Low FODMAP Rebellious Ratatouille

And a quick lesson in using garlic as part of a low-fodmap diet.

Hi again Fodmappers - Today I want to share another simple vegetarian and vegan recipe idea that's so yummy, you'd never know it was low-fodmap, or vegetarian. But first I want to talk to you a little about garlic, particularly as I know some of you have asked ...

Can I have garlic as part of a low-fodmap diet?

It dawned on me recently that I rarely talk much about the ingredients I use and why it's ok (or not ok) to include them. For me, getting myself well has been as much about what I've learned as what I've eaten because, as I've mentioned before, low-fodmap is not about cutting back on what we eat, it's about replacing high fodmaps with low ones. I'm sure that understanding what I can incorporate, and how, has been a vital part of my success. So I'd like to pass on something which I think you'll find helpful too.

I like my food to have plenty of flavour and unfortunately garlic is high-fodmap (don't run away Fodmappers, there is good news to follow) so it's not surprising that I discovered it to be one of my main triggers. But there is a way we can still enjoy a little garlic flavour in our food. I shan't baffle you with science, but if you just want to skip to the recipe, feel free.

(If you're new to fodmaps you might like to read this.)

In a nutshell, garlic (along with onions and pulses) is a type of oligosaccharide and is water soluble. This means that when you add garlic to soups, sauces, stock etc, the oligos (the O in fodmap) will leach into your food. It is the oligos, along with other fodmaps, that trigger symptoms of IBS.

However, they are not soluble in oil. (I remember this seemed like a revelation when I learned this). This means we can still enjoy a little garlic as garlic infused oil. You can buy garlic infused oil but it's easy enough to make. And by making garlic infused oil we can safely include what is a high-fodmap ingredient in a low-fodmap diet!

So here is my simple ratatouille recipe. I'm calling this Rebellious Ratatouille as that's how I feel when I add 'naughty' ingredients like garlic to my recipes. I think you'll see that I've just made a couple of tweaks to make it low-fodmap. So easy when you know how. I hope you like it.

Rebellious Ratatouille

Ingredients

Olive Oil
A few garlic cloves
1 red pepper
2 courgettes
1 small aubergine
4 or 5 spring onions
1 small carton of passata
Fresh basil
Black pepper

Method

1. Chop garlic into fairly large pieces to make them easier to remove.
2. Heat the oil in a pan and add the garlic. Cook over a medium heat for about 15 minutes allowing the garlic to infuse.
3. Remove the garlic from the oil. You' now have garlic infused oil. (Didn't I say it was easy?)
4. Cut the white parts from the spring onions and discard. (This part is high in oligosaccharides).
5. Roughly chop the spring onion greens (leaves) peppers, courgettes and aubergines and add to the oil. Cook until softened, stirring continuously.
6. Add the passata and heat through.
7. Add the pepper and basil and simmer.

Serve with wheat free pasta and a side salad alongside a little grilled halloumi (watch portion size) or tofu sprinkled with paprika for extra yumminess.

'Til next time Fodmappers - Stay Fabulous. x

Three Ways to Enjoy a Low-FODMAP Pancake Day

Hi again Fodmappers - Can you believe it's almost Pancake Day? It doesn't seem long since Christmas! And it's almost a year since I started my low-fodmap diet! I think that's a cause for celebration!! But pancakes? Why not?

A low fodmap diet isn't about cutting things out, it's just a matter of replacing high fodmap ingredients with low ones. For pancakes that's about choosing a non-wheat flour over wheat, and replacing the milk with a lactose and soy free variety.

Of course you also need to think about what you're putting into your pancakes, so to help you I've come up with three suggestions - one breakfast idea, one main course and one dessert. And because I prefer eating to cooking, they're all very easy.

I've used buckwheat flour for the pancakes (if you've been following my blog a while you'll know that buckwheat isn't wheat) as I like the earthy, wholefood hippiness of buckwheat. But if that's not your style just use a gluten-free flour blend instead. Or maybe try mixing the two together and create a low-fodmap flour blend of your own!

Buckwheat Pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup of buckwheat flour
1 egg
1 cup of lactose free milk of your choice
A little oil for cooking.

Method

Sieve the flour into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the egg.
Slowly whisk in the milk.

(After mixing the batter, I poured the batter into a clean plastic milk carton to use as needed.)

Heat the oil in the pan.
Pour in enough batter to coat the bottom of the pan evenly.
Cook until lightly browned, turning once.

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Pancake Fillings and Toppings

Breakfast - Peanut Butter and Banana

Speaks for itself! Enjoy your pancake spread with peanut butter and topped with sliced banana for a protein packed start to the day.

Main Course - Provencale Pancakes

Lightly fry, or roast, some spring onion greens, courgette, bell pepper and tomatoes with a little basil.
Spoon into the centre of each pancake and roll up.
Top with grated cheese and serve with a side salad.

Dessert - Lemon Meringue Pancakes

Warning! This is particularly yummy!

Combine a crushed meringue nest with lemon curd and some plain lactose free or coconut yogurt. (I used CoYo.) Spoon onto cooled pancakes and top with syrup or a squeeze of lemon juice.

I topped mine with a drizzle of syrup from a jar of stem ginger. Lemon and ginger is just such a perfect combination! Yum!

And there you have it - three easy ways to enjoy a low-fodmap Pancake Day. Enjoy!

'Til next time - Stay Fabulous! x

How I Gained a More Varied Diet Through FODMAP

Yes, you read that right - I did say 'more varied'. This post is dedicated to those of you who feel that a low-FODMAP diet is so restricted that there's nothing left to eat! I know - I felt like that too.

Hello again Fodmappers. Today I want to share something which was a bit of an epiphany for me.  Quite simply I realised that before going low-FODMAP it felt like everything I ate made me ill. But since discovering the FODMAP approach, I've realised that now I have a whole range of foods to choose from which I can enjoy without becoming unwell. This still feels like nothing short of a miracle. But I admit that initially it felt like my diet was going to be so restricted that it was all going to be very dull. And I was also a bit concerned that, as much of my usual vegetarian options were going to be off-limits, that I wasn't going to be eating healthily either. How wrong I was.

For a start, I have recently rediscovered fruit! This is quite ironic as it is recommended that fruit is limited too (not only to certain varieties but also to one portion with each meal) during the elimination stage but, until a few months ago, I hardly ate any fruit and relied on vegetables for my 5-a-day. Sadly though, many of the vegetables that I used to eat regularly (such as onions, broccoli, beetroot and sugar snap peas) turned out to be HIGH in FODMAPs so it was important that I dropped those and found alternatives. I still eat lots of (other) yummy vegetables but now I also have FODMAP friendly oranges, bananas, grapes and kiwi fruit too.

And then there's the whole wheat thing. I almost feel a little bit guilty telling you just how much of my diet had become wheat based, even without me noticing. It wasn't unusual for me to have something like wheat-flakes, weetabix or branflakes for breakfast, then a sandwich or pasty for lunch, a pasta meal in the evening or maybe a veggie pie, and the inevitable cakes and biscuits in between. No wonder I was ill! If you haven't explored this area yet, you'll be glad to know that there is so much more to eat than wheat. Oats are ok so I often start the day with a bowl of porridge, but you could equally have a slice of wheat-free toast. I also use rice and potatoes more than previously and have discovered the world of 'gluten free' (which means they are also wheat, rye and barley free) pastas. Sometimes I even unleash my inner hippy and make a quinoa or sprouted buckwheat salad.

I now gain my proteins through tinned chick peas, tofu, nuts and nutty butters (did you know you can now get almond and hazelnut as well as peanut butter?) eggs, cheeses and grains such as quinoa instead of reaching for the jar of soya mince.

Milk has been replaced by oat, rice or (and this is my current favourite) almond milk. The lactose-free 'ordinary' milk isn't bad either.

In short, my diet is so much more interesting!

So I hope that if you're still working up to going low-FODMAP, or maybe losing heart a little, this might have given you a bit of encouragement. Remind yourself, that the chances are, that some of the foods you're already eating are ones that are making you ill. You'd have to be crazy to carry on eating those surely? And try something different instead. If it seems like a challenge then treat it as though you're making something special for somebody special - because you are! It's a matter of looking at what you can eat, not what you can't. And you may even find you end up with a more varied diet (and maybe more balanced) diet as a result.

Bon appetit.