Month: February 2016

Leap Day Love Muffin – February 29, 2016

This is the first leap year my son has really understood the concept, and he has been so excited for it! He was counting down the days, had parties at school and was generally so excited to experience and understand the Leap Day.

So to help the celebration, we had some yummy muffins.  I’ve tried a few variations of muffins over the past few months – some of them delicious (the banana and chocolate chips muffins) and some massive fails.  I’ve been really struggling with a good pumpkin muffin recipe; I’ll keep trying and hopefully have it sorted by next fall 🙂

Today we had the FODMAP-friendly Coconut Flour and Blueberry Muffins.

FODMAP-friendly Coconut Flour and Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup gluten-free flour (I use Bob’s 1:1)
  • 1 cup coconut flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup almond milk
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Either spray a muffin tin with coconut oil spray or insert paper liners.

Mix the melted coconut oil and sugar in a medium bowl until it forms a creamy paste.  Add the eggs and whisk until you have a light, fluffy mixture.

Fold in the flour and baking powder until thoroughly mixed.  Add the almond milk and stir until combined. Add the blueberries to the mixture.

Spoon the mixture into a muffin pan and cook in the oven for 15 – 20 minutes, checking occasionally.

I sometimes take these to work for an afternoon snack, and it’s a nice little treat 🙂

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Winter Comforts – February 22, 2016

This past weekend was such a great one.  One of my best friend’s recently had a baby, and my son has been itching to meet her!  He put on a fancy shirt, made sure his nails were filed down and kept practicing how he would hold her 🙂

I also got a slow cooker this past weekend, which was a life-changing move!  I don’t know how I lived without it so long.  My first meal was just cooking up some chicken thighs in water and spices – we had tender, juicy chicken for days! My next meal this weekend was a huge success – chili without beans, onions and garlic.  Quite a change from the norm!

Slow-Cooker FODMAP-friendly Chili

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Ingredients

  • 1 lb. ground beef (my preference is grass fed, even if the fat content is a bit higher)
  • 1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes (confirm no onion and garlic included)
  • 1 14 oz. can crushed tomatoes (confirm no onion and garlic included)
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 tbsp. garlic-infused olive oil
  • 2 bell peppers, diced
  • 2 medium sized carrots, diced
  • 1 ½ tbsp. cumin
  • 1 ½ tbsp. paprika
  • 1 ½ tbsp. cayenne pepper
  • 2 tsp. oregano
  • 2 tsp. salt

Directions

Heat 1 tbsp. of the garlic-infused olive oil in a frying pan and add the ground beef.  Stir until thoroughly minced and cooked most of the way through.

Add the remaining tbsp. of olive oil along with beef and all remaining ingredients into the slow cooker.  Stir all ingredients together.  Set the slow cooker for 6 hours on low heat.  Garnish with scallions, sour cream, cheese or whatever else your stomach can handle!

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Enjoy and let me know how you like it!

Experimenting on Vacation – February 18, 2016

I will try not to rub it in too much how wonderful our time in sunny, warm California was – escaping the freezing temps of NYC, a few days of work and really getting to unplug and have some laughs! 🙂  But that said, it was an unbeatable vacation, and I am so grateful for it.

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One of the things my sister and I love to do together is cook, and sometimes get a bit adventurous with it.  This time we attempted some homemade gluten free pasta, and it turned out really amazing.  We served it carbonara style with some heavy cream, kale and bacon.  Below is the recipe we used for the pasta.

Gluten-free Pasta

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups gluten-free flour (I use Bob’s 1:1)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 eggs plus 2 yolks
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup water
  • Cornmeal, for dusting

Directions:

Combine the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Create a well in the center of the bowl and add 3 whole eggs, 2 yolks and 1 tbsp olive oil to the well and beat with a fork.  Gradually drag in the flour from the outside in a circular motion and combine with your hand.  As you are mixing, add the water gradually and as needed.  Continue to combine until all flour forms into a ball.  Knead and fold the dough until elastic and smooth.  Rub 1 tbsp of olive oil on the surface and wrap the dough in plastic wrap.  Let rest for about 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into four portions, and cover the sections you are currently not using.  Form the dough into a rectangle and roll out with a rolling pin until it is of desired thickness (the pasta will not expand much so whatever thickness you see pre-cooking will be the final size), using cornmeal to dust as needed.  Cut the rectangle into fettuccine sized pieces, or as small as you like (we cut into roughly 1×3 in. rectangles).

Cook pasta in boiling water for 4 – 5 minutes.  Drain and serve with desired sauce.  Below is a view of the carbonara style dish we made.

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And We’re Off – February 11, 2016

Leaving behind the cold, gray skies in NYC and headed out to sunny, beautiful California!  Follow me on Instagram @FODMom for our daily sun-soaked activity and food posts :).  My sister and I will probably get into some cooking at the weekend, so check the blog for some new or variations of our favorite recipes!  Maybe my son and I can venture out to a real yoga practice in Cali since we’ve started our daily practicing.

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In the airport, we shared a not great burger and fries to prepare for the long flight – airplane food would have been worse, I suppose.  We did sit in an area with some funny food / NYC photos.

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And now the best part of the journey (aside from seeing my sister of course!) – arriving for this:

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Check back in this week for more updates, and definitely check out the instagram posts!

Chicken Soup Saves the Day – February 9, 2016

I was sick this past weekend.  It was a weird one – I felt like I had a super intense flu that lasted for only 36 hours!  But those 36 hours happened to be during some of the very fun things I planned to do this weekend – taking my son to see Matilda on Broadway, seeing my best friend’s new baby, doing some work with a clear head (that one was never going to be fun, clear or foggy head :)).  It all worked out, though.  My parents were thrilled to get to take my son to Matilda, I got to meet the new baby last night (who is absolutely adorable!), and I got some yummy chicken soup!

All of my friends have tried to adapt to my FODMAP requirements as much as possible when cooking around me which I always appreciate, as I know it’s not easy!  This weekend, a friend came around to help sort out some of my normal weekend routines (cleaning, cooking, etc.) while I was out of commission.  He made a great chicken soup using a Martha Stewart recipe as a starting point, tailored to what ingredients I had quickly available and removed all the high FODMAP ingredients so I could eat without additional stomach stress!   Here is what he came up with:

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FODMAP-friendly Chicken Soup

Ingredients

  • 6 chicken thighs- approximately 2-3lbs
  • 8 cups water
  • Coarse salt
  • 3 medium onions, halved
  • 3 celery stalks, sliced 1/4 inch thick
  • 4 garlic cloves, whole
  • 6 medium carrots, sliced 1/2 inch thick

Directions

Bring chicken, water, and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil in a large stockpot. Skim foam. Add onions, celery, and garlic and reduce heat. Simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes.

Add carrots. Simmer, partially covered, for 40 minutes.

Remove chicken, onions and garlic; discard onions and garlic. Remove meat from bones, and cut into bite-size pieces.  Stir chicken back into the soup.  Skim any additional fat from the soup.  Season with salt as needed.

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A pretty simple recipe that you can probably even manage on your own when battling one of these nasty winter bugs!  Leave comments on your best FODMAP-friendly chicken soup recipes :).

Long Lost Blogger – February 3, 2016

I have no idea where the past two weeks have gone!  It’s been a busy time of year for sure – work, snow, baby showers, kid activities, but I should have made more time for blogging! Lesson learned!

Last weekend I had a few friends around for a small baby shower, and I made a few of my favorites that day – salsa, kale salad and just some basic gluten-free breaded chicken tenders (with my favorite 4C plain breadcrumbs, of course). The picture below is my salsa, which I also made for tonight’s meal with tacos.  I struggled to find a good recipe for taco seasoning, as the pre-packaged seasonings contain all sorts of ingredients I shouldn’t have – mainly the onion and garlic seasonings.  I use a variation of Alton Brown’s homemade taco seasoning, made FODMAP-friendly.

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Ground Beef Tacos

Taco Seasoning Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine; you can also shake all ingredients in a small jar to combine.

Taco Ingredients

  • 1 lb ground beef
  • Taco Seasoning (above)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 12 soft corn tortillas
  • Toppings (lettuce, sour cream and cheese if you can handle dairy, tomatoes, jalapenos, homemade salsa)

Directions

Add olive oil to a large frying and heat on low.  Add ground beef and salt to the olive oil and cook until browned, about 3 -4 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up the meat.  Add Taco Seasoning and water.  Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for several minutes, until sauce is slightly thickened.

In a small frying pan, heat one corn tortilla at a time, flipping as the first side becomes warmed.  Serve tacos with any toppings you like, and of course tacos are always best with a margarita, or in my case tonight a gluten free beer :).

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