Flavour:
When I started this blog I asked on twitter for some ideas of what I should cover in this blog. Since I am currently (still...more on that in a minute) in the elimination phase of this diet, I am avoiding onions and garlic altogether which makes getting flavour into dishes a lot more complex than you'd imagine, especially if you generally avoid chili and "hot" spices as I do anyway.
A massive regular dish in our household is sausage casserole. We make it a lot, with all kinds of things and all kinds of sausages because it's relatively cheap, filling and my daughter likes sausages! We also mainly do it in the slow cooker, because it's a good standby for nights where things are a bit pear shaped. Ten days ago my daughter asked for sausage casserole for ballet night. Ballet night is always a bit hectic, though thankfully not as far away now as it used to be. But by the time we get back at 5, she is charging hungry and dinner needs to be ready RIGHT NOW! So I asked my DH to put dinner on, since I was out most of the day.
I don't have a recipe (again, I am working on doing this) but it was a fairly average casserole, but obviously no onion, no garlic and no stock cubes. Tomato based (passata type) and contained sweetcorn, finely chopped green beans, possibly red pepper and carrots.
Cinnamon, and caraway seeds.
Yep, you read right. It gave an almost smoky quality to the dish, which was very enjoyable. There were leftovers which we froze, and I ate on Friday night for tea. The caraway (as it often does) had continued to infuse the dish. Delicious.
Favourites
I first came across northsouthfood from this article
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jan/19/eat-well-tight-budget-benefits
and it's no secret anywhere that Miss South's chicken cobbler became a staple in our diet. It's a wonderful dish for leftovers, we often make our own stocks anyway. However it's not easy to doctor for fodmap since I am avoiding leeks, onions and mushrooms!
Substituting other veg wasn't that difficult, neither was subbing lactofree milk in the gravy.
Plain yogurt for the cobbles was unobtainable since I do not use soy yogurts for other reasons. So I chose a low fat greek yogurt - as have been told that this is low lactose - and we used GF flour. GF flour is notoriously difficult to use for anything that needs moulding or rolling.
It did not work well. The cobbles had lost their acidic creaminess, they tasted of cardboard.
The underneath was ok, but sadly the dish had lost some of its combination charm. I do not want to live without this dish on my regular menu so I am determined to find a way to make it.
It's just going to have to go in the "not at the moment" pile.
Other stuff
I made bread with the recipe on the Doves farm bread flour. I think I may have used the wrong dried yeast. It is ok, but still not right.
Udi's bagels were back in the supermarket this week! Huzzah! They are the GF thing that's most like it's "normal" equivalent.
I have painfully resisted my daughters birthday cake.
I miss fruit. Much of the fruit that is FODMAP friendly is large and cumbersome - like pineapples or melons and we're allegedly only supposed to have one portion of fruit a day. I am the only one in my house who likes/eats melons, so something like that can take me the best part of a week, by which time it's going funny even in the fridge. The other stuff is tastier (strawberries etc) but much more expensive. Expensive is a major issue.
My friend is going to lend me her icecream maker so I can have a go at making a lactofree icecream. Yum! (hopefully)
Saturday 21 June 2014
Tuesday 10 June 2014
Sometimes it's just editing.
It's been another busy weekend in this household. At the weekend we acquired two new godsons: smaller C (we have a larger C as well) and Q, affectionately known as squishy boy (because he is very squishy and funny) and there was a crazy mad barbecue. Except that I kinda forgot that and took a fodmap friendly pasta box to eat instead. My friend asked me if I was going to sit in a corner on my own being sad. I said no, I aimed to make something that looked fabulous so everyone else would want to know what I had!!
No burgers this week (though I could have)
BUT I did make rice pudding.
I love rice pudding.
My DH does not like rice pudding.
A while back my Dad bought me a slow cooker book which had some nice looking desserts in. I have never really made desserts in my slow cooker, but I made a ginger cake for my Mum which she said was delicious. I took heart. The recipe for rice pudding was really simple, basically just rice, milk, and sugar. I switched for lacto free milk and this time, I added ground mixed spice, raisins (I am aware we are not supposed to have too many, but in a portion you would be fine) and mixed peel. I was worried that the peel might make it taste sour, but it had a lovely, hot cross bun type flavour which I was very pleased with. It was consumer tested (and by this I mean, eaten by a non fodmap person) by above friends partner this morning and he pronounced it good. Rice is definitely a compensation in this business, I am discovering. It was lush.
I'm happy when I find a recipe that only needs minimal editing and still works. I have been making a lot of things up as I go along, but sometimes I don't have that kind of energy. (Did I mention I have PCOS as well? this seems to make me tired). Plus it is stoopid hot where I live, and I melt in the heat.
What's on your fodmap this week?
No burgers this week (though I could have)
BUT I did make rice pudding.
I love rice pudding.
My DH does not like rice pudding.
A while back my Dad bought me a slow cooker book which had some nice looking desserts in. I have never really made desserts in my slow cooker, but I made a ginger cake for my Mum which she said was delicious. I took heart. The recipe for rice pudding was really simple, basically just rice, milk, and sugar. I switched for lacto free milk and this time, I added ground mixed spice, raisins (I am aware we are not supposed to have too many, but in a portion you would be fine) and mixed peel. I was worried that the peel might make it taste sour, but it had a lovely, hot cross bun type flavour which I was very pleased with. It was consumer tested (and by this I mean, eaten by a non fodmap person) by above friends partner this morning and he pronounced it good. Rice is definitely a compensation in this business, I am discovering. It was lush.
I'm happy when I find a recipe that only needs minimal editing and still works. I have been making a lot of things up as I go along, but sometimes I don't have that kind of energy. (Did I mention I have PCOS as well? this seems to make me tired). Plus it is stoopid hot where I live, and I melt in the heat.
What's on your fodmap this week?
Thursday 5 June 2014
Wednesday 4 June 2014
There's not really a map, you know that, right?!
I had a little thing on twitter so I could figure out a name for this blog. Approval eventually came from the lovely Miss South, who backed me up in the first place.
My GP suggested I try this, cheerfully informing me that she was not at all an expert, she just wanted to help me. It's been so long since anyone wanted to help this problem. IBS is a bit of a comic disease it would seem, and since doctors can't really solve it, you are often left on your own to deal with it.
I am not a nutritionist (though thankfully I have remembered I know a couple) so though I understand what my doctor gave me to read, I'm not sure whether I can really explain what I'm not/eating. Thankfully lots of people have done the research, so here are some links for you to have a look at.
Good answer here from WebMD
http://www.webmd.boots.com/healthy-eating/guide/fodmaps-diet
A lil' bit of Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FODMAP
The food list I am using until I can speak to a dietician:
http://www.ibsdiets.org/fodmap-diet/fodmap-food-list/
I really hope this takes off:
http://fodmap.com/
and of course the people who actually did the research
http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/gastro/fodmap/
Last night we had success with fodmap friendly fishcakes. They were even good cold. We made them with some frozen Basa fillet that was in the freezer. I asked my dear husband how he made them, and he answered "I looked in that Good Housekeeping book. I just switched stuff for gluten free flour and stuff".
Nom.
As I said, I knowingly ate wheat over the weekend and the ensuing discomfort is leading me to believe that wheat/gluten might be part of the problem. In the immortal words of Tori Amos, "there's a bowling ball in my stomach...and a desert in my mouth"...... I find this pretty scary to be honest, since I love bread with a passion. However I have honestly long suspected that I might need to eat less bread........................... Lets see....
My GP suggested I try this, cheerfully informing me that she was not at all an expert, she just wanted to help me. It's been so long since anyone wanted to help this problem. IBS is a bit of a comic disease it would seem, and since doctors can't really solve it, you are often left on your own to deal with it.
I am not a nutritionist (though thankfully I have remembered I know a couple) so though I understand what my doctor gave me to read, I'm not sure whether I can really explain what I'm not/eating. Thankfully lots of people have done the research, so here are some links for you to have a look at.
Good answer here from WebMD
http://www.webmd.boots.com/healthy-eating/guide/fodmaps-diet
A lil' bit of Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FODMAP
The food list I am using until I can speak to a dietician:
http://www.ibsdiets.org/fodmap-diet/fodmap-food-list/
I really hope this takes off:
http://fodmap.com/
and of course the people who actually did the research
http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/gastro/fodmap/
Last night we had success with fodmap friendly fishcakes. They were even good cold. We made them with some frozen Basa fillet that was in the freezer. I asked my dear husband how he made them, and he answered "I looked in that Good Housekeeping book. I just switched stuff for gluten free flour and stuff".
Nom.
As I said, I knowingly ate wheat over the weekend and the ensuing discomfort is leading me to believe that wheat/gluten might be part of the problem. In the immortal words of Tori Amos, "there's a bowling ball in my stomach...and a desert in my mouth"...... I find this pretty scary to be honest, since I love bread with a passion. However I have honestly long suspected that I might need to eat less bread........................... Lets see....
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