books

Resources for Low-FODMAP Living

Nibbles

April is IBS Awareness Month and, as such, I though it would helpful to share the books and websites that have helped me so very much over the last few months.

My default reaction to a new idea or problem to solve is research. This used to mean hitting the library when I was in school and heading to the bookstore once I was a gainfully employed adult. Of course, the Internet is a fabulous resource, but you have to be able to weed out the truth from the fiction, tested theory from mere supposition. Respected authorities are still respected authorities, right?

image via Monash University

image via Monash University

Monash University, Dept of Gastroenterology These folks literally wrote the book on FODMAPs and are continuing to test and evaluate more ingredients as time goes on to determine just what effects they have on our delicate digestive engines. They recently released an iPhone app that, from all accounts, is quite helpful to its users. I can’t speak to it, personally, as I’m still waiting for the promised Android version (coming out soon, I hope). You can order their information booklet (link is to pdf order form) that goes over the basics of what FODMAPs are and how they can effect us, along with a handful of recipes to get your started. There are also some product information bits, but unless you’re in Australian those won’t help too very much. It doesn’t go into incredible depth on the subject as they believe (and not without good reason) that going through the low-FODMAP elimination diet and challenges should be  overseen by a qualified dietitian. But with FODMAPs stll relatively new in the US, it can be hard for those of us here to find someone who really knows about it and can guest you through the process.

image via the author's Facebook page

image via the author’s Facebook page

Which leads us to IBS: Free at Last! by Patsy Catsos. Catsos is a registered dietitian in Maine who is a great champion of the low-FODMAP diet for IBS sufferers. If you can’t find a local dietitian to work with, Catsos’ book is the next best thing and can gives very detailed information on what FODMAPs are, how they (can) effect us, and how to systematically remove the known high-FODMAP food sources from our diets and gradually test them through specific challenges. Catsos writes in a very approachable style, but also includes a chapter that goes into the nitty-gritty scientific details for those who want to go more in-depth. There’s an extensive Q&A section (in my Kindle version they were actually linked at the end of each chapter, which was pretty convenient) and a couple of recipes for basic bits.

One thing that I really found useful–and this is the only place I’ve found it put so plainly–was the explanation of just why High Fructose Corn Syrup is such a questionable ingredient. Yes, it’s true that HFCS is a combination of glucose and fructose (the “same” as table sugar, according the HFCS lobby, right?), table sugar is always 50/50 fructose and glucose, the glucose making the fructose easily digested by bodies with IBS. HFCS, on the other hand, can come in various ratios, three of which are the most common: 45% fructose/55% glucose, 55%fructose/45% glucose, and 90% fructose/10% glucose; and there’s no knowing which one the manufacturer is using. Fructose that’s not “balanced” by equal amounts of glucose are a problem for many IBS sufferers. I can this the free-range fructose problem 🙂

Catsos maintains both a website and facebook page to support her book and is very good about responding to questions on both.

image via Kate Scarlata

image via Kate Scarlata

Kate Scarlata is a Boston-based dietitian who is another proponent for the low-FODMAP diet. It was her guest post on Fooducate that started this whole journey for me. The author of the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Eating Well with IBS (I have not read this one, yet, but understand that it has a chapter on FODMAPs, but it’s not the main focus). Her blog, however, is a great source for inventive recipes that are frequently low-FODMAP friendly. Her Homemade BBQ Sauce is really tasty and even includes finely-grated carrots for a bit of extra vegetables. I used it to make BBQ Chicken Pizza one night and it was a big hit.

The easiest way to adjust to a low-FODMAP lifestyle is to cook most of your meals at home. If you’re already comfortable in the kitchen, this isn’t such a big change, but if you previously depended on a host of pre-made convenience foods or eat out for most of your meals, this can be a big adjustment. Finding good sources for recipes, then, is paramount.

Which is why I’m happy to see that Scarlata has put together 2 pdf ebooks: Low FODMAP Cooking with Kate Scarlata and a 21 Day FODMAP Friendly Meal Plan. I have purchased these but have only glanced at them so far. Still, they look like good resources, especially for Todd when he needs ideas when it’s his week to cook.

image via pilcookbooks.com

image via pilcookbooks.com

Finally, on the book front at least, I picked up a copy of this 3-in-1 Gluten Free Cookbook at Homegoods just before the holidays. Since it was an overstock-style store it was only $8 and I figured it was a low-risk investment in the event I didn’t need to continue wheat-free after the Elimination Phase, but would give me some pointers in the mean time.

Turned out to be the best $8 I’ve spent in a while! The cookies and cake I made over the holidays were well-received by my family and Todd and I continue to cook out of the book for dinner ideas. Because the focus is one gluten-free cooking, there are still plenty of recipes that won’t work for low-FODMAP living, but the bread and dessert chapters really are huge helps.

Of course, once I was out of research mode and into the day-to-day, I needed to stay on top of what was going on and the best way I’ve found to do that is by banding together with others of the same purpose. There’s a Low-FODMAP for Foodies facebook group that works both for inspiration and support, and a Pinterest board of Low-FODMAP Products and Recipes created by a fellow member of that group.

Then there are three recipe blogs I follow that focus on FODMAP or similar issues:

Granted, not all of the recipes available on those sites (or any other, for that matter) will be perfect for every IBS patient that responds well to a low-FODMAP lifestyle because everyone’s individual tolerances are different. It’s perfectly possible to be sensitive to only one or two of the five FODMAP groups or (like me) to be sensitive to all of them. It’s also possible, over time, to increase tolerance to certain foods over time.

It’s also entirely possible to be in that 25% or so of IBS sufferers that do not respond to a low-FODMAP lifestyle, which can be incredibly frustrating.

Products and tactics for eating out (fast food and fine dining, both) deserve their own posts in due time. For now, I think this is a pretty good start, don’t you?

Not Even a Guilty Pleasure

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

This was originally written over a year ago, but these comments by Lena Dunham are still making the rounds in women’s lit circles. I still think the thoughts her comments spurred, however, are still important to consider.

While listening to the Fresh Air Weekend podcast, Terry Gross introduces the topic of chick lit/chick flicks as a contrast to Lena Dunham‘s main character in ‘Girls’ and to the creator herself. Dunham, while allowing that she figured writers wouldn’t appreciate such a “distillation of their thesis” of their work, and catching herself before she lambasted all chick-flicks with a pink poster, said

“It isn’t even fun to me in a guilty pleasure way…because I don’t see any of myself in it, because none of my, just none of my actions…have ever sort of been motored by the search for a husband, or wondering if I was going to have a family some day, or wanting to live in a really great house, or thinking it would be really great to have a diamond. . .There’s a kind of female character that doesn’t make sense to me.”

–Lena Dunham, on Fresh Air, 5/7/12

Wow, really? I fully admit that I had a knee-jerk reaction that bordered on offended. But it only lasted a second or three before I started to wonder about my specific reaction and the larger concept of relating–to people and ideas. Specifically those of the happily-ever-after sort.

As a genre, chick lit doesn’t get a lot of love from a lot of critics. And, yet, I find it hard to believe the books would have done so well and that people would still buy and read them if there wasn’t something relatable about the characters. After all, I read them from time to time, even when I was in my never-gonna-get-married-again phase. A phase that began before my second marriage ended and lasted through the first couple of years of my relationship with Mr. Road Trip.

You know, the guy who gave me a ring and I’m happily marrying in 535 days less than 6 months?

So… yeah. About the “I don’t see any of myself in it,” I think that maybe she’s not trying. Because it’s not necessarily about the person or the object–the carrot and the end of the string–it’s about the journey, the impetus. It’s about the wanting, that search in general, and anyone who cannot relate on that level, I kinda feel sorry for.

Even in my anti-marriage frame of mind, I still believed that there’s something somewhat pure about the dream of happily ever after. It’s one of those ideals that never goes out of style–I mean, really, who doesn’t want to find their own happiness at some point? Do people really go around looking for ways to ensure they are miserable?

Armchair psychology about self-destructive behaviors and self-sabotage notwithstanding.

It’s not about liking everything. Opinions are awesome, everyone’s got ’em, and there are plenty of things I don’t necessarily like, entertainment-wise (from the clips I’ve heard from the interview, for instance, ‘Girls’ doesn’t sound like my cup of tea, and that’s okay–I’m sure the show will do just fine without me watching it). But I can at least step outside myself, my small pocket of the world, and appreciate the larger concepts and relate that way.

Try to see beyond the end of your nose.

This blocking out of a style or idea is common in everything–it’s the downside to the natural pigeon-holing we do as human beings–even wedding-planning. Sure, it’s fun to snarkily riff on Bridezillas or My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, but I hope each bride recognizes that what drives those brides and grooms to what we see as a tire-squeal around the bend is the same thing that makes us contemplate DIY wedding flowers, punch rounded corners into every piece of wedding stationery, or the half-dozen other things we do in the name of bringing our idea and vision of our wedding day to life.

And here I am, come full circle. I went from the girl who dreamed about being married with all the trappings to a woman who wanted nothing to do with the institution ever again to the woman who’s happily engaged with her own, fledgling wedding blog. Pink background and all.

If you’re a regular reader of wedding blogs, chances are good you have no problem with the “search for the husband” idea. But if you ever did, I’d love to hear about it in the comments. And if not: share you’re favorite chick-lit read–I’m always looking for new books to add to my list!

Bound

64 Arts

I find it incredibly synchronistic that the next art is what it is:

31: Bookbinding

For those who don’t know, I’m trying to wrap up the 2+ year project that is my comic book cookbook for gamers: What to Feed Your Raiding Party. Unfortunately I’m not quite to the binding stage of things, so today’s post is going to be brief so that I can get back to getting there.

As of this weekend I’d laid out the first 119 pages. That sounds like a lot, right? It is, but I think we’re going to hit or pass 250 because I’m barely through the recipes of Chapter 2 (of 5), so there’s still a ways to go.

On the subject of binding, though, I’ve always known how ‘Raiding Party would be bound and it has to do with the greater part of user experience.

Know what I hate? Having to prop open a cookbook to cook from it. Large, hard-cover books will usually stay open, at least after a few uses, but for soft-cover perfect bound books you pretty much have to break the spine (and risk pages falling out) to get it to stay open. Thing is, those soft-cover books are relatively inexpensive to produce (compared to hard-cover) and while still looking fairly professional.

I guess that’s why CreateSpace (the self-publishing arm of Amazon.com) only does soft-cover, perfect bound books.

You know those Jr League and church fundraiser cookbooks? Say what you will for their “professionalism” or lack thereof but they open flat and stay that way while I’m cooking.

Which is why the first printing of What to Feed Your Raiding Party will feature that same sort of comb binding to enable the book to lay flat without a spine to crack or pages to weight down. After that, once I’ve moved on to print-on-demand fulfillment, I’ll be going with Lulu.com because they offer a spiral-binding option that is still surprisingly affordable.

True, my books won’t be as easily available through Amazon as if I went with CreateSpace, but the user experience goes far beyond the sale.

Have you ever thought about the books you read and use and how they’re made? Are there any changes you would make to your favorite books to make them more user-friendly?

the Rules of Cassoulet

Nibbles
Quick Cassoulet

Quick Cassoulet

As I mentioned over on the cocktail blog, I’m re-reading Toussaint-Samat’s A History of Food. I remember reading parts of it while in Culinary School and using it for a research paper (yes, folks, Culinary School requires homework, papers and all that other stuff in addition to cooking) but I really didn’t retain much. This time around I’m just finding the material so much more interesting–maybe I should have been blogging back then, too!

Cassoulet is sorta like gumbo–each person you ask is going to tell you their way is the right way. According to Toussaint-Samat, though, all cassoulet have these things in common:

  • Beans that are cooked twice (“two lots of water”).
  • It starts on the stove and finishes in the oven.
  • And have a crust of breadcrumbs that’s broken in 6 places.

The predecessor to America pork ‘n beans? Maybe, it certainly has some similarities.

I made a quickie cassoulet as a test for the cookbook, following (rather loosely, I must confess) the version presented in Joy of Cooking. Since I was going for simplicity for the new cook and speed as it was a weeknight I used canned great northern beans, 3 types of meat (chicken sausage, ham and diced chicken–no confit around that night, sad to say) and skipped the baking step.

According to the aforementioned rules I probably can’t call this a cassoulet (I suppose I’ll have to rename it to avoid some busy-body correcting me) without reworking it a bit (a possibility).

I can see multiple reasons to adjust the recipe to your needs but there’s always a work-around.

  • No time to soak and boil and cook the beans again? Canned will work, just buy quality canned goods, drain them and rinse them well before adding to your stew.
  • All out of confit? There are store-bought versions available at a specialty grocer or you can just omit it. And next time you see a duck in the store pick one up and confit-it so you can have it available for your next cassoulet.
  • Lack a Le Creuset to go stylishly from stove to oven? Transfer the stove-top beginnings to any available casserole dish with a lid and go with the flow.

But keep your eyes peeled at your favorite overstock or discount store–I’ve seen some amazing deals on very nice cookware that would be perfect for this sort of thing.

Carpets are Clean!

Everyday Adventures

And I am tired. It’s nice to know that I can move 90% of my furniture on my own, but still… I think a new bookcase is definitely in order, though. In moving stuff around it became painfully obvious that I have a bunch of books that have no shelf space to speak of. Now they are mostly stacked on, under and around my bedside tables and while that’s all well and good, it’s not a permanent solution. So this weekend, I think I shall go look for another 5-shelf bookcase and put it along the dining room wall where the current 2-shelf one sits between a three and the bar. That 2-shelf will then, I think, get moved underneath the framed painting on the opposite wall. There’s enough clearance there to still have enough room to move through to the kitchen and it’ll balance the area nicely, I think. Limits my options for party flow, but not entirely as that flat surface can be utilized as necessary.