Gastroparesis Food for Spoonies: Zuppa Di Pollo

Turns out my stomach (and everything else!) is angry today. I’m not sure what set it off, but I’ve been nauseous for the past two days and today that nausea was joined by pain. The best guess I have for why things are worse now, when they were getting better and I’ve been eating much more GP friendly, is hormones. I’ve been spotty for a few days now, and imagine my period will be starting any day now; it’ll be the first time since I’ve been diagnosed with GP and eating “friendly.” Of course, time will only tell. Anyway, I’ve been feeling rather poorly, and haven’t wanted to eat anything, but know I need to. Today I decided to whip up a really simple, GP friendly soup. I think this is my new comfort food.

Zuppa Di Pollo adapted from Food

•  4 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup crushed macaroni, or 1 cup ditalini
• 1/3 cup no break/egg beaters/processed egg whites (these are already whipped and processed making them super easy to use and easy to digest, plus no fat)
• grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
• parsley

1. Bring broth to a simmer.
2. Add pasta, return to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes.
3. Whisk in egg whites for 10 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl, add Parmesan and parsley for garnish
5. slowly sip broth and thoroughly chew your noodles

If I ever need to go to just broth I’ll probably whisk some egg whites in, it makes such a smooth and velvety base. I hope this recipe can help you out on bad days, as much as it helps me.

Gastroparesis Food for Spoonies: Minced Turkey Mix

I’ve made Vikalina’s Spicy Turkey Burek‘s a few times, and always love the flavor but not working with the filo dough. Then I started just sauteing up the turkey, onions, spices and eating mixed with cucumber and hummus on naan. Doing so makes it quick and easy to whip up and satisfyingly tasty.

To make the recipe GP friendly, I dropped the onion and peeled then cut and diced just the flesh-y sides of the cucumber–tossing out the seeds. I forgot to take my Reglan before eating, and much to my (thankful) surprise had no problems at all! Hopefully some of you will find this recipe as equally easy, satisfying, and symptom free.

Minced Turkey Mix

• 1 lb ground/minced turkey with a low % fat
• 1/2 bunch cilantro (I buy mine pre-chopped in a tube)
• 1/2 bunch parsley (I buy mine pre-chopped & partially dried)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon Dried Corriander
• Salt, Pepper, & Dried Chili Flakes to taste
• Hummus
• 1/2 cucumber
• Naan

1. Combine the turkey and spices in a skillet and cook through, until turkey is no longer pink.
2. While the seasoned turkey is cooking, peel the cucumber. Cut the cucumber along the sides, just before you reach the seeds. Dice the cucumber, for some lovely texture.
3. When the turkey is finished cooking, portion out the amount you want to eat; I eat mine out of a bowl. Top with a serving of diced cucumber and mix with a spoonful, or two, of hummus. Enjoy with naan!

Food for Spoonies: Gastroparesis version. Hit ‘n’ run traybaked Chicken*

In an effort to figure out what I can eat, I’ll be starting up some more Food for Spoonies posts; I’ll tag them as GP.

Some posts may be low FODMAP too, or can be modified to be low FODMAP – because it seems there is some cross over; but I am not specifically aiming for low FODMAP recipes. I’ll tag the ones that are as low FODMAP.

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This first recipe is for Hit ‘n’ Run Traybaked Chicken, based on Jamie Oliver’s recipe. It seems as far as GP food goes, it is all about what works for you. I picked this recipe following some general guidelines about cooking any consumed vegetables until they are very soft – which may not work for everyone.

Hit ‘n’ Run Traybaked Chicken

• 3 ripe roma tomatoes
• 1 large red onion *leave out for low FODMAP
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 orange bell pepper
• 4 skinless chicken thighs
• 1/2 bunch fresh time
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• Salt & pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Cut roma tomatoes into quarters, cut the onion into large wedges, and cut the bell peppers into thick strips.
3. Add veggies to a tray or baking dish with the chicken thighs. *Jamie Oliver suggests using skinless, boneless thighs; I haven’t found leaving the bone in makes a difference in flavor (though I don’t know about fat content) but it uses less spoons than trying to de-bone chicken thighs.
4. Sprinkle thyme, paprika, salt and pepper over the tray. Add oil and balsamic. Toss everything to coat.
5. Spread everything over the tray making sure the chicken isn’t covered by the vegetables. Roast for 1 hour, turning and basting a few times during cooking.

When it’s done, all the veggies are incredibly soft, and basically melt in your mouth. I imagine they would be very easy to puree and still have great flavor to go with the chicken. The whole thing might puree very well together and still give you a wallop of flavor.

*Edit: I recently picked up The Gastroparesis Cookbook. It seems onions, tomatoes, and bell peppers are all things that generally don’t work well for people with gp! They are all on the “Avoid” recommendation list. Now, this meal worked for me–given I ate small enough portions, but it might not work for others with gp. That said, it is still a great food for spoonies in that it’s very low spoon friendly to prepare!

Low FODMAP Recipe Dump! (Vegetable Omelette Terrine; Prosciutto Chicken; Italian Pork Chops and Polenta; Chicken fingers and BBQ sauce; Penne with tomatoes, eggplant, and mozzarella; Maple Braised Pork Chops; and Lemongrass chicken, with zucchini)

I have been horrible with keeping up with my recipe posting! I’m going to keep the commentary on this post to a minimum and just share all the low FODMAP recipes that I’ve used lately but haven’t posted recently.

Garlic Test – low FODMAP add back – Rosemary Lemon Chicken

I couldn’t wait for the full month to start adding things back, especially not garlic- I miss the flavor so much! So I decided that today would be my garlic test day. For tonight’s dinner I picked a favorite dish in my household, one that is otherwise completely low FODMAP friendly. It is one of my favorite low spoon dishes: it’s quick, easy, and only dirties up one dish.

Without further ado,
Rosemary Lemon Chicken, inspired by Vikalinka

Ingredients

• 1 lb baby yukon gold potatoes
• 1 lb chicken thighs
• 2 Lemons
• 3 Garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 450 F
• Add chicken to the baking dish, skin side up. (I prefer a glass casserole dish, you want something with sides to hold liquid).
• Cut the potatoes into halves, then add to the baking dish, surrounding the chicken thighs.
• In a mortar, combine the rosemary, garlic cloves, a pinch of coarse salt, and 1 tablespoon of oil. Bash it together with a pestle until you have a paste. Add the rest of the olive oil (2 tablespoons) and the juice from the two lemons. Pour over the chicken and potatoes, making everything is covered.
• If you want extra lemony flavor, add the lemon halves to wherever you have space in the baking dish.
• Roast for 35-45 minutes until the chicken skin is golden brown. Halfway through the cooking time baste your chicken and potatoes with the liquid at the bottom of the pan.

Enjoy! A and I usually add a little salt before eating, but we’re salt fiends… either way, it’s delicious- and for minimal work!

Low FODMAP – Meatballs with tomato sauce, over fries

I’ve felt better this last week. I’m guessing it’s from the low FODMAP diet, or at least the eating small snacks or meals constantly… but I can’t rule out that week of bleeding either. Confounding is a bitch when you’re trying to find any cause-effect relationship.

I’ve been trying my best to keep up with new low FODMAP recipes, but haven’t had anything worth sharing in a while. Tonight’s dinner, however, certainly needs to be shared. It was delicious. And, my day was topped off by remembering Pepsi makes a couple of their sodas with real sugar. Today, for the first time in a month I had a soda- a mountain dew. It was glorious. I’m still going to try to not drink them often, especially since I’ve also been off caffeine for two weeks or so, but nothing beats a soda every once in a while.

Without further adieu, meatballs with tomato sauce, over fries

Ingredients

• low FODMAP friendly fries (we use Kroger brand crinkle fries)
• shredded mozzarella cheese

For the sauce

• garlic-infused olive oil
• 14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes
• red 1 cup red wine (I prefer Rex Goliath pinot noir)
• dried oregano
• ground black pepper
• ground white pepper
• fresh basil paste
• ground sage
• ground thyme
• dried rosemary
• 3 teaspoons raw turbinado sugar
• red pepper flakes

For the meatballs (adapted from Low FODMAP Ninja)

• 2 slices of Udi’s white bread (I used the heels)
• 1/3 cup coconut milk
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 cup finely chopped green spring onions
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• Soak the slices of bread in the coconut milk until soggy.
• While the bread is soaking, cut green onions and parsley.
• In a pot, or saute pan, add some garlic-infused olive oil, about a table spoon. Heat over medium heat.
• Add the can of diced tomatoes, with liquid, into the pot. Add wine and sugar and let begin to cook down. Add spices to taste. Keep cooking until the sauce has reduced.
• Once bread is soggy, remove from the coconut milk and add to a medium sized bowl. Add the green onion, parsley, parmesan, ground beef, salt and pepper. Mix well.
• Shape the meatball mixture into 1-inch balls, and place on a baking sheet. Bake ~10 minutes, until no longer pink inside.
• Once the meatballs have finished cooking, add to the tomato sauce; keep over low heat to stay warm. Cook fries according to package directions.
• Top fries with meatballs, sauce, and shredded mozzarella. 🙂

In other news: I still haven’t heard back from any doctor regarding my ultrasound results. I got the report back on my patient portal on Saturday, but really want to hear back from my specialist’s office about it, because I the results have left me with a lot of questions…

Low FODMAP Tuscan Pork Chops

Its an incredibly busy time of year, thus the infrequent diet reporting, but I still want to share tonight’s dinner with you. This is a simple and quick recipe, for a tasty pork chop pasta dish,  inspired by Sweet C Designs. Ingredients

• 4 boneless pork chops
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon garlic-infused oil
• 14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 package of gluten-free pasta of your choice
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

• Bring water to boil. Cook pasta according to package directions.
• While the water is coming to boil, heat a large skillet on medium high heat until warm. Add butter and garlic-infused oil.
• Salt and pepper one side of your pork chops. Place the pork chops seasoned size down in your hot oil. Season the other side of the pork chops with salt and pepper.
• Let the pork chop get well browned before flipping. Once both sides have been browned turn the heat down to medium-low. Cook for another few minutes on each side.
• Add tomatoes, oregano, sage, basil, and a little extra salt. Simmer for amount 7 minutes. (you can add a splash of white wine to the tomato mixture, if you’d like).
• Remove from heat when the pasta is finished cooking. Top the pasta with the tomato sauce, and a pork chop (or two).

low FODMAP – Crock Pot Hawaiian Pork Burrito Bowl

I didn’t post my low FODMAP day yesterday, because dinner turned out… meh. When we went to the grocery store on Friday to pick up eggplants for the eggplant Parmesan we decided that we should pick up something for Saturday too, since it would be a busy day around town/ on campus and we didn’t want to have to go out. Thing is, deciding on dinner on the fly with a low FODMAP diet isn’t easy. All of our usual go-to, lazy dinners were off limits, so we figured, why not just do burgers and fries- then I could eat mine without the bun and everything would work out fine. Well… we usually use ranch or mayonnaise as a binder for our burgers, and both of those options were out; we tried using egg as a binder and the burgers turned out… interesting. It wasn’t terrible, but not something I’ll be eating again; A and I will have to find a new low FODMAP burger option. Other than that the day was pretty boring, I had a bowl of oatmeal with strawberries, chia seeds, peanut butter, and maple syrup for breakfast, left over eggplant Parmesan for lunch, and another bowl of oatmeal- this time with blueberries and raspberries with peanut butter, chia seeds, and maple syrup, as a snack.

Today was a far more successful dinner. It was delicious.

I had one of the peanut butter protein bars for breakfast, left over chicken with green curry and roasted veggies over brown rice for lunch, a bowl oatmeal with chia seeds, dark chocolate chips, kiwi, and maple syrup as a mid-afternoon pick up, and a cheddar cheese stick that I split with Pepper.  Then there was dinner- Hawaiian Pork Burrito Bowl. MMMM. We’ll definitely be making this one again.

The recipe is modified from The Housewife in Training Files to be low in FODMAP.

Ingredients

Enchilada sauce

• 14.5 can crushed tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 cup pineapple juice (we could only find a pineapple ginger juice blend)

Pork

• 2 Tablespoons garlic-infused olive oil
• Pork tenderloin
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons pepper

Add-ons

• 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
• 3 bell peppers (red, orange, yellow) sliced into strips
• pineapple, sliced into rings
• avocado
• cilantro
• lime juice

Instructions

• In your crock pot, combine all the ingredients for the enchilada sauce and mix until well combined.
• Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic-infused olive oil.
• While the skillet is heating up, rub the pork with the pork spice mix, making sure it is well covered.
• Add the pork to the skillet and sear on all sides.
• Once the pork is well seared place it in the crock pot. Spoon some of the enchilada sauce over the top of the pork. Cook for 3 1/2 hours on HIGH heat.
• In the last 30 minutes of cooking time:
  • cook your quinoa according to package instructions.
  • saute peppers in a skillet with olive oil over medium heat.
  • sear pineapple slices in a skillet.
  • slice avocado- for low FODMAP, remember to only have a few slices.
  • chop cilantro.
• Once the pork has finished cooking, shred it using two forks. Mix the shredded meat with the enchilada sauce.
• To serve, add quinoa to a bowl, top with the pepper mixture and then the pork. Add seared pineapple, avocado, and cilantro.

Enjoy!

low FODMAP- Eggplant Parmesan

I’ve lost count of what low FODMAP day this is. Nine or ten I think.

Today I was at a conference for work. I arrived too late for breakfast, so had a cup of Earl Grey tea for the first portion of the day. Lunch was provided by the conference, I had a small salad, deli turkey, roasted potatoes, and some roasted chicken. I’m not certain what was on the roasted chicken, but I did my best to pick low FODMAP selections, and still eat enough to satisfy me for the day. I had an unsweetened tea with lunch, and lots of water through the rest of the day. I also had one pack of Dole Dippers: banana slices covered in dark chocolate (one pack is 4 banana slices) to calm myself down after the Dr. H’s office incident…

For dinner, we had a far more exciting and delicious low FODMAP recipe, inspired by Annie’s Eats Skillet Eggplant Parmesan.

Ingredients

• 2 large eggplants
• Garlic-infused olive oil
• Coarse salt and ground black pepper
• 28oz can crushed tomatoes
• Dried oregano
• Dried parsley
• Dried basil
• Dried Italian seasoning – chose a garlic free mix
• Red pepper flakes
• 1cup red wine
• 2 teaspoons turbinado sugar
• 8 oz sliced mozzarella
• 1 cup grated Parmesan
• Fresh basil- I use fresh basil paste in a tube, it keeps longer and is delicious

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 F
• Slice the eggplant into 1/2 inch thick slices, and spread out on baking sheets, in a single layer.
• Brush eggplant lightly with garlic-infused olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Flip and repeat on the other side.
• Roast the eggplant for ~30 minutes, flipping halfway through.
• While the eggplant is roasting add garlic-infused olive oil and crushed tomatoes to a pot over medium heat. Add the sugar, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and other dried spices, to taste. Let simmer for a few minutes, then add the wine. Let the sauce simmer until the eggplant is done roasting, stirring occasionally.
• Pour half of the tomato sauce into a casserole dish.
• Layer half of of the eggplant slices evenly in the pan, so that it is well covered.  Add a small amount of fresh basil evenly over the eggplant. Top with half of the Parmesan, and half of the mozzarella.
• Pour remaining sauce over over the eggplant and cheeses.
• Spread the remaining eggplant over the casserole dish, and top with fresh basil the remaining cheese.
• Bake for ~ 30 minutes, or until the cheese is brown and bubbling.
• Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Hello Uterus. (And low FODMAP Day 8: Chicken with Green Chili Currry and Roasted Veggies)

I missed my low FODMAP entry yesterday because I felt awful. I’ll give you a warning here, if you’re just here for the low FODMAP recipes, and are uncomfortable with menstrual related talk,  then you’re going to want to skip to the bottom of this post.