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Tuesday, June 4, 2013

What to eat on a Low-FODMAP diet: Chicken and Rice Casserole recipe

I’m from the South, so I love me a casserole. Also, I don’t want to cook every day, and it’s hard to eat low-FODMAP without cooking. So I make this casserole pretty frequently and eat it all week for lunch. It doesn’t hurt my stomach at all and I think it's yummz. This is a sort of improvised recipe, so let me know if you think it needs modifications.


Ingredients:
For the sauce
· 1 cup rice milk
· 1 cup chicken broth (I use free-range)
· 2 tablespoons Earth Balance butter substitute
· 2 tablespoons rice flour
· 1/4 cup Daiya cheese, or other dairy-free cheese (you can skip this if you want)
· Salt
· Freshly ground black pepper
For the casserole
· 1 tablespoon Earth Balance
· 1 tablespoon canola oil
· ¼ cup of the GREEN PARTS of green onions (the whites are high-FODMAPs)
· 4 cups cooked white or brown rice
· Freshly squeezed juice from 2 lemonss
· 1 cup chicken broth
· 3 cups cooked (skinless) chicken, cubed (I use free-range)
· bunch of fresh spinach
· one sweet potato, cubed and mostly cooked (just boil it ‘til it’s starting to soften)
· one (uncooked) zucchini, cubed
· Freshly ground black pepper
· 1/2 cup lightly toasted pine nuts (just heat them in a pan ‘til they start to brown)

Directions:
For the sauce: 
1. Combine the rice milk and broth in a large, heat-safe measuring cup. Microwave on MEDIUM just long enough to warm through (without boiling).
2. Melt the Earth Balance in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the rice flour and cook for 2 minutes, whisking constantly.
3. Slowly pour in the warm rice milk-broth mixture, whisking, until all of the liquid is incorporated.
4. Stir in the daiya cheese; cook for 4 to 5 minutes, whisking to form a smooth sauce that has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

For the casserole: 
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the butter and oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the green onions and stir until they’re all coated. Then add spinach, sweet potato, and zucchini; cook for about 2 minutes, ‘til everything is coated in the butter/oil, but not yet cooked through.
3. Turn off the heat, add the rice and stir to coat evenly.
4. Combine the 2 cups of sauce, lemon juice and broth in a large bowl; mix well, then add the rice mixture, chicken and vegetables, stirring to incorporate.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Grease the inside of an 8-by-8-inch baking dish.
7. Spread the chicken-rice mixture evenly in the baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
8. If you plan to serve the casserole right away, uncover and sprinkle the toasted pine nuts evenly over the top. Bake for 5 to 8 more minutes.

-If you plan to freeze the casserole, bypass the pine nuts step. Remove the casserole from the oven after the 30 minutes and allow it to cool. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate to chill through. (At this point, if desired, cut it into individual portions and wrap each one first in plastic wrap, then in foil.) Freeze for 6 to 8 hours, then ufmold and wrap first in plastic wrap, then in foil. Return to the freezer and store for up to 6 weeks. Right before you serve it, toast the pine nuts and sprinkle them on top.



7 comments:

  1. What broth do you use? I heard that no store bought broth was low-fodmap. But I am never going to have the time or desire to make my own. Are there any that are okay to try? I am new at this.

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    1. Hi Susan! I just use organic, free-range chicken broth. It seems to be fine for me, although I know some people are more sensitive than I am. Have you tried organic store-bought broth?

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  2. Laura, what brand of chicken stock or broth do you use? I haven't found any I can use. I always make my own. I'd love to find a beef broth that I can buy. It's harder to make when you don't have a butcher to get soup bones ftom.

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    Replies
    1. Hi! I make my own too, although I've also found a really good locally-made broth at my co-op. You might be able to find a local broth at Whole Foods also, if there's one near you (there's not on near me).

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  3. Laura, what brand of chicken stock or broth do you use? I haven't found any I can use. I always make my own. I'd love to find a beef broth that I can buy. It's harder to make when you don't have a butcher to get soup bones ftom.

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  4. Check the Progresso brand of chicken stock. There were two sizes in my grocery store and one had a short list of ingredients that seem to fit a low Fodmap diet.

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  5. I checked out Progresso, through the company, and they said all the stock and broths have onion in them.
    On the unsalted and low salted labels the first ingredient just says chicken broth, so you have to look up what is in their normal chicken broth, I think that is pretty misleading, but, onion is there. Onion powder, and the "natural flavors" can contain both onion and garlic. I'm very sensitive to onions still. Just can't go there.
    We don't have a big issue making chicken broth but beef broth, that's a whole other story. It's hard to get good soup bones where I live for some reason. Thanks for trying.

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