Tag: FODMAP

Ginger Scallion Chicken

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This recipe sounds simple but omfg it’s like comfort in a bowl. If you’re thinking about skipping out on the browning stage for your chicken because you’re lazy: don’t. I often do (see previous excuse) and I’m beyond glad I didn’t for this recipe. It absolutely made the rice.

gluten-free, FODMAP friendly

Ginger Scallion Chicken

4 boneless chicken thighs

2 inches ginger, peeled

1 cup rice (I used sushi rice because that’s my family’s favorite)

2 cups water

2 Tbsp. soy sauce or coconut aminos

1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. rice vinegar, divided

1 tsp. salt + sprinkling salt

2 tsp. sugar

1/4 – 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

6 scallions

Black pepper

Fat of choice

Note: Other versions of this recipe call for onion and garlic; if you’re not FODMAPping, these would be lovely additions, I’m sure

Sprinkle your chicken with salt & pepper. Chuck into a pan over medium-high with a little fat (I used garlic oil) and cook until browned on both sides.

While the chicken is working, add the rice (wash if you wash rice; I can never be bothered and really liked the way it was kind of pasty in this dish – reminded me of a casserole), water, 1 tsp. salt, 1 Tbsp. rice vinegar, soy sauce, and the chunk of ginger.

Place the chicken and any pan drippings on top of the rice, hit the rice button and cook until done. If you’re not using a slow cooker with a rice function, cook rice however you cook rice with the chicken on top – the little bits of chicken fat and the juices from the meat run into the rice creating yummy goodness.

While the chicken and rice are going, chop the green onions (if you’re FODMAPping, green parts only) and add to a small bowl with the 1/4 cup of rice vinegar, sugar and red pepper flakes. Mash as best you can with a spoon – or, if you have one, mash in a mortar with a pestle. That would be great. Mine didn’t mush up as much as I wanted with a spoon but the onion still broke up enough to release some good flavor. Taste yours and if you want another tiny bit of sugar add that in. I was on the fence about adding more sugar to mine, but left it out because I like a nice acerbic bite.

To serve, fish the ginger chunk out of the chicken & rice and top with the scallion dressing. I mixed mine together for leftovers and that worked even better for subsequent meals.

Serves 2 for dinner and 2 for lunch

Potato Salad with Damn Good Dressing

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This dressing, which was based on an everything dressing posted by one of the blogs I’ve been following long enough to be on its mailing list but whose name escapes me as I’m sitting down to type this up (maybe First Mess?) is fantastic and I could see it being equally as good on vegetarian as meat dishes (I served my salad with some simple seared salmon and it was delicious), and even great on salads. I would also stir this into some nice rice or orzo for a little quick saucy flavor boost. Yum.

gluten-free, paleo, pescatarian, vegetarian, could be made vegan, FODMAP friendly

Potato Salad with Damn Good Dressing

Salad

1/2 kg new potatoes (or other small variety that doesn’t turn to mush when boiled)

4 – 6 hard boiled eggs

2 big hands arugula

Dressing

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup water

2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast

2 Tbsp. soy sauce or coconut aminos

1/5 tsp. flax seeds

1 tsp. sturdy brown mustard

2 tsp. lemon juice

3/4 cup neutral oil

1 big hand parsley

1/2 bunch chives

1.5 tsp. anchovy paste (you could swap for miso – what you’re after is umami)

Boil your potatoes 10 minutes or until fork-tender. Drain and quarter. Add to a large bowl.

Hard boil your eggs. Peel, quarter and add to the bowl.

Add the arugula.

In your blender or food processor, combine all dressing ingredients. Hit with some salt and pepper. Whiz until the herbs are chopped and the dressing is combined. Taste. Add more salt/pepper/lemon juice as necessary.

Pour about a cup over the still-warm potatoes. Toss to combine and let sit until you’re ready to serve.

I served my first round of this salad room temperature with nicely seared salmon. Subsequent servings have been heated in the microwave with a little dressing added and they’ve also been great. It’s even decent cold and I’m not a fan of cold cold potato salad.

Serves 4? 5? Depends what you’re doing with it. I got 2 dinners + 2 lunches out of it. And I have about 3/4 of a cup of dressing leftover for the rest of the week.

Kale & Squash One-Skillet Meal

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This dish feels like a return to my OG ‘everything in skillet; every dinner with a leafy green’ ways. And it was (almost) glorious. A note of caution: watch your salt levels. I wanted my finished dish a bit on the salty side and ended up veering into bad territory. Oops. Stock, as luck has it, still gets saltier as you cook it down – funny how those constant truths never change.

gluten-free, paleo, vegetarian & vegan as written, FODMAP friendly

Kale & Squash One-Skillet Meal, pictured here with added chicken thighs

Kale & Squash One-Skillet Meal

1 bunch chard, kale or other leafy green

2 cups chopped butternut or other squash variety (I had a big slice off of some sort of pumpkiny thing and it worked well)

Stock (I had FODMAP-friendly chicken stock; vegetable would also work well

Half a jar (1/3 cup when chopped) sun dried tomatoes

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

Zest of 1 lemon

Neutral oil

Salt & pepper

De-seed, peel and chop the squash. Wash and chop the chard. Chop the sun dried tomatoes. Zest the lemon.

Add a few good glugs of neutral oil to your largest skillet over medium-high heat. Add the squash and shallow fry until just beginning to soften or until your veggie begins to stick, if you’re like me and decided to give your new cast iron pan it’s inaugural run with something that could have easily failed. Add glugs of stock every time the pumpkin is dry, cooking and stirring frequently until 3/4 of the way cooked through.

Add the chopped chard stems and another glug stock, letting simmer until the stems are tender.

Add the chopped chard tops, lemon zest, chopped sun dried tomatoes and another glug or two of stock and let simmer until the stock has cooked down.

Now, I foolishly added salt & pepper with every addition and mine was way too salty. I’d say add salt & pepper with the squash and then taste at the end to see if you need more.

Despite the saltiness, this dish made a great base for additions and I ended up dressing it different ways for a few days. I added leftover fried potatoes the next day after breakfast. I added some leftover fried up turkey ham and served it with eggs for lunch. Leftover chicken thigh made a good second dinner addition, and I had originally intended on adding sausage to the mix but couldn’t find my beloved Beyond Burger bratwurst (aka the only sausage I can find where I live that isn’t merguez or some sort of Middle Eastern spiced beef varietal).

Serves 4 – 6 depending on how much squash you put in and what you add later – I stretched mine to 6 servings with additions

Canned Tuna Poke Bowl

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Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know – sacrilege. Canned tuna in a poke bowl.

This may not be an Insta-friendly hippie bowl filled with sunshine and $15 worth of amazeballs seafood, but it is delicious, and utilizes a current obsession of mine: the humble can of tuna.

Gluten-free, paleo, pescatarian, FODMAP-reintroduction friendly

Canned Tuna Poke Bowl

Pickled element:
1/3 – 1/2 cup chopped daikon radish
1/3 – 1/2 cup chopped cucumber
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup water
Big pinch red pepper flakes

Combine all pickle ingredients, shake well and set aside for at least half an hour to come to some sort of quick pickle before assembling your bowl.

Dressing:
 1/2 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce, tamari or coconut aminos
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. pineapple juice
1 Tbsp. sriracha
2 tsp. pickled ginger, minced
Juice of 1 lime

Combine all dressing ingredients and shake well. Each serving gets 2 – 3 Tbsp. of sauce.

The rice base:
 1 cup raw rice (or use cauli rice if paleo)
1/4 cup pickled ginger, minced
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup furikake
1/2 sheet nori, snipped into tiny pieces
Hefty sprinkle shichimi togarishi seasoning

Cook the rice to your liking and before it cools, add the other ingredients, working into the warm rice with either a silicone spatula or wooden spoon. Each bowl gets 1/2 – 1 cup rice.

Bowl toppings:
 Canned tuna (I used 60 – 95g cans plain or lemon pepper seasoned)
Mango (especially good if you need a FODMAP challenge food)
Sprouts
Carrot matchsticks
Avocado (also a good FODMAP challenge food)
Fried egg
Cilantro
Pickled element
Poke dressing

Lay a base of rice and top with any and all of these toppings. Spoon 2 – 3 Tbsp. dressing over top and enjoy.

Serves 4 – 6, depending upon how hefty your rice/”rice” servings are.

FODMAP Diet – Reintroduction Week 3

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This was my third reintroduction week on the FODMAP diet.

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Reintroduction Week 1
Reintroduction Week 2
An explanation

Proposed Meal Plan

Breakfasts

  • The doc’s smoothie blend

Lunches/Dinners

  • I will be traveling most of this week, so I’ll mostly just try and eat on plan.

Snacks

  • I will try to limit these where possible

Actual Meal Plan

Breakfasts

  • Doctor shakes
  • Hotel buffet breakfasts – lots of fruit, a little meat, a little potato

Lunches/Dinners

  • Lots of Asian, some bbq, too many potatoes, and too much bread

Snacks

  • Was semi successful in avoiding while traveling
Monday: Fruit and a little egg thing for breakfast, a killer egg salad club sandwich for lunch, and too much sushi for dinner.
Tuesday: That lunch burger was 2 fried eggplant buns with baked sweet potato fries. Dinner was bbq brisket; the post-dinner snacks killed me – the desserts had a little dairy, and ended up being too much food all of a sudden
Wednesday: Travel day – lots of potatoes and meat at breakfast. Chicken kebab, rice and fries at home
Thursday: Emergency rice breakfast, PF Chang’s our for lunch, popcorn for dinner
Friday: Breakfast wrap, dinner wrap, popcorn for lunch
Saturday: Re-testing small amounts of onion (in the vegan tikka microwave meal); something in the morning eggs, potatoes & beef chorizo had me bloated for most of the day

What did I learn this week?

Challenge foods for this week were accidental dairy (super out), overeating (also super unpleasant), a small amount of onion (less pleasant once – ok a second time), and a Chinese food amount of cooking garlic (fine I think; I was bloated but I think from the salt content of PF Chang’s).

Wheat is still in, but based on the pics of my food this week I look like I need to reign in my consumption of unnecessary breads and fried foods. I’m also tired of potatoes again, and have picked back up a wicked Diet Coke craving, so I may be doing a Whole30 to reset my tastebuds soon.

Canned Tuna Thai Bowl

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This Summer, my seasonal obsession with seafood has taken the form of canned tuna. Which is great for my wallet and healthy, so I’m not complaining.

I was, however, starting to feel like I was getting into a rut with my favorite dead-simple pasta + other warm-ish and cozy things that at least approximated the feel of tuna noodle casserole. Ok, not actually really, but in my mind that’s what was going on.

I have issues, I know.

This recipe takes my current love, digs the can of weird Aryan kid peanut butter that’s a pain in the ass to use out of the pantry, and goes somewhere approximating Thailand with it. Thailand, at least in peanut sauce and some toppings. I used what I could find locally and what my FODMAP diet would allow me.

gluten-free, paleo, pescatarian, FODMAP

Canned Tuna Thai Bowl

1 large zucchini, spiralized into noodles

1 medium carrot, cut into matchsticks

1/2 red bell pepper, also matchsticked

1/3 daikon or other radish, sliced or grated or whatever

1 small can tuna per serving (I used 95g cans of lemon pepper flavor)

Cilantro & lime to top

Dressing:

1/2 cup peanut butter (mine was natural unsweetened)

2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp. coconut aminos or soy sauce or tamari

2 tsp. fish sauce

2 tsp. grated ginger

Big pinch cayenne pepper

Salt & pepper

Juice of 1 lime or 1/2 lemon

Honey or other sweetener to taste if you need to balance flavors (I ended up using 1 tsp. because I got a tad over zealous with the ACV)

Prep all your veggies. Sautee the zucchini noodles in a dry pan until your desired doneness is reached. Split into 2 servings.

While your zoodles are working, zap the peanut butter in a large microwave-safe vessel :20 or so or until warm. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir carefully to form a sauce.

Assemble your bowl and top with peanut butter sauce, cilantro & more lime juice.

Makes 2 bowls zucchini-wise; the rest of the ingredients can stretch a couple more. Keep in mind that when you grab out of the fridge, you might want to add a Tablespoon of water to your sauce and zap it in the microwave :15 or so to loosen up to a drizzle-able consistency (especially if your peanut butter is the hippie kind with the oil on top).

FODMAP Diet – Reintroduction Week 2

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This was my second reintroduction week on the FODMAP diet. Week 1 went fairly well, and it seems as if everything I’ve introduced so far is fine. I may switch to monthly updates or a big go/no-go list of foods in a few months, because this phase is going to take awhile. Like, could take 9 months awhile, and I don’t want to bore you all with the details.

The procedure for reintroduction is to eat a little of a food from the high FODMAP list, pay attention to what my mind and body is telling me for 2 days, record any and all reactions, and either re-test the same thing on day 3 or go for something different. I’m starting with foods that I’m fairly certain are on the ‘go’ list, and working my way up to foods I suspect I have a reaction to or have had reactions to in the past – and crossing my fingers that whatever form of inflammation or whatever it was that was going on in my gut when I started this journey stays as calmed down as it is now when I go for the biggies (to me) like garlic, onions and brassicas.

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Reintroduction Week 1
An explanation

Proposed Meal Plan

Breakfasts

  • The doc’s smoothie blend

Lunches/Dinners

  • Grapefruit salsa salmon
  • Rice noodles and veggies salad

Snacks

  • Popcorn, my love

Actual Meal Plan

Breakfasts

  • Doctor shakes

Lunches/Dinners

  • Salmon with leftover poke bits
  • Salmon with roasted potatoes and grapefruit salsa
  • A bunless burger & sweet potato fries out
  • Popcorn because #adulting
  • Sushi
  • Scrounged and cobbled together noodly bowls with rice noodles and leftovers
  • Smoothie bowl out
  • Yaki udon out
  • Travel day food – alcohol, mixed nuts, some chicken, a bite of squid, and a bite of olive maybe pasta something – avoided the onboard snacks.

Snacks

  • Popcorn
Monday: Grapefruit salsa salmon and leftover poke bits with another salmon filet
Tuesday: A late lunch of bunless burger & sweet potato fries while out and dying of starvation and then an adulting win for dinner – half a bag of popcorn with a little garlic oil, furikake and salt
Wednesday: Yaki soba out. Challenge food(s) – wheat, mushrooms
Thursday: Quick sushi grabbed on the way home from yoga and a leftover bowl
Friday: Smoothie bowl and lots of leftovers
Saturday: More leftovers and a travel day. Kinda challenge folded more than a Tablespoon each cashews and almonds – but my stomach was already a bit iffy, so I’m going to retest these on a non-travel day

What did I learn this week?

Mushrooms and wheat are in! Not sure on a bowl of cashews & almonds, because I think travel always makes me bloated and burpy – so I’m counting that as not a real challenge.

Smoothie bowls are also fine – I think all the ingredients were either FODMAP-friendly or I’ve already tested, but quantity was key here regarding fructose.

FODMAP Diet – Reintroduction Week 1

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This was my first reintroduction week on the FODMAP diet. For this phase, the doctor has taken me off the odious vitamin regimen, has swapped those for a smoothie-based morning booster, and wants me to keep super-detailed records of everything from my gut to mood as I try something from the no-go list every 3 days.

I don’t think I remembered to list my supplements for Phase 1 for y’all, either. I was taking (tried to always take with lunch):

1 Digestzymes (Betaine HCI and a proprietary blend of Ox Bile extract, Peptidase, Amylases, Pepsin, Proteases, Glucoamylase, Lactase, Invertase, Lipase)

2 CoreBiotic Sensitive Probiotics (Bacillus Coagulans SNZ1969 and MTCC5856 Lactospore, Bacilius Subtiis)

3 LV-GB Complex (Vitamins A, B-6, B-12; L-Methionine, Milk Thistle, Taurine, Inositol, Ox Bile, Artichoke, Beet Powder)

4 Gastromend-HP (Vitamin C, Deglycyrrhizinated Licorice, Mastic Gum, Methylmethionine Sulfonium Chloride, Zinc Carnosine)

I didn’t feel any different with this regimen of supplements (other than hella annoyed because I am not great at swallowing pills), but I guess they may have done something, since the doctor noticed a marked difference in my skin the second I walked in the door (and tbh I haven’t felt like I look quite so crappy in the face skin lately), and my gut has been feeling a bunch better.

At the end of Phase 1, I don’t feel like my GI system is in crisis any more (I was having pain after 95% of my meals and was almost ready to give up and go on a chicken & rice diet), my dry skin is still there but isn’t as flaky, my nails aren’t peeling and chipping as much, and I only have a little stomach stabbiness for a few minutes every few days or so. I’m also a touch more regular with less need to head for the hills any time my digestive system is on the move, and I’m less bloated overall.

Whether that is a function of cutting out most of the foods causing an issue (frustratingly, the intermittent nature of my issues hasn’t stopped, a week with on-again/off-again cucumber sensitivity being the most recent) or the supplements – I don’t know. We shall see.

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
An explanation

Proposed Meal Plan

Breakfasts

  • The doc’s smoothie blend

Lunches/Dinners

  • I’m still not tired of canned tuna for some inexplicable reason. I think I’ll have a repeat of bowl life, just with different flavors. I’m thinking Thai and/or poke sauce.

Snacks

  • I didn’t really snack last week, so I still have oat crackers leftover.

Actual Meal Plan

Breakfasts

  • Hard boiled eggs
  • Buckwheat pancakes
  • Doctor shakes

Lunches/Dinners

  • Made a batch-prepped Thai-style tuna bowl
  • Bought sushi for lunch while grocery shopping, which led to my first challenge food: avocado
  • Made the tuna poke bowls
  • Had a soba lunch out
  • Had chicken & rice lunch out
  • A non-compliant meal out introducing a friend to local cuisine
  • Zoodles with tuna and/or eggs

Snacks

  • Blueberries
  • Oat crackers
Monday: Sushi with a challenge food – avocado – and a Thai-style tuna bowl
Tuesday: My first doctor shake, chicken & rice out at Nando’s, Thai tuna bowl & popcorn
Wednesday: Soba out for lunch and “single” lady adulting win with the second half of last night’s popcorn for dinner
Thursday: Poke bowl and a concoction of rice, leftover veggies from last week & tuna
Friday: Zoodle bowl for lunch, lots of snacks, non-compliant dinner out
Saturday: Big second breakfast out with challenge foods (spelt flour, banana, almond butter) & Light Zoodle tuna concoction for dinner

What did I learn this week?

Introducing challenge foods is hard, and the impetus to run before I can walk is strong. Avocados, mangoes, spelt, banana & almond butter all seem fine – and all are things I was pretty sure I could tolerate.

The morning shakes the doc gave me are kinda making me bloated – but I’m not sure yet if it’s bloated bloated, or if my body may get used to them. I’ll give them another few days.

Orange Miso Bowl

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This recipe came from a craving I was having for my Miso Pepita Broiled Squash but couldn’t remember what was in it aside from miso – and then I went in a wildly different direction because of what I had on hand + FODMAP issues. Actually, that other recipe is pretty FODMAP-friendly as well, in case you want to give it a whirl.

Gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, FODMAP

Orange Miso Bowl

Medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
Medium to large sweet potato, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
Large carrot, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 Tbsp. white miso
1 Tbsp. crushed or grated ginger
1 Tbsp. honey or maple syrup or date syrup
Juice + zest of 1 orange
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt, pepper and ground cumin

Preheat your oven to 200C/400F. Whiz all the non-veggie ingredients together (minus the spices) to form a dressing.

Chuck your veggies onto a large prepared baking sheet, and drizzle half the dressing over top. Toss to coat well. Sprinkle with the spices.

Bake for 25 – 35 minutes or until done to your liking. Pull from the oven, drizzle with the second half of the dressing, and serve.

Serves 4 – 6, depending on serving size and what you do with it. I ate mine most days with a little protein and called it a meal. I had intended on serving with wilted baby spinach and had thoughts of turning it into a hash one day – but those things never quite materialized.

FODMAP Diet – Week 7

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This was my seventh week on the FODMAP diet.

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
An explanation

Proposed Meal Plan

Breakfasts

  • Overnight Oats with blueberries

Lunches/Dinners

  • Chirashi bowls
  • Crab salad with zoodles

Snacks

  • Finish those fairly joyless oat crackers

Actual Meal Plan

Breakfasts

  • Overnight Oats with blueberries
  • Açaí bowl out with semi-compliant ingredients
  • Leftover deviled shrimp with rice

Lunches/Dinners

  • The last of the miso orange orange things with rotisserie chicken from last week
  • Chirashi bowls, both home and out
  • Lemon pepper tuna + Kewpie mayo + cucumber + pickled ginger bowls
  • Game night at a friends’ – beef roast, shrimp deviled eggs and definitely non-compliant dessert
  • Chicken & rice out at the wings place one night

Snacks

  • I didn’t really snack much this week
Monday: The last of the orange miso veggies from last week & dinner out – chicken + rice
Tuesday: I love it when a plan comes together. I don’t know if dinner (right) is quite worth a recipe post, but it was delicious. 1 small can lemon pepper tuna + 1 Tbsp. Kewpie mayonnaise + 1 small cucumber + 1 Tbsp. chopped pickled ginger + togarishi seasoning or salt & pepper = yum for a light dinner or lunch
Wednesday: Banana peanut butter açaí bowl out, a repeat of that tuna bowl for lunch, and Chirashi at home
Thursday: Chirashi bowl out for lunch – Skipped dinner
Friday: Game night out with friends – shrimp deviled eggs, Dutch-style pot roast, desserts that weren’t compliant but were worth it
Saturday: Today was a ‘clean the fridge’ day full of rice and seafood

What did I learn this week?

Having 1 thing you batch cooked that can be switched up a ton of different ways makes every meal feel full of possibilities.

Sure, I only had a set number of toppings to choose from, but I could load my bowl down with a couple bites of a ton of different tastes and textures.

I think this is the key to batch cooking – good thing, since I love me a good dinner/Buddha/nourish/whatever the Pinterest kids are calling it this week bowl.