To quote the greatest show on earth:
Mashed Potato with gravy?
I could live for a week on Mashed potato and gravy.
When I was a kid, I had to have my VERY impacted wisdom teeth removed. I am not a good healer, so naturally they (or the absence of them) got all infected. Consequently, I could not chew anything. Like you, I tried the “put everything in the blender” game. All I can say about that is DO NOT ever try to eat pureed chunky soup of any kind. Trust me. Ech.
There were a couple of things I did find palatable after a spin in the blender. One was a kind of yogurt/fruit/milk/sugar thing.
Take some vanilla yogurt. Dump a generous portion in the blender. Add fruit. (Banana was not the best, so I don’t recommend it.) Dump in about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk, depending on the amount of yogurt. Add a tablespoon of sugar. Blend the shit out of it. It’s pretty much a smoothie, I guess. But it was good.
The other thing that I remember liking was jello and fruit cocktail (drained) from the blender. It tastes basically the same as regular jello with fruit. Just blend the fruit before you add the jello, or it will get runny.
Hope that helps a little. 
Special Notes: (Please provide clarification)
This is the starting point for a list of foods you might enjoy.
I presume that you do not own a high quality juicer. Due to this probability, I shall occasionally recommend buying preprocessed juices for certain recipes.
Invest in some good quality sieves and strainers for the duration of this event. They do not need to be expensive, but you want a pretty fine mesh plus one or two steps wider in screen size. If you have to trash them at the end of this, who cares? You want to eat toothsome foods (bad choice of words) that ensure good nutrition during this period of limited intake.
Your biggest challenge is providing your tract with sufficient fiber to sustain it. Beans and grain pulses are going to be your best friend. Purees and pulps made with savory broths and reductions will give you a vital sense of texture
To gain maximum appeal and flavor from your liquid meals, consider freezing off some considerable quantity of cooked food stuffs resulting from your current regimen.
Buy some cheap wooden spoons to ‘rub’ pulp through the above mentioned sieves.
Finely ground white pepper, garlic and onion powder, soy sauce or tamari plus other powdered herbs will become very important to you.
Go to your local restaurant supply house and buy a 100-500 count box of ‘Slurpee’ style wide bore scoop-ended straws. These things will be your best friend for some weeks.
Consider buying a food ricer. Look for on at your local thrift shop or on eBay.
An inexpensive mandolin slicer will help you make Julienne and matchsticks.
I’ll refrain from suggesting any spicy recipes as they could trigger undesirable coughing or regurgitation. You want to consider the risk of this fact in your dietary choices.
Here is a list of recipes. Please note any of those you find most appealing, plus your own favorites. I’ll cheerfully evolve tasty variations of those candidates so you won’t miss all your favorite foods.
Beverages:
Citrus Juice Blast
Orange Julius
Soups:
Barf Beeley … Beef Barley Soup
Herbed Tomato Soup
Miso
Hot and Sour Soup
Leek and Potato Soup
Ham and Pea Soup
[Lisa Simpson]
Gazpacho!
[/Lisa Simpson]
Congee
Borscht
Chicken and Rice Soup
Desserts:
Apple Sauce and Vanilla Cream
Black and Tan Sundae
Hominy Pulse with Maple Butter
Banana Coconut Cream
Yoghourt Fruit Freeze
Strawberry Frappe
Granité
Thank you Zenster. There are some flavor combinations in your above list that sound pretty tasty. And I found a recipe for Pea and Cilantro soup yesterday…it looks like it’ll help with my cravings for fresh, green flavors. There are so few things I can eat fresh, everything has to be cooked at least a little bit.
To Laurasia
Everyone has a different level of pain tolerance. For me, I have yet to experience any more pain than what I was having pre-surgery during a particularly bad flare up of TMJ inflammation. However, I’ve been very meticulous about following the medication schedule and oral hygiene regimen I was given, and keeping the surgery site iced down. Right now, post surgery self care is the closest thing to religion that I have. After a very early a.m. surgery, I spent one night and most of the next day in the hospital. I had the surgery on a Tuesday, and my husband was able to spend the remainder of the week home with me, which was wonderful because I never would have been able to make it alone. He was there to get the Bucko off to school, make sure I was taking my ibuprophen and Lortab (which I needed for only 4 days) when I was supposed to, answer the phone, load the dishwasher, stay on top of the laundry, do the cooking (he’s an excellent cook)…so all I had to worry about was resting and recovering. I think that the fact I have so much excellent help here at home has been the biggest aid in my recovery. I would worry about someone that has to go home alone or to several children with no support from another caring adult. It’s major surgery, and your body just doesn’t bounce back from an assault like that overnight.
My advice to you is to do the surgery. As I said, post surgery pain has yet to reach the worst pre surgery pain I’ve had, with the added benefit that there’s an end to the pain in sight. Before the surgery, I never knew how bad the flare-up was going to be, when it would end, or when the next one would hit. After the surgery, I know that any pain I’m feeling today will probably be better tomorrow or the next day, and that next week or next month won’t bring on even worse pain. What I’m feeling now, barring any major complications, is as bad as it will ever be, ever again.
One of my favorite summer soups is really simple: 2 minutes and a belnder, tops. 1 cup plain yogurt, 1 chopped, seede, peeled cucumber, 1/2 chopped onion, salt to taste, and a whole mess of fresh dill. Blend until smooth. Maybe that will help your craving for green stuff.
Gazpacho? Fresh, raw, zillions of recipes.
I’ve got a great recipe at home somewhere for a Moroccan red lentil soup with ginger and garlic. It ain’t green, but it’s yummy, with just a bit of zing.
How about <a href=“http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/special/2000/nourish/congee.html”>rice congee</a>?
Or polenta (cooked soft and mushy)?
Or steamed tofu (the soft silken type) with sesame oil and soy sauce drizzled on top?
Or stewed fruits?
Damn, let’s try that link again…
I broke my jaw when I was 12. The best blended food I ate was spaghetti.
I feel for ya…soup gets really old.
Sig line!
Um… don’t think I can come up with anything new, unless… have you ever tried lassi? It’s an Indian milk drink that will certainly taste different.
Fill a tall glass with milk, add cinnamon, salt and pepper, a lot of crushed ice, and shake it around a bit. You’ll either love it or hate it.
[Most people hate it, but I figured it’s worth a try]
Let me know which ones you like and I’ll whip up some adaptations for you. Here are some of the first draft versions:
Citrus Blast
Juice of:
4 Oranges
2 Lemons
1 Lime
Herbed Tomato Soup
¼ Cup Roux (or less)
1 Pint Tomato sauce (or more)
1 Cup ½ & ½ or cream
½-1 Cup Reduced chicken stock
Powdered oregano
Powdered sage
Powdered rosemary
Ground white pepper
Very slowly work the reduced chicken stock and cream into the roux to make a white sauce. Once it begins to thicken, slowly add the tomato sauce and then the herbs.
Miso Soup
1-2 Pints Chicken stock
¼-½ Tsp Bonito flakes
¼-½ Tsp Roasted sesame oil
2-3 Tbs Miso paste
1 Tsp Peanut oil
Work miso paste with chicken stock to make a thin gruel. Add other ingredients and heat to near boil.
Hot and Sour Soup
1 Quart chicken broth
¼ Cup Soy Sauce
¼ Cup Xao xing Chinese rice wine
1-2 Tbs Corn starch
1 Tsp Roasted sesame oil
¼ Tsp Five spice powder
¼ Tsp Garlic powder
¼ Tsp Onion powder
¼ Tsp Ginger Powder
Reduce the stock by one-third. Boil off coins of ginger and Julienne of bamboo shoots in the stock (or add their packing brine) for flavor. Strain off ginger coins and bamboo shoot matchsticks. Mix cornstarch with small amount of soup in separate bowl. Blend slowly into simmering soup. Add rice wine, oil and powdered spices.
Black and Tan Sundae
Vanilla ice cream
Hot fudge
Hot caramel
Puree of roasted almonds
Heat the caramel and fudge by placing the unsealed bottles in a bath of slowly heating water.
Blend ¼-½ cup roasted almonds with ½ cup milk or ½ & ½. Add a few drops of vanilla and almond extract.
Scoop ice cream into a bowl, allow to partially melt. Bracket the scoop with puddles of hot fudge, caramel and the almond puree.
Haven’t seen it mentioned, but you might try Hummus - it’s garbanzo beans blended with lemon & garlic. You can usually find it in the refrigerator section at the grocery store in several varieties (spicey, extra garlic, etc.). It might be a little thick, in which case add a little lemon juice or water. Just a thought for something tastey that wouldn’t require too much effort.
Thanks for the advice and the info Deej…I’m thinking more and more about having the surgery…I’ve never been in a hospital (besides the emergency room!) and I’m a big baby about pain…but then again, I wouldn’t have to worry about my pesky jaw issues forever! The pain I get from TMJ is not so bad anymore…it was much worse before I moved away to college; I think the stress of living with my family was a major cause of the flare ups and pain (yes, my family is more stressful than four years of college!). I am seriously considering getting the surgery done…but I have to wait until I get in a situation that would allow me to have the time to recover. Thanks!