Blended Root Vegetable Salad: Blended Diet Tube Feeding Recipe

I've always wanted to figure out a salad recipe for tube feeding. I'm personally a big fan of salad (keep in mind I eat by mouth), but in my experience, lettuce based salads don't work out well when blended. Root vegetables and grains, however, blend really well and maintain an attractive appearance and excellent nutrient density. I was inspired by a salad on a friend's blog (check it out here) and I realized that a root vegetable salad had big potential for blending. I'm happy to report that this recipe works out really well. I hope you'll enjoy this blended salad and find inspiration to create your own salad blends.

As you can probably tell by now, this recipe contains beets and carrots. Beets are a great source of antioxidants due to their bright red pigment. Their bright colour is a benefit in regards to phytochemicals, but it can also cause staining to clothing and even to the feeding tube itself. If that concerns you, feel free to substitute beets for any other root vegetable such as parsnips, turnips or more carrots. If you can find yellow or orange beets, that would be another option and much less staining.

Ingredients:

1 cup orange juice

1 cup cooked quinoa - do not undercook or your blend will become overly thick

1/2 cup chopped steamed carrots

1/2 cup peeled chopped steamed beets - the beets and carrots should be soft enough to poke through with a fork

1/4 cup water

3 tablespoons full fat feta cheese

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp fresh or dried dill

Recipe steps:

Add all ingredients to a blender. Blend until smooth and lump-free (this may take up to 2 minutes depending on the strength of your blender). Strain through a wire mesh strainer if needed.

Nutritional information:

This recipe produces approximately 530 ml and provides 560 calories, 19 grams of protein, 19 grams of fat, 71 g net carbohydrate, 10 g fibre, 645 mg sodium, 1290 mg potassium and 535 mg phosphorus.

If you'd like to see a video of this recipe and other great recipes, check out the YouTube video below and subscribe to the YouTube channel. For lots more great tube feeding recipes, take a look at my recipe book.

Enjoy!

~Claire