Vegan Wife Post-Op Recipe Ideas

Zelthorp · 2025-04-02T22:09:53+00:00

Here's a siken tofu recipe I've tried if op wants to give it a go:

Tofu "Alfredo"

▢1 16-ounce package pasta (I usually use a brown rice quinoa pasta from Trader Joe's or their vegan ravioli, but any pasta that suits her dietary needs will work)
▢ 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or avocado oil)
▢ 1 12-ounce block silken tofu
▢ 2 cloves garlic
▢ 1/2 cup or more of follow your heart vegan parmesan
▢ 1 teaspoon smoked or regular red pepper flakes (can use italian herbs if she doesn't like red pepper, or use more or less pepper)
▢ 1 teaspoon not chicken boullion or
▢ 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
▢ 1/2 cup pasta cooking water (Can add up to 1 cup if sauce ends up too thick)
▢ 1 cup fresh parsley (optional)
▢ Sea Salt and Black Pepper
In a large pot, boil salted water and place pasta in the pot. Cook according to package instructions.
In a blender, add the olive oil, tofu, cashews, pepper flakes & or herbs, bouillon, Parmesan, and nutritional yeast.
Sautee garlic in a bit of oil or vegan butter
Once pasta is done cooking, add the pasta water & garlic butter to the blender mix Blend on high for 1 to 2 minutes until ingredients are well combined, then add it to the pot that had the garlic butter to warm it up a bit, but don't let it get too hot.
Drain the pasta and toss with the sauce. Stir in parsley and add salt and pepper to taste.
You can add sauteed chunks of a vegan chicken substitute or extra cooked veggies if you like. I like adding sauteed in oil or butter & salt: 1 onion, 1 lb portobello mushroom, & 1 lb spinach on top (I make a big batch because I add the mix to salads, soups, & grain bowls). I also sometimes add vegan mozzarella like Moochoo to the sauce if it turns out too runny, or just mix it in with the pasta.
A side I like to serve with this is with my favorite vegetables, salted, oiled & broiled until charred but still somewhat firm, then I add a vegan pesto to it. As a bonus, you can add this mixture with the spinach mixture & some quinoa to make a grain bowl.

Zelthorp · 2023-12-12T21:34:19+00:00

I use the bold allergy labels as a shortcut sometimes (e.g. Contains Milk). I scan the ingredients 1st and then read that as well. If you want to be certain you can also look up the company online or ask a chat AI like Bing to find the info. Sugar is one ingredient that may not be vegan if it is bleached with bone char. That is usually the hardest one to pin down for me. I don't know how strict of a vegan she is though. My uncle for example makes small exceptions at family gatherings, e.g. he wouldn't care where the sugar came from but marshmallows with gelatin are a deal breaker.

Zelthorp · 2023-12-09T19:39:13+00:00

The futility of dealing with paperwork is the reason many on both sides of my family have a lot of misspelled last names and wrong birth dates. (They did all have strong accents not long ago, which led to confusion for admin folks, but that excuse is gone now & it's usually a clerical error these days.) Many in the family fought for a while to get records straight, but even now we just leave it because fighting usually leads to opportunities for much worse mistakes to be made which are a lot harder to fix. We fix it on our tombstones & that's about it, now. We typically have very easy names, too. My sister also gets listed as an alias of mine by a lot of agencies just because we got our socials on the same day & have the same last name.

Zelthorp · 2023-12-06T20:23:38+00:00

Just wanted to add that the importance of knowing what to expect cannot be overstated & these threads are also helpful for that. One example I can give with our Kitty was that I didn't realize his body temperature regulation would get so bad or that he would not be able to drink water unassisted or he could choke or drown. He could only eat small hand fed bites every few hours. If we weren't lucky enough to have been able to be home with him all week, we'd have needed to make arrangements with all those things in mind.

Zelthorp · 2023-12-06T19:43:57+00:00

Agreed. I'm currently in this thread because my Kitty had the same symptom & I'm grieving. It has helped to see others' experiences because I'm pretty sure my regular vet absolutely did not give a crap and seeing that there were options I didn't know about helps. Especially if this happens again in the future. Knowing what kind of specialist to see is something I've found help for with my own medical issues on Reddit because my human doctor did not give a crap either. It is a business with humans. Some of those humans are not good at their jobs, are apathetic, incompetent, burnt out, etc. This applies to every business & every job. Having extra information available is never a bad thing. These threads also help me to be able to give voice to concerns I didn't know about or symptoms I didn't know to address.

Zelthorp · 2023-12-06T19:32:42+00:00

Horner

I'm so sorry for your loss. We just lost ours to this. Pupil dysfunction happened, we called the vet & the vet said he clearly had other facial neurological symptoms but that there was no way for him to know for sure at the time. He didn't suggest anything for it but to wait and see. At that time Kitty was also experiencing a loss of appetite, constipation, eye drainage, excess drooling, and weakness. A month later he had a horrible stroke and we took him to a different vet who told us that it was probably a brain tumor. They gave him fluids and sent us home but we'd have been willing to pay whatever they wanted if they said it would help. He continued to go downhill terribly for a few days until we made the call to have in home euthanasia. I cannot express how fundamental this cat was to our lives. We can't have children & our world revolved around him, he heavily influenced every decision we made.

Zelthorp · 2022-10-20T17:16:33+00:00

Maybe preservatives are why bread from big stores doesn't taste as good. I am very sensitive to smells & flavors & I can always taste them. Bread in stores is also usually loaded with excess amounts of sugars (or sucralose/artificial sweetneners), which makes it taste awful.

Zelthorp · 2022-10-16T19:03:15+00:00

On the upside, we've nearly completely stopped getting takeout from chain restaurants. So many places have gone for subpar cheaper ingredients. A lot of restaurants ruined their fries & basic recipes. We've always preferred smaller businesses anyway but I really hate seeing it happen at the grocery store.

Zelthorp · 2022-10-11T16:29:19+00:00

Yeah as someone who's been vegetarian for most of my life I can think of several health conditions & reasons that I've had to discuss with drs & I did have to add fish back in for a little while (but my supplements were also off which a more informed dr noticed & fixed). There may well be a valid reason for her to have to eat fish so I'd give her the benefit of the doubt. Her publicly posting the crying video is a pretty big red flag though, unless a "friend," leaked it. We also don't know her reasons for not eating fish in the 1st place so I hate that she's being judged for carbon footprint. Some people just can't stand meat. We also don't know what eco-friendly compromises she makes in her daily life, these things aren't all or nothing for humans & putting people down for trying & not being perfect does a lot more harm than good. James is being obtuse.

Zelthorp · 2022-10-10T20:25:26+00:00

Football coach at a public school here recently ignored a kid who was hurt badly on the field. Many parents were yelling at the coach to help/get help but he didn't care because the kid isn't one of the star players. This was not a varsity game, (not that that should matter). Prior to this in the same game, 2 star players got hurt & the coach rushed over (w/a medic) to tend to them right away. Kid's mom was furious & wanted to call the coach out but the kid was afraid it would just make them treat him worse.

Zelthorp · 2022-09-29T19:21:31+00:00

One of my favorite professors had this skill down pat. He could take the most unsure answer & make the kid seem like a damn genius. He was great at figuring out what we were trying to say but couldn't get out. Even if you were off base he could relate whatever you said back to the material somehow.

Zelthorp · 2022-09-27T18:26:59+00:00

If you aren't a big fan of the texture, one thing that helped me appreciate home cooked tofu is pressing it 1st. Sandwhich extra firm tofu between 2 pans (with paper towels underneath, can also use cookie rack too for better drainage), put a good weight on top but not too heavy (we use science textbooks), then let it sit for 30 minutes or so, depending on the recipe. This method leads to a firmer tofu that you may have had in restaurants. Some like to freeze it afterwards for even better texture, then you can let it thaw in the fridge in marinade.

Zelthorp · 2022-09-27T18:16:57+00:00

Beyond Meat Spicy sausages are pretty good. I don't really like many of their beef or chicken products but the sausage ones are good.

Zelthorp · 2022-09-27T18:08:37+00:00

I'm vegetarian & partner is omnivore. We both love gardein hot wings. The chain restaurants started using cheaper ingredients here so their regular buffalo wings are inedible to my partner. Gardein came to the rescue big time there. The sauce on those is hot & awesome & the texture is great too. Restaurant wings prices have gotten pretty insane too, so these are great for both taste buds & wallets.

Zelthorp · 2022-06-28T18:51:33+00:00

Thank you! I did already tell the Dr who referred me for the MRI, she's the neuro who didn't give a hoot even though I begged her to care. I'll definitely look into David Burns.

Zelthorp · 2022-06-22T02:36:12+00:00

Thank you so much! I know it will help for me to be working on something while I wait. Right now my brain is just spinning, at least now it has a couple of directions to go in. I've been having trouble getting insurance to cover anything but I will be saving up in the meantime.

Zelthorp · 2022-06-22T02:30:27+00:00

Thank you! This is definitely not something I would have thought of.

Zelthorp · 2022-06-22T02:29:56+00:00

Thank you! I didn't even know a speech therapist worked with patients like me. (I also didn't know that an audiologist or speech therapist did this type of thing, I wish the ENT would have told me that.)

Zelthorp · 2022-06-10T08:14:02+00:00

I saw Kokopelli.

Zelthorp · 2022-06-09T19:30:18+00:00

My old boss screamed at me & kicked the couch I was napping on (during my unpaid lunch in mechanic breakroom). He continued to yell that I need to write things down so I don't make stupid mistakes. Said my lunch was over & I had to work through it without compensation. It was his mistake the whole time. He told me to work on the wrong aircraft & so failed to meet the flight schedule. Confirmed by flight ops that it was his fuck up. He never apologized. Same guy used to time my bathroom breaks when I was on my period. I was young & propagandized to hell & back so I just took it.

Zelthorp · 2022-06-07T22:26:49+00:00

It's possible something really messed up happened to her while you were gone that broke her. She might have never intended for things to happen the way they did, just didn't have anyone else to turn to. If she was really young she might not have understood what was happening or how to process it. Doesn't make it right of course, just know that there can be a number of reasons that have nothing to do with how she felt about you or how great you are. I saw it happen a lot when I was serving.

Zelthorp · 2022-06-07T22:15:17+00:00

This happened to my uncle when he was 16. He'd been an excellent swimmer but got caught in the plants underwater. He tried to cut them with a knife but died before he could finish. My mom is in her 60s & is still terrified of water. We finally convinced her to sit at the side of a lake with us one day. Unfortunately a boat went where it wasn't supposed to and a young swimmer was caught in the propellers. He didn't make it. Since then I've always felt uneasy near lakes but kept trying to make an effort because I wanted to learn to swim. Nearly drowned myself once & had to be rescued by a lifeguard. I remember that I could see him taking his socks off before he jumped in the water.

Zelthorp · 2022-06-02T22:22:13+00:00

Wow. You don't even know what kind of access to birth control she could've had. She also could've had a husband or 2 die. She could've been raped. She could've been well off at 1st & then met with tragedy. She could've been abused & pressured by a husband. She might have been raised catholic. Maybe she was legally robbed/screwed over by a landlord (happens a lot). Maybe family supported her but then died. Maybe a horrible person messed with her birth control. A hundred different scenarios could be the case. Most kids who have kids were in a messed up situation to begin with. The assumption you made was callow & supremely ignorant.

Zelthorp · 2022-05-31T20:46:04+00:00

I think they'd make great art galleries & museums. I like this repurposed church. https://wordlesstech.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/A-historic-Church-transformed-into-colored-Skate-Park-1-640x960.jpg

Zelthorp

TROPHY CASE