Bad Bellies and Pasta

Growing up, pasta was my absolute favourite food – especially Spaghetti Bolognese. Even today, a bowl of pasta is my go-to comfort food, and the one thing I am very comfortable with cooking.

That’s why when I learned that I was fructose intolerant and wheat was one of the worst culprits, I was initially very much at a loss. On the one hand it forced me to step outside my comfort zone and try cooking other types of food, but I still missed having a bowl of Bolognese for dinner every now and then!

The first type of pasta that I tried was one made with corn, but I quickly got a very bad stomach ache and reflux after only a couple of mouthfuls, so that was clearly not the way to go! Over the last few years however, I have tried many different types of gluten free and other low wheat options, and settled on a few that seem to work better for me.

So, here are my recommendations for different types of pasta that are more fructose friendly:

• San Remo Gluten Free pasta: I have mentioned this one in previous posts, but I can’t get enough of the San Remo Gluten Free pasta range – it really is amazing, and very similar to regular wheat pasta in taste and colour. This pasta also holds its texture reasonably well when cooked. The San Remo Gluten Free pasta range is made with maize starch so it’s not entirely fructose friendly, but it is still a good option. The only negative points I have about this range is that there are less styles of pasta available compared to San Remo’s wheat pasta range, and they only come in 250g boxes.

• Latina Fresh Gluten Free Beef Ravioli: Ravioli was particular favourite of mine growing up, so I was very excited when Latina Fresh came up with a Gluten Free range! The ravioli can get quite soft when cooked, but it still tastes good. Just be careful to limit your portions though, as there is a small amount of onion in the filling. The packets are quite large, but the uncooked ravioli freezes well, so I always keep the leftovers in the freezer for another day.

• Latina Fresh Gluten Free Lasagne Sheets: Just as I was excited by the Latina Fresh Gluten Free Beef Ravioli, I was also very relieved when they released fresh gluten free lasagne sheets. After struggling with dry gluten free lasagne sheets for months (which sadly includes San Remo’s version), I found that the Latina Fresh Gluten Free Lasagne Sheets were so easy to use – cooks perfectly, and tastes almost like the wheat version! These gluten free lasagne sheets also freeze well when cooked.

• Guzzi’s Golden Pasta Gnocchi: This is a good low wheat option if you want something different, as the gnocchi is made with 81% potato flour. The Guzzi’s Golden Pasta Gnocchi range is also made fresh, and cooks very well. Again, be careful with your portion size, as this gnocchi is made with wheat flour. These also freeze well when uncooked.

Recipes for Bad Bellies: Fructose Friendly Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Muffins

For those that celebrate it, I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter holidays!

And as we say goodbye to Easter for another year, I decided to try something a bit different – Hot Cross Muffins. There have been a few recipes floating around online recently, but I chose to adapt this one by Anna from FODMAP Journey.

The main differences from this recipe were that I used raw brown sugar (because that was all I had), chocolate chips instead of dried fruit (because I am a chocoholic – and dried fruit can be tricky for me), and piped on the white chocolate crosses (for a bit of a different look). They also turned out to be more like cupcakes, perhaps because my muffin tins were a bit bigger than what Anna used – I used two tins of 12, which made 24 muffins/cupcakes in total.

Ingredients

225g butter, melted

200g raw brown sugar

150g almond meal

100g buckwheat flour

1 tsp mixed spice

1 ½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

3 whole eggs, whisked

140g milk chocolate chips

The rind of 2 oranges

3 tbsp orange juice

50g white chocolate

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 170°C, and line two muffin tins with paper muffin or cupcake cases.
• Whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar.
• In a separate bowl, combine the almond meal, buckwheat flour, salt, mixed spice and baking powder. Then, slowly add this mixture to the sugar and butter.
• Add the eggs, orange juice and rind and beat well with an electric hand mixer. Then, gently fold in the chocolate chips, making sure to leave lots of air in the mixture.
• Pour the mixture evenly into the muffin cases, and put in the oven for 30-40 minutes.
• Take out of the oven and allow to cool. 
• Once cooled, slowly melt the white chocolate (careful that it doesn't burn!), and then pour it into a piping bag and pipe the crosses onto the muffins - be creative!

I found that these have an interesting mixture of spices, chocolate and orange - almost like a Jaffa taste! They also go very nicely with a dollop of cream! :)

Recipes for Bad Bellies: Fructose Friendly Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding

I have recently been experimenting with making chia seed puddings, and making them fructose friendly. In today’s post I will share these experiences with you and give you my favourite recipe so far – Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding.

Chia seeds come from the flower Salvia hispanica (see photo below), and originated in Central America. There is a good reason that chia seeds are called a “superfood” – they are high in dietary fibre, omega-3 fatty acids, calcium, manganese, phosphorus, and protein, and low in cholesterol. They are also gluten free and low in FODMAPs, and therefore fructose friendly! However note that some people with IBS can have trouble with chia seeds – perhaps because of the fibre.

The below recipe for Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding is adapted from this recipe by Minimalist Baker.

Ingredients

1/3 cup chia seeds

1 cup milk

½ cup cream

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

• Mix milk, cream, cocoa powder, maple syrup, cinnamon and vanilla extract in a bowl. Add chia seeds and stir well.
• Immediately pour the mixture into a mason jar, and place in the fridge to set overnight. It will be very runny at first, but will be thick and almost jelly-like once it has set.

I usually like eating this pudding with strawberries on the side, and it also lasts 2-3 days as it is quite filling!

Enjoy!

Recipes for Bad Bellies: Fructose Friendly Ice Cream

I have recently been experimenting with making ice cream, using my ice cream machine, and adapting recipes to make them more fructose friendly. So far, I have been using recipes from The Ice Cream Book, by Joanna Farrow and Sara Lewis. I would like to share a couple of these with you in today's post.

For now, I will focus on cream-based ice cream, which is made with a custard.

The basic recipe for the custard is as follows:

Ingredients

4 egg yolks

75g caster sugar

1 tsp corn flour (which I substituted with potato flour)

300ml low fat milk

300ml whipping cream

Instructions

• Whisk the egg yolks, caster sugar and cornflour (or potato flour) until the mixture is thick and foamy.
• Pour the low fat milk into a large saucepan. Heat the milk on the stove and bring it just to a boil, and then slowly pour in the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly.
• Using a double boiler technique (one pan with water underneath the pan with the custard), heat the custard slowly, stirring constantly. Once it thickens and the colour turns from off-white to yellow, remove from the heat and leave to cool.

• Add additional flavours (see below).
• Once the custard and other ingredients have cooled, stir in the whipping cream and then add the whole mixture to the ice cream machine. Churn for 25-30min until thick. Once ready, spoon the ice cream out of the ice cream machine and into a plastic container, then leave in freezer to set over night.

Note that I substituted potato flour for the corn flour, as potato flour has a similar consistency to corn flour and does not have a strong flavor. Considering the corn flour is just used as a thickening agent, potato flour is sufficient as a substitute.

Using this custard base, I have made two variations of ice cream – Chocolate Ripple, and Chunky Chocolate. 

Below are my versions of these recipes:

Chocolate Ripple Ice Cream

Additional ingredients

250g dark chocolate, broken into squares

25g butter

30ml golden syrup

90ml full cream

Instructions

• After preparing the custard mixture, add 150g of dark chocolate and stir until melted. Remove this chocolate custard mixture from the heat and leave to cool.

• Put the remaining dark chocolate into another saucepan and add the butter. Heat gently, stirring until melted and combined. Add the full cream and heat until smooth, then remove from the heat and leave to cool.
• Once the custard mixture and whipping cream have been churned in the ice cream machine, spoon out the ice cream into a plastic container, alternating layers of ice cream and chocolate sauce. This recipe makes approximately 1.5L of ice cream. Leave in freezer to set over night.

Note that the use of golden syrup in this recipe means that it is already fructose friendly, as golden syrup is a fructose friendly alternative to honey.

Chunky Chocolate Ice Cream

Additional ingredients

200g milk chocolate

50g dark chocolate

50g white chocolate

Instructions

• Once the custard mixture has been prepared, add break 150g of milk chocolate into small pieces and add to the custard, and stir over the heat until melted. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
• Chop the remaining milk chocolate, as well as the dark chocolate and white chocolate. Mix the three types of chocolate in a bowel and leave to the side.
• Once the chocolate custard mixture and whipping cream have been churned in the ice cream machine, gently fold in the chocolate pieces. Spoon out the ice cream into a plastic container, and then leave in the freezer to set over night. This recipe makes approximately 1.5L of ice cream.

Recipes for Bad Bellies: Fructose Friendly Mason Jar Fruit Salad

Following on from last week’s post, this week I decided to try making a Mason Jar Fruit Salad.

I adapted this recipe for Triple Berry Nut Salad. In order to make the salad more fructose friendly, I substituted maple syrup for the honey. And, just because I like them, I added in some kiwi fruit, swapped the whole almonds for shaved almonds, and had some Greek yoghurt on the side. Greek yoghurt can also be generally better for bad bellies than other yoghurts, as it is less likely to contain thickeners made from wheat or other ingredients with high amounts of fructose or fructans, and tends to contain less lactose than other yoghurt.

Here is my recipe:

Ingredients

For the dressing:

Juice from half an orange

Juice from half a lemon

2 tsp of olive oil

1 tsp of maple syrup

For the salad:

1 punnet of strawberries, quartered

½ cup of blackberries

½ cup of raspberries

1 kiwi fruit, sliced

½ cup blueberries

Approx. 2 tsp of shaved almonds

Greek yoghurt

Instructions

• Combine the orange juice, lemon juice, olive oil and maple syrup for the dressing, and mix well. Add this to the bottom of the jar.
• Add the blackberries and raspberries.
• Add the strawberries.
• Add the kiwi fruit.
• Add the blueberries.
• Because the shaved almonds will quickly become soggy from touching the fruit, put them in a zip-lock bag. Then, fold up the bag, and put it in the top of the jar.

• During your lunch break at work, tip out the salad onto a plate, add the yoghurt to the side, and enjoy.

Note, however, that this recipe does not work with frozen berries! I learned this the hard way when the time came to eat the salad, and I discovered that there was now a lot more juice in the jar than before. Below is a photo what happened when I tipped the salad out onto a plate. It was a little difficult to eat like this, but still tasted okay. I realised that the frozen berries must have released more liquid as they defrosted overnight. Additionally, the fruit had compacted down quite significantly since the day before when I had prepared the salad, and I believe this is because the fruit had also softened during the night, possibly also due to the berries defrosting. I have therefore also concluded that this salad must be eaten quickly, and can only be made with fresh fruit!

Recipes for Bad Bellies: Fructose Friendly Mason Jar Salad

Last week, I discovered a new phenomenon – the Mason Jar Salad. By layering ingredients into a Mason Jar (or something similar), this is a very clever way to make a salad, especially to have for lunch at work.

ABOUT THE MASON JAR SALAD

The basic principle of a Mason Jar Salad is the way you layer the ingredients in the jar, particularly to keep wet and dry ingredients separated, to ensure that the salad stays fresh. Additionally, after you then tip the salad out onto a plate or into a bowl, the ingredients should mix together well, i.e. with the dressing on top, and leafy greens on the bottom. Here is a summary of the basic formula:

• First layer (bottom of the jar): salad dressing
• Second layer: “hearty” vegetables (e.g. tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, capsicum, broccoli, celery)
• Third layer: other vegetables (e.g. beans, mushrooms, corn, avocado)
• Fourth layer: grain layer (e.g. pasta, rice, couscous, quinoa)
• Fifth layer: protein (e.g. chicken, fish, eggs, other meat) and cheese
• Final layer (top of the jar): leafy greens (e.g. lettuce, spinach, cabbage), nuts and seeds

As long as you keep to this basic formula, even if you are not using ingredients from all the layers, the salad should keep fresh in transport to work, and fall out of the jar correctly.

MASON JAR SALADS FOR BAD BELLIES

There are many websites that provide a good range of recipes for Mason Jar Salads, such as this one, or this one. Just by doing a search on Google, you can find even more. However, most of these recipes are not completely suitable for those with fructose malabsorption, or IBS in general – but they are easily adaptable.

This week, I chose to adapt this recipe for a Greek Chicken Mason Jar Salad. Most of the ingredients in this recipe are on the low-fructose content list, but I still made a few small changes. First, I did not put in any salad dressing, because pre-made ones tend to contain ingredients that affect my belly, such as garlic. Additionally, I am not a big fan of olives, so I substituted them for carrot. And finally, I added in parmesan cheese, for a little extra flavour, and pine nuts, for a bit of crunch.

Therefore, here is my recipe:

Ingredients

1 small-sized chicken breast fillet, cooked and sliced into small cubes

5-6 mini Roma tomatoes, chopped into halves

½ half of a cucumber, sliced and chopped into halves

1 medium-sized carrot, sliced and chopped into halves

1 small piece of feta cheese, chopped into small cubes

Approx. 1 tablespoon of parmesan cheese, shaved

Approx. ½ tablespoon of pine nuts, roasted

1-2 handfuls of lettuce leaves, chopped into medium-sized pieces

1-2 handfuls of spinach leaves

Instructions

• Add tomatoes, cucumber and carrot to the bottom of a small- or medium-sized Mason Jar (or similar - must be a glass jar with an airtight screw lid).

• Add the feta cheese and parmesan cheese.
• Add the chicken.
• Add the pine nuts, lettuce and spinach.
• Ensure that the ingredients are packed into the jar tightly, and then put on the lid.

• During your lunch break at work, tip out the salad on a plate or in a bowl (you may need a fork or spoon to help), and enjoy!

I was very happy with the result - the salad was still very fresh, and tasted really good! And my belly was completely fine. This is something I will definitely try often.

Have you tried making a Mason Jar Salad? Please share below.