This is what we ate last night – a deconstructed gluten-free burger with polenta instead of bread buns. No one in our family missed the buns. There’s no need for a recipe because polenta is made according to the instructions on the packet, the chips were baked in the oven, the salad was assembled in two minutes and the meat patty was just that – seasoned minced beef, though I did add some cumin powder and cumin seeds because I love cumin. If you have good minced meat, there is no need to add anything else except seasoning. This was a meal I could eat without any qualms and everyone was happy with it. I am starting to get the hang of this. When I visited the dietician following my food intolerance breath tests, she said that it was wise to take a holistic approach to my issues because of how much other factors like stress impact on the digestive system. So I have made a few changes and one of those is regarding my working position. I sit at a desk for up to 8 hours a day in front … [Read more...] about A Standing Desk and Dinner Last Night
Chocolate Zucchini Brownies – gluten-free and fructose friendly
Here are the brownies I promised you if they worked out. And they worked out with bells on. They were rich, moist and had these enormous lumps of chocolate in them. That was because I didn't cut up the chocolate very small. My friend's teenage son said they were the best brownies he had ever eaten but wanted to know what the green bits were in them. I guess I could have peeled the zucchini so no trace of them remained. He appeared to accept the vegetable content of the brownies with nonchalance. I have created my own gluten-free flour mixture to make my life easier. I make it up and keep it in a large Tupperware container so it is ready when the baking bug bites me. If you wish to make any of these or my future baking recipes, it would pay to make up this mix as well. This is the mix: 2 cups brown rice - Purchase here 3 cups white rice - Purchase here 1 cup sorghum flour - Purchase here 2 cups potato starch - Purchase here 1 cup tapioca flour - Purchase here 5 tsp xanthan gum - … [Read more...] about Chocolate Zucchini Brownies – gluten-free and fructose friendly
Banana Muffins – gluten-free and low Fodmap
This is my third attempt at muffins which are gluten free and fructmal friendly. I mentioned that the first attempt induced laughter in the brave souls who tried them. The second attempt was already a great improvement but a little too dense for me though Adriano seemed to think they were fine. But then Italians do like their cakes a little on the dry side compared to the Anglo Saxons of the world. I then researched this whole gluten-free flour situation and have come up with my own mixture combining five flours. Over the last couple of months I have accumulated a few different ones in my pantry and only had to seek out potato starch in order to achieve this blend. The best thing is to go to a specialist store which deals in real food and buy the lot in one go instead of in dribs and drabs like me. The result is a very acceptable banana muffin and I am feeling very proud of myself. I made these a couple of days ago and have just made some chocolate brownies with the same flour mix to … [Read more...] about Banana Muffins – gluten-free and low Fodmap
Lamb Kofta & Potato Rosti – gluten-free and fructmal friendly
In my last post, I mentioned that fructmal is becoming more common maybe because of all the high fructose corn syrup which is added to most processed foods these days. John from Kitchen Riffs made a comment (in the comment section) which could explain why manufacturers are doing this when it wasn't necessary in the past. I am quoting John here: "Back in the 1980s, at least in the US, loads of people became very aware of fat in food, and tried to limit it. It’s at that time that most of the manufacturers started really adding sugar in all forms to things – when you remove fat from products you remove so much taste, so they substituted sweetness. One wonders if it’s at that time that fructmal started becoming a problem." Thanks, John for that wisdom. It sounds like a very valid explanation to me. Once again, the answer is to avoid processed foods as much as possible. Walk around the outside aisles of those supermarkets. But to last night's dinner - this is fructmal friendly but … [Read more...] about Lamb Kofta & Potato Rosti – gluten-free and fructmal friendly
Herbed Feta Quinoa Crackers – Gluten-free
The official diagnosis has come in and, as I strongly suspected, I have fructose malabsorption but not lactose. This means a radical change in how I think about food. Fructose, as I have mentioned, is in almost everything but mostly in the "healthy" foods like whole grains, fruit and vegetables. The foods that doctors all my life have been telling me to eat more of. This does work for most of the population but not for those with fructmal. This means my recipes will be changing as I go down this new path towards a healthier me. Fructose malabsorption has increased dramatically since manufacturers started piling high fructose corn syrup into almost every processed food, which has resulted in an increase in the amount of fructose that we are all consuming, and that is not good for our health on many levels, not just for those like me. If you want to eat healthy, the best advice, at least in New Zealand, is to shop around the outside aisles of a supermarket store. The central aisles all … [Read more...] about Herbed Feta Quinoa Crackers – Gluten-free
Potato Fish Cakes – gluten-free and fructmal friendly
Here we are with my second fructmal dinner. I have discovered that people with fructose intolerance like to point out that the term actually is fructose malabsorption because fructose intolerance is something you have from birth and is extremely serious whereas fructose malabsorption is something that can develop at any time. The term is shortened to fructmal which is easier to say. 'Fructmal' and 'malaborption' both get red wriggly lines under them when I type them so I guess they are not in the dictionary yet. That's how new this is. Anyway, from now on, I will refer to it as fructmal. Adriano was yet again away for a race so it was just Dario and me. Three things that are well tolerated are fish, potatoes and spinach but I can't keep bunging them on the plate as is, so I experimented with large fish cakes which incorporated them all. I minced them all up, seasoned, added a squeeze of lemon juice, and an egg and tapioca flour to bind them. They probably needed a little more binding … [Read more...] about Potato Fish Cakes – gluten-free and fructmal friendly
