This FODMAP-friendly recipe is full of flavor, simple to prepare, and makes enough servings for a batch cook.
gluten-free, pescatarian, FODMAP
Salmon Fried Rice
1 medium red pepper, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1/2 cup green onion, sliced (tops only if FODMAP)
3/4 cup frozen chopped green beans
2 tsp. or a few squirts (if spray) garlic oil
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
2 tsp. fresh ginger, crushed
195g. canned salmon
65g. canned tuna
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp. fish sauce
2 Tbsp. soy sauce or tamari
2 cups leftover white rice
In your largest skillet, heat the garlic oil over medium-high heat. Add the carrots and stir-fry until just browning. Add the peppers and green beans and stir-fry until carrots are softened and the rest are just starting to brown.
Add the rice, fish, sauces, sesame oil & ginger. Stir to combine and push to the sides to create a well in the center.
Crack the eggs into the well, stir, and let sit a couple minutes to create some curds.
Stir all together to combine.
When the eggs are solid, split into fourths and serve.
This was my sixth week on the FODMAP diet, and it went well. I ended up eating at home a bunch and even managed to stay, at least in my calorie macros, pretty on track.
Overnight Oats with blueberries, tahini or peanut butter, and pumpkin seeds or granola
Chicken breast/poached egg/hashed browns out
Lunches/Dinners
The salmon fried rice was even better than anticipated (recipe coming soon!)
Rotisserie chicken is such an easy staple to keep on hand – whip up a batch of rice early in the week, and you’ve got 3/4 of dinner ready in minutes
Roasted sweet potato/butternut squash/carrot mix with orange miso dressing to toss in with chicken
Chirashi and steak out for lunch
Mussels frites out for dinner – chose Thai style because the broth was made from compliant ingredients; didn’t end up eating much of the broth anyways
Scrounge dinner of leftover rice with a little butter, some furikake seasoning and a touch of sweet soy sauce to hit macros one night
Snacks
Bought some more mostly joyless carbs – this time in the form of oat crackers. Must do more snack research. I’m sucking at snacks lately, and my favorite go-tos are off limits (almonds, corn nuts, wasabi peas, dried fruit)
Monday: Started off strong, then derailed when DH wanted to go out for dinner and I wanted to escape the house – had a basket of tortilla chips instead of wings Tuesday: Managed to eat all prepped foods today. Whoo hoo! And on a day I usually eat lunch out, too. Wednesday: Chicken breast, poached eggs & hashed browns out – the rest was batch-cooked goodness Thursday: Chirashi out, and yes – it had some non-compliant avocado. Super delicious and this dish may be making an appearance soon – I think I could batch cook something like this to nibble all week.Friday: DH came home and wanted to hit the local pub for dinner – had Thai-style mussels & fritesSaturday: Emergency ‘I waited too long to eat’ breakfast, lunch at Texas Roadhouse (I only ended up eating to tomatoes and egg off my salad, plus a third of the ranch), and a scrounge around the house for dinner
What did I learn this week?
Salmon fried rice is delicious. And I’m sad I ate all of it – will have to make again soon.
Also, because I was digging that dish so much, I kinda re-discovered being excited to come home to a batch-cooked meal. It’s not like what I usually make isn’t good – or isn’t exciting – but something about this dish had me wanting to choose to go home for lunch rather than deal with finding something to eat while out.
This past week, all I could fathom making were things involving lime juice and chili flakes. A weird craving, I know, but my brain was in search of something simple I could use to dress up a couple different meal variations while requiring the least effort possible. I think this was a success – I felt like my diet was fairly varied, I got the lime punch and heat I was missing, and because I batch cooked, meal time while hangry didn’t beckon me to easily overeat.
1/2 cup fresh lime + orange juice
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp. red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 Tbsp. soy sauce, tamari or coconut aminos depending on your diet
Mix all ingredients together and give a good whisk or shake. Dole out through the week like liquid gold.
Now, what to pair with this bounty? I went two routes: a simple cold salad and a warm veggie bowl.
Summer Salad with Spicy Lime Vinaigrette
1.5 cups chopped cucumber 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved 1.5 Tbsp. minced or grated ginger 4 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
About 1/4 cup of the Spicy Lime Vinaigrette above
Optional toppers: shredded rotisserie chicken, rice/quinoa blend. This is also great as a stand-alone salad.
Mix all ingredients and let marinate a few hours or overnight. When serving, make sure to salt & pepper to taste and add more red pepper if you want more heat.
Spicy Lime Vinaigrette Summer Veggie Bowls
3 cups chopped zucchini and carrots in whatever mix makes you happy Garlic oil 1/4 – 1/2 cup FODMAP-friendly stock Salt, pepper and ground cumin to taste
Heat a large sautee pan over medium-high heat. Spray with a little garlic oil (or drizzle). Add the veggies, salt, pepper and cumin. Sautee, stirring occasionally, until they are on their way to browning nicely. Add 1/4 cup of the stock, cook until the liquid is evaporated. Repeat for another round if your carrots still aren’t soft. Taste for seasoning this second time and adjust if necessary.
Makes 3 – 4 servings as part of a larger bowl. I served mine most days with a blend of long grain rice + quinoa, a couple Tablespoons of the vinaigrette, and a hand full of rotisserie chicken. One day, I switched it up and went with chili tuna + brown rice pasta.
Overnight Oats with blueberry milk, collagen peptides, peanut butter thinned to a sauce, and superfood granola.
Lunches/Dinners
This week I want to keep it simple – all I have planned is to make up big batches of veggies, a base to go with them (rice/quinoa mix), and make a spicy lime vinaigrette to go with everything. And rotisserie chicken. I’ve got that on hand.
Snacks
I had no plan going to the grocery here, just knew I was tired of the marmite rice cakes, the buckwheat crackers I bought last time were yuck, and I didn’t want to rely too heavily on fruit this first week back from vacation.
Actual Meal Plan
Breakfasts
Overnight blueberry milk oats with superfood granola & peanut butter.
Breakfast out at Eggspectations: Chicken, egg & fruit.
Lunches/Dinners
Batch cooked a big bunch of zucchini & carrots and had a bunch of ways with a spicy lime vinaigrette and rotisserie chicken.
Batch cooked some brown rice pasta – had with my favorite chili tuna.
Lunch out at Wagamama: A rice noodle and greens salad with carrot and lemongrass vinaigrette + chicken.
Lunch out at Chang’s: Spicy tuna sushi that was a frustrating semi-fail.
Cucumber/cherry tomato/cilantro/lime vinaigrette salad – also eaten as a snack.
Snacks
Fairly joyless buckwheat & chia rice cake crisps – joyless because I couldn’t for the life of me think of what to put on them that wasn’t either a ton of calories, contained dairy, or was too sweet. I’ll keep working on this issue and get back to y’all with some options.
A semi-fail green smoothie that looked compliant from the menu, but tasted like it may not be.
Monday: My post-yoga snack out tasted less FODMAP-friendly than it looked on the menu — buuuuut, it was pretty much the only thing that *was* FODMAP approved on the whole menu. Vegan places run on FODMAPs I’ve come to find.Tuesday: Lunch was out and I was super pleasantly surprised that Wagamama actually had a compliant salad – aaand it wasn’t 1,000 calories. Win! Wednesday: Took myself out for breakfast and had one of my standbys – grilled chicken breast, poached eggs and swapped potatoes for fruit.Thursday: Got cocky. Went to PF Chang’s for lunch and figured there would be something I could have other than plain rice. I was wrong. Sushi was the only thing on the menu that was FODMAP friendly without trying to explain my drama through levels of English comprehension, and that even needed substations – no avocado – and I had to pick out hidden green onions. On the other hand, this was actually all the food I needed for lunch and I was happy I didn’t order triple the amount like I wanted to.Friday: Smoked beef brisket and fries out; cucumber tomato salad and overnight oats inSaturday: Grilled chicken and veggies for lunch; Thai flavored mussels & Belgian frites for dinner
What did I learn this week?
This week was all about getting back into the swing – again – because for some reason I completely lost last week and thought I had just gotten back from vacation. 😆
I was a bit cocky in my restaurant choices, not wanting to believe that the vegan place really *doesn’t* have anything for me (again. It didn’t when I was doing Keto, and it’s semi-difficult to eat Paleo there too).
I also need to leave non-Japanese Asian places alone. Garlic is building block #1 of Chinese food. And yes, it’s in everything. Usually with onions.
This recipe came about because of a chance walk-through of a German grocery store, and the bottle of strawberry Nesquick that caught my eye in the UHT/fake milks section.
I loved strawberry Nesquick as a kid – it didn’t taste like strawberries, but pink milk was super fun to drink and pretty much the only way (other than chocolate syrup, marshmallow flavoring or whatever is in an egg creme) I would touch cow milk.
This actually tastes like strawberries, and bonus: packs a bit of nutrition.
Gluten-free, FODMAP
Strawberry Milk Overnight Oats
2 strawberries
1/4 c. dry measure rolled oats
That same measuring cup full hazelnut milk
Half that cup full of water
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Few grinds salt
1 scoop collagen peptides
Toppers
Peanut (FODMAP) butter thinned Out with a little water to the consistency of tahini
Hand full raw pepitas for crunch
Blend the strawberries, water and milk. Pour over the oats, vanilla, collagen peptides and salt. Shake or stir to combine. Let sit overnight. Serve with optional toppers.
This week, the meal plan was simple – we got back from vacation early in the week, I had some planned meals out, and really just wanted to concentrate on eating smaller meals full of simple things that I know wouldn’t hurt my stomach – and to me, that means Japanese (light).
My meal planning consisted of a breakfast: Strawberry Milk Overnight Oats (recipe coming soon), and simple “safe” veggie + rice bowls with a little protein.
I knew I wanted to batch cook some veggies – was craving bok choy, carrots & cucumbers – and steak nibbles sounded great. I made a 4-portion batch of veggies (recipe for this coming soon too) + steak bites and combined that with a couple portions of leftover rice I grabbed for dinner the day after we got back.
ACTUAL MEAL PLAN
Breakfasts
Super plain oatmeal made in the microwave
A planned breakfast out – steak and eggs.
Strawberry Milk Overnight Oats.
Lunches/Dinners
My first meals back were super simple: delivery chicken pho (the broth of which probably had garlic – oops – my FODMAP brain isn’t quite working yet).
Dinner that first night was delivery chicken & rice.
Fried rice grabbed at a grocery hot bar – and oops: I’m pretty sure it contained hidden onions. I tasted them but did not see them – and was in crisis mode needing food-wise.
Dinner that night was chicken kebab with white rice grabbed from a local takeout place because my favorite go-to place for healthy reasonably-portioned meals had literally zero things I could eat. Good thing the kebab place was next door, and I was no longer starving to death.
I made sure to batch cook the next day – had my veggies, rice & a little meat for 2 out of 3 meals he next day.
Had a planned lunch out and tried to make the best choices possible: sushi over a bunch of dishes that would have me picking around my plate – and didn’t do too terribly. Had a (fake) crab + shrimp salad with mayo (which may have had a bit of non-compliant something in it), salmon and cucumber sushi, and sliced melons + strawberries.
Went to a Japanese-themed game night with friends: had salmon & cucumber appetizers, killer homemade miso soup, a really good little gingery salad, Japanese curry (which may or may not have had 100% compliant sauce ingredients), and glutinous rice balls for dessert. And Frangelica on the rocks all evening. Mmmmm. Ate too much by far, but it was delicious.
Snacks
I had a couple frozen pineapple things left, so snacked on those.
Didn’t really feel like snacking otherwise – was still trying to reign in my overeating on vacation, while consequently overeating two days. Oops.
Monday: Delivery pho (oops: probably contained garlic), delivery chicken & rice, and one of those pineapple frozen things I made the last week I was home Tuesday: Quickie microwave oats, fried rice (oops: probably had onions), more chicken & rice and the last pineapple thingWednesday: Steak & eggs out, 2 variations on a cucumber/carrot/bok choy bowlThursday: Monthly wine lunch out – stuck to whiskey Diet Cokes, 1 glass of red wine, the single type of nut that was compliant in the mix, and sushi.Friday: Surprise dinner out and I managed to behave at the wings place, only having chicken & rice.Saturday: Game night was actually mostly compliant – because my friends are awesome.
What did I learn this week?
You’d *think* I’d have learned to not schedule 2 big food days in 1 week, or to make sure I’ve get my butt to the grocery the day I get back from vacation, but no. Did not. Oops.
This week was all about mitigation and having fun with my friends without going completely and totally off the rails. I did fairly well, at least according to my GI system – it hasn’t been terrible this week. A little pain some days, and some poo issues – but nothing major, and nothing that kept me from living my life. Bonus: this was also a very low carsickness week. Not sure if carsickness is related to the rest of my gut issues or if I’m just a delicate Princess, but I was in and out of Ubers in the heat and really only got nauseous and spinny once. I’m counting that as a win, even if it’s unrelated!
Looks like I’ll be continuing on with FODMAP for at least two more weeks – I go see my doctor again on the 25th for an assessment. We shall see what happens then. In the meantime, I need to remember to update my symptom tracker app religiously – I’ve been a touch slack in pain reporting because I’ve been tired of worrying about or paying attention to it in the last couple weeks. I need to get over that for these next two – we won’t know if this diet has actually done me good unless I’m accurately reporting symptoms and trying my hardest to remain compliant.
This recipe came about because after ODing on pork, potatoes and Diet Coke (to the point I didn’t want to see another potato or fizzy drink which is suuuuuuper weird since that was 90% of younger-me’s diet) during my recent German vacation, I needed a reset. And what says “reset” more than Japanese food and bok choy?
1 – 2 c. chopped cucumbers
Few grinds salt
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. sesame oil
2 Tbsp. soy sauce or coconut aminos if Paleo
1 Tbsp. lime juice
1/2 – 2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp. sesame seeds
1.5 c. carrots, in thin coins
3/4 – 1 c. chopped bok choy
1 inch ginger, peeled and chopped
Few sprays garlic oil
In a large pan, heat the garlic oil over medium-high. Add the ginger and stir-fry until fragrant.
Add the carrots and 2 Tablespoons water. Stir-fry until just beginning to soften.
Add the bok choy and 2 Tablespoons water. Stir-fry until softened.
Turn the heat off and set aside while you whisk the rest of the ingredients together.
Add the cooked veggies to the cucumber and dressing and toss again.
This week, the hubby and I were on vacation in Germany, so I did what I could and ate compliant foods where possible. It was hard to not bury myself in a vat of sauerkraut & pretzels.
Breakfasts
For the most part, I erred on the side of breakfast meats – sausages, bacon, cured meats – lots of protein. Some breads when I was tired of straight protein.
There were a few pastries when that wasn’t possible, and a language barrier day where I accidentally ordered something containing bread, dairy & onions – which I only ate a few bites of.
Lunches/Dinners
I did what I could here, and if it was something I knew was not compliant, I only ate a bit. Ish.
Had warm sauerkraut, a potato dumpling & a couple bites pretzel one day.
Had currywurst and the bun on a slider the next.
Had mostly-compliant ham-stuffed pork – and then some pasta one day.
Snacks
Mostly cured meats. Man, I missed prosciutto.
Sunday: Cured meats and some fruits for breakfast, currywurst for lunch, a mid-afternoon vodka tonic, a pulled pork slider & sweet potato fries for dinner & prosciutto snackMonday: Lunch was a roadside affair and contained a pretzel. Oops. Dinner was fairly back on track. Tuesday: Ummmmm …. erm …. ok, so no excuses here – I just. Didn’t. Wanna, and I knew bread wouldn’t hurt me. Wednesday: Breakfast was a language barrier fail, so I only had about a quarter of mine and ate the hubby’s roll instead. Lunch was not what I wanted, but was what they had in stock – dinner was the one thing on the menu that didn’t list garlic as an ingredient. Ate half the pasta. Thursday: Could have been better. Ate 1 of those doughnuts then found pastry with rhubarb, which I’ve been sorely missing. Friday: Split the pretzel, I’m actually beyond tired of fries, and dinner wasn’t horribly off track – there may have been dairy in the potatoes, but there most likely wasn’t garlic and maybe not even onion. Saturday: Went off the rails with sweets, bread and pasta. At least potato chips are FODMAP? (I’m sure not this flavor)
What did I learn this week?
Vacation while FODMAPping is hard. I mean, I already figured it would be – and I was right. While meat-centric meals were pretty easy to come by, this being Germany and all, staying away from bread when I’d already worked hard (before FODMAP) to give myself permission to eat bread again was hard and I didn’t do the best job. I could have chosen to do better, but I wasn’t really feeling it tbh.
I think I’ll postpone my doctor checkup and give this thing a solid week, maybe two more (especially given that the vitamins the doc had me taking only just came in this week).
This is an easy, FODMAP-friendly, low calorie and carb dinner for nights when you don’t want to be bothered and/or have macros to hit.
Gluten-free (check your labels), FODMAP, keto (especially if you increase the fat), could be Paleo if you use coconut aminos, but that will be higher FODMAPs
Easy Japanese-Style Chicken Zoodles
1 large zucchini, spiraled into zoodles
2 tsp. sesame oil
1 Tbsp. soy sauce or tamari (coconut aminos will be higher in FODMAPs)
In a large skillet over medium-high, heat the sesame oil. When it starts to shimmer, add the zoodles and stir-fry until just beginning to soften. Add the soy sauce and continue cooking until the zoodles are to your liking. I like mine still a bit toothsome (or at least not mushy).
While that’s working, whisk together:
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1.5 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
Juice of 1 lime
Pinch of red pepper flakes
When the zoodles are ready, add to the sauce and top with 4 ounces shredded poached chicken and 1 tsp. sesame seeds per serving.
Serves 2 as a light dinner
Macros per serving (assuming your zoodles come out to 1 cup and you use standard soy sauce):
This was my second week on the FODMAP Diet. Week 1 went fairly well, despite eating more meals out than anticipated (foolishly, if I was paying attention I would have remembered), and being bummed that no garlic or onion were to be had.
This week, I didn’t meal plan heavily. I know I’ve got at least two if not three dinners out, and I didn’t feel like shopping too heavily in advance of our vacation next week, so I bought the bare minimum and will be eating a lot of pantry foods. This proposed meal plan is what I have come up with on the fly.
Breakfasts
Overnight oats with peanut butter and strawberries
Lunches/Dinners
The salmon burgers I didn’t eat
The rest of the chicken/tomato sauce/olive mixture I made
Maaaaaybe the rest of the baked sweet potatoes from last week if I can find a way to dress them up so they’re not so plain
I grabbed some wholegrain rice pasta from the grocery
Steaks with smashed baby potatoes and green beans as a nice dinner for the hubbs
Zoodles(?) with chicken and frozen green beans & carrots
Snacks
I have Marmite-flavored rice cakes left over
A stab at a compliant Dole Whip
ACTUAL MEAL PLAN
Breakfasts
Overnight oats with strawberries and pumpkin seeds
Overnight oats with peanut butter, strawberries and pumpkin seeds – and I need to doctor these up a bit next time; the weirdo French peanut butter in a tin can I bought because the kid on the package was mildly disturbing may be – dare I say it – too bland for my taste. I love my no sugar added peanut butters, but this was less satisfying somehow. Maybe because I’m making my oats with water instead of unsweetened plant milk?
Went out for a scheduled (weekly) breakfast date on Wednesday – had steak & poached eggs with a side of fruit instead of the fried potatoes & onions. Brought my own hazelnut milk for my Americano(s).
Maybe not the soundest reason for a purchase, but this kid kinda freaked me out so I couldn’t resist
Lunches/Dinners
Finished the chicken marinara-ish mix off by Monday.
Made steaks with smashed potatoes and green beans for dinner Monday.
Scrounged leftover potatoes topped with Kewpie mayonnaise for lunch Tuesday because I was woefully unprepared with the proteins when I crashed through the door in dire need of lunch.
Delicious and super easy Japanese style zoodles with poached chicken.
The last of the baby potatoes I boiled up for dinner Wednesday with more poached chicken and Kewpie mayo.
Lunch out Thursday – ordered a side of chicken breast, a side of turkey ham and a side of confit potatoes.
Dinner out Thursday, too – had more chicken breast and plain rice.
Friday dinner was planned out as well – Brazilian steakhouse with 2 vodka sodas
Snacks
Had a fresh strawberry juice while out
Made a really good dessert from a lemon-flavored coconut yogurt mixed with strawberries and this really good vegan (and compliant! The only freaking thing that didn’t have dates and/or almonds in it in seemingly the whole restaurant!) granola.
The third and final bag of organic popcorn – with butter and nutritional yeast topping.
Monday: The only thing I ate out today was the strawberry juice I had after braving the ‘I feel like I’ve literally been trapped in an oven’ heat to see water and run back to the train Tuesday: Poor planning, so I didn’t hit my protein macro, but I managed to not eat out despite being s-t-a-r-v-i-n-g for lunchWednesday: Pre-Breakfast snack because I was up way too early, breakfast out, dinner was the last of the potatoes & some chicken, the last bag of popcorn for a snackThursday: Lunch and dinner both out – lunch was the sides and add-ins I could cobble together, and dinner was the thing on the menu with the least substitutions – chicken& rice (hold the pico, minus the side salad)Friday: Dinner Out was a meatstravaganza at a Brazilian steakhouse Saturday was a travel day: Ate what I could on the plane, the Munich airport happened to have a grocery with cured sausages & chips to snack on, and dinner was off-track with a pretzel and sauerkraut, but c’mon – it’s Germany!
What did I learn this week?
HaHaHa. I need to plan better. I know winging it is no way to meet my macros, and I need to not be lazy the next week I’m home. Which won’t be next week – let’s see how I handle this business while on vacation. Spoiler: I’ll be eating sausages and I know I won’t be able to completely not eat sauerkraut. At least it’s fermented? Maybe? Hoping I won’t be undoing any good I’ve done in these two weeks so far.
Gastography 