low-FODMAP

Perfect Pasta Without the Wheat

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In honor of National Noodle Month, I though it’d be a good time to talk about the wheat-free pasta situation. Is it a situation at all? That’s for you to decide.

Pasta and sauce has always been the go-to meal for the time and cash strapped individuals and families out there. Spaghetti is cheap (about a dollar a pound for the basics) and a sauce can be anything from seasoned crushed tomatoes to olive oil with a little Parmesan cheese. It’s a satisfying meal, no question. And who hasn’t loved gooey mac & cheese at some point in their lives, right?

With many people looking to get whole grains in their diet, whole wheat pasta has secured a place on the shelves and–while not always as tasty as the refined durum semolina products out there, many of us accept it as one of those little steps we can take to be that much healthier.

When you go wheat free (like I did when I switched to a Low-FODMAP diet), pasta is one of those things you automatically kiss goodbye, usually with a heavy heart.

That doesn’t have to be the case, however, if you’re willing to give some alternate grains a try.

Rice, corn, and quinoa are the major players you’ll find when you hunt down the non-wheat pasta possibilities in your local grocery store. Some brands (like Heartland’s pretty blue and yellow packaging) can be found alongside the usual suspects in the pasta and sauce aisle. Their gluten-free pasta features a blend of corn and rice flours which taste very much like what we’re used to from their what counterparts. The only down-side I’ve experienced with this brand is that they tend to get dry and crumbly when refrigerated. They still eat fine, the texture just doesn’t hold up as well for leftovers. Still, when I made Macaroni and Cheese for our family of relatively picky eaters, I used their elbow macaroni noodles and no one had anything bad to say about my substitution.

Image via Heartland Pasta

Image via Heartland Pasta

Others, like Ancient Harvest’s quinoa pastas are more likely to be found in the specialty foods section of larger stores. We’ve been big quinoa fans for a while, and it’s such a great food on it’s own, but those unfamiliar with quinoa might need to get accustomed to this pasta’s flavor. It is a little heavier (akin to whole wheat pasta) than the corn and rice versions, but very tasty and probably comes in the most variety of sizes and shapes, though it’s usually the specialty stores that carry more of those options.

Image via Ancient Harvest

Image via Ancient Harvest

Or you can look for rice noodles in the ethnic foods section. These range from the usual cellophane noodles (though not much of a substitute for spaghetti) to almost clear rice pastas that offer substance if not a lot of flavor, to the Tinkyada brand of brown rice noodles. These noodles, to me, have the best flavor and texture of all the “substitute” pastas we’ve tried over the last several months and also reheat the best–important if you like to cook extra for leftovers. I’ve yet to find a local source that carries the variety that the product picture, below, shows, but we can usually find the elbows, fettucini, and spirals even in our local Wal-Marts tiny gluten-free section.

Image via Tinkyada

Image via Tinkyada

To get the best results from a wheat-free pasta, it’s very important not to over-cook them. Almost all of the noodles we’ve tried can get a little mushy, a little less than al dente, a little quicker than the sturdier wheat noodles. I’ve also found that it doesn’t always take the time the package says for them to reach perfect doneness, so don’t get distracted the first time you make a particular brand to avoid unpleasant results.

The other downside to these alternative noodles is that they cost about twice as much as the old standbys, sometimes a little more that double in fact. Still, if it’s a matter of being able to eat the foods I love without becoming ill afterwards, it’s a price I’m willing to pay (at least on occasion). After all, the other option is to make your own gluten-free pastas and while that’s something on the list to try one of these days, it’s nice to know that’s not my only option.

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This post is based solely on our own experience with the brands listed above. We have received no compensation (direct or product-in-kind) for mentioning these brands and as food is strictly a matter of taste, your mileage may well vary. I encourage anyone on the hunt for gluten-free pasta to use this only as a starting point and get out there and explore the possibilities. Going wheat-free doesn’t have to mean giving up the foods you love.

Review | The Complete Gluten-Free Whole Grains Cookbook by Judith Finlayson

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gfgrainscover

Some folks thing giving up gluten-bearing wheat, barley, and rye means a lifetime sentence to rice side dishes. Now, I happen to like rice in all its various forms and flavors, but even I’d get tired of it if that was my only grain option!

This is, of course, not the case even if you just expand your horizons only as far as oats and corn. And then there’s quinoa–a pseudo-grain (really a seed) that is becoming quite popular and is tasty source of plant protein, millet–a cost-effective option but you might have to look for it in health-food stores, and wild rice (another seed); chances are you’ve heard of more than a few of these, too.

In The Complete Gluten-Free Whole Grains Cookbook, the author also digs deeper into other grains like amaranth, buckwheat, Job’s tears, and sorghum–all of which might be tough to find in smaller cities, at least in raw material form. I find amaranth in my new-favorite gluten-free cereal option (Mesa Sunrise), and buckwheat I can find in mixes and soba noodles (not that we’ll be seeking those out any time soon after the last reminder that their flavor is somewhat of an acquired taste), and sorghum in flour-form that I use in my gluten-free baking.

This book is actually an update of Finlayson’s The Complete Whole Grains Cookbook from 2008, an update made necessary by her realization that she “wasn’t [her] optimal self much of the time” while on a diet that included a lot of wheat, even in its whole-grain forms. The symptoms she describes are very similar to many of the stories I’ve encountered learning about the Low-FODMAP diet, so it does make me wonder if she’s heard of it or not. Of course, Low-FODMAP recognizes that it’s the fructans in wheat, barley, and rye causing the issues, and not the gluten, but gluten-free is easy short-hand these days, widely recognized and, in marketing terms, a goldmine buzzword.

And seeing as I’m following said Low-FODMAP diet, the book was a treasure trove of inspiration for interesting main and side dishes as well as baking recipes, even if many had to be altered to eliminate the onions and garlic.

I feel I should warn you–the pictures and descriptions below might make you very, very hungry.

One Sunday when our gaming friends weer over, I prepared her Zucchini Fritters (p.50) but opted to cook them on my electric griddle instead of deep fry them. While crispy-fried deliciousness is not something I’m against, it was easier to prepare them this way and they were just as tasty.

Zucchini Fritters from The Complete Gluten-Free Whole Grains Cookbook

Zucchini Fritters–griddled instead of pan-fried but still delicious!

For that same group I also turned out these amazing Oatmeal Shortbread Squares (p.198) which were a snap to prepare in my food processor. At first I wondered about cutting the 8-inch pan of shortbread into 25 servings, but these shortbread squares are so very rich and buttery–one friend called them cookie dough cookies–that a small square is enough, even though you’ll likely go back for seconds.

Oatmeal Shortbread Squares from The Complete Gluten-Free Whole Grains Cookbook

Oatmeal Shortbread Squares–these are dangerously simple to prepare, serve with coffee or milk to cut the richness

You know what’s really gratifying? Preparing foods that are a step away from the norm (gluten-free, vegan, whatever) and having someone say they wouldn’t have known the difference. My guests went so far as to say if the manufactured gluten-free foods tasted as good as the ones I made them, gluten-free wouldn’t have nearly the bad reputation it did. And that, my friends, is a mark totally in favor of cooking from scratch, just in case you needed the motivation.

Of course, it wasn’t just entertaining we used this cookbook for, Finlayson’s recipes also figured highly into our weeknight meals. When tracking down the millet for her Curried Sweet Potato and Millet Soup (p.72) I was astonished to find that it was so inexpensive and am looking forward to using it more.

Curried Sweet Potato and Millet Soup from The Complete Gluten-Free Whole Grains Cookbook

Curried Sweet Potato and Millet Soup

This soup started out incredibly liquid but once the millet cooked it had turned into this wonderfully rich, creamy and filling soup. Since I’m still short a good source for lactose-free plain yogurt (come on Whole Foods, build faster!) I topped this soup with shredded cheese instead.

Southwest Turkey Stew with Cornmeal Dumplings from The Complete Gluten-Free Whole Grains Cookbook

Southwest Turkey Stew with Cornmeal Dumplings

I converted her Southwest Turkey Stew with Cornmeal Dumplings (p.115) into a crock-pot meal. Just put everything for the soup in together and let it go 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low, them mix up the dumpling batter and drop it on about 20 minutes before you’re ready to eat (switch up to high if you had it on low, before). We also decided that next time we make this–in the slow cooker or not–we’ll leave out the optional chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, the stew was more than a little spicy between it and the fresh jalapeno!

Peppery Shrimp with Quinoa from The Complete Gluten-Free Whole Grains Cookbook

Peppery Shrimp with Quinoa–similar to fried rice but just different enough.

And I’m not the one one who has enjoyed cooking from her book, Todd took a stroll through the pages and found a couple recipes he wanted to try, like this Peppery Shrimp with Quinoa (p.126) and her Cuban-Style Hash with Fried Pantains (p.140).

Cuban-Style Hash with Fried Plantains from The Complete Gluten-Free Whole Grains Cookbook

Cuban-Style Hash with Fried Plantains–when you cut through the egg, the yolk flows down and creates a layer of flavor and richness with the spicy beef and rice below. So good!

Of course, when Fat Tuesday rolled around we just had to give her Jambalaya (p.107) a try.

Jambalaya from The Complete Gluten-Free Whole Grains Cookbook

Jambalaya: spicy rice studded with shrimp, chicken, and sausage.

Finally, another slow-cooked favorite of ours from this book was the Pork Pozole (p.146). Served with corn chips or warmed corn tortillas it was a messy, but delicious meal.

Pork Pozole from The Complete Gluten-Free Whole Grains Cookbook

Pork Pozole topped with shredded cheese (because everything is better with cheese)

The Complete Gluten-Free Whole Grains Cookbook is filled with 125 wonderful recipes, mouth-watering photographs, nutritional information for each recipe and plenty of tips for adding more whole grains to your diet, whether you’re gluten-free or not.

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I was provided a copy of The Complete Gluten-Free Whole Grains Cookbook for purpose of review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own (except where noted when a friend expressed a thought or two about the food).

Recipe | Low-FODMAP Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

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One of the biggest challenges for me, starting off this Low-FODMAP Lifestyle (especially since we started just after Thanksgiving so I was facing Christmas without cookies, etc.), was finding high-quality, good-tasting bread products that didn’t include wheat, barley, rye, or any of other high-FODMAP ingredients.

Thankfully (though I consider it a bit of a double-edged sword–but that’s a topic for another time), gluten-free foods and products are a lot easier to find these days, and those products are an excellent place to start when you’re going low-FODMAP, but gluten-free doesn’t automatically mean FODMAP-free (or, rather, low-FODMAP–FODMAP-free would be really tough). Many times a gluten-free cookie or break will include high-FODMAP fruit-derived sweeteners like apple and pear juice concentrates, fructooligosaccharides (aka FOS), high-FODMAP fiber additions like inulin, or even simple ingredients like honey or agave nectar that are no-nos for those of us on this diet.

Consequently, I found myself getting better results baking from scratch than using mixes–even pre-made gluten-free flour blends–but sometimes you really do want that convenience factor. So I keep trying whatever I can find.

One product I’ve been fairly happy with the is Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Yellow Cake Mix.

I bought it on a lark one shopping trip and then heard from a Facebook friend that it makes a fabulous banana bread, so had to give it a try.

Fun Fact: February 23rd was National Banana Bread Day

Low-FODMAP Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Mini-Loaf

Low-FODMAP Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Mini-Loaf

The same friend mentioned upping the bananas a bit more than the recipe on BettyCrocker.com called for, so I added a third banana to the mix just to see what happened. I also kept in the vanilla from the box instructions, even though the recipe didn’t call for it, and left out the nuts but added some chocolate chips. Upon hindsight I also used the amount of butter the box called for (2 sticks or 1 cup) instead of only half of it–oops! It sure did turn out to be a moist quick bread, though!

Low-FODMAP Banana Bread
adapted from BettyCrocker.com

1 box Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Yellow Cake Mix
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe Bananas (3 medium)
1 cup Butter, softened
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
6 oz. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

  1. Preheat your oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
  2. Combine cake mix, bananas, butter, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on low 30 seconds, and then medium to high for up to 2 minutes–you’re usual cake-mix method. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  3. Butter only the bottom of a loaf pan (or a set of mini-loaf tins–I managed to make 8 small loaves with one mix) and pour in the batter, smoothing the top as best you can. For a single loaf pan bake for 1 hour, for mini-loaves start checking on them after 30 minutes. Once a toothpick or knife inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean it’s done.
  4. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan(s), then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Wrapped in plastic this banana bread will last at least 4 days on the counter–that’s as long as ours lasted, but seems about right. Gluten-free foods do sometimes tend to dry out more quickly than those containing wheat, so storing it in the fridge would be a good idea for longer storage.

Look at those chips!

Look at those chips!

Since the Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Yellow Cake Mix uses a combination of rice flour and potato starch to replace the wheat flour and sticks to plain sugar instead of substituted and other additives it qualifies as Low-FODMAP. Bananas are one of those tricky ingredients–some IBS sufferers can tolerate the 1/2 banana that’s cleared by the FODMAP gurus, others find even that much too much. Ripeness is a factor, too–too ripe and the sugar balance gets thrown off. To work around that, freeze some bananas when they just have the tiniest specks of brown on their peel (perfect ripeness) and then defrost to use in recipes. This also has the benefit of making the banana easier to mix in to the batter, since the freezing process does the heavy lifting of tearing through those cell walls for you!

As to the chocolate chips, make sure you read the label and select a brand that does not include milk or lactose as an ingredient to keep this banana bread low-FODMAP overall. So far I’ve found the Nestlé Tollhouse and Enjoy Life brands are good for this.

A common malady of GF mixes is a gritty texture to the finished product. This is generally because of the type of flours being substituted and a hard thing to work around when mass-producing this sort of product and needing to give it a decent shelf-life. All of my GF flours suggest keeping them refrigerated after opening, though the only thing I really do that with is the xanthum gum since it’s so blasted expensive! Whether because of the superiority of the mix itself of the addition of several “softening” ingredients (butter, eggs, and bananas) is hard to say, but we didn’t have that problem with this particular recipe.

We enjoyed our banana bread warm from the oven (quality control, you know), at room temperature the next morning for breakfast, I sliced up a few loaves to serve to guests one evening and then we split the last loaf between us and topped it with some ice cream (Bryer’s Lactose Free Vanilla) for a Friday-night dessert.

Even though it wasn’t quite as quick as mixes can be (the only time savings was the measuring of the flour, sugar, and leavening, really) it was nice to find a mix that yielded a nice end product that even folks not on restricted diets enjoyed. It’s something I wouldn’t hesitate to keep on hand for those quick-fix moments when I want something sweet without too much fuss.

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This is not a solicited review of any kind. I purchased the items referred to above and received no compensation from the brands or manufacturers. Opinions of the brands listed above are based on personal experience and indicate no relationship with the brands other than any other consumer would enjoy.

Confessions of a Reluctantly Picky Eater

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A few years back I chose to cut out tomato products and a few other items from my regular diet as a result of a health issue that had cropped up. Even though tomato products are all over the place, it’s still very possible for an otherwise-omnivore to enjoy social gatherings without making a pill of oneself.

Now, all of that has changed.

My fellow foodies, I have a confession to make:

I have become what I once despised: a picky eater.

What happened to make this once adventurous eater now reticent to accept a dinner invitation? It all comes down to three little letters that have been causing me a whole lotta trouble:

I. B. S.

No worries, I’m not going to go into any graphic details about the whole thing, just understand that what used to be a minor inconvenience had been escalating over the last few years, to the point I didn’t even realize how sick I was was.

My family, at least my father’s side of it, kind of jokes about the “family stomach”–we all seem to have some form of tummy troubles on a regular basis and when you grow up hearing that, you don’t really think much about it, you just deal with it as a matter of course. It is what it is. And my other, known, health issues could also explain some of my issues, so we just went with it and worked around it as much as possible.

Only, lately, it’d been getting worse. Since June, 2012, I’d been pretty much sick more than well, though thankfully not to such an extent that it stopped me from doing what I needed to, it just made things damned inconvenient and uncomfortable.

And then, in November, I heard about 6 other letters that might just mean a return to normal:

FODMAP

Research out of Australia’s Monash University has shown that FODMAPs (Fermentable Oligo-, Di-, and Monosaccharides And Polyols–in English, certain short-chain carbohydrates) may act as symptom-triggers in up to 75% of IBS patients due to varying levels of intolerance or malabsorption. And all it takes to find out if it works is to cut out a few (okay, a lot of) key ingredients from your diet for a little while.

I found out about FODMAPs from a guest post on Fooducate written by dietitian Kate Scarlata. That led me to Patsy Catsos’ site and book: IBS: Free at Last (insert “I Have a Dream” joke here). While it really is a good idea to seek out and work with a dietitian familiar with the FODMAP program that can guide you through the process while still insuring you get a well-balanced diet, if you have trouble finding one Catsos’ book will walk you through the Elimination Phase and subsequent challenges step by step.

After talking it over with Todd and doing quite a bit of research, we started the Elimination Phase (a minimum of 2-weeks without any of the identified FODMAPs) the week after Thanksgiving.

You might guess that since FODMAPs are carbs, wheat would be included in high-FODMAP foods, and you’d be guessing right. Lactose (the naturally occurring sugar found in milk) is another common culprit and I already knew I was lactose-intolerant, so that wasn’t a huge change for me. Fructose can be tough for many people to digest if it’s not balanced by glucose, so this free-range fructose as I like to call it counts as a FODMAP–no more honey for my tea, no HFCS (though I try to stay away from it in general, anyway), but also no apples or pears or anything sweetened with their juices, just to name a few. Fructans, the FODMAP found in wheat, is also found in garlic, onions, and certain other vegetables, which was probably the hardest change for us to make, as well as Galactans and Polyols (sugar alcohols) which meant no beans or legumes.

In the challenge phase you test one FODMAP group at a time, with breaks in between to let your body return to normal (FODMAPs are believed to work en masse–which is why you can eat something one day and feel perfectly fine, but eat the same thing another day and get sick–it’s a critical mass thing). If you experience symptoms, you know that group of FODMAPs might be an issue for you. If not, you’re probably in the clear for that group.

The good news is that even if you “fail” a challenge, it doesn’t mean you’re doomed to never have whatever it was again. It just means that you can choose. FODMAPs aren’t allergies–it’s not life-threatening and you won’t die if you accidentally or intentionally eat something that you challenged and reacted to, you might just not feel too great–but they are intolerances, and if you continue to eat them on the regular, you may continue to feel ill in whatever way that these foods affect you.

Unfortunately, for me, I reacted to everything. According to Catsos this could point to an underlying gastro issue that effects rate of digestion (which my previous diagnosis does) so it makes sense for me to be more careful.

For me, it’s worth it. Not everyone experiences a night-and-day difference pre- and post-FODMAPs, but I certainly did. A week and a half into the 2-week Elimination Phase I felt better than I had in probably 3 years–definitely better than the last 6 months. So good, as a matter of fact, I almost didn’t want to do any of the challenges because WHY would I want to go through feeling bad again? And I did feel bad. Several times. Broccoli, for instance, will not be reappearing on my plate for a very long time. Which is a shame, because I liked broccoli, but I now know it doesn’t like me.

And why do we want to eat things that aren’t good for us? I’m not talking about the occasional junk food indulgence. A bit of fried this or that. And there may be times when I choose to eat an otherwise high-FODMAP food for nothing other than I really want to, and I’m willing to accept the consequences.

But for the most part, I’ll be living the low-FODMAP lifestyle for the foreseeable future because I’ve felt fabulous since I made this change. I still have to be careful of my other health issues. I still can’t eat huge, non-FODMAP meals–it’s not like my gallbladder grew back or anything. And I need to be careful that I’m getting enough variety in my diet when so many things are now ingredient-non-grata.

It means more than a little research before going out to eat, and careful consideration when I’m invited to a party or other gathering. But it’s still up to me to have the right attitude, to take responsibility for my diet and not expect others to cater to me, that will keep me (I hope) from being the type of picky eater I dislike so very much.

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And with that, we’re back to our usual blogging schedule here at Nibbles ‘n Bites! If you read Nibbles on another site or through a feed reader, you might want to click through to see some of the site updates that were made during our month away–we’ve been busy little monkeys! You may also want to sign up for the monthly Helper Monkey Network News, to keep up with all the sites in the network in a handy, once-a-month package (see the sidebar for the sign-up link).