Author: Gemma

Roast Vegetables

Serves as much as you can fit in the oven!
Time 50 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

large white potatoes (a)
choko (b)
brussel sprouts (c)
canola oil (d)
salt
Nuttelex Original

Moderate salicylate options

carrot
zucchini
sweet potato (e)

Foodnotes

(a) Use white brushed, coliban, sebago or kennebec potatoes. Check the colour before buying brushed potatoes because they can come in yellow.
(b) Choko is also known as chayote, see photos here. Choko is low FODMAP for fructans at 1/2 cup (84 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP App, Feb 2018)
(c) Two brussel sprouts are low FODMAP for GOS (The Monash University Low FODMAP App, Feb 2018)
(d) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321)
(e) Sweet potato is low FODMAP at 1/2 cup (70 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP App and FODMAP Friendly App, Feb 2018 – inconsistency on which FODMAPs)

Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C.
  2. Thickly (double) peel the potatoes, and peel the choko and (moderate salicylate) carrot, zucchini and sweet potato.
  3. Chop all vegetables into large chunks.
  4. Microwave the carrots and sweet potato for 1-2 mins depending on quantity.
  5. Microwave the potato for 3 min.
  6. Mix the vegetables in a bowl with canola oil and salt to taste.
  7. Place the vegetables in a roasting tray lined with baking paper.
  8. Using a teaspoon smear Nuttelex on each Brussel sprout and wrap up all Brussel sprouts together in alfoil.
  9. Bake all vegetables for 40-45 mins, until Brussel sprouts start to brown and the other vegetables become crisp on the outside.
Personal Notes

Watch out for overloading salicyates and stacking FODMAPs when you choose to combine multiple salicylate or FODMAP-containing foods (see Foodnotes). I usually have a full serve of potato and steamed green beans, two brussel sprouts and only a few pieces of zucchini, carrot and sweet potato in total. I don’t eat more than two small or one large piece of sweet potato. Unfortunately chokos are out of season until the cooler months, but at the end of last year, I was having just a 2-3 pieces as part of a meal.

In the last 5 minutes of roasting the vegetables, put some green beans (fresh or frozen) on to steam. Green beans are a great addition to a plate of roast vegetables. I like to use roast vegetables as a side to schnitzel or roast chicken, and use them in salads and quiches. Roast veggies are also great when you get home from work and want a mostly-healthy snack before cooking dinner.

Roast chicken with roast vegetables, showing my usual combination of vegetables (include moderate salicylates). The plate was made by Sarah Schembri Ceramics.

Roast Chicken

Serves about 5
Time 2 hours
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low or moderate amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

1 size 16 chicken (a)
1/2 bunch dark green tips of spring onions (b)
1 tsp salt
1 cup of cooked rice or 1/3 cup uncooked rice

Foodnotes

(a) Ensure very fresh meat (as instructed by dietician)
(b) Tip: re-grow spring onions

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
  2. Rinse and cook rice, if not cooked already. I use a 3:4 ratio of long grain white rice and water, simmered on the stove for 10 minutes.
  3. Rinse dark green tips of spring onions and chop finely.
  4. Mix rice, dark green tips of spring onions and salt.
  5. Spoon the stuffing into the chicken and fold the skin over the opening.
  6. Place the chicken in a roasting dish and cook. For each 500 g of chicken, cook for 30 mins.
  7. Allow the chicken to rest for 10 mins.
  8. Pour out the fat (high in amines) and peel off the skin and discard.
  9. Carve the chicken and eat immediately or freeze immediately.

Personal notes

This recipe is based on the roast chicken from Sue Dengate’s The Failsafe Cookbook, which has been adjusted to be low FODMAP, so I have assumed it to be failsafe. However, the levels of amines in stuffing and meat cooked over a long time may be too high for some people – please discuss with your dietician.

If you are not eating the chicken on the day it was cooked, it can be frozen in thin layers wrapped in alfoil. The chicken is then easy to break up to the desired size and defrost quickly. I have successfully used the frozen pieces of chicken in sandwiches and fried rice or reheated with roast vegetables. A sandwich in Well and Good bread with iceberg lettuce and a fried egg is really good after a soccer match or for a light lunch.

My favourite side with roast chicken is roast vegetables and steamed green beans as it is really easy to cook the roast vegetables at the same time – put the vegetables in when there is 40 mins left on the chicken. Another good combination is roast chicken with chips and coleslaw.

Roast chicken is a staple of my diet, but it is time consuming – it really has to be bought on the day you cook it, and it is useful to make chicken stock from the carcass when you are finished. I tend to roast a chicken about once a month and then enjoy making all the recipes that need chicken stock in the next couple of weeks. Roast chicken is also a really good failsafe, low FODMAP meal that can be shared with others and is familiar to “normal” people. The stuffing is easily tastier than commerical (or supermarket) stuffing and is much less dense. I have had a group of friends over for dinner and served roast chicken, and have also brought a roast chicken, chips and coleslaw to a party where everyone else was getting pizza. The chicken went down really well, and an option that catered for quite a few dietary requiremements at once was definitely appreciated.

Cashew and Rice Syrup Sandwich

Serves 1
Time ~3 mins

Ingredients

2 plain rice thins (a)
1 tsp homemade cashew paste (b)
2 tsp brown rice malt syrup

Foodnotes

(a) The only ingredients in rice thins should be rice
(b) Cashew paste is failsafe and low FODMAP at 2 tsp (10 g) (FODMAP Friendly App, Feb 2018 and RPAH Elimination Diet Handbook, Feb 2018). The cashew paste can be substituted with commerical cashew paste (100% lightly roasted cashew) if you tolerate moderate amines.

Instructions

Spread cashew paste on one rice thin, spread brown rice malt syrup on the other and then sandwich them together and cut in half.

Personal Notes

I often make these snack sandwiches in the morning and then eat them at Uni. I like them because they satisfy my craving for something sugary but are also not overly sweet. I think of them as a safe variation on peanut butter and honey sandwiches. If you are taking them in a lunchbox, make sure you wrap them up because the rice malt syrup will leak! Watch out for stacking with fructans and GOS and limit cashew paste to 2 tsp (10 g) a day.

Chicken Schnitzel

Serves 4 large or 6 small
Time 20 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts sliced (by the butcher) into either 2 or 3 schnitzel cuts each (a)
2-3 eggs
quinoa flour
rice crumbs
canola oil (b)

Foodnotes

(a) Ensure very fresh meat (as instructed by dietician)
(b) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321)

Variations

Use brown rice flour instead of quinoa flour
Use quinoa flakes instead of rice crumbs

Instructions
  1. Break eggs into a shallow bowl and beat with a fork
  2. On one plate, pour flour; on another plate pour the rice crumbs
  3. For each piece of chicken, covering in flour, then egg (wiping off the excess egg), and then crumbs
  4. Heat a large frying pan on medium-high heat and add canola oil
  5. Pan fry schnitzel, flipping once and adding canola oil as necessary
  6. When the schnitzel is cooked through and golden on both sides, take it out of the pan and rest on a piece of paper towel.
  7. Eat immediately or freeze immediately.
Personal notes

Schnitzel is one of my staple meals – it doesn’t take too long and is easy to vary with a range of sides – usually roast vegetables, steamed vegetables or coleslaw. In the picture above I served it with steamed green beans and brussel sprouts (limit to 2), and roast potato with moderate salicylate roast carrot and sweet potato (limit to 1/2 cup uncooked).

It is easy to do several schnitzels at once and then freeze. Quinoa flour and rice crumbs is my favourite combination for a traditional schnitzel taste and golden appearance. Brown rice flour is an acceptable substitute. Quinoa flakes on the otherhand make quite a different schnitzel – more like a crispy coating – and instead of going golden, they go from cooked to burnt quite quickly. That said, quinoa flakes are still good and I have found them in Coles/Woolworths supermarkets while rice crumbs usually require going to a health food or gluten free store. I tend to use Orgran rice breadcrumbs or Casare rice crumbs. Watch out for gluten free bread crumbs which often contain soy flour (high FODMAP), maize flour (contains salicylates) or other off-limits ingredients.

The smaller chicken schnitzels are perfect in a chicken-iceberg lettuce-egg sandwich (with Well and Good bread). Extra (but not necessary) additions to the sandwich could be bean sprouts and choko chutney. I have these sandwiches often on the weekend when I have fresh bread on hand. The sandwich is particularly good to have after a sports match, when lunch is late and I’m really hungry and can’t wait to get home. If you put the chicken schnitzel in the sandwich in the morning, it should be defrosted by lunch… unless kept in a fridge or esky. I have spent more than one road trip defrosting my schnitzel on the parcel shelf in the car!

Basic Salad Dressing

Serves 4
Time: 3 minutes
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

2 tbsp canola oil (a)
2 tbsp hot water
1 tbsp brown rice malt syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp citric acid

Variations

Add 1 tbsp chives
Use pure maple syrup instead of brown rice malt syup for a sweeter dressing

Foodnotes

(a) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321)

Instructions
  1. In a glass jar, dissolve brown rice malt syrup, salt and citric acid in hot water with shaking/stirring. Release pressure often if shaking.
  2. Add canola oil and finely chopped and rinsed chives (optional) to the jar.
  3. Shake immediately before use.
Personal notes

I recently tried brown rice malt syrup instead of pure maple syrup in this recipe and was pleasantly surprised – it is more mild in flavour and less sweet, which is perfect for a salad dressing. The dressing keeps well in a jar in the fridge, so I recommend dressing your portion of salad when you are about to eat it so that the salad doesn’t go soggy.

This dressing can be used with the Friends-and-Family Friendly Salad. A photo of this dressing can also be found as part of that recipe. The dressing can be made more familiar to the “normal” person by excluding the chives and using maple syrup, but the citric acid is essential. Bring your own citric acid if you are not sure if your friends will have some. Sometimes people keep it for cleaning out coffee machines, so it may not be in the location that you expect.

Friends-and-Family Friendly Salad

Serves 4
Time: 5 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

iceberg lettuce
red drumhead cabbage (a)
bean sprouts
10 green beans (b)
2 sticks celery (c)
4 dark green tips of spring onion (d)

Optional moderate salicylate additions

1/2 carrot
1/2 cucumber

Foodnotes

(a) Red drumhead cabbage is low FODMAP at 1 cup (89 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(b) Green beans are low FODMAP at 14 beans (75 g, FODMAP Friendly App, 2018)
(c) Celery is low FODMAP at 75 g (FODMAP Friendly App, 2018)
(d) Tip: re-grow spring onions

Instructions
  1. Rinse all ingredients.
  2. If including carrot and cucumber (moderate salicylate), peel vegetables. Top and tail green beans.
  3. Tear or chop up lettuce and red cabbage and add to salad bowl.
  4. Chop celery, green beans, dark green tips of spring onion and (optional) cucumber and carrot into small pieces.
  5. Add green beans, celery, dark green tips of spring onion, bean sprouts and (optional) carrot and cucumber to salad bowl.
  6. Dress salad with basic salad dressing immediately before serving.
Personal notes

I have come up with this salad because the ingredients are familiar to most people and it is comforting for family and friends to find a recipe that they can try. In particular there are no unusual and hard to find ingredients like large white-flesh potatoes, sprouted mung beans or choko! It is really great to encourage people to attempt to cater for you, especially when it is not too difficult. I have helped make this salad at a family friends’ house when we were having a BBQ.

I usually make the salad without the carrot and cucumber, but if you can tolerate moderate salicylates, this makes the recipe even more familiar for people – although they might ask about peeling the vegetables! The green beans were a new addition tonight, and I like the crunch and flavour that they bring to the salad – if you don’t have any they can be left out.

If you are cooking for one, or not eating all of the salad at once, make the dressing in a jar and just add the dressing to the salad on your plate. The salad will keep fresh much longer undressed.

Lamb, Lentil and Vegetable Pie

Serves 6
Time: ~ 1 hr 10 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

300 g diced lamb (a)
1 leek (b)
70 g celery / 3 sticks (c)
1 swede
1 large white potato (d)
1 tin of lentils (e)
200 g green beans (f)
160 g green drumhead cabbage (g)
1 packet Genius gluten free shortcrust pastry (h)
Rice flour for dusting
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp citric acid
2 tbsp gluten free cornstarch
3 tbsp canola oil (i)
canola oil spray or rice bran oil spray (j)
1 egg
3 cups of low FODMAP, failsafe chicken stock, or water
marbles or 1 cup of rice (not eaten)

Foodnotes

(a) Ensure very fresh meat (as instructed by dietician)
(b) Dark green tops of leeks are low FODMAP. They are also slightly higher in salicylates than the white part although suitable for failsafe elimination. Tip: re-grow the leeks.
(c) Celery is low FODMAP at 75g (FODMAP Friendly App, 2018).
(d) Use white brushed, coliban, sebago or kennebec potatoes. Check the colour before buying brushed potatoes because they can come in yellow.
(e) Tinned lentils, well rinsed, are low FODMAP at 1/2 cup (The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(f) Green beans are low FODMAP at 14 beans (75 g, FODMAP Friendly App, 2018). Frozen green beans can be substituted for fresh green beans and used in the same way.
(g) Green drumhead cabbage is low FODMAP at 1 cup (94 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(h) Available in some Coles supermarkets in Australia
(i) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321).
(j) Canola or rice bran oil spray should have no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321) or soy lecithin (moderate amines). Propellants such as propane, butane, isobutane are fine.

Instructions
  1. Take Genius shortcrust pastry out of the freezer the day or morning before and defrost in the fridge.
  2. Take Genius shortcrust pastry out of the fridge and warm to room temperature on the bench
  3. Cut off green tips of leek. Rinse the tips and then chop them finely.
  4. Rinse celery and chop finely.
  5. Thickly (double) peel large white potato and swede. Chop into small cubes.
  6. Drain and rinse tinned lentils.
  7. Top and tail and rinse green beans. Chop into small pieces, about 4 cm in length.
  8. Finely chop cabbage.
  9. Heat 1 tbsp canola oil in a large pot or saucepan on high heat.
  10. Add celery and cook for ~3 mins until soft
  11. Add green tips of leek, salt and citric acid and cook until soft.
  12. Remove celery and leek from the pot.
  13. Preheat the oven to 200 deg C
  14. Add 1 tbsp canola oil and turn heat down to medium.
  15. Add diced lamb to the pot and seal with frequent stirring. If the lamb starts to stick, add 1 tbsp water.
  16. Once lamb is sealed, add potato and swede and turn heat back up to medium-high. Cook for about 3 mins.
  17. Return leek and celery to the pot along with lentils.
  18. Cover the meat and vegetables with chicken stock, or water if you have no homemade low FODMAP failsafe stock.
  19. Simmer with lid on for 20 mins.
  20. Meanwhile, spray the inside of a 25 cm diameter pie dish with oil.
  21. Knead the pastry, divide in two and roll out to fit a base and lid the pie dish.
  22. Place the pastry base (and sides) into the pie dish, then line with baking paper and fill with marbles or rice.
  23. Cook the base pastry for 10 mins. Afterwards remove the marbles/rice and baking paper.
  24. Add green beans and cabbage to the pot and cook for a further 5 mins with the lid on.
  25. Mix the cornflour in a small amount of water so that it does not form lumps, and then add to the pot.
  26. Take the lid off the pot and evaporate the water (~ 10 mins) until a thick mixture is left (it should not resemble soup).
  27. Scoop the pie filling into the pie and cover with the pastry lid, pinching around the edges.
  28. Beat the egg and then brush it over the pastry lid.
  29. Cook the pie for 20 mins, until the lid is light brown.
  30. As the pie contains meat, serve immediately, or freeze immediately.
Personal notes

This pie taste much better with chicken stock rather than water, but water is a good backup if there is no stock on hand. The current recipe makes a very full pie, and it could be made without the swede and potato. I tend to chop the swede up very small because I don’t like the taste of it on it’s own but it’s good hidden in a meal. I recommend making the pie on a weekend rather than weekday as it is quite time consuming. I spread the pastry a bit thin, and it ended up cracking, as you can see below.

At Coles this week, I found a leek with the most green I have even seen in a shop. Very impressive!

Edit: I recently re-read the RPAH charts and discovered that the emulsifier soy lecithin that is often used in canola oil spray is actually moderate in amines. I have since switched to using rice bran oil without soy lecithin.

Potato and Choko Frittata


serves 5
Time ~ 40 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

2 large white potatoes (a)
1 choko (b)
1 leek (c)
3 green drumhead cabbage leaves, approximately 1 cup (d)
10 dark green tips of spring onions (e)
7 eggs
100 mL SoGood soymilk
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp chives
3 tbsp canola oil (f)

Moderate salicylate optional additions

1 carrot
1 zucchini

Foodnotes

(a) Use white brushed, coliban, sebago or kennebec potatoes. Check the colour before buying brushed potatoes because they can come in yellow.
(b) Choko is also known as chayote, see photos here. This recipe can be made without choko – see notes below. Choko is low FODMAP for fructans at 1/2 cup (84 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP App, Feb 2018)
(c) Dark green tops of leeks are low FODMAP. They are also slightly higher in salicylates than the white part although suitable for failsafe elimination. Tip: re-grow the leeks.
(d) Green drumhead cabbage is low FODMAP at 1 cup (94 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(e) Tip: re-grow spring onions
(f) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321)

Instructions
  1. Thickly peel (double peel) potatoes, choko and (optional) carrot and zucchini. Slice thinly (~ 2-3 mm) and cut large slices in half.
  2. Rinse dark leaves of leek, cabbage and green tips of spring onion and chop finely (keeping leek separate).
  3. Heat 1 tbsp canola oil in a large frying pan on high heat.
  4. (Moderate salicylate option) Add the carrots to the frying pan and cook for about 2 minutes
  5. Add potato and choko to the frying pan and cook until the potatoes start to go clear. Add more canola oil as required.
  6. Add leek and (moderate salicylate) zucchini to the frying pan and stir until potatoes start to brown.
  7. Add cabbage and green tips of spring onion and cook for about 5 minutes until cabbage starts to soften.
  8. Rinse chives
  9. Beat eggs with SoGood, salt and finely chopped chives (use scissors)
  10. Turn heat down to medium low and pour in egg mixture.
  11. Cook until egg mixture solidifies (~ 20 mins). This can be done on the stove (good for gas stoves) or in the oven at 180 deg C if the frying pan fits (preferential for electric stove/oven). If you are having a problem with the bottom burning, cook in the oven instead.
  12. Serve immediately, with a side of salad. To avoid amine build up, freeze immediately if not eating straight away.
Personal notes

Frittata can be a bit time consuming, although it is a lovely dinner in summer or as a snack. The same recipe can also be used to make quiche or mini-quiche when using Genius shortcrust pastry, and so could be good to bring to a picnic or a party.

Chokos can be hard to find – they are not usually available in supermarkets, but can be found in local produce markets when in season. Out of season, when chokos are difficult to source the frittata can be made with the moderate salicylate options instead – carrot, zucchini and even sweet potato (low FODMAP at 1/2 cup, add to frying pan with potato).

My frying pan is too big for the electric stovetop and so the frying pan is not heated uniformly. I cooked the frittata for 15 mins on the stovetop and then finished it off for 5 mins in the oven.

Keeping leeks and spring onions


Tip: Plant leeks and spring onions after using the dark green parts. They don’t require much soil, mostly look after themselves and you can get at least a second or third batch of dark greens from them.

I have found that the leeks work best when cut in a tiered fashion before planting – so just cutting off the dark green part of each leaf – rather than a bunt cut of all the green section. Spring onions are quite hardy but like to be planted in bunches so they can hold each other up.

Living with other people and having a life

I get the feeling that most failsafe advice is geared to children and families, and definitely not to adults who share living, cooking or work spaces with other independent people and who have jobs or study with requirements that have to be met.

I cook for myself only, share with one housemate who does his own cooking (I do miss pre-FODMAP when we shared cooking), and I am towards the end of my PhD which means a lot of late nights and sometimes working on weekends. I am also quite social, so a couple of evenings a week are spent out at soccer practice or choir rehearsal which restricts cooking. I like to be a part of events with friends even if they are centred on food. I find I need to cook main meals about 4 times a week – at least two nights a week and twice on the weekend – as well as bake one sweet thing a week for snacks and a batch of bread every 1-2 weeks. A weekend away requires planning at least a week in advance. I bring leftovers to Uni every day and bring dinner as well if I think I might work late. At the start of the week I make a rough plan of when I’ll cook to make sure I have enough to eat. It is a shame to turn down social events because you need to cook, but making sure you have time aside to do the cooking and shopping (including sourcing those difficult to find large white brushed potatoes and getting to the failsafe butcher) does help reduce stress. I just realised I am writing this as I should be doing the shopping. Hmm.

It helps to have some fall-backs if you don’t have time to cook or do the shopping. Keep some green beans, Brussel sprouts and hash browns (most these days have no antioxidants – but check first) in the freezer because they won’t go off. An extra frozen meal in the freezer can make a world of difference if you get home at 9pm after an 11-hour day and need to eat before you cook. Have a look at my last-minute recipes (to come) for what to make when you really have (almost) nothing. These are also good at Saturday lunchtime when you should have done the shopping but haven’t left the house yet! Going shopping on an empty stomach is never a good idea. My absolute last resort when stuck at Uni working late with no prepared food is a large bag of Kettle or Red Rock sea salt chips. It’s not healthy and you may feel sick from that much oil, but it is one of the few things that can be eaten straight from the shops, and is available in vending machines late at night.

In terms with dealing with sharing spaces with other people and not having control over your environment (as the failsafe books tell you to), I don’t necessarily have a solution but I can sympathise. As a chemist, I work with amines all the time, and I have had to teach practicals with both amines and salicylate derivatives – and you don’t necessarily trust students to keep their reactions inside a fumehood where they can’t be inhaled! I have done my best to minimise exposure and not do challenges when I know I will be exposed. Work with gloves and within safety procedures, impress on the students the need to keep the salicylates away from you, close the door to the co-worker’s office when they are wearing strong perfume and keep your food separate in the fridge. I brought in hand soap to the lab that doesn’t irritate me. At home I replaced the detergent/soaps/cleaning materials with ones that were failsafe and my housemate has been happy to use those. Luckily, as I’m not a coeliac, I don’t have to worry too much about contamination of cooking materials, or having a separate gluten free toaster. My housemate cooks “normal” food and I just make sure everything is washed before it is put away and then trust that it’s clean. My general advice would be to try and be self-sufficient, provide alternatives (with cost to yourself) and not impose on others as much as possible, but if something is really affecting you (say there are lilies inside the house giving you headaches), you have to say something.