This is a really nice carrot recipe from Carmen Bogosian, RD, LD. It should be fine for those following Low FODMAP, gluten free (Check ground spices for wheat + gluten) wheat free, egg free and milk free – wow!
Category: Uncategorized
Simply Gluten Free and Dairy Free – Grace Cheetham
This book is a useful addition to the bookshelves of anyone who has a requirement to follow either a dairy free, lactose free and gluten-free diet or both. However despite the name of this book it contains some recipes for a number of different food allergies or intolerances identified by symbols at the side of each recipe, the symbol key is at the front of the book. The gluten-free symbol does include wheat free so the recipes are suitable for those people needing to follow a wheat free diet, although this is not clear from the title of the book. For those coeliacs amongst my readers the book has the endorsement of Coeliac UK, meaning that the recipes are guaranteed gluten-free (as long as you use the listed gluten-free ingredients of course!) Healthy eating recipes are included and the pictures certainly make you want to try some of the dishes as they look fresh and colourful and Grace injects some personality into the chapters by writing a small introduction to each and hints and tips are included throughout. Most of the recipes are not easily identifiable as ‘free from’ by anyone who wouldn’t be aware, making the recipes useful for the whole family. Treats are not forgotten, also very important to include occasionally in the diet for those people who have to exclude certain foods. It is perhaps better to wait till you have identified your intolerances if you are being treated with the Low FODMAP diet before you think about buying the book as the recipes do contain a number of high FODMAP foods, but these types of foods are generally healthy for those people who don’t have Irritable Bowel Syndrome or types of gut inflammation such as crohn’s or Colitis. For Low FODMAP followers you should only consider these recipes if you only have lactose intolerance and/or need to avoid gluten or wheat and you are fine with all other types of high FODMAP foods. The recipes I tried worked well and the book is nicely presented and not too expensive, so perhaps think about the book as a nice birthday or Christmas present for your friends or relatives with free from needs. Or buy it yourself and treat your friends to some baked goods – even better!”
The book was provided by the author for this review
Snapshot – love your gut!
Easter meal – roast spring lamb
The first thing to do in the preparation for this Easter meal is to marinade lamb steaks for 1-2 hours.
Marinade
1 freshly squeezed lemon
1 tablespoon of garlic infused oil
Sprinkle of salt
3 sprigs of rosemary
chop the rosemary and add to a bowl with 2 lamb steaks, oil, lemon juice and a small amount of salt to taste.
Leave to refrigerate for 1-2 hours before adding the lamb to a roasting tin with vegetables (I chose parsnips, these were what I had in the fridge, but you could choose carrots if you wish.)
Place in the oven at gas mark 4 and cook for 2-3 hours or until the lamb is very soft and falls apart. Keep checking it as you don’t want it to become too dry. Cooking the lamb long and slow will ensure that some of the marbling of fat it contains will liquefy and can be skimmed off the meat juices once cooked.
The next dish to make is a greek salad – we had this as a starter to our easter meal.
Ingredients
1 large tomato
1/2 cucumber
10-12 black olives
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
100g of feta cheese.
Chop the tomato, feta and cucumber and add to a bowl with olives. Mix well, as the feta and olives are quite salty there should be no need to add salt to season this dish. Serve before the main meal or have it as a side dish – whatever you prefer to do is fine.
The next thing to make is the mint dressing for the potatoes.
Minted Charlotte Potatoes
2-3 potatoes per person.
2-3 sprigs of mint
1 tablespoon of garlic infused oil
1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
Salt to taste
Chop the mint and add it to a bowl with the olive oil and white wine vinegar, salt and mix well.
Chop the potatoes into 2-3 cm wide slices. Boil the potatoes for 10-15 minutes, drain the pan of water, add the dressing and shake the pan well.
Keep potatoes warm.
Prepare the lamb
Trim the fat from around the lamb and place on a serving dish with the roasted vegetables.
Drain off the cooking juices and strain off the fat which floats on the surface, drizzle this liquid over the meat and allow it to rest (if you wish to make a gravy add a heaped teaspoon of cornflour and heat in a pan until thickened.)
Serve up and enjoy! This meal is gluten-free and Low FODMAP (a small amount of tomato is included in the salad, which shouldn’t be too much for those excluding fructose from their diet) however the salad does contain milk protein. The meal is a celebration and has been prepared with some effort to reduce the fat levels in the roast lamb, however lamb is still quite a fatty meat therefore it is probably better to eat it occasionally. It serves 2-3 people (ensure a lamb steak per person.)
Easter with food intolerance
What is Simnel cake? Simnel cake is a cake that is traditionally consumed on Easter Sunday, it is a light fruit cake with a toasted marzipan topping. The Lancashire version is a particularly fine version – recipes I have found don’t contain saffron, you can leave it out if you wish but I felt it added a nice flavouring and colour to the cake. It is a festival cake once used for mothering Sunday – see a history of the cake here
http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/taste/easter.shtml
I hope you have a happy holiday this weekend – despite the cold weather!
Ingredients
240g of self-raising wheat free/gluten-free flour
1 flat tsp of cinnamon*
1/4 of grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp of ground cloves*
1 teaspoon of gluten-free dairy free** cocoa powder
50g of pecan nuts
50g of sultanas
4 eggs
200g of milk free margarine
Large pinch of saffron
200g of golden caster sugar
Method
Pour approximately 1 tablespoon of boiling water on to the saffron and set aside to cool.
Weigh all other ingredients into a mixing bowl, add saffron and liquid mix, mix well.
Place in a paper lined seven-inch baking tin and bake till a cake skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake.
Trim the top of the cake flat and turn upside down to give an even working surface. Cover with rolled out marzipan* (or ready roll icing sugar* if you are following a low FODMAP diet – you can colour it pale yellow to simulate marzipan if you wish!) Roll 11 equal balls of marzipan or icing sugar to represent the disciples (minus Judas) and if you are using marzipan place the cake under a grill to brown the marzipan.
Enjoy a small piece with a nice cup of tea!
**Milk free see http://lucysfriendlyfoods.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/dairy-and-nut-free-cocoa-powder-found-at-last/ , lactose free, wheat free, gluten-free, Low FODMAP (without marzipan.) *Ensure these ingredients are not contaminated with wheat or gluten.
Reflection on a year of blogging.
I have just had my anniversary of my blog, I started the site a year ago and did wonder how it would go, but I have been really hooked on writing and cooking recipes. Watching my stats I am also surprised at the breadth of countries who are interested in looking at my site, plus an interest in which countries have not viewed my site yet – so, come on guys I want to complete the full globe this year, as sure as anything you can bet that someone has some digestive complaint that would benefit.
I have experienced writers block for the last month and a paucity of recipes too. I am hoping that IBS Awareness Month spurs me on with writing more and I would also appreciate some ideas about what people would like to read on digestive disorders. The plans for the next twelve months include more book reviews and recipes, I hope to expand the blog to a website – and perhaps most exciting of all I hope to be running a clinic for patients who have intolerances, allergy and low FODMAP dietary requirements very soon, email me if you are interested.
I have attended The IBS Networks AGM today, my third one and the future in IBS is looking really positive, new ideas, treatments (including the Low FODMAP diet) and new research into the gut microbiome (bacterial population) and it’s effects on health and disease have made IBS more of an attractive area for research and medical management. If you are interested in getting involved, maybe you would be interested in running a support group in your area, The IBS Network can provide support if you do.
So watch this space and any ideas on what you would want to read are gratefully appreciated!
Clinical Alimentary 