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.

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.

CT scan, and low FODMAP Day 6: Chicken Biryani

This morning I had my CT scan.

I had to be at the imaging center at 10:00 AM for the 11:00 AM scan, and couldn’t have anything by mouth for at least 2 hours before. So I woke up around 7:30 to take my morning pills, but was otherwise completely fasted. I arrived at the imaging center early, after dropping A off at work. Shortly after checking in, the technician came out with two cups full of the oral contrast, and a straw. I had twenty minutes to drink it all, and then an hour later I’d be ready for my scan.

Drinking it down was a bit of a challenge. It was thick, and had an odd taste I couldn’t place. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the magnesium citrate for bowel prep, but it was certainly a challenge getting to the bottom of each up. Another patient in the waiting room was also getting an abdominal CT, and had just finished drinking his dose when I got mine. We joked a bit about the taste.

Twenty minutes or so after finishing my two cups of contrast it hit me. The last time I had a CT, the oral contrast was different- it was clear, and mixed with saline and ice, and I didn’t find it bad at all; the stuff I had today was white and completely different, and apparently does not agree with me as well.

I made a couple of bathroom runs before the technician came and got me for the scan. Once in the CT room the technician had me lay on the machine, placed and IV in my right arm, and had me put my hands above my head. We did a set of scans, then the technician added the IV contrast. If you’ve never had IV contrast, it’s a weird sensation; you get a warm, burning feeling that starts at the top of your head and travels down your body. It also makes you feel like you’re going to pee. We did another set of scans with the IV contrast, then the technician came and took the IV out. I needed one more set of scans, 7 minutes later, so I just waited for a while on the machine. After the last set of scans, I was done. The technician made me a copy of the scans (at my request), and told me how to sign up for the patient portal. I finished up around 11:50 AM.

Since I knew I wouldn’t have eaten all morning, I brought one of the peanut butter protein bars to eat in the car.

I had to go refill my amitriptyline prescription, so I swung by Kroger. While I was there I also picked up some low FODMAP friendly jelly, for my PB&J sandwiches- blackberry, with no added high fructose corn syrup. My tummy still wasn’t feeling well, at all, so as soon as my ‘script was filled I picked up my husband from work and headed home.

When I got home I I had a small amount of left over Cottage Pie, hoping it would help me feel a bit better. Slowly as the afternoon wore on, my tummy settled down. Then it started to hit me that my blood sugar was getting low, since I really hadn’t had much all day- and lost a lot of what I may have had in trips to the bathroom. I decided to have a handful of blueberries, raspberries, and a bit of maple syrup as a pick me up.

A little later I made dinner- Chicken Biryani from The FOODMAP Foodie. This recipe was delicious. We’ll definitely make this again, maybe with some stewed tomatoes.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

• boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1/2 cup basmati rice
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 2 zucchini, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1, thumb sized piece of ginger, grated
• olive oil

Instructions

• Heat the oil in a medium sized Dutch oven,over medium heat.
• Add the chicken, ginger, turmeric, and curry powder. Cook until the chicken is cooked through.
• Pour in the rice, vegetables, and stock, and stir to mix.
• Bring the pan to a simmer, then cover and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

.I totally forgot to take an Instagram photo of this one, sorry guys! I was too hungry, and it was too good.

low FODMAP Day 5: Peanut Butter Protein Bars & Cottage Pie

I went to bed last night feeling pretty bad- abdominal cramps, some nausea, and all over feeling unwell. I don’t know what caused it, maybe the liquid smoke?

I woke up feeling a little better, but not in a great mood. I had to run to the grocery store to pick up some tamari, and had a bit of a break down in the car on the way home. I just wanted a comfort food snack, and couldn’t have any of my usual choices. The toughness of this diet hit me again really hard.

When I got home I made myself a bowl of oatmeal, with berries, maple syrup, and chia seeds. Besides half of the oatmeal spilling in the microwave, it made me feel a bit better.

Around noon I decide to have some lunch. I had picked up some snack packs of Kalamata olives when I was at the grocery store, so had a pack of olives with some feta cheese, some sweet potato tortilla chips, and an all natural peanut butter and preserves sandwich on Udi. The preserves probably weren’t the best option for low FODMAP, it was fig, but all the other options we had in the fridge had high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient. I figured a small amount of fig preserves would be safer than added high fructose corn syrup.

I started to feel better through out the afternoon, and late in the afternoon decided to have a peanut butter protein bar. I made these bars yesterday, so I would have something to get me through the days at school next week. I slightly modified the recipe from Kate Scarlatta.

Peanut Butter Protein Bar

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup all natural peanut butter
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup quinoa flour
• 1/4 cup brown rice flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• dark chocolate chips

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• Line the bottom of an 8 inch square pan with parchment paper.
• Beat together the butter and peanut butter until creamy.
• Add in the eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla. Beat together.
• Blend in the quinoa flour, brown rice flour, and baking powder.
• Fold in the chocolate chips.
• Spread batter into the prepared pan.
• Bake for 25 minutes.Let cool for 1/2 hour, and then cut into squares.

The protein bars are pretty tasty.

As the afternoon wore on I started feeling pretty bad again. No stomach cramps, but a bit nauseous, dizzy, and flushed. Just all over not well.

For dinner I made Cottage Pie, using The FODMAP Foodie’s recipe as a base.

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
• 2 large carrots, shredded
• 1 parsnip, shredded
• 1 tablespoon garlic-infused olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoon tamari
• glass of red wine
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 lb golden delicious potatoes
• butter

Instructions

• Wash the potatoes and add to a pot of salted water. Place over medium-high heat and bring to boil. Cook until fork tender, at least 45 minutes.
•  While potatoes are cooking, heat garlic-infused olive oil in a stock pot or large frying pan over medium-high heat.
• Add the ground beef to the stock pot, and brown.
• Add the carrots, parsnip, wine, tamari, rosemary, paprika, oregano, celery seed, salt, and pepper. Simmer for ~15 minutes, until well cooked.
• Drain the potatoes, then return the potatoes back to their pot- removed from heat. Add butter (I used 3 tablespoons, you should use an amount you’re comfortable with), salt, pepper, and paprika to taste. Mash until smooth.
• Pour meat mixture into a 9in round oven-proof dish.
• Top with mashed potatoes, spreading them evenly over the meat.
• Add some slices of butter over the potatoes, then place in the oven. Cook for 20 minutes, until the top is golden brown.

This is a delicious Cottage Pie recipe. It doesn’t quite have the richness of a Cottage Pie cooked with tomato paste, but does a pretty great job on flavors otherwise. We’ll certainly be having it again in the future.

low FODMAP Day 4: Dinner – Paprika Chicken & Roasted Veggies

For dinner tonight, we had paprika chicken with roasted carrots and zucchini. It was actually pretty delicious chicken, I’m sure we’ll be having it again in the future. The recipe is modified from IBS Sano’s. Interestingly, the IBS Sano recipe calls for Worcestershire sauce, which when I looked at the ingredients contained molasses, garlic, and onion. I didn’t feel quite comfortable using the Worcestershire sauce, so substituted liquid smoke instead; the liquid smoke had molasses as well, but no onion or garlic, so I figured it was a safer option. I also didn’t make the sauce the IBS Sano recipe includes, because I could not find lactose-free double cream at my grocery store. I don’t think it needed a cream sauce at all.

Paprika Chicken

Ingredients

• Thin boneless, skinless chicken breasts (either buy the vacuum sealed thin breasts, or pound your breasts to ~1cm thin. We used 5 breasts, because that’s what came in the pack, and there was plenty of marinade to cover them)
• Marinade:
  • 1 tablespoon liquid smoke
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon grainy mustard
  • 1 tablespoon paprika

Instructions

• Mix marinade ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.
• Add the chicken into the bowl, and mix with marinade until all the chicken is well covered. Let sit in the marinade for at least 30 minutes.
• Heat a large frying pan on medium-high heat. Add some butter, and pan fry the chicken until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.

Roasted Veggies

This method works for almost any veggies. Usually our favorites to roast are broccoli, cauliflower, and asparagus… but of course those aren’t low FODMAP friendly. Today we roasted zucchini and carrots.

Ingredients

• Preheat oven to 400 F.
• Line a baking sheet (or two, if needed) with parchment paper.
• Cut veggies for roasting:
  • For zucchini, I love using a mandolin to cut them into thin rounds.
  • For carrots, use baby carrots for no cutting, or carefully slice carrots lengthwise into roughly even quarters.
  • For bell peppers, slice into strips.
• Drizzle olive oil over the veggies.
• Season with spices of choice. We usually use: salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, and paprika.
• Mixed veggies until they are well covered with olive oil on all sides.
• Put the veggies on the parchment covered baking sheet(s), making sure to spread them out so they aren’t crowded- preferably so there is space between all your veggies. You want them to roast, not steam.
• Put into the oven. Depending on your oven, and your veggies, cook for 20-40 minutes.
• If you can, or want to, flip the veggies half-way through cooking. This step enhances flavor, but isn’t essential.

Low FODMAP – Day 3: Spam & Quinoa Fried Rice

Day 3! Today went better than yesterday, but I still hit some grumpy sugar lows. I did plan a more extensive menu for the next four days, and spent a lot of money at the grocery store. It is crazy how expensive it is. I needed quinoa flour for a recipe I will be sharing with you in the near future- it was $10.00 for a small bag!

I still haven’t noticed any change in my level of bloating.

Onto today’s food:

Morning: cheddar cheese stick and black tea

Snacks: 2 of cocoa lemon energy balls, a few hours apart; I enjoyed them more today than I did yesterday. And a water bottle.

Lunch: NY strip steak, broiled Italian tomato, and green beans from the dining hall. I’m not positive that everything was cooked without garlic or onions, but I picked the best I could. A had a lot of work to do this afternoon, so we didn’t get lunch until nearly 3:00pm. By that point I was cranky and a bit weak, I needed the extra calories from the steak, tomato, and green beans, over a salad. I had some more water with lunch.

Snack: A few Food Should Taste Good Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips. Guys, these are SO good. The bag was on sale for $2.50, and I’m so glad I picked them up. I’m very glad I can have a few of these throughout the day.

Dinner: A 1/2 cup of  V8 Pomegranate Blueberry juice, a water bottle, and spam & quinoa fried rice. Spam & quinoa fried rice is actually a dinner we have often, although we did have to modify it to be lowFODMAP. It’s a recipe A and I wing every time we make it, but I’ll give you a general idea of what we do:

Ingredients

• 1 cup Quinoa
• Jasmine rice
• 1 Can of spam
• Shredded carrots
• 1 Zucchini
• 1 Red bell pepper
• 5 eggs
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• Cumin, to taste
• Curry powder, to taste
• Red pepper flakes, to taste

Instructions

• Dice the veggies and spam.
• Measure out the amount of rice you’d like, and begin to cook.
• Measure out quinoa and rinse under cold water. Start to cook quinoa.
• Heat a large wok on medium-high.
• Beat together eggs with salt, pepper, cumin, and curry powder.
• When the wok is hot, add the spam, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Cook until browned and crispy on all sides.
• Remove spam to a paper towel covered plate. Add eggs to the wok and scramble to your desired doneness.
• Remove eggs, adding them to the top of the spam.
• Season the veggies with salt, pepper, curry powder, cumin, and red pepper flakes, then add to the wok. Cook until tender crisp.
• Add back the spam and eggs, as well as the cooked rice and quinoa. Mix together.
• Remove from heat, then enjoy! If you have wheat free soy sauce, I recommend adding that on top.