Taco Mash

I was told by my college dormmate friend, Lindsay, that she ate this thing she called "Taco Mash" alot after her jaw surgeries. And for the last week, I felt I was well enough to move on to this cullinary delight and other such soft foods, so I was planning on buying a taco or two and dumping the contents out on to a plate and mashing everything up w/ the refried beans. But whaddaya kno? Our office had a staff appreciation lunch today...TACOS! So I had my taco mash, for the first time, and I wanted to eat another huge plate. It was that good.

My Taco Mash started off with one soft tortilla at the bottom of the plate (I can't eat it, but I love flour tortillas and chapatis and other foods like that). I topped that w/ a couple serving-spoonfuls of refried beans (the consistency is very similar to very soft mashed potatoes, my vehicle for eating minced food), some seasoned ground beef and some of that saucy liquid (I picked out the carrots and peppers in there), spanish rice (also minus the veggie additives), a generous sprinkling of grated queso fresco, a scoopful of salsa and even a bit of shredded lettuce! I had to use my knife to mince the lettuce some more, but it was sooooo good!!

This is what it was, sorta, minus the taco shell/bowl, sour cream and guac...and I had queso fresco instead of the shredded cheddar-looking cheese and pretty smooth salsa instead of the chunks of tomatos.

I was looking for some pictures of taco insides on google and started watching youtube videos on how to make a taco salad...and noticed that I didn't get avocados or sour cream as a choice for my taco mash.

I have a couple avocados sitting at home, so I guess I can try a taco mash at home if I get adventurous enough to grocery shop and cook this weekend! I'm not a huge fan of sour cream to begin w/ so I didn't really miss that, but avocados, I like. And since the surgery, I've single-handedly consumed at least 4 avocados on my own...all w/in the first 8 or 9 weeks. That's more avocados crammed in any 2 months of my life! And I think I wanna try ground turkey instead of beef. :)

...I a thin wire holding the main wire and hooks to my brackets unravelled inside my left cheek, on the upper teeth and hurt me all day until I went in for my 6:45 pm emergency ortho appt. Well, I think I was squeezed in at the end of the day b/c they couldn't see me any other time. Well, my orthodontis, Dr. Kusnoto wasn't there b/c his wife's water broke and he went on paternity leave. So a colleague of his saw me instead, she was really nice and looked young for a professor, but she found some loose hooks and tightened them for me when she replaced the thin, loose wire. I wasn't seen until like 7:30 pm b/c I think she had to take over all of my dr's patients as well as her own so they had to stay late, but thing are fixed in my mouth!

It's 11 weeks post-op and my surgeon, Dr. Heffez, allowed me to return to normal physical activities, such as dancing and jumping and running...but I think I'll have to watch it b/c my mouth still hurts alot, and downward dog, which I attempted last Sat. during basic ballet warm up, was stressful on my sinuses, mouth and overall head. So...we'll see what happens this weekend!