Eat your veggies!

I love running. As mad as that may sound. I really love it.

And it isn't just an excuse to lounge around in activewear. (Because, seriously, who needs an excuse??) 

Running is simple. You pick up one foot, move it forward through the air, place it on the ground again, and repeat. For a more advanced version, you do this quickly. 

But while running is straightforward, running nutrition is not. 

There is a lot of conflicting information out there about what you should eat, how much, and when. 

At one point I tried to understand and synthesize all this information, but I soon gave up. I decided that the best piece of advice I had heard - and the only one I really needed - was this: "Eat your veggies".

Pretty great life advice in general, really! 

But alas, vegetables can be a little bit problematic on a low-FODMAP diet. Gone are the days of being fussy about what vegetables I will eat, that's for sure!

Admittedly, my days of fussiness are now over, almost exclusively because I am unable to tolerate peas. Some have speculated that my adoption of the low-FODMAP diet is actually an elaborate plan to avoid my culinary nemesis, such is the extent of my loathing. However, I am simply not that cunning. 

Besides, irritable bowel syndrome has to have some perks!

And indeed, there are some pretty exciting, delicious vegetable options that FODMAP-averse foodies can sink their teeth into. 

To help me make the most of them, I've compiled a wee table of common low-FODMAP vegetable options by season (similar to the post I put together on low-FODMAP fruit). 

All of the veggies I have been eating will surely help me smash my half-marathon next weekend. Well, the veggies, months of training, and, of course, my shoes. 

Little known fact: pink shoes make you run faster.

Low-FODMAP vegetables by season

This guide was put together using the Monash University app and Healthy Food Guide. 

This list is not extensive. A range of other vegetables may also be suitable, depending on the portion size and your tolerance to different FODMAPs.

Some of these vegetables listed below (and denoted by asteriks) are high in FODMAPs when large quantities, or certain varieties or parts of the vegetable are consumed. See the app for details. Blue denotes that the vegetable is imported at that time of year.  

Madonna biscuits

Gluten-free baking can be a challenge. And, in my experience, no form of gluten-free baking is more challenging than the humble biscuit. 

Gluten-free biscuits either turn into buttery pancakes or gritty sanding blocks. Or, if you're particularly lucky, some weird combination of both. 

I've tried countless recipes for gluten-free biscuits with little success. I thought maybe it was just me. Perhaps I just had biscuit-cooking incompetence to go with my intolerances? 

But my mother has assured me that is not the case. My Mother's garden statue, Madonna, has been lovingly doused with baking on a number of occasions after ill-fated attempts at making gluten-free biscuits - and Mum's a baking guru.   

So, in the end, I have given up and decided to make up my own biscuit recipes. 

These are my super easy peanut brownies. They are gluten-free, low in FODMAPs, and low in sugar. Plus they are pretty tasty. Sorry, birds - none for you today!

They also make use of Healtheries ground LSA (linseed, sunflower, and almond mix), my favourite new addition to our kitchen. Add a tablespoon to brown rice porridge for a delicious, wholesome breakfast.

Enjoy!

Madonna biscuits.

Madonna biscuits 

Ingredients 

25g butter 

1/2 cup of oil

1/2 cup of crunchy peanut butter

1/3 cup of golden syrup

1/2 cup of desiccated coconut*

1/2 cup of ground LSA (linseed, sunflower, and almond mix)* 

2 cups of gluten-free flour blend (Edmonds is good)

1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips* 

2 tsp vanilla 

1 egg 

Method

Preheat oven to 180'C. Gently heat butter, oil, peanut butter, and golden syrup in a pot until a smooth consistency. Set aside to cool for a few minutes. In the meantime, grease your oven tray. Then mix together coconut, LSA mix, and flour blend in a bowl. Add vanilla, chocolate chips and egg to the wet mix and stir. Combine wet mix to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Roll into balls and place on the oven tray (2-3 teaspoons of batter per biscuit). Flatten biscuits slightly with a wet fork. Bake for 12 minutes. Makes 20-24 biscuits.

Note: I don't like my biscuits too sugary, but you could add a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar to the pot if you want some more sweetness in your life. And, if you can tolerate it, these would be amazing with melted chocolate drizzled on top. 

* These quantities are such that a 2 biscuit serving is low in FODMAPs. Larger quantities can be high in FODMAPs, so eating the whole batch in one sitting should probably be avoided if you have IBS.

  

PS: You can now follow A bit moreish on Facebook. Just go to www.facebook.com/abitmoreish and like the page to stay updated. 

Friday night in

Looking for an easy, tasty Friday night dinner? Something to go with a glass of wine and back-to-back episodes of Gossip Girl, perhaps? Yeah, me too. 

My easy Friday-night-in dinners usually involve pasta, or some other form of carb-filled deliciousness (oven fries are another winner). 

But unfortunately on a low-FODMAP diet, easy pasta sauce options are pretty limited. Cream, garlic, onion and mushroom are all out. So.... yeah.

Today's experiment: low-FODMAP / gluten-free pesto. 

Simply put a good handful of fresh basil, some pine nuts, parmesan, and 3 teaspoons of garlic-infused oil in a food processor. Whizz it up, add pepper, and season generously with salt. 

The key here is to make it to your taste. Hmmm, does it need more cheese? Of course it does. 

In a matter of minutes, you'll have an easy pesto base from which to make whatever pasta dish you fancy. 

You'll be on the couch watching Gossip Girl in no time. 

Happy Friday!

Pesto with gluten-free pasta, cherry tomatoes and prosciutto ham.

Taking me back to my gluten days

The closest us gluten-free kids might ever get to KFC: Rick Grant's chicken seasoning mix.

Plus - you guessed it - it's low-FODMAP (finding products like this without onion and garlic in them is actually quite incredible).

                             

All you need to do is whip up the batter, coat, shallow fry, bake and serve. (For the full experience, deep frying is optional - though it really isn't necessary.) 

This little number will take you back to your good old gluten days - only without the heinous stomach problems, gut damage, and tiredness. 

In fact, I'd even recommend this little gem for people who aren't gluten free. Let's be honest, fried chicken is going to test the stomachs of even the most gluten-tolerant of us. And it's low fructose, dairy, egg, and soy free. (I'm going to take a punt here and guess that the secret ingredient is salt.)

Whip this up and you'll have yourself a tasty, nostalgic dinner - only with zero fuss and zero gluten.

Pair it with Lingham's chilli sauce (low-FODMAP and gluten free), and you'll have yourself a spicy, tasty treat.

Fried chicken with, rice, bok choy, carrots, and a splash of chilli sauce. 

You can get these sachets through New World, but you may have to ask someone to order it in for you (sadly, New World Thorndon hasn't responded to the email I sent them about it...). 

We've checked out all the supermarkets in Wellington trying to find it, but to no avail. So if anyone happens to come across this little treasure, I'd love to know. 

This sachet was sourced in Christchurch (thanks, Carol!), so stock up next time you are visiting! 

Marriage brownies

This week I started the 'challenge phase' of my low-FODMAP diet. Taking high-FODMAP foods out of my diet has improved my symptoms considerably. My stomach pains have subsided, my bowels are less irritable, and my tiredness has gone. 

So now it's time to figure out which of the sugars I am sensitive to and how sensitive I am. 

First up, was lactose. 

I started this week absolutely convinced that the lactose challenge would be easy. I thought that I would be able to eat milk, yoghurt - a tub of ice cream if I was allowed - with absolutely no ill effects. Completely and utterly convinced. 

Unfortunately, not so. 

My lactose challenge. Not so challenging to eat, at least. 

After a rather unpleasant couple of days, it has become apparent that lactose might be an issue, after all. We'll see what my dietitian says - cutting back on dairy products is a big deal, nutritionally speaking, so shouldn't be contemplated without professional advice - but it is possible that I might have to keep my lactose intake fairly contained going forward. 

Thankfully, cheese and butter have very low levels of lactose, so I can still get my dairy fix. Plus, these lactose-free treats are pretty amazing. 

But, I'm fairly gutted about the implications for my dessert consumption. 

So, in light of that, I thought it was time to share the joy of marriage brownies - so named, because they are supposedly "marriage-proposal inducing" (someone else's words, not mine). 

These puppies are gluten free and can be made dairy free. They are also low-FODMAP, provided you keep the serving size contained. Large quantities of cocoa / chocolate are high in FODMAPs. And while butter and white sugar aren't high in FODMAPs, large servings of these aren't recommended, either. 

Marriage Brownies

Ingredients

200g butter (or dairy-free spread) 

1½ cups of sugar

1 cup of cocoa

3 eggs 

¾ cup of gluten-free flour blend (we like Healtheries and Edmonds)

150g dark chocolate chips 

Method

Preheat oven to 150'c. Grease and line a 20x20cm cake tin. Cream butter and sugar. Add cocoa and beat well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour. Then stir in chocolate. Bake for an hour.

If the brownie looks a bit undercooked when it first comes out of the oven, don't worry - it isn't.

You can used a different shaped cake tin, but try not to use one that's too big. The brownie needs to be sufficiently thick to have the optimal level of squishyness. 

If you want to cut the brownie up into tidy pieces, leave it to cool overnight. This will allow the brownie to set. Alternatively, it is excellent warm and squidgy with vanilla ice cream (So Good soy ice cream is good). 

And, if you can tolerate it, a good dollop of cream on top is pretty scrummy too!

It will be a pretty thick mixture.

Don't worry about pressing it flat. It will melt into shape.

The optimal level of squishy.

My low-lactose treat with So Good soy ice cream.

Easy does it

Day six of the low-FODMAP diet and I'm surviving. No cold sweats from ice cream withdrawal or uncontrollable cravings for stone fruit. So doing well, really. 

Keeping to the diet hasn't been as difficult as I had feared. We have been making more things from scratch, which has been an adventure. But some nights - like tonight - you just want a simple dinner. 

One particularly tricky thing about the low-FODMAP diet is that you aren't allowed onions or garlic. That makes a lot of easy meals not quite so easy. Basically all pre-made sauces are out. And some easy meat choices, like frozen fish fillets and sausages, are out too.  

Except for these nifty Blackball beef sausages. 

They are both gluten free and low in FODMAPs - deliciously juicy and flavoursome without sneaky garlic, onion powder or wheaty filler. The secret ingredient is, well, meat. 

It won't be the prettiest dinner I ever post on here, but sometimes easy is best. 

Especially when easy also means tasty. 

Our bangers and mash.

Gluten-free gnocchi

Saturday - ANZAC day - was a beautiful day of remembrance. 

We stood together to remember and peacefully reflect. 

After the dawn service - which I watched in the comfort of my pajamas (thank you, TV one) - Ross and I went for a walk in the botanical gardens - coffee in hand - and enjoyed the solitude. It was a day of quiet thankfulness. 

And with a free day ahead of us, we decided it was a also a good day to cook something new and exciting. 

ANZAC biscuits would have been an obvious choice of something to try - I have never made a gluten-free version, and I am keen to find some good gluten-free biscuit recipes in general. But I decided to do something different - more because I didn't think to get the ingredients at the supermarket than anything else. 

Inspired by the latest edition of cuisine magazine and this recipe, I decided I wanted to try and make gluten-free gnocchi. So last night Ross and I made potato gnocchi with sage butter sauce - put simply, fried potatoes in butter.

I concocted a gluten-free formula for the gnocchi. The quantities below make three filling, delicious servings.

750g (4 large) potatoes

50g of ground cornmeal flour

50g of rice flour

50g of potato starch

1 egg

1/2 tsp salt

We decided we wanted to be really radical and saute the gnocchi - rather than just boil it - and add bacon (because there obviously was't enough calories involved already).

I peeled my potatoes and popped them in a big pot to boil. Then, while the potatoes were cooking, I chopped some bacon, fried it and set it aside to add later. I also chopped a handful of fresh sage and minced two cloves of garlic.

Once my potatoes were cooked, I tipped them into a colander and left them for a few minutes to completely drain.

I mashed the potato, mixed the flours and salt together and then added them to the potato. The next step was adding the egg. I had to stir the mixture quite a lot to make sure it was evenly combined.

I floured a surface with potato starch and kneaded the mixture until I had a nice, soft dough. To keep the mixture manageable, I split it into three parts and rolled each potion into a long tube about 2cm wide. I cut the tubes into 2cm pieces and attempted to make the pieces look pretty by denting one side with a fork.

While I was still cutting up the gnocchi, Ross - because it was definitely a two person job by now - brought a big pot of water to the boil and started cooking the gnocchi in three batches of about 15 each.

It took a minute, or sometimes even less, for the gnocchi to float to the top of the water, indicating it was cooked. Ross would scoop them out with a slotted spoon and place them on a plate ready to be sauteed.

We had quite a production line going from the bench, to the pot, then into the frypan to be cooked until crisp and lightly golden.

When Ross was frying the last batch of gnocchi, I started on my sage butter sauce. I melted 125g of butter in a pan (to be clear, this recipe is not for the faint hearted) then added my crushed garlic and cooked it in the butter for 5 minutes. Once this was done, I removed the pan from the element, added my chopped sage along with 1/2 tsp salt, and stirred for about minute.

Lastly, we combined the gnocchi, bacon and a handful of grated parmesan with the sage butter sauce and let it warm through. It was a little hard to mix the bacon evenly while still being careful with the gnocchi. 

On reflection, I would probably just add the bacon to the sauce next time, then place the gnocchi in bowls and pour the sauce over top. I'm keen to experiment with a lighter sauce next time as well. 

All the dish needed was some extra chopped fresh sage and a few shards of shaved parmesan to garnish and we were ready to eat.

And the result was even better than I had imagined. 

If you have never tried gnocchi before, I absolutely recommend giving it a go - gluten free or otherwise. It took longer than we expected to make it, but the result was definitely worth it.

The tasty golden nuggets were divine. And, with the rich sauce, they made a dish that was hearty yet exquisite.

Gluten-free potato gnocchi with bacon and sage butter sauce.