FODMAP Friendly Recipe: Tacos

Ingredients
1-2 lbs ground beef (depending on if you want leftovers, or have to feed a family vs just a few)
2 tsp. Cumin
1/2 tsp. Paprika
1/4 tsp. Dried Oregano
1/4 tsp. Ground Pepper
1 tsp. Salt
1 tbsp Chili Powder
1/4 tsp. Cayenne

Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Lettuce
Corn taco shells (check ingredients!)

Directions
Brown the ground beef in garlic infused olive oil if you have it, add seasonings and cook until all is heated. Matt likes to add some diced green peppers to give it a little something more.

Warm the taco shells, layer in your meat, cheese, lettuce and other low-FODMAP veggies and serve with rice.

Note
This is not the most exciting dish BUT it is low-FODMAP, it is filling and it will keep you on track.

I just can't wait to find out if I can add garlic back in :(

FODMAP Friendly Recipe - Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's Pie
This is another really easy, make it how you like type recipe.

1 lb ground beef
2 carrots, diced small
1-2 cans corn
1-2 cans green
Prepared mashed potatoes

Directions
Brown the ground beef in a pan with some garlic infused olive oil, or plain olive oil

Add the diced carrots, salt, pepper (and if you're like us and really like pepper, a little white pepper)

Once the carrots start to just barely soften, add the other veggies - corn, green beans, tomatoes, etc.

Pour the veggie/beef mix into the bottom of a baking dish, top with prepared mashed potatoes and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

You can add some shredded sharp cheddar on top if you'd like (approved FODMAP) but then cover with foil while baking and remove for the last few minutes, broil if needed to get the cheese all bubbly and good.


Mashed Potatoes
Potatoes on FODMAP are complicated. No cream, no milk, almond milk in them is gross so... just add butter and top with cheese to help and it makes it a little more creamy. You can boil potatoes and make them yourself, or if you're low on time you could also just use potato pearls or instant potato flakes.


Note
Corn is listed as a low fructose vegetable on most lists but what I've read states that the serving size should be less than 1/2 cup. We ate more than that last night, and due to the lack of other high-FODMAP possibilities in this recipe, we think it may have been the amount of corn in our dinner.

Day 15/42

We are nearing the halfway mark and though we had a few days off there we're still going strong and planning on keeping Matt's GI appointment where it is.

Breakfast
Overnight Oats with Blueberries

Lunch
More oats...
Remember how I said I used to be bad at breakfast? Now I'm bad at lunch

Dinner
Tacos

Starting again is harder than resisting the temptation the 1st time

The Sunday after our appointment with Matt's GI, where we were put on this diet, we had a meeting with a church group. A friends wife brought a platter of Costco chocolate chip cookies and red velvet Oreo's. We declined the 1st and 2nd time they were offered to us, and then they were placed on a chair right next to me so they'd be within everyone's reach. They starred at me, the cookies that is. They laughed. They are some of the best cookies, those Coscto chocolate chip cookies.

We held our ground, we felt awesome! Now after having restarted this all I want is a big bottle of cold Mountain Dew. Instead I'm eating oatmeal and convincing myself that this is a "treat" and a breakfast.

Take our advice: Just keep swimming. Don't give in. Don't give yourself a reason to HAVE to re-start.

Breakfast
Overnight Oats

Lunch
Deli Meat (check the ingredients list)

Dinner
Shepherd's Pie 

FODMAP Friendly Recipe - Overnight Oats

Photo from Sugar Free Mom

If you're anything like me, you aren't a morning person, and you definitely aren't a person who wants to wake up earlier than necessary to make breakfast. Overnight Oats are the easiest breakfast for people like us and I've become a big fan of oatmeal since discovering them!

Ingredients
1/4 c. Oats (GF if you are sensitive)
1/4-1/3 c. Milk (We use Vanilla Almond Milk, but you can use anything you like)
Sprinkle of Cinnamon

Mason Jar - Pint Size, Wide Mouth (wide mouth is a preference, not required)

Directions
This is going to be a tough one so just hang on.

Pour the oats then the milk into your mason jar, stir.

Sprinkle cinnamon on top of the oatmeal/milk mixture.

Put on the lid, and place in the fridge overnight.

I know, difficult, but there are a few more steps.

In the morning take off the lid, place in the microwave and heat for 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Then eat.

The best part about this recipe is it is SO easy to customize to your tastes. We bought some amazing blueberries at Costco this week and have been eating ours with blueberries and 100% pure maple syrup. I like mine more creamy so I add more milk before I microwave it, while Matt likes it as is. We have strawberries, coconut, sliced almonds (which are okay in moderation), walnuts, chia seeds, ground flax seed, frozen fruit (check to make sure they are low-FODMAP friendly) - you can literally make it however you want. You can even add the fruit in the night before if that will help - I just like the fruit added in fresh.


Note 
If you search pinterest for overnight oats you will find hundreds or thousands of recipes. Take your time looking at them and find ones that really will work for you. If you are in the first 6 weeks of low-FODMAP and therefore eliminating foods, do not make "cookie dough overnight oats" with chocolate and vanilla extract (chocolate for the milk, and vanilla for the alcohol). You can modify it by using a very, very dark chocolate and some vanilla bean or vanilla bean powder making it okay to eat during the elimination period but I see people tagging those recipes as low-FODMAP friendly and they arent. If you are past the first 6 weeks of elimination and already know that you're body can handle a few blackberries or apples, then add some of those to your oats and change it up.

The best part about this diet is you really get to know what it is, and what quantities of foods, upset your digestive system. Don't waste it by getting lazy thinking its okay to eat milk chocolate during the elimination period! Even if it is during Easter season... You can bet this household will be freezing a bag of chocolate cadbury eggs to enjoy two months from now!

Day 1... Again

I've decided to go a little more public with this blog by sending it to my mother in law in hopes she will help keep us on track. We had a rough week with school assignments and work events and the low-FODMAP went far out the window, and we FELT it. We knew! Even thought we had only had about 6 days on low-FODMAP before we started getting lazy with it, we felt the difference. Matt's stomach issues had all but disappeared with the combination of low-FODMAP diet and miralax 1-2 times per day. We had so much more energy, and only a stress headache (or two) instead of "im hungry/tired/etc" headaches.

So today we are starting off again on Day 1. We are still deciding on if we will push Matt's appointment back a week to make sure we get a full six weeks in before going back to the GI but for now, we're just trying to get back into the swing of things.

Hopefully making more people aware of the blog will help.

Day 5/42

Happy President's Day!! We hope you all enjoyed a nice break from the day-to-day.

Breakfast -
Dry cereal, Kix

Lunch -
Mooyah, Lettuce wrapped cheeseburgers with bacon and low-FODMAP approved veggie toppings
Medium fry to share

Dinner -
absolutely not low-FODMAP compliant slice of Sam's Club pizza

Guys. Yesterday was a long day for us. I had off of work and Matt only worked the morning and after that we literally ran around town back and forth to look at phone plans and compare Costco/Sam's Club memberships, etc. We were tired so please don't judge us for our dinner choice. The thing that we've come to understand with a diet or eating plan such as this is that you just can't beat yourself up for slipping. We had a few solid days of low-FODMAP and have already begun to notice what foods bother us when we don't eat strictly low-FODMAP.

The biggest thing we've noticed is we both have varied levels of reactions to HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup). Before visiting the GI, Matt gave up soda for 2 weeks and had a significant decrease in digestive issues. Now if I have even a sip of a soda, it's automatically too sweet for me and I hear my stomach saying "please, no!". It's no where near as severe as Matt's reaction to HFCS but it is a reaction, and I know that I'll be limiting it a lot going forward.

If you recall, we had a similar dinner to our lunch today on Friday. Today we chose not to use ketchup on our burgers or fries and surprisingly both felt MUCH better.