Transitioning Back to Solid Foods - recipes

Bread soup, looks disgusting, tastes yummy

After a week on a clear liquid diet, it was time to begin eating solids again.  My stomach is still very grumpy, so I decided to make a slow transition back to solid foods by starting with some stomach-mild mushy foods.

The nice things about these recipes is that it helps to use up all that extra broth left over from the previous week.

Bread Soup

This is a very British food, traditionally fed to the very young and sickly.  Also makes a good breakfast for the healthy.


A couple of bread crusts, or slices of bread.
A teaspoon of butter  (not Marg unless you are vegan or can't eat butter for some reason. I use goat butter because it's easier to digest.  I can't remember the specifics, but there is something in butter that helps wake up your digestion system, when taken in moderation)
some broth
optional broth cube

• Cut or crumble up the bread into bite size segments and put in a bowl with a tsp of butter.  Optional, add a crumbled up broth cube.
• Bring the broth to a boil and pour over the bread.  Stir and add more broth if you need it.

pretty simple.

Rice Mush

About 1/4 to 1/2 cup of rice

roughly 2 cups of dashi stock (or just water)

• Wash the rice in cool water at least three times
• If you have a rice cooker, follow the instructions for rice porrage that came with it.
• Otherwise, combine washed rice and dashi stock in a pot, bring to boil, cook covered on low for about an hour or until mush.
• Serve with ume boshi (pickled plum) if you can, as this helps aid digestion.  Wakame seaweed and nuka pickled veg are also great additions to this dish and help wake up the gut.

A word about rice.  As tempting as it is, stay away from brown rice the first day or two.  High fibre foods can really set back your recovery.  Rather, stick to low fibre foods, lots of moisture, and whatever your doctor recommends. 

Affordable cooking: yes.  most of these use up leftovers, but even cooking from scratch, it's still pennies a bowl.

Vegan?  Could be if you use vegan broths and marg instead of butter

Healthy: there is a lot of nourishment in these recipes, but I would be leery of having a restrictive diet of just mushy stuff without a doctors consultation and monitoring.   

Possible allergy conflicts: if you are using commercial made broth, there will most likely be soy and lots of yeast, both common allergens.