Homemade Caesar Dressing

The first part of tonight's fabulous meal is Caesar salad (hold the croutons, though I could make some GF ones if I had the time). Finding any kind of diet-approved salad dressing is pretty much a nightmare, so I decided to make my own.  I worked off the recipe from Bon Appetit (http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/classic-caesar-salad) but made a double batch (so I could have a bunch leftover for later in the week) and adjusted for the garlic.  Also... I used a mini food-processor to make this process insanely easy!

Place about 12 anchovy filets (drained from their oil) in the processor. Add 4 tbsp of garlic infused olive oil and 4 egg yolks.  Blend that all up together until the anchovy is in really small pieces.  Add in 5 tbsp of lemon juice, 1 1/2 tsp of dijon mustard, 1 tsp of kosher salt, and 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper.  Blend that all up.  Then little by little add in the 1 cup of vegetable/canola oil. At the very end, blend in about 1/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese. Taste it and add salt/pepper/lemon juice as needed.  I also added a little bit of red chili flakes just to give it that extra punch.  Put it in the fridge for at least an hour to let all the flavors meld.

And there you have it! Gluten-free and low-FODMAP (but not vegan or completely dairy free) Caesar dressing!

Roast Chicken and Spaghetti Rice

This was the first meal besides a sandwich I've made entirely according to the FODMAP rules and I have to say, I was fairly pleased with the results. I think that garlic oil is going to be my best friend.

While browsing Instagram a few nights I came across a Martha Stewart post about adding a boost of flavor to food. Seeing as how I was worried about a lack of flavor without garlic and onions, this seemed like an ideally timed post. The secret ingredient the post was referring to was anchovy. I had never thought about using anchovy for anything other than caesar salad dressing but the way they described it as having a savory, almost umami flavor profile sounded like just the thing I wanted, so I decided to try out the roast chicken recipe for dinner tonight. I needed to make some homemade chicken stock anyway so this was perfect. I actually made 2 chickens because they were less than $4 each, and then I could make A LOT of stock and have a bunch of meat left over for the rest of the week as well. 

When I was getting the anchovy paste, it turns out the only kind that the store had listed "spices" as an ingredient. I'm trying to be really careful, so I had to forgo that one and just buy anchovy filets in plain olive oil. When I got it home, I just put the filets in the mini food-processor and blended them up into my own paste! Plus, then it was really easy to add the parsley and lemon straight into it and blend the whole thing up. It worked great!

 

You can get the recipe from Martha here: http://www.marthastewart.com/1098953/roasted-chicken-anchovy-parsley-lemon

And of course no good chicken would be complete without a side dish, so last night's attempt was an adaptation of my mother-in-law's "Spaghetti Rice" which tastes very much like rice-a-roni. Since I don't have my own homemade stock yet, I had to find one at the store that would be acceptable. I looked at probably 10 different types of stocks and broths before I found this Swanson one. Just a super basic stock. Perfect for what I needed. 

The secret to the spaghetti rice is getting the pasta and the rice toasted and browned before you add the liquid. I used garlic infused olive oil and dried chives to try to give it that nice onion and garlic flavor the original has. 

Spaghetti Rice (gluten free and low FODMAP):

-1 cup (4 oz) uncooked gluten-free spaghetti broken up into about 1in pieces

- 1 1/2 cups of uncooked white rice

- 3.5 cups of chicken stock

- 2 tbsp garlic infused olive oil

- 2 tsp chives (I used dried, but fresh would be great too)

- Salt and Pepper

Heat the oil in a pan (one that has a lid... I specify because we only have one pan with a lid on my house) and then add the spaghetti and rice. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the spaghetti turns a nice brown color and the rice is getting a little toasty. Add the chicken stock, chives, and about a tsp each of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and let it simmer. After about 15-20 min the stock should have mostly been absorbed. Remove the lid and continue cooking and stirring occasionally so that some bits of the rice get a little crispy, I think this makes it extra delish, but you can skip that step if you want. Give it a taste and add salt and pepper as needed. The amount of salt and pepper you need to add will really depend on the kind of stock you use. 

And voilà! You have spaghetti rice! You can add other seasonings to this depending on what you're serving it with and your particular tastes. It's a very versatile side dish. 

I paired the chicken and rice with some bok choi since it's what we had in the house (again, garlic infused oil to the rescue!) First full meal on the annoyingly complicated diet... A success I think!

Welcome to me!

I've been adjusting to a gluten-free lifestyle for almost a year now as a way to cope with my migraines and it has been working beautifully on that regard! In the last 4 months though I have been having major issues with my stomach. Pain after eating certain meals (I haven't been able to figure out what those are yet, hence the rest of my story)... Nausea... Abdominal cramping... Just all sorts of no fun things... My gastroenterologist says that I basically have IBS but of the stomach instead of the bowel.  So earlier this week he told me that I need to try the low-FODMAP diet. I'm already entirely gluten-free, so at least 1/2 the battle is already won, but going without onions and garlic and milk?!? I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my life!! Thankfully I like to cook, so I won't starve, but it is going to be a bit of a challenge.  The internet was my best resource when I had to go gluten-free, but I was a little underwhelmed with the amount of information about the low-FODMAP particularly compared to all the information out there about gluten-free. So... I figure while I am trying to work my way through the next 2 months of only low FODMAPs I'll post what I'm cooking and hopefully help someone else in the process!