Dinner Delights

In the mood for something italian, I whipped up this delicious and easy risotto for two. I found the recipe on the Women's Weekly website and modified it slightly to suit a low FODMAP diet. Feel free to experiment with any additional ingredients. I had pumpkin and pancetta in my fridge so i chose to use them.

Pumpkin and Pancetta Risotto

serves 2

3/4 cup arborio rice

15g butter (fine on the FODMAP diet) or olive oil (if you are feeling healthy or cannot eat dairy)

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 clove garlic (most people are okay with a small quantity of garlic but do not include this if you are worried)

approx 3-4cups chicken stock (I used homemade chicken stock which is the best option but if you can't do this Campbells Real Chicken Stock is fine or if you are celiac 'massel' and 'maggi' make GF chicken stock cubes. Just make sure the stock doesn't contain things like 'onion powder' which are not suitable for a low FODMAP diet.

grated parmesan cheese (or try goats cheese if you are dairy intolerant)

250g pumpkin, chopped into 2cm cubes

2-3 slices of pancetta

2 tsp fresh rosemary or thyme, chopped

olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius. Line a tray with baking paper and toss pumpkin on, drizzle with olive oil (about 1 tbsp) and sprinkle with the chopped rosemary. Then roast for 10 minutes. Then roughly shred the pancetta and place onto the tray with the pumpkin and roast for another 10 minutes.

meanwhile, bring the chicken stock to the boil in a saucepan, then turn the heat down to a simmer. Using a large non-stick frying pan, melt the butter (or heat the oilve oil) over a med/high heat and add the crushed garlic. Stir for about one minute. Add rice and stir to coat (about 1 min). Add the white wine and stir briefly, then shake the pan slightly to move the rice around a bit until all the liquid has been absorbed. The rice should be simmering. Then add the chicken stock gradually (about 1/2 cup at a time) and let the rice simmer and absorb the liquid in between additions. Try not to stir the rice too much as this makes the risotto gluggy instead of glossy and creamy. Once the rice is cooked (still ever so slightly chewy is best) stir in the pumpkin and pancetta. Then add grated parmesan. I usually add about 1/3 of a cup but feel free to add less/more to your liking. Goats cheese is a great alternative for this dish. Just crumble a few tablespoons in and give a stir to get a lovely, creamy texture.

serve topped with a few parmesan shavings. I love to eat this with a little side salad of rocket and/or spinach. The colour blend of vibrant orange, dark pink and lush green is fantastic!

Add-in inspiration: try mushrooms (add in a little earlier so they cook through), marinara mix and lemon, sun-dried tomatoes and basil, pesto (no cream!), chicken, lamb, duck etc(a great way to use up left-over roasted meat!)

I find that a simple risotto made with just stock, butter, saffron and a bit of parmesan is a beautiful accompaniment to have with lamb (think lamb shanks with rosemary....mmmm).

Delicious Beginnings PART II

To me, early mornings are just so much more bearable when there is a delicious breakfast to wake up to! So i thought it would be fitting to conclude my first post 'delicious beginnings' with a delicious and healthy breakfast recipe that i has sends me bouncing out of bed all the time! It's a perfect start for a low FODMAPPer, full of calcium, low GI carbs and antioxidant rich berries. Like many people I personally don't like to drink rice milk because it is quite watery but I find it works really well in this recipe as it is quite sweet and not overly creamy. So give my delicious porridge a whirl!

My raspberry and maple rice milk porridge

Serves 1

1/3 cup fresh/frozen raspberries

boiling water

1/2 cup quick cooking oats (Home Brand or Lowans - not Uncle Tobys)

1 cup rice milk, plus extra to serve/cook with

maple syrup (approx. 1 tablespoon)

Saucepan Method:

1. Place oats in a saucepan and add just enough boiling water to cover the oats. 1/3 cup should be about perfect.

2. Add the rice milk, stir and leave to soak for 10 minutes while you do your make up/get dressed etc. This step just helps to soften the oats so they are nice and creamy instead of chewy!

3. Then bring the mixture just to the boil and turn down to a low/med heat so it simmers gently. Stir constantly. You may find the mixture gets really thick. Add more rice milk if this occurs. Generally 1 simmer this for about three minutes or until the mixture is nice and creamy and when i taste it, the oats are soft. Take off the heat and stand for a little bit while you get the bowl, spoon, syrup etc ready.

4. Spoon into a little bowl add a dash of rice milk (as it cools the mixture can get really gluggy so this is just to keep it creamy), a dash of maple syrup and top with raspberries. ENJOY!

MIcrowave Method:

1. place oats in a large microwave proof bowl. I say this because I myself have had too many incidences where the cooking oats have overflowed into my microwave. Not a fun start to the morning. To the oats add just enough boiling water to cover (about 1/3 cup). Add rice milk, stir and stand for about 10 minutes (longer is even better) while you do your hair/shower etc. This step just helps to soften the oats so they are nice and creamy instead of chewy!

2. Place the bowl in the microwave and microwave on high for 90 secs. Stir. Microwave again for 90 secs. Make sure that the mixture can be stirred easily at all times. If after 90 seconds it is really gluggy, add some more rice milk. If you don't do this, the oats become really tough and leathery. YUK!

4. Spoon into a little bowl add a dash of rice milk (as it cools the mixture can get really gluggy so this is just to keep it creamy), a dash of maple syrup and top with raspberries. ENJOY!

Delicious Beginnings

Welcome fellow FODMAPers!

Have you ever eaten certain foods that made it seem like someone stuffed a balloon in your stomach? Ever won way too many belching contests after dinner? I HAVE!

For years I have been suffering with food intolerances and have spent a considerable quantity of my valuable daily energy on trying to avoid wheat and dairy (and caving constantly! ...oh pastries you are so evil!), only to find that my rather socially undesirable symptoms are worsening!

Well as you can imagine one can only go so far without seeking more advanced medical advice. This is exactly what I did yesterday during my first visit to the dieticians office. After listening intently to a my recounts of various situations where my stomach has decided to hate me, she concluded that I try a low FODMAP diet. So what does this mean??????

Well according to my little handout, there is a certain group of sugars that including fructose, lactose, fructans, galactans and polyols that are sometimes poorly absorbed in the small bowel. As they travel through the bowel they are fermented by bacteria and can cause horrible symptoms such as bloating, wind, diarrhoea etc.

I have been given a low FODMAP diet guideline which details foods to 'limit or avoid' and foods that i should be able to eat freely. As a lover of fruit I was a little more than sad to discover that my beloved pears and apples would have to be tossed out the window, along with avocados, onions and other foods that my palette adores (but my stomach may not).

SO WHY HAVE I CREATED A BLOG?????? Well, as a lover of food, cooking, baking and just about anything food orientated I am determined not to have a boring, indulgent free, flavour free diet! So I will be posting regular tried and tested recipes that i have found or formulated based upon the low FODMAP diet plan. Now I must stress that I am not a trained medical professional, I am just a normal UNI student with a passion for healthy cooking! Some of these recipes may contain very small amounts of FODMAP ingredients but I promise to specify where these are present.

So if you have recently been put on the low FODMAP diet and are feeling a bit down in the dumps about it, use my blog as a bit of inspiration and feel free to try my healthy and always delicious recipes!

Feel free to send me recipes for your own delicious creations too. Together we can keep each other on track and INSPIRED!