Dippy over Hummus – oh *sigh* to find a Low FODMAP alternative

IMG_1616Since I have being doing the Low FODMAP diet I have been missing hummus and I was seeking out an alternative when I came across this recipe by a fellow blogger Frugal Feeding here

http://frugalfeeding.com/2012/12/09/carrot-and-coriander-hummus/

It’s definitely worth a look, however I decided to try to de-FODMAP it somewhat so it could be used by those people who want to follow a low FODMAP diet.

Ingredients

600g bag of carrot batons

1 tablespoon of garlic infused olive oil

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon of chilli power (optional)

1 teaspoon of fennel seeds

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Sprinkling of asafoetida*

300ml of water

Salt + pepper

Method

Add the carrots to a baking tray and sprinkle with olive oil, crushed cumin seeds, chilli, aesofotida and fennel seeds and roast in a hot oven till soft.

Remove from the oven and add the juice of 1/2 lemon, salt + pepper and water and blend till amalgamated.

Serves 2-3

With much thanks to frugal feeding!

http://sqlrus.com/2012/06/thank-you-for-voting-in-the-nomcom-election/

Suitable for low FODMAP, lactose & fructose intolerance (count in your fruit intake – lemon  juice – if you have a large portion,) gluten free(*check for gluten!) and vegan diets.

Updated post 22.11.14

When making snow dragons and other mythical creatures, keep your energy up with chestnut biscuits!

These delightful biscuits have a crisp crunchy outside and a cake textured middle. They are so easy to make and do taste very sweet  – ideal served with a sweet wine at Christmas, after walking in the snow (doing some exercise to burn off the calories, obviously!) Or after expending energy making snow men/creatures in the cold like IMG_0789 the dragon in the picture above, we made him about 3 years ago. I often wondered what people thought of him, we made him along a country walk near to where we live, I think he probably lasted two or three days. The biscuits are wheat, dairy, egg and gluten-free and should be suitable for most people following a low fodmap diet – as long as you tolerate almonds, as almonds can be rather high in fodmaps but obviously, this also depends on how much you add to a recipe and you could always use more gluten/wheat free flour to replace the almonds if you are following the exclusion phase of the Low fodmap diet. IMG_0792

Ingredients

250g dairy free margarine

100g icing sugar

40g soft brown sugar

260g of wheat and gluten-free plain flourIMG_1612

40g of ground almonds

1 x 250g tin of sweet chestnut spread

Icing sugar to dust

Method

It couldn’t be easier – add all ingredients in to a bowl and mix with an electric mixer till all the ingredients have been incorporated into a stiff batter.

Spoon about a tablespoon size drop on a greased baking tray and cook at gas mark 6/200 degrees C, till nicely browned.

Place on a cooling rack and sprinkle with icing sugar, I’m not sure if they are really a cake or a biscuit – I suppose this depends on whether it goes hard or soft on standing (cake goes hard once stale, biscuits go soft.) Will have to let you know.

Kedgeree, breakfast like a king! Low FODMAP, low lactose, wheat free, gluten free

Imagine that you are in Edwardian England and a rather wealthy person! As part of the many breakfast choices would be this dish, originating in India and traditionally composed

Downton Abbey cooks Kedgeree

of hard-boiled egg, fish and rice. You can just taste the opulence, great to breakfast like a king – but this meal is great for a light brunch, served on wheat free bread also – really yummy! I often like to imagine if I was alive in Edwardian times as I love the dresses and the lifestyle – but the reality would be more likely to involve wearing plain clothes, clogs and working in the mills in Lancashire, as my relatives did!

© IWM (D 25995)

This dish is very mild, no spicy hot flavours, just like a fishy korma – some of the Lancashire men I spent my early working career with, used to call chicken korma ‘chicken soft lad’ and were merciless in their deriding of any man choosing this option when going out for a curry after the pub! However its good and mild for dodgy guts, so enjoy your fish ‘soft lad!’ If you have coeliac disease then check your spices have not been contaminated with gluten! My version of this wonderful dish is as follows:

Ingredients

175g of smoked Haddock

175g of Basmati Rice

4-5 dry green cardamom pods

5cm strip of cassia bark

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon of garlic infused olive oil

1 teaspoon of turmeric

1/4 teaspoon of asafoetida

1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon of cardamom powder

1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander

300 mls of lactose free milk

4 teaspoons of cornflour

2 hard boiled eggs.

Method

Poach the haddock in lactose free milk until cooked, drain off the milk and retain for the sauce. Flake the fish and remove any bones and retain till later.

Add the rice to a pan, cover with water about 2 cm above the rice and add crushed green cardamom, cassia bark, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, when boiling turn down the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes until the rice is cooked. Remove cardamon pods and cassia bark. Cool.

Hard boil eggs for 10 minutes and cool under running water, remove shell and cut into slices – retain till later.

Add oil to a pan with the rest of the spices and cook till the spice aroma is released. Add cornflower to the pan and cook for about a minute. Slowly add milk to the pan – this will form a thick paste initially and needs to be mixed well to avoid lumps. After 1/3 – 1/2 of the milk has been added you can add the rest quickly and bring to the boil and stir till thickened.

Add the sauce to the rice, add fish and mix well, taste and add more seasoning if needed. Warm in the microwave prior to serving, serve with sliced eggs on the top.

If you are interested in Edwardian food check out the following website http://downtonabbeycooks.com/

Book Review The Complete Idiots Guide to Eating Well with IBS Kate Scarlata RD

This book is a comprehensive guide to eating with irritable bowel syndrome. It is very user-friendly, you can dip in for a quick read or take your time. I liked the summaries at the end of every chapter and the hints and tips are very useful. The book contains lots of recipes all with nutritional breakdown and a gut fact attached to each one! Covering the fact that healthy eating – with foods that are tolerated – is very important.  The foods that can be problematic are covered and Kate does explain, in user-friendly terms, the reasons why these foods can result in symptoms, but also adds that everyone’s symptoms are individual, so it’s advisable to use the advice accordingly. She also explains how to use a food and symptom diary to identify problematic foods, which is extremely useful for those people who are managing their IBS symptoms themselves.

The book is published for the American market, red flag symptoms are discussed, however one area that does differ in the UK is the identification of people with coeliac disease. Please note that everyone (children and adults,) who have IBS should be, or have been, screened by serological testing (blood tests – endomysial antibody (EMA) IgA and/or tissue transglutaminase antibody tTGA) for coeliac disease, in the UK. At the time of the writing of the book, the emphasis on testing IBS patients for coeliac disease was geared more toward those with IBS-D in the US, the author (in her private practice) however, recommends that all of her IBS clients be tested for coeliac prior to altering their diet. These are guidelines from the National Institute of Clinical Health & Excellence (NICE) available here:-

http://guidance.nice.org.uk/CG86

I have seen patients’ whose main symptom of coeliac disease is constipation, so everyone is at risk and should be tested. Ask your GP and eat wheat, barley and rye (bread, pasta, chappatis, some breakfast cereals) before your test, see above guidelines. Read what Coeliac UK have to say here:-

http://www.coeliac.org.uk/coeliac-disease/how-to-get-diagnosed

Other differences I noticed was histamine intolerance was mentioned in the book – this is not well recognised in the UK, but it can be identified by your dietitian by using elimination diets and is likely to be covered somewhat in an additives free diet (benzoate additives for example, but substances that promote a histamine response are also found naturally in some fermented foods.) It is also advised for people on certain antidepressants – the MAOI (Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitor) diet, to help people avoid dangerous rises in blood pressure, this diet is rarely seen now in general dietetic practice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoamine_oxidase_inhibitor

Other food intolerances are also mentioned, it is important to see a state registered dietitian if you suspect you have histamine intolerance as identifying these rare intolerances can be challenging.

This book is certainly worth considering if you want to buy a book to help you manage your IBS symptoms, I particularly liked the chapter on travelling and eating out, often areas where it is difficult to acquire advice. The book also discussed lifestyle factors and other areas outside the area of Low FODMAP foods, which is also included, and as such it should contain advice that can help most people with IBS who feel that their diet, or eating in general is problematic.

This book was provided free of charge by the author.

Bilberry and lemon fairy cakes – gluten free, low fodmap, dairy free, lactose free.

Went on the hunt for bilberry again – however a less successful foraging trip. Hiked for two and a half hours up hills, through bramble (will be back for bramble berries later next month!) and over bogs and moorland. I did find some, but less that last time and really only enough to add to cake, or breakfast, or yoghurt. I chose to bake some fairy cakes, as I will take some in to work on Friday and share them (keeps the family from eating them all – a good tip!) The weather was a little cloudy but I did see a little sun, I am glad that I decided to go in the morning as it is raining again now, but this is the reason we have such beautiful plants and wonderful countryside.

Ingredients

175g of wheat free gluten-free self raising flour*

125g dairy free margarine

175g of golden castor sugar

juice and grated peel of 1 lemon

A few bilberries (depends how many you can gather!)

1 cap full of vanilla extract.

2 eggs

Icing sugar and decorations (please ensure these are gluten-free if coeliac and following gluten-free diet, however a small amount of contamination from wheat should not cause a problem if you are following the Low FODMAP diet)

Method

Heat up your oven to gas mark 4.

Add margarine and castor sugar and vanilla essence to a mixing bowel and mix till pale with a hand mixer.

Add 1 egg and a tablespoon of the flour to the mix.

Mix till well incorporated. If the mix curdles slightly (starts to separate) you should add a little more flour.

Add the other egg and another tablespoon of flour and repeat the above process.

Grate the rind off the lemon and add to the bowl and mix well.

Add the flour and fold the mix using a metal spoon till all the flour is incorporated.

Cut the lemon in two and juice on half – add to the mixture and mix well.

Add bilberries and mix.

Spray silicone moulds with spray oil add some mixture to each, this makes about 15 buns.

Cook for 20 minutes or until golden and well risen.

Place on a cooling rack – do not remove the buns from the cases till fully cool, or you may find that they stick.

Juice the other half of the lemon and add to a bowl incorporate icing sugar into lemon juice till you have a runny consistency. Drizzle icing sugar over the buns and add decoration.

These are no higher in fats and sugar than normal buns – but they are high, so have one, don’t eat too many if you have IBS, as fat can cause symptoms if you eat too much. Share the rest with friends and see if they can tell that they have no wheat. *Please watch the flour if you are following a low fodmap diet as some gluten-free wheat free flour contains psyllium husk flour – to keep things moist, this can cause symptoms for some people.

Paprika Meatballs – Low FODMAP

Ingredients

400 g lean beef meatballs (ensure no onion in ingredients)

400 g tin of chopped tomato

2 teaspoons of Spanish Smoked Paprika

2 teaspoons cornflour

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of granulated sugar

1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon of asafoetida

1 teaspoon of garlic infused oil

Method

Place meatballs in a casserole dish.

Pour the tomato into a measuring jug, add to this the paprika, cinnamon, sugar, garlic infused oil and asafoetida (take care to ensure that you place your asafoetida in a tightly sealed container – it smells very strong but adds a real depth of onion flavour to the dish.)

Then add this mix to the casserole dish.

Measure out the cornflour into a small dish and then add water to form a paste (cornflour is really great to use to thicken dishes – its wheat free and mixes very well with cold water – therefore NO LUMPS 🙂 yay!)

Add this to the dish and mix well.

Cook in a preheated over at gas mark 6, 200 C, for at least 1 hour (more if you can stand to wait to try it!)

Serves 4 – served here with freshly boiled rice and roasted marrow.

Low FODMAP, wheat free (ensure that asafoetida is pure if you have coeliac disease or a wheat allergy – it can sometimes be diluted with wheat flour) gluten-free, egg free, dairy free. Check spice labels for allergens.