Suggestions for Sandwich and Wrap Fillings and Cracker Toppings
Any topping or filling MUST BE SOFT AND MOIST for safe swallowing. Moisture is introduced by adding any combination of finely diced fresh tomato or sundried tomato in oil, cucumber, cress, red pepper, Chinese leaf, spring onion, grated carrot etc and mixed well. Then combine this mix with one of the suggestions below. Most can be puréed if necessary.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: none
Serves 4
Ingredients
- Mashed tinned sardines in spicy tomato sauce.
- Mashed tinned mackerel fillets in a rich tomato sauce.
- Mashed tinned tuna. As tuna is not in its own sauce, you will need to add mayonnaise or salad cream for blending. Sweetcorn can be added too.
- Cream cheese or cottage cheese. These are particularly nice on chilli flavoured rice crackers. Cream cheese is not suitable for puréeing unless you add a "lubricant" such as milk.
- Cream cheese mixed with puréed cooked leek and bacon, garlic and Worcestershire sauce.
- Cream cheese mixed with finely chopped cooked chicken or tikka flavoured cooked chicken, chives, Greek natural yoghurt.
- Finely chopped cooked prawns mixed with mayonnaise or seafood sauce or Greek natural yoghurt with tomato purée added.
- Finely diced Coronation chicken.
- Finely chopped egg mayonnaise.
- Finely chopped smoked salmon, cream cheese and dill. Not suitable for puréeing unless milk is added.
- Finely chopped smoked salmon, mayonnaise, Greek natural yoghurt and dill.
- Houmous.
- Guacamole or Alex's Wackymole.
- Finely chopped or puréed ham and mayonnaise.
These are just a few ideas that Alex enjoyed – I am sure you can devise many more of your own combinations, but keep them soft and moist.
You then need to decide whether your patient can safely swallow wholemeal bread, wraps or crackers. Avoid "dry" crackers like cream crackers – go for crumblier, moister crackers like multigrain ones. If these, even with the addition of the moist chopped vegetables, are no longer suitable carbohydrates, try adding to a small quantity of cooked couscous, rice, quinoa or small shaped pasta for tasty salads, but remember to have more of the moist filling than carbohydrate in the mix.