I made this salmon a couple of weeks ago and it’s a knock out. It’s simple, delicious and takes next to no time to make. This is a great recipe for you if you don’t have a lot of time, or a lot of ingredients but you want to eat a healthy salmon dinner. I think it’s actually a great date dinner as you don’t need to concentrate, but it has the pizzazz to tantalize. If you have a pescatarian friend this is also a great recipe. I have a pescatarian in my family and it’s always challenging for me to find new fish recipes that I also like. This is an amazingly delicious recipe so I totally suggest it for anyone.
Frozen dinner a la FODMAP
Sometimes you don’t have time to cook and it’s handy to have something in the freezer to minimize actual cooking time. Here’s how to cook for 1 or 2 people using one of our favourite recipes Liz-sagna. We buy the small two person tin-foil packages and pre-make a bunch of Liz-sagnia ahead. Our existing recipe will make about 4 of the mini Liz-sania. Liz-sagna still takes time to cook, so you can either cook from frozen in ~ 1 hour 45mins (After removing the cover). Or you can move one to the fridge the day before (to thaw) and cook it in 45 mins(After removing the cover). This is a total lifesaver when you are on the go and don’t have time to do meal prep. This is also great for a single person, that wants Lasagna but doesn’t not want to eat if for the rest of the week. Below is a handy picture of all the required stagest to make Liz-sagna. Another dish that freezes well like this is our Shepherd’s pie recipe. Don’t be afraid to also build mini-Shepherd’s pie. I would suggest the same cook time depending on if it’s frozen or thawed.
Healthy, and Tasty Salmon Quinoa bowl.
We all have a friend that is trying to eat healthy. That’s really not a problem when you are eating low FODMAP. Generally, the dishes are quite healthy. However I have a kick-ass Teriyaki Salmon Bowl recipe that is full of flavour and also give you vitamins and nutrients. I think it’s also a synch to make but is a heavy hitter in the amazing flavour department. Basically, I think this dish is a knock out even if you don’t care about healthy eating and definitely makes for a great presentation. On the plus side if you need a Teriyaki recipe this is my go to that always wins people’s hearts. There is something about the combination of spinach/sesame/quinoa/salmon and the richness of Teriyaki sauce that speaks to my soul. You have flavour, you have texture I love this dish. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
FODMAP introduction diet
FODMAP is not supposed to be a long term way of life. Sure it’s a place to start and brings huge relief to many people, but it’s also supposed to be an evolution where you re-introduce new items back into your diet. I found a great image the other day on a Reddit FODMAPS (the “S” is for support) forum that I think does a great job helping you to bring elements back into your diet. Now before I post it you actually have to be doing a solid job of being low FODMAP before following this. If you have questions about low FODMAP and want to talk to some real people and get advice. I can’t say enough how great I think this reddit forum is. So if you are up to the challenge of not cheating and have eaten low FODMAP for a while then here is a good picture that helps describe some challenges you can take to re-introduce food.
Low FODMAP Rib Dinner done in ~1 hour
I hope you have been following our site! This is an easy insta-pot rib dinner with (S)mashed potatoes and steamed broccolini. Co-ordinating the preparation, cooking and timing to produce any finished meal can be tricky. You know, the where do I start? and how do I make this so it is all ready to serve at the same time?
So here is the plan for timing so you know “what to make and when,” to coordinate your making all the food. I hope this post helps you get a feel for timing.
First step: Make our recipe for BBQ sauce.
This takes a little bit of time but is totally worth it. You could make it ahead, like the day before. It keeps well in the fridge. You will need Fody Ketchup. This is an Australian company but in North America you can purchase it from Well.ca.
The best part is that if you followed our Costco post you can cook the ribs from frozen. Start by following our Quick Rib Recipe.
While you are waiting for the Ribs to cook, place two pots of water (4 cm/2 inches deep) on to boil, covered with lids. Use one large pot for the (S)mashed Potatoes and the other to steam some broccolini. (Shut the pots off when they boil, since once the water has boiled the first time it’s easier to get it back to a boil.) I usually start by cooking the (S)mashed potatoes first because they take longer to cook than broccolini, plus keep their heat well. (Prior to serving, leave potatoes in their pot, covered, off the heat to keep warm.) After you have started the (S)mashed Potatoes, make our BBQ sauce recipe (if you didn’t make it ahead).
Go back to the Quick Rib Recipe and add the extra spices.
Next prepare the broccolini: wash and trim off the tough thick stems. For steaming the broccolini I usually use a Bamboo Steamer but you can use any steamer you want. Place the steamer in the pot or on top of it. Don’t start steaming the broccolini just yet. Wait until the Ribs are ready in the Instant Pot and then it’s time to turn them on. (When the Ribs in the oven are done, they’re done.) Finish up the potatoes if you haven’t already and wait for the ribs to be completed.
Making Crepes
Recently we posted a new recipe for Gluten Free Crepes. Crepes are just a platform for flavour. You can dress them up any way you want. Our recipe is great to make the day before and just warm up so that you have a ready made breakfast that’s quick and easy to serve in the morning. I highly suggest that if you have are having a party the night before and the guests stay over making them the day before. Here’s some quick ideas for you:
Sweet:
Cool Whip & low FodmapFresh fruit – Yes, cool whip is lactose free, and you can’t beat fresh fruit. low FODMAP fruit ideas: Unripe bananas, blueberries, kiwi, mandarins, oranges, papaya, pineapple, rhubarb and strawberries.
Savory:
Peanut butter and un-ripe banana. (Yes has to be green)
low FODMAP Cheese & Gluten Free smoked ham. Add a little fresh spinach
What are your suggestions for fillings? Comment below!
FYI: We also are going to experiment with using these crepes as gluten free tortillas. We think this might be a great answer to the “Gluten free tortillas” problem. It’s hard to find good Gluten Free Tortillas. Yes they’re are some authentic corn ones that are good but they are often dry and not as fresh as we’d like or as big as we’re used to.
Shopping at Costco for 1 person (or 2 persons)
OK, OK, we know that Costco is a huge for discounted food. Costco gets you the discount by volume so how do I (or We) shop there, save money and not waste family size food? We will show you how to show you how to freeze like a beast. All you need to know about freezing food for a later day.
You can imagine that as I make recipes I need to have food portions measured. Now I appreciate that no everyone has a scale, so how do you portion food without a scale? Use the good old calculator and food label to figure out. Use the weight on the label, and then divide by ‘X’ equal portions. Here’s how I did our salmon. Look at at the bottom left it says 1.39 kilos.
The label says:
I’m a Canadian but I still cook in pounds. So this is around 3 pounds. This means if I want to make 1/5 pound servingings I need to cut this into 6 equal servings. (Now, I happen to know that the last serving of salmon I usually make are small so I will actually be doing this in 7 servings but the last 2 pieces count as 1.)
I try to make quick work of it. I use some extra ‘plastic wrap’ to make sure my food stays on a clean surface.
To save the environment and make it really easy to pull out single serving I usually wrap this in plastic wrap and then throw it into a bag. The portions were quite long so i found wrapping it on the diagonal worked better.
OK now we have Salmon purchased cheap from Costco, Frozen individually for whenever you want to have salmon.
I do the same for chicken but with Chicken I don’t use plastic wrap I just throw two in a back and flat pack it. Making the chicken as flat as possible without damaging anything is the key to fitting more into your freezer.
Here’s how to flat pack ground meat.
Either use the weight divided by portion count or actually weigh the meet.
Once you have portioned the meat in the bag, you want to make the meet as flat as possible. This helps for for two reasons.
- Storage:
- standard flat squares store easier than a ‘ball-o-meat’.
- Thawing
- It much quicker to thaw flat packed meet.
- It also thaws more evenly than a ‘ball-o-meat’.
To flat pack, this means getting most of the air out and meat in every corner of the bag. The secret is not to use force but brains. I start by trying to make a letter “I” where it flares out at the top and the bottom.. You want meet in the corners of the bag, but you can air stops this. The easiest way I have found to get meat into the bottom corners is to keep the top open keep the bag up right and bang it on the counter this usually helps meet fall into the corernes. Once you have meet in the bottom corners I close the bag 3/4 of the way and start massaging it flat.
You’ll get the hang of it. The more you do it the easier it is. I suggest going as thin as possible as it also helps with thawing the beef later when you need it.
Now if you are doing ribs, I suggest
- Remember to take the membrane off. This is way easier to do now and makes the “ready to cook”. Check out my rib recipe for instructions on how to remove it.
- Cutting them in half, it’s just easier to work with them. Both with Tinfoil later when you are cooking and now fitting inside a plastic bag.
- Cut them in half, 1/2 a rack is a pretty good serving for 1 person making this ready for a 1 person meal.
- Costco was nice enough to make a 6 pound package with 3 ribs racks. This makes the math easy, this is 6 servings of 1/2 rack each.
- I also wrap them in plastic wrap cause this makes them so they don’t stick together and I can pull out just 1 serving.
This all depends on how much room you have to what you can do. But I definitely suggest using plastic wrap to help you select portions for when you need them. It’s also super helpful to have an idea how much your are cooking so please label your bags. (I suggest actually labeling once you do the math on the labels so your hands are still clean and you don’t have to do them after portioning as often this will mean extra hand washing.)
Eating in Company
A great solution to eating with mixed company is to offer the “Build your own” option when cooking. I have some close friends that love to have us over, and cook low FODMAP for us and non-fodmap for them. The easiest way to do this is have some strong non-contamination protocols and build your own.
I previously wrote a pos on how not to cross contaminate so I won’t repeat it here. But it would be helpful to talk about this with guests or make yourself aware. A quick simple strategy that should really help cut cross contamination is have seperate serving tools for each dish/topping/ingredient. Think make your own salad, this is pretty easy if you make people use utensils to help reduce cross contamination. A common problem area is think sauces or dressings. You don’t want people to “dip into the contamination” and put it back in the dressing. Try and have sauces/dressings be poured and do not give out a utensil. To be honest just bringing up the topic to help people be aware is HUGE. A lot of people are not aware and need to be educated.
I feel “build your own” is a great way to have both FODY people and non FODY people co-exist at a meal. It gives more options than just making one generic dish for everyone. It’s like making Taco’s. I make the best Taco’s. (According to my tastebuds.) I choose what to and not to but on my taco. This enables huge satisfaction for the guest as customization is King.
In short if you are having a “mixed dinner” think going ‘build your own’.
Do you have any tips for how to have a low FODMAP/none FODMAP dinner? Add comments below and let me know what you think.
Low FODMAP Mushrooms!
Guys, We were having a dinner at a friends house and they had cooked up some mushrooms. *To have with some steaks.) I loved the smell but knew I was about to miss out because they generally contain Polyols. Normally my friend is amazing at cooking a low FODMAP dinner, even though they don’t need to eat that way. (They do low FODMAP as I was coming over.) . I happened to say that they smelt great and I wanted to have them but I would have to skip out on them as they were not FODMAP. My friend said, “Yes they are I looked it up. These are Oyster Mushrooms.” I was blown away. I had been skipping out on all mushrooms assuming they were all bad due to the . (Or had to be eaten in very limited quantities.) . But for Oyster mushrooms you can eat a reasonable serving and still be low FODMAP. This rocked my world as I had given up on mushrooms. Here’s a good article from alittlebigyummy.com on other mushrooms you can eat. Here’s a recipe for Oyster Mushroom Risotto I’m dying to try and will upload after I have made it to let you know how it went. As shown in my BBQ post I made BBQ roasted Oyster Mushrooms but I’m still fine tuning the cook timing. I have to say I prefer “king Oyster Mushrooms” as their long stocks makes for a more familiar texture to the mushrooms I”m used to.
low FODMAP BBQ Sauce for summer BBQ
It’s coming up to summer and it’s time to get the BBQ going! To celebrate summer we have a couple BBQ inspired recipes to share with you. I have to say the weather is really changing here, and I have already fired up the old BBQ FODMAP style to test out some recipes to make sure they’re 100% ready for prime time. If you aren’t in the know this also means everything is gluten free!
- Low FODMAP BBQ sauce
- Hell yeah! Finally BBQ sauce for low FODMAP diet!
- Low FODMAP oven Ribs
- Succulent ribs, what better way to show off a BBQ sauce?
- Chicken BBQ Spice
- This is a staple at our house
- BBQ Zucchini
- I don’t like Zucchini but I like BBQ Zucchini.
- BBQ Pepper Steaks
- When you want to eat vegetable steaks 😉
- BBQ Baked potatoes
- Cause everything else is on the BBQ
- BBQ Oyster Mushrooms
- Finally Mushrooms that are low FODMAP