The Trouble with Snacking – December 30, 2015

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I need to eat every few hours.  My family discovered this about me when I was around 5, a flower girl at my aunt’s wedding and crying over nothing at all.  My mom got me some carrots, and the day was recovered.  Since then, I’ve not traveled far without having snacks handy.  On my first trip to India a few years ago, I packed bags and bags of the individual travel packs of almonds just in case.  One of the reasons I chose almonds for that trip was because it’s become increasingly more challenging to find snacks that don’t bother my stomach.  When I was just gluten-free and had not yet found the low FODMAP diet, I could pop to the local bodega during work and find rows and rows of gluten-free options (the beauty of living in NYC :)).  Now, though, I have to plan in advance more with pre-purchased snacks or things I have baked at home.

It’s been great being off work this week as I’ve had freedom to come and go with my son as we please.  I knew we would be out from about 12 PM on through late afternoon, so I decided to make some banana and chocolate chip muffins this morning to pack as light snacks for the afternoon.  He takes after me with that every few hours eating requirement!

We headed out this afternoon for Soho to do some returns and checking out the sales.  My son is amazing with dates – if you give him a date, he will tell you the day of the week on which it falls this year.  So I’m never surprised when he zeroes in on calendars wherever we are.  He found this calendar in one of my favorite clothing stores today!  I need to come up with some reward system for the next two days so we can pick that up before Jan hits.

I’m going to try to spend the rest of the evening tonight planning our NYE masquerade party menu (party for family of 2 :)).  We plan to get a little fancy and have a few playlists prepped for the night; now I just need to finalize menu!

Here’s the recipe for the muffins I made earlier today.

FODMAP-friendly Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 cups gluten-free flour (I use Bob’s 1:1 flour)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
• 2 medium sized bananas, smashed (roughly 1 cup once smashed)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease a muffin tray with coconut oil or coconut oil spray.

In a medium bowl, mix the gluten free flour, sugar, chocolate chips and salt.

In a large bowl, add the melted coconut oil, almond milk and egg.  Beat that mixture until well combined.  Add the maple syrup and beat for another 30 seconds.

Mash the bananas in a separate bowl.  I tend to squeeze them a bit while in the peel and then mash with a fork once removed.  Add the bananas to the wet mixture and stir until combined.

Slowly add the flour mixture into the wet mixture and stir until thoroughly combined.

Divide the mixture evenly across the 12 muffin settings in the tray.  Bake for 12 – 15 minutes or until the muffins are golden on the outside and cooked through on the inside (using a toothpick, knife or another tool to confirm the inside temperature).

Cool for several minutes before removing from muffin tray.  These are best served warm, but they are great for quick food on the go as well! Enjoy!