Fettuccine Carbonara

Tonight we made a quick pasta sauce from scratch without garlic or onion. Very fast, very simple, and yet still tasty!

As half our family follows a low-FODMAP diet and the other half doesn't we cooked gluten free pasta and wheat pasta separately, but the sauce was appreciated by all - even the non low-FODMAPers!

Low-FODMAP Fettuccine Carbonara Recipe

Ingredients: 

500g gluten-free fettuccine pasta (I like this one by san remo) 

100ml sour cream
100ml thickened cream
200g gluten-free bacon, diced
garlic-infused olive oil
1 zucchini, sliced
salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese, to taste

Steps: 

1.Set fettuccine to cook.

2. Heat oil in a large pan on medium and cook bacon until brown. Take bacon out of the pan and cook zucchini in the same pan for about 2-3 minutes

3. Place bacon back into the pan with the zucchini, add in the sour cream and cream. Add salt and pepper, and Parmesan cheese to taste (I like about 1 tablespoon, but add less or more as you see fit). Cook for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the cooked fettuccine to the sauce, combine through and serve!

Easy, simple and fast! The key ingredient is the bacon as it adds a lot of flavour to the dish.

Banana Bread

There were three over-ripe bananas sitting in our fruit bowl today. Instead of getting rid of them I thought I would make a banana bread. This banana bread is soft and full of flavour. The rest of my family could not tell that it was gluten free. 

Banana Bread Recipe

Preparation time: 10 min       Baking time: 1 hour

Ingredients: 

3 small ripe Bananas, mashed

3 small eggs (or 2 large eggs)

3/4 cup Milk (lactose free alternatives: coconut milk, soy milk or rice milk)

1/4 cup oil (rice bran or sunflower)

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 cups gluten free self rising flour

1 cup raw sugar

1 cup almond meal 

2 tsp maple syrup 

pinch of ground cloves (or cinnamon!)

pinch of salt 
1/2 cup crushed walnuts 

Steps: 

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a small cake tin (11cmx21cm). 

2. Combine bananas, eggs, milk, oil, vanilla essence and maple syrup into a medium bowl. 

3. Combine dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Whist wet ingredients into dry ingredients until combined. 

4. Pour into the greased tin and cover with walnuts. Bake for 1 hour, or until cooked when tested with a skewer. 

5. Serve plain or indulge by serving with melted chocolate or Nutella

Healthy Snacks - Fruit Salad

Working on an assignment over the weekend, I have needed some extra brain food to get me through. 

Many people think that because you have fructose malabsorption, you cannot eat fruit, this is very wrong! It's just about selecting the right fruits and going with whats in season. 

Here's a fruit salad I whipped up in just a few minutes: 

Seasonal Fruit Salad Recipe:

 

Ingredients: 
1 small banana
5 large strawberries
1 handful of seedless grapes
1 small mandarin, with pieces sliced in half
1 small kiwi fruit 

Makes two serves 

Add ice cream or cream for a special treat 

Steps: 

Cut up all the ingredients into smaller pieces and mix! 

Alternatives: 

Other fresh fruit you could use depending on its availability: 

- Pineapple
- Blueberries 
- Raspberries
- Cantaloupe 
- Honeydew melon 
- Paw Paw (add lime juice to lift the flavour of the pawpaw!) 

Berry Frangipane Slice Recipe

Last night I whipped up a very simple, but delicious low-FODMAP Berry Cake, because who doesn't love berries or almonds?

I found this recipe on the Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App and have slightly altered it. 

Berry Frangipane Slice Recipe

Ingredients: 

150g butter, softened (or lactose free margarine)

1tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup raw sugar 

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups almond meal

1/2 cup gluten-free cornflour 

300 g fresh berries, such as blueberries, raspberries or strawberries

4 tspb pure icing sugar

Steps:

1. Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a small cake tin with butter or oil and set aside.

2 Mix the butter, vanilla extract and caster sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until combined. Add the egg and mix through. 

3. Gently mix in the almond meal and cornflour and mix until smooth. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin; smooth surface and sprinkle with berries. 

4. Bake the slice for about 30 minutes or until the surface is a light golden brown and firm to touch. Turn upside down, carefully, onto the bench. Serve dusted with icing sugar. 

Alternatives: 

You can serve this slice with cream or ice cream if you are not lactose intolerant.

You can exchange the berries for other low-FODMAP fruits such as Banana, Rhubarb, or Passionfruit. 

Please keep your serve to about 1 slice per sitting, as almonds should be moderated in their intake.

Low FODMAP Butter Chicken

From my previous posts it may seem that I don't eat dinner or lunch, so I thought it was about time to write a post about a low FODMAP dinner adventure. 

As I am someone who loves putting together simple meals it can often be hard when you cannot use a pre-made sauce out of a jar because it contains things like onion and garlic. Sadly this cuts out some of my favourite simple dinners using a sauce out of a jar, like butter chicken. Last night my boyfriend and I gave a go at making an Indian butter chicken curry from scratch, slightly altering another recipe. 

For a first time try, this recipe took me altogether about an hour to complete, so don't start it unless you have some time on your hands! However, our efforts were definitely worth it. 

Low FODMAP Butter Chicken Recipe

Ingredients: 

125ml (1/2 cup) Natural Yoghurt 

1tsb lemon juice

1 tsp turmeric

2tsp garam masala

1 tsp chilli powder

2tsp fresh ground ginger

3 tsb garlic infused olive oil

500 g chicken fillets, sliced

60g unsalted butter

1 tbs ground cardamon 

1tsb cinnamon 

1 bay leaf

2 tsp sweet paprika

500 g tomatoes (about 4 large tomatoes) 

75 ml chicken stock

125 ml coconut cream 

6 baby delight potatoes 

3 small carrots, sliced

1 cup peas, defrosted

Steamed rice to serve, in this recipe I have used Forbidden Black Rice as I enjoy its slightly nutty flavour, but basmati would be fine

Steps: 

1. Combine yogurt,  lemon juice, turmeric, garam masala, chilli, cumin, ginger and 1tsp of the infused garlic oil in a bowl. Add chicken and stir well. Cover and if possible, refrigerate over night to allow flavours to develop (however, if you cannot do so, this is not a necessity).

2. To create a tomato puree, cut the tomatoes in half and scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon. Roughly chop. Heat another 1tsp of garlic infused olive oil in a fry pan and add the tomatoes and the paprika. Cook until soft and pulpy. Cool mixture and then puree until smooth. Set this aside. 

3. Boil the potatoes in a pot for 15 minutes, adding carrots in for the final 5 minutes. Whilst boiling the vegetables, heat the butter and another 1tsp of garlic infused oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the cardamon, cinnamon and bay leaf, cook for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low, and then add the chicken and marinade, tomato puree and stock. Simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the coconut cream, potatoes, carrots and defrosted peas and cook for a further 10 minutes. 

If the sauce is too runny, you can add more cream, yoghurt or a little bit of gluten-free flour to thicken. 

4. Serve with rice. 

Sweet Crepes for a Saturday Morning

This morning my boyfriend, his housemates and I had a big brunch together. On the menu were gluten-free, low FODMAP crepes with pick your own toppings! 

Gluten Free, Fructose Free Sweet Crepe Recipe: 

Makes about 60 small crepes (or 30 large ones) 

500g gluten free flour
1L milk 
5 eggs
1 tsp sugar
2 drops vanilla essence 
1 tsp sunflower oil 

These crepes are both Fructose Friendly and Coeliac Disease Friendly. If you change the milk to soy, they are also suitable for those with Lactose Intolerance. 

Steps:
1. Mix together the eggs, 1 cup of milk and the flour. Continue to add the rest of the milk periodically to the batter as you mix it together. 

2. Add the sugar and vanilla essence and stir. Add in the oil last. Continue to combine the ingredients until the mixture is smooth. Add a little bit of milk if the mixture feels too thick. 

3. Leave to sit for about 2-3 hours if possible before making the crepes, however this is not essential. 

4. Pour enough of the batter into a oiled pan to form a thin layer which covers the whole surface of the pan. Cook for about 30 seconds on either side, or until golden-brown. 

5. Cover with delicious toppings. 



Suggestions for toppings: 

We made sweet crepes and came up with a range of different flavour combinations that are fructose friendly.  These include:

- Nutella* with strawberries and banana
- Traditional lemon and sugar
- Strawberries and blueberries with maple syrup
- Nutella with vanilla ice cream and melted chocolate 
- Raspberry jam with cream 
- Caramalised banana 

For those with Fructose Malabsorption, watch out for things like honey, figs and jams with mixed berries as these can all upset your stomach and cause bloating. 

*Keep the Nutella intake to a moderate amount, as hazelnuts contain moderate amounts of oligo-saccharides which on a strict low FODMAP diet you should limit. 

Let me know of your favourite sweet crepe combinations. 

Mivvy 

Tummy Friendly Blueberry Muffins

It is a common misconception that those with Fructose Malapsorption cannot eat fruit. However, there are many tasty fruits out there that we can still eat, including a whole range of berries.

Here is a simple recipe for Fructose Friendly, Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins:

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups gluten free self rising flower
1/2 cup raw sugar
pinch of salt
2 eggs
50g/4 tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup fresh blueberries (or thawed frozen berries)

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Grease 12 muffin tins.

2. Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs until blended. Stir in the melted butter, milk and vanilla essence.

4. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the egg mixture. Combine the ingredients until smooth.

5. Rinse the blueberries and dry well. Gently fold them into the batter with a wooden spoon, making sure they are distributed evenly.

6. Spoon the batter into the tins, leaving room for the muffins to rise. Bake for 25 minutes. Leave to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Alternatives:
- Adding cinnamon to the mixture for extra flavour
- Add raspberries into the mixture instead of blueberries. (Do not add blackberries as they are high in Sorbitol)
- To make Lactose Free, change regular milk to soy milk and substitute butter for oil

Let me know of any changes you make to your own FODMAP friendly cakes and muffins. 

Mivvy