FODMom

Christmas Eve Brunch – December 28, 2015

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Several years back, my sister and I started doing one of our Christmas holidays with our friends and the other with family. It tends to be based on when my little one is with me as my family would be devastated if they didn’t get to see him for Christmas!

This year we did Christmas Eve brunch with the friend group, and it ended up being a great time. Champagne brunches are always fun J I have shared my soup recipe below and will share my sister’s Gluten-free Bread and Egg and Kale Hash in posts later this week.

FODMAP-friendly Roasted Tomato Soup

This recipe is modified off the Tyler Florence roasted tomato soup to support a low FODMAP meal.

Ingredients:

2 ½ pounds fresh tomatoes (combination vine tomatoes, grape tomatoes, etc.)
5 cloves garlic
1 medium sized onion
½ cup Garlic-Infused Olive Oil (see December 23 post)
Salt and pepper
1 quart chicken stock (check ingredients to make sure it is free of onion and garlic)
1 bay leave
4 tbsp butter
½ cup chopped fresh basil leaves
¼ cup heavy cream (if you can support some cream in diet)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Wash, core and cut the tomatoes into halves. Slice garlic and onions in large chunks (for easy removal once roasted). Spread tomatoes, garlic and onion on 1 – 2 baking dishes and pour the Garlic-Infused Olive Oil over the mix and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 20 – 30 minutes until caramelized.

Remove onions and garlic from baking dishes and discard. Move the tomatoes into a large stock pot. Add ¾ of the chicken stock, bay leave and butter to the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until liquid has reduced by a third.

Wash and dry basil leaves and add to pot. Remove heat and with an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth. Return soup to low heat, add cream and adjust consistency with remaining chicken stock if required. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Rainy Day Birthdays – December 23, 2015

My sister is my best friend, but she did ruin my life when she moved to California almost a year ago. I’m exaggerating, but I do miss her very much. We previously lived 4 stops away from each other on the same subway line and are now nearly 3,000 miles away, so whenever my sister visits we make the most of our time together.

Today is her birthday, so we spent the past few days celebrating as much as possible. We spent yesterday wandering the city and eating / drinking at our favorite spots. If you follow me on Instagram (@FODMOM), you may have seen a post from my favorite arepa spot yesterday.

Today we had little desire to venture too far as it was gray and rainy all day, so we had lunch with my son and our parents at a local spot Prime Meats with the best burgers around. A few hours later, we started to get hungry again but no one could muster the energy for the rain so I went into snack-making mode for foods that could keep us all happy. I made us a FODMAP-friendly Salsa and later some FODMAP-friendly Bourbon Punches. The rainy birthday ended up being a huge success!

FODMAP-friendly Salsa

Ingredients

14.5 oz can Diced Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Green Chiles (check the ingredients to make sure there are no onions or garlic included)

14.5 oz Can of Diced Tomatoes, Drained (check the ingredients to make sure there are no onions or garlic included)

1 lime, juiced

1/2 cup scallions, green part only

2 tbsp chopped chives

2 tbsp chopped parsley

1 tbsp garlic infused olive oil (recipe to follow)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a medium-size bowl, combine the fire roasted tomatoes (juice included) and lime juice. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. For best results, refrigerate the salsa for several hours before serving so that ingredients can fully combine. Serve with tortilla chips.

Garlic-Infused Olive Oil

I tend to make 1/4 cup or more of garlic-infused olive oil at a time and store for a few days so that I can use for several recipes at a time. If using 1/4 cup olive oil, cut about 6 cloves of garlic in half and heat in the oil on low heat for ~5 minutes. Remove from heat and cover for 30 min – several hours depending on time constraints. Either strain olive oil as you pour into dish or pick garlic out of olive oil before use.

FODMAP-friendly Bourbon Punch

Ingredients

1.5 oz bourbon (Makers Mark is my preference)

2 oz almond milk (Silk Unsweetened Original is my preference, not getting paid to say that :))

dash of vanilla

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp sugar

1 egg white

Directions

Mix ingredients in cocktail shaker (no ice) until frothy. Add ice to shaker and mix for a few more seconds. Pour into glass and enjoy!

Monday Comfort Food – December 21, 2015

Today was my last day of work until January, but it was still a Monday. It’s a bit depressing that every week Monday feels the same! I had a really great weekend; it’s even starting to feel like Christmas a bit. My sister arrived in town on Saturday, and we have had a non-stop blast. We saw The Book of Mormon this weekend, which was very different than I expected but quite funny. Yesterday was time for my sister and my son to have some good quality time. They are so alike in so many ways. See below collage that they created together, that only the two of them get! We also went out for dinner at Numero 28 Pizzeria in the West Village. The gluten free pizza was absolutely amazing. We may make a stop back there tomorrow.

I prepped Monday night dinner this morning before work as I knew I would be a bit late tonight and tend to make us frozen fish sticks or chicken nuggets on a Monday anyway if I don’t have something ready. My go-to comfort food is definitely a burger, but I try to keep our red meat intake balanced with other proteins. Turkey burgers have recently become one of my favorite foods. Paired with an Against the Grain roll, they make an easy, healthy dinner.

FODMAP-friendly Turkey Burgers

Ingredients

1 pound ground turkey

1/2 cup gluten free plain breadcrumbs (I use 4C brand)

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

1 egg

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Directions

Combine ingredients in a bowl and work through with your hands until all ingredients are spread evenly with ground turkey. Make into 4 – 6 individual burgers depending on the size. Grill until cooked through and place on a bun with whatever toppings / condiments are appropriate for your FODMAP lifestyle.

I package up the burgers once they are made – either when I am making in advance or if I have many more than 2 made. I double bag and freeze if I expect we won’t get through them all in one week.

I love this little Cuisinart griddler. Living in the city, I don’t have a ton of space, but this folds up and stores pretty well and can be pulled out whenever I want to grill something.

And here is the final product paired with some sauteed spinach (olive oil, spinach and salt). With a glass of red wine of course 🙂 – making my Monday complete and my vacation time from work a go!

My sister and I have finalized Christmas Eve dinner, so be on the lookout for some pictures and recipes following that. Enjoy the holidays!

No Need to Cry Over Onions – December 16, 2015

My dad’s family is German, and my mom’s family is Italian, but I’ve really only connected with my Italian cooking roots. So you can imagine my angst when I had to give up garlic as part of living a low FODMAP lifestyle. I seem to recall a few days where I ate nothing but roasted garlic, homemade garlic hummus dip and red sauce loaded with garlic in preparation for a life without. Drama aside, I did think that would be the most challenging food to live without.

As time has gone on, I have found a few other foods just as challenging to live without – onions, broccoli and brie. I’ve been on a hunt lately to find an onion supplement or replacement. For some time I was able to use a little onion powder, but I became uncertain of the impact on my stomach so stopped.

When I started exploring the internet for some additional options, I found that many people can tolerate the green part of scallions. And I’ve become obsessed with them 🙂 Today I’ll share a quick and easy recipe for a baked chicken I’ve been making with scallions AND a surprise guest of garlic! I’ll add a quick disclaimer here – I can tolerate small amounts of dairy (yogurts, sour cream, hard cheeses, dash of milk or cream in coffee). For those in the elimination phase, it would not be recommended to use Greek yogurt but a basic olive oil could be used for the chicken marinade.

Baked Scallion Chicken

Ingredients

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 small container greek yogurt (I use Fage 2%)

3 – 4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced (thick slices are best since these will need to be removed)

~5 scallions, green end only chopped finely

1 tsp olive oil

Salt for seasoning

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large baking dish (Pyrex, large baking sheet, etc.), coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil to prevent sticking. Place garlic around the dish.

In a separate dish, mix greek yogurt and scallions. Sprinkle salt over chicken and then fully coat each piece in greek yogurt mixture and place in baking dish.

Cook ~10 minutes before flipping and cooking another 10. Cooking times will vary based on thickness of chicken – be sure to make sure the chicken is fully cooked before removing from oven. Remove garlic and throw directly into the garbage!

I make some version of a baked chicken dish every Sunday and pack with a salad for lunches all week. I struggle to find FODMAP-friendly lunch options near my office, so I make my own. Below was a day I knew I would be VERY hungry, so I added a corn tortilla as a supplement.

Weekend News – December 14, 2015

Welcome to my first blog post! My sister has been suggesting I blog for years (probably so that I don’t talk her ear off so much), but I’m just now getting around to it and am excited by the new challenge.

We’ve had beautiful weather in NYC lately, so we spent the weekend bopping around enjoying some of the best our city has to offer. Central Park in 60 degree weather is absolutely perfect!

We made a stop for brunch at A.G. Kitchen (warning: I love NY Magazine), where they have a great gluten-free burger bun. We also did an order of guacamole, onion on the side for my belly – I seem to do OK with small amounts of avocado but if you’re doing the full FODMAP elimination it should be avoided.

And then I made a HUGE mistake. We were having such a wonderful, calm NYC day and I ruined it by suggesting we see the tree at Rockefeller Center. We barely made it out of the crowds alive, but we did get our annual shot of the tree which may make it worth it in a few days when I’ve recovered 🙂

I will be posting some products to the Product Recommendations page today and posting some recipes this week – stay tuned!

Christmas Eve Brunch – December 28, 2015

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Rainy Day Birthdays – December 23, 2015

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Monday Comfort Food – December 21, 2015

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No Need to Cry Over Onions – December 16, 2015

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Weekend News – December 14, 2015

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