Low-FODMAP Spinach Chips

Kale is my enemy for so many reasons, not least of which is that it’s high-FODMAP and super hard to digest. Also I think it’s gross unless it’s drenched in olive oil and baked to a crisp. Luckily, I just discovered that spinach chips are as yummy as kale chips (and by that I mean, anything soaked in oil and sea salt is delicious). Recipe:

Ingredients:

Two cups of raw spinach

1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, depending on how oily you want them

Sea salt, to taste

Directions:

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

-Put the spinach in a large bowl and toss in olive oil and sea salt.

-Lay parchment paper over a baking pan and spread spinach on top, in a single layer.

-NOTE: you can put the spinach straight on the pan (not on parchment paper) if you want – it will be oilier this way, and you’ll have to scrape it off the pan with a spatula, but this wasn’t a problem for me.

-Bake for 10-12 minutes or until crispy. The timing can be tricky – I recommend that you check on it every minute starting at 10 minutes to see if the leaves are crisp.

Enjoy.

Low-FODMAP (bean-free) Zucchini Hummus

Low-FODMAP (bean-free) Zucchini Hummus

I can’t tolerate garbanzo beans (or any kind of beans, really) but I miss eating hummus. This Low-FODMAP almost-hummus recipe is fab! NOTE: To keep this low-FODMAP, you shouldn't have more than 2 tablespoons of hummus per serving, because high quantities of tahini include enough FODMAPs to cause digestive distress. 

Ingredients:
- 1 zucchini, chopped, sauteed in olive oil
- 3 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1/3 cup tahini 

- 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
- Mint leaves or cilantro (you can leave this off if you want)

Directions:
1. Sauté the zucchini in olive oil until it starts to turn soft.

2. Place the lemon juice and tahini in a blender or food processor and blend for about 30 seconds (it should look creamy and smooth)

3. Add the zucchini, olive oil, sea salt, black pepper and blend.

4. Garnish with fresh mint leaves or cilantro if you want.

Enjoy!

Low-FODMAP, Gluten-Free, Paleo Sliders with Sweet Potato "Buns"

These low-FODMAP, gluten-free, paleo sliders on sweet potato “buns” are a MAJOR WIN. Trust me.

Recipe:

-several half-inch-thick sweet potato slices, boiled for 5 minutes to soften them slightly, skin removed

-ground turkey (or beef)

-1 teaspoon fresh rosemary (can use ½ tsp dried)

-1 teaspoon fresh sage or thyme (can use ½ tsp dried)

-1 teaspoon sea salt

-1/2 teaspoon pepper

-2-3 tablespoons olive oil.

-Dijon mustard

-lettuce and tomato for the burgers

Using your hands, mix the ground turkey with the herbs. Shape into slider-sized patties and sauté in olive oil until they’re browned on the outside, and as done as you like them on the inside (5-ish minutes per side). Add more olive oil if the pan is getting dry/sticky.

Meanwhile, in another pan, heat up a tablespoon or two of olive oil on medium (amount will depend on how many sweet potatoes you’re cooking). Sauté the sweet potato slices for a few minutes per side, until they’re starting to brown/darken.

Then, build the burgers like you see in the photo above - Dijon mustard, lettuce, tomato. You may need to eat with a knife and fork, depending on how crispy you made the sweet potatoes. They're ridic yummy either way. 

Low-FODMAP Plantain Crackers

My new FAVORITE snack (thanks to my nutritionist Sarah Kennedy for the suggestion) is homemade plantain crackers. I bake some every week - they are SO easy to make! My non-digestively-challenged husband can’t stop eating them either.

Ingredients:

3 plantains, not over-ripe (but not green)

½ cup coconut oil (you can reduce this if you can’t handle too much fat)

sea salt

Direcitons:

1. Heat oven to 350.

2. Cut the plantains open and put them into a food processor in chunks. Add the coconut oil. Blend/process until completely smooth.

3. Lay parchment paper on top of a cookie sheet. Spread the plantain mixture onto the parchment paper, making sure that it’s super thin (cracker thin!) and even.

4. Bake for 10 minutes. Then pull the cookie sheet out of the oven and score the mixture into cracker-sized squares with a pizza cutter or big knife. Sprinkle sea salt on the tops of the crackers.

5. Bake for about 50 more minutes, or until the crackers look like they’re just about to burn. They should be dark brown and feel crispy to the touch. In this photo of my first attempt at the recipe, I actually liked the darker ones better than the lighter ones:

Enjoy! These suckers are SO GOOD!

BTW, these are great just by themselves OR with any kind of dip. Occasionally I am able to make myself eat them with chicken liver pâté so I can up my intake of Vitamin B’s and iron (maybe I’ll include my chicken liver pâté recipe soon, though I can’t promise it’s my most delicious).

Later! xo

My other projects:

My Novel, Shadow Swans: http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Swans-Laura-Thomas-ebook/dp/B0056C414I

Laura Thomas music: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Laura-Thomas/151476024869894

Low-FODMAP App!

Hello my friends!

For anyone else following a low-FODMAP diet, you’ll be psyched to know that Monash (they are THE authorities on the FODMAP diet) has created a low-FODMAP APP! With this app you can find out the latest info about which foods are most digestible for gastrointestinal losers like us.  You can download the app here:

http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/gastro/fodmap/iphone-app.html

I will be back for more blogging soon – sorry I’ve been M.I.A. My days have been getting sucked into a time vortex, but I shall bust open that vortex soon. xo

My favorite Paleo, Low-FODMAP breakfast: Sweet Potato Porridge

For a long time I struggled with what to eat for breakfast, because I can’t bear to start the day with something that will give me stomach pain. So I ate rice cereal and berries with almond milk, but then after that (not very nutritious) heavy-carb breakfast, I’d experience an energy crash every afternoon. Fortunately, my fabulous nutritionist Sarah Kennedy (message me if you want her info) suggested that I make myself some kind of sweet potato porridge, so I invented one that I love so much I’d be happy to eat it for breakfast AND lunch every day. Sarah told me to pair this with turkey bacon or chicken sausage so that I’m getting plenty of protein, and my afternoon energy crash has totally disappeared. Here’s the recipe:

Sweet potato porridge

-1 cup of mashed sweet potato* (see the end of the recipe for easy cooking instructions)

-1 teaspoon of maple syrup

1/4 cup berries (any kind)

2 tbsp slivered almonds

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

a dash of nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground flax seeds

Mix it all together, then add enough hot water to make it a porridge-y texture. It is seriously the best thing ever! 

*For the mashed sweet potato: Quarter and boil a small potato for about 10 minutes, or until it’s soft all the way through when you poke it with a fork. When it’s soft, the skin peels off super easily. To avoid burning yourself, I suggest dribbling cold water over the potato as you peel it. You should be able to mash it easily with a fork.

Marshmallow root improved my IBS symptoms IMMEDIATELY – get on it!

Like many of you, I have trouble digesting about a million different foods. Aside from cutting out wheat and dairy and beans and onions and garlic and legumes and… [*she bangs her head on keyboard and passes out*], nothing I’ve tried has improved my symptoms. Unless I follow a STRICT low-FODMAP diet, I. Get. Painfully. Bloated. From. Every. F’ing. FOOD. And even when I go low-FODMAP, I often get stomach pain/bloating. For me, it’s like food=poison, and that is a major pain in my ass. 

I’ve tried every cure out there. Bone broth isn’t making any notable difference in my symptoms. I did L-Glutamine for a while ‘til I realized I was allergic to it (don’t go near that stuff if you have an MSG allergy). Deglycyrrhizinated licorice (I can’t believe I can spell that) does nothing for me. I hydrate constantly, I take probiotics, digestive enzymes, blah blah blah.

And then came the marshmallow. I’d heard that marshmallow root could also ease IBS symptoms (http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-774-marshmallow.aspx?activeingredientid=774&activeingredientname=marshmallow), but since NOTHING else worked for me I blew off the idea of trying marshmallow for a long time. Then a few weeks ago, infuriated by the chronic pain, I huffed my way to the herbalist and bought some powdered marshmallow root. She told me to mix a spoonful with a cup of water, let it sit for 5 minutes so that the powder could get all gooey, and then drink it down. And I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I experienced an IMMEDIATE difference. Each morning for the past 3 weeks I have drunk down a cup of gloppy marshmallow water (which, by the way, has very little taste at all), and each day thereafter I have had no stomach pain.

Apparently, marshmallow root helps to soothe and repair the gut lining. There haven’t been too many studies exploring this interaction, but one study recently confirmed that marshmallow eased irritated mucous membranes (http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/marshmallow).

Now, it’s not like I’m suddenly eating bread and cheese and experiencing no stomach pain. I still avoid ALL high-FODMAP foods. If I break that pattern I’m back in bed clutching my tummy. I still can’t eat broccoli and hummus and all the other high-FODMAP foods that piss off my lower gut. But before the marshmallow, even low-FODMAP foods were giving me some pain/bloating. So, for me, this is a major quality of life improvement. At least I can eat food without feeling like I’ve poisoned myself.

I’m telling you, this marshmallow root thing is AMAZING. You should try it.