Goodbye Arch Bars!

Last view of Nathan's arch bars

these babies are GONE!

We are happy to announce that as of 4:00 today Nathan is arch bar free! No more pokey wires jabbing his gums, no more getting his lips snagged when he tries to talk. He had to go under anesthesia to get them taken out (they were embedded in his gums somehow, I prefer not to think about it too hard). The whole procedure was pretty quick and when he came out he was super chipper and chatty, I think a mix between recovering from being "under" and excitement about being able to talk pain free for the first time in weeks. He's still pretty happy, in fact, he just walked by and showed my his gums again (you know... as you do).

The nurse informed me that his first words when he came out of surgery were "I can smile!!" Which was nearly on par with his first words when he came out of surgery last time which were "I can run across the parp!" (albiet in written form since he couldn't talk last time). Click here for context.

Get well soon!

Elizabeth and Nathan

Fresh Strawberry Milkshake

Now that Nathan's starting to feel a bit more chipper, he's started creating his own concoctions on the Vitamix. Here's his latest success, a fresh strawberry milkshake:

This recipe is the simplest so far, and is honestly, it is probably the best thing we've made with strawberries. If you have access to fresh ripe strawberries this is super duper yummy since it captures and highlights the flavor of the fruit.

Ingredients (makes two servings):

1 lb - fresh strawberries

2 cups - vanilla ice cream

Directions:

Place your washed, destemed and hulled the strawberries in the blender and pulse until completely liquified. Add the ice cream and continue to blend until smooth. Poor into glasses and enjoy immediately. 

I am only medium ashamed to say we had these for dinner earlier this week... I mean what's the fun of being a grown up if you can't have shakes for dinner once in a while... right? :)

Get well soon!

Elizabeth and Nathan

Sunday Lunch Test Run

We have a weekly tradition of going out to lunch with friends after church. Sadly we haven't gone since the surgery, as there are not many places that serve broken jaw compatible food. Last night Nathan announced he wanted to give eating out another shot, so after church today we headed out with our housemate Lauren and her boyfriend Nathan (yes, we have a lot of Nathan's running around here) to Boudin's for lunch.

I didn't get the memo to make a funny face, I'll try to do better next time. (you can click on the photo to make it bigger so you can fully enjoy Nathan's expression)

Lauren and her Nathan, enjoying yummy sourdoughy lunches.

Lunch was a super success and Nathan was able to eat his chili and most of his bread bowl (the crust proved to be a bit too chewy, but the rest was fine). We also owe Lauren a a big thank you for telling us about the Boudin's rewards program. Basically every month you can get a free loaf of bread fresh bread if you eat there. So we also picked up our free loaf today, yay! 

Get well soon!

Elizabeth and Nathan

Updates!

It's been a little while since our last post so here's the latest news! :)

Nathan holding a Pi Pie and looking skeptical.

First off Nathan is doing really well. He can now:

1. open his mouth!! (and he only has to wear his rubber bands at night!! yay!!)
2. eat with a spoon!!
3. walk without causing pain to his jaw.
4. smile nearly symmetrically (and he even has his dimple back!)
5. talk on the phone and be understood by the person on the other side.
6. sort of "chew" soft things!!!
7. wink his left eye (and bonus, he can now close his left eye well enough so that he doesn't get soap in it)

We are still waiting to see how much his facial nerve continues to recover, they said it can take months before we'll know. Parts of his face are still numb, and while he has move movement in his left eyelid, his left eyebrow is still recovering (ie. it doesn't move yet, this has allowed Nathan to perfect his new "skeptical look" which consists of him raising his right eyebrow exclusively, it's a pretty convincing look). Monday he goes in to get his wire bands taken off, and Tuesday he has his dental appointment for his broken tooth!

He's also jokingly promoting the "wired jaw diet." The oral surgeon said it's normal for people to lose around 15 pounds when they break their jaw (due mostly to it hurting a lot to eat and drink in the first weeks post surgery). Nathan is no exception and has lost his 15 pounds; turns out weight loss is easy if you can't eat anything. Probably not the best or healthiest way to reach your goal weight, but there you go. We'll be working on incorporating exercise back into our routine slowly and hopefully we'll be a bit more balanced and healthy soon (Nathan couldn't do much running or walking earlier because the impact jostled his jaw).

__________________________

And now as promised, here are a couple exciting events from the past week or so:

First off, we had a lovely Pi/pie day on March 14th (3-14) with our small group. We made two pies to celebrate, a chocolate pudding pie and a chocolate oreo pie. We made the choice for pudding because 1.) Nathan can eat it, and 2.) We already had all the ingredients. :)

Pi Pie!!!

We also went out to eat for the first time since the accident (and ordered real food!!). Our friend Margaret just passed her Master's defence this last week so we took her out for a celebratory dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery. Nathan got the Bacon Mac and Cheese and was totally up to the challenge. :)

I forgot to take my camera, so this is an image I found online of Rock Bottom regular Mac and Cheese. Please imagine bacon on top for a more representative image.

Lastly, we were lucky enough to have our friend from Seattle visit us. :) Nathan was stuck grading the day she was here, so we had a girls night out at Disneyland which was super fun. I tried to convince her to move down here so that we could go to Disneyland together all the time, but she seemed hesitant, something to do with already having a house and a job elsewhere.... sigh... it was worth a try...

riding Charger on the King Arthur Carousal... Yes, we named our horses

Mine had a lion painted on the side, so at first I thought I'd name him Aslan, but then that seemed like a weird horse name, so I tried to change it to Bree, but the ride was already halfway over... so I'm not sure if it counted.

About to get spooked at the Haunted Mansion!

That's it for now, more recipes and updates to come soon!

Elizabeth and Nathan

Beach Day

Another chewing free date!

We had originally planned to go to the zoo together this weekend, but Nathan's swelling got pretty bad and he was feeling pretty tired. The San Diego Zoo is not a place to go if you are already feeling exhausted, so Nathan took me to the beach instead. Here's some pictures from our day out. :)

Note: there's still time to visit us before we move! This beach could be yours too!

View of La Jolla Cove

View of La Jolla Shores

Love Ducks!

Scripts pier

Nathan!

Pelicans and palm trees

We had a really fun time, although it was a little too cloudy to have a good sunset. I think I'm going to miss living by the beach! :(

Get well soon!
Elizabeth and Nathan

Hearty Turkey Chili

We haven't had any meat since the accident since we've been a little scared of blending meat. (Well, actually, I did blend some chicken the first week, but it didn't turn out too well...). Up until now Nathan has been getting most of his protein from dairy, tofu, beans and quinoa. However, this week we decided it was time to give meat a second chance.

my bowl, since avocados make Nathan throw up... poor dude.

Chili seemed like a good place to start, since it's already soupy anyway. I ate mine unblended (see photo above), and Nathan ate his blended (photo at the bottom of post). Both turned out well, and when Nathan can chew again I might still blend a couple cups of the chili and mix it back into the main batch because it makes it extra thick and yummy.

Ingredients:

1 lb. - ground turkey

1 - onion diced

4 cloves - garlic diced

2 - jalapenos diced (less for less heat, or sub a green bell pepper to avoid spiciness altogether) 

2 Tbsp - chili powder

28 oz. - crushed tomatoes

16 oz. - chicken stock

salt and pepper to taste

There is way too much chicken stock in this photo, I don't know what I was thinking.

Start by sauteing the onions, garlic and pepper in olive oil at the bottom of your soup pot. Wait for them to get a little soft, around 5 min. 

Next add your chili powder. Stir the whole think around for a minute or so, add a splash of the chicken broth if things begin to stick.

Throw in your turkey.

my turkey was still a little frozen, but I slowly broke it up and all was fine. Who needs defrosting, not me! (maybe... might have to revisit that stance later...)

Cook until turkey is thoroughly cooked. If the turkey was not very lean you can drain some of the grease off now.

Now add your tomatos and chicken stock. Mine were frozen in a ziplock bag in the freezer (we buy the big cans from Costco and freeze them in usable portions, really cheap that way).

Let everything simmer for about 15 min to let the flavors mingle.

Garnish with cilantro, lime, avocado, cheese, sour cream, or anything else that sounds yummy to you.

Enjoy!

_______________________________________________

Optional Blending Steps for Broken Jaw Folks:

Toss some in the blender with a few sprigs of cilantro

Blend on high until you get a soupy consistency. Add more chicken broth here if it is not liquidly enough (You want to make sure it's thin enough that you can easily drink it).

Enjoy!

Get well soon!

Elizabeth and Nathan

Cheddar Broccoli Soup

Our poor celery had been in the back of the fridge for several weeks and didn't look like it was going to survive much longer. To give it one last shot at a meaningful life we decided to make this tasty broccoli soup. :)

The celery from the back of the fridge... sad celery?... or possibly hip mustache celery?

If you ever find yourself in this situation know that you can partially revive celery by cutting of the bottom and sticking it in a cup of water. However, if you are putting on making a blended soup you can skip reviving it since the goal is to make it mushy anyway.

Ingredients:

1 - onion

32 oz. - chicken stock

3 - garlic cloves

2 - small heads broccoli (or one big head, our grocery store only had tiny ones left)

3 - stalks celery

1/2 cup - cream

1/4 - tsp red pepper flakes (more or less to adjust spiciness)

1 cup - shredded cheddar (which I totally forgot to put in the photo! sorry!)

salt and pepper to taste

Start by dicing the onion, garlic and celery. Don't worry about uniformity, since we're going to blend it later. 

Saute the diced onion, garlic, and celery in butter until soft. While you're waiting cut up your broccoli into small chunks (smaller chunks make it cook faster which is good!).

When the onions are soft add the broccoli and spices and stir around.

Next add your chicken stock and let the whole thing simmer until the broccoli pieces are tender. Transfer the mixture to the blender and blend adding the cream and the cheese. 

 Enjoy!

Note: If you are reading this and, like Nathan, are recovering from jaw surgery we recommend leaving out the cheddar cheese. Even though it was melted Nathan still had trouble with it getting stuck in his wires. That made this soup hard to eat durring the rubber-banded phase of his recovery.

Get well soon!

Elizabeth and Nathan