section refrigerators. You could try a bottled curry or tikka masala sauce or Asian marinade (I haven't had surgery yet, but I'm thinking I'll be too tired after surgery to cook much so I'm thinking of easy things). Also, broth might be good.

Edited August 10, 20215 yr by lizonaplane

17 hours ago, Candace76 said:

tangy sweet & spicy sauce

You may want to check the sugar content in sweet and spicy tuna/fish. Some have had more sugar per serving than my program suggests.

1 hour ago, Maisey said:

You may want to check the sugar content in sweet and spicy tuna/fish. Some have had more sugar per serving than my program suggests.

It has 4g. I have to double check, but I don't think my plan gave me a total for daily sugar limits. Does 4 g sound like too much? I will check with my nutritionist to see what my daily limit should be. I would probably only be eating 1/2 a pouch then with 2 g. of sugar during soft food stage.

Alternatively, if she thinks it is too much sugar, I can make a balsamic reduction to make a sweet sauce without sugar.

Edited August 10, 20215 yr by Candace76
Clarity

Just saw that sugar is third ingredient, so it may not be the best choice.? I guess to keep sugar lower I will have to to make my own sauce or dressing.

55 minutes ago, Candace76 said:

Just saw that sugar is third ingredient, so it may not be the best choice.? I guess to keep sugar lower I will have to to make my own sauce or dressing.

My program said to "use caution" with anything more than 3 grams of sugar per serving. But programs vary. FWIW, I ate the sweet & spicy tuna before I checked the sugar ?‍♂️. It was good.

How would you make your balsamic reduction? It sounds good.

1 hour ago, Maisey said:

My program said to "use caution" with anything more than 3 grams of sugar per serving. But programs vary. FWIW, I ate the sweet & spicy tuna before I checked the sugar ?‍♂️. It was good.

How would you make your balsamic reduction? It sounds good.

https://cafedelites.com/balsamic-glaze/

Here is a link foe a recipe for balsamic reduction. You don't need to add sugar, but I add a pinch of salt. Good balsamic is all you need, and then you reduce it & it will thicken. Of course a little sugar is better, but it's good without it. I like it on pork or lamb chops.

I'll eat the 2 packages of sweet & spicy tuna that I have for now & be more careful looking forward. The ranch and sesame ginger tuna creations had less sugar.

You can also buy balsamic glaze at the grocery store and trader joe's. It's exactly the same thing!

Balsamic vinegar is sweet because it has sugars in it. Things that taste sweet has sugars in it, unless it’s artificial. I don’t understand this distinction of using a balsamic reduction instead of sugar… The body just sees sugar as sugar

1 hour ago, PrincessPeach said:

Balsamic vinegar is sweet because it has sugars in it. Things that taste sweet has sugars in it, unless it’s artificial. I don’t understand this distinction of using a balsamic reduction instead of sugar… The body just sees sugar as sugar

Yes, there are sugars from the formented grape juice.

My thoughts were that if I were to make the balsamic reduction, I can control the amount that I add to my food (or other ingredients to make another sauce or dressing). With the packaged tuna I would have to have the amount of sugar that has been added to the package.

Ah I see. I think that’s a good idea in principle but I’d recommend looking up the nutrition in your balsamic vinegar first. There’s quite a lot of sugar in it when you condense it in a reduction, you may end up better off with the 3g sugar in the pre packaged offering. But hey, good on you for being so diligent with your diet :)

Be careful. Most balsamic vinegar sold in North America is just red wine vinegar with caramel coloring and some kind of sugar (sometimes even HFCS). The real stuff (which is still grape juice) costs so much you would never think to do anything except drip it on fruit with a glass eyedropper.

If you buy your balsamic at Safeway, Kroger, or Trader Joe's, it's mostly sugar.

Thanks for the heads up. It's tricky to find what works when first returning to food. ?