An almost recipe: IKEA's multigrain bread

10:07 Unknown 0 Comments



 I have a love-hate relationship with bread.



I grew up eating all sorts of bread; French organic sorts on my mother's side, and brown sliced sorts on my father's side (Fun fact: my mother is French, my father Dutch!). When I was younger, I had organic toasted bread with butter every morning. I grew out of this habit when I moved to England; perfectly squared, spongey slices of mush hardly tasted like the bread I knew, and I started eating porridge instead.

I think the most appealing facet of bread is its versatility. You can have it for breakfast, lunch, dinner or as a snack, make it savoury or sweet (only the former for us HFIers!), have it brown or white, toasted or fresh, homemade or store-bought... There is an endless amount of variations. Bread has remained on of my favourite foodstuffs, but authentic bakeries are almost non-existent in and around York. I am always shocked to find breads labelled baguette or focaccia, when they taste nothing like the real thing. That is part of the reason why I gave up bread for almost a year, longing for the freshly baked loaves sold in Luxembourg.

I had never really crossed paths with pumpernickel and rugbrød (Danish rye bread) until last summer. I was going through a wheat-free experiment and was pleased to hear rye bread contained no wheat. Unfortunately, I later found out sugar is often used in the batter in order to activate the yeast and had to stop eating it. This made me wonder if all yeast-based breads contain sweeteners. I couldn't find a single loaf of industrial bread containing no sugar, sucrose or fructose. When I say industrial, I mean the square-shaped kind I mentioned earlier. Proper bakeries tend to have more choice for a low-fructose diet; sugar is also an excellent preservative in order to keep goods fresh for more than a couple of days; it is often the case that homemade bread only stays soft for a few days.




The official guidelines advise the consumption of white bread instead of brown bread when going low-fructose. I personally find white bread very bloating, especially if it is not homemade. (I do like homemade, sugar-free brioche, a recipe will follow shortly!) This particular bread making mix is one I found at IKEA, which is why this recipe isn't quite a recipe: add water and tadah! The best rye bread you'll ever taste. It contains all natural ingredients and no added sugar! Pick it up next time you go to IKEA or get it here.



Ingredients: 

1 box of IKEA's multigrain bread mix (list of ingredients below)
600 ml of warm water 

Instructions:

All the instructions are on the box; it advises you to pour the water in the carton and shake for 45 seconds until combined. I poured it into a mixing bowl to combine the mixture properly as it tends to be quite lumpy. Leave to rise for 45 minutes and bake in the bottom of your oven for 60 minutes on 200°C. 

What's on the back of the box?
Ingredients: wheat flour (21%), wheat flakes (20%), rye flakes (17%), coarse rye flour (13%), sunflower kernels (8%), wheat starch, linseed (6%), malt (4%)(from barley), sourdough powder (rye flour), salt, dried yeast.

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Pipe Rigate with avocado sauce

10:00 Unknown 0 Comments


I thought I would keep it simple for my first recipe.






Today I'm coming to you with a pasta recipe. Pretty straight forward, no? This is a lazy-day lunch or dinner. If you're on a low-fructose diet, I am quite confident pasta will be on your list of staples. In fact, I think it's on everyone's when it comes to quick and filling meals.

This recipe contains less than 5 ingredients and works wonders if you tolerate avocado. I consume avocado on a regular basis and absolutely love it; it doesn't make me feel unwell or upset my stomach. The velvety consistency allows you to use less avocado than you think you might need. I added a dollop of low-fat crème fraîche to smooth it out, but it's completely optional. You could substitute the cream with greek yoghurt or unsweetened soy yoghurt,  1/4 cup of white beans or leave it out!

This recipe would work with any type of pasta; I chose pipe because I like the fact the sauce can hide  inside the tubes and create little parcels of goodness. But I can see myself trying this with spaghetti or linguine in the near future!



So let's get on with the recipe, shall we?

Ingredients:

Serves 2
180 grams of pipe rigate, I always recommend using white pasta as it contains less fructose
1/2 of a large avocado, diced
1 tablespoon of half-fat crème fraîche
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Optional garnish: 
Black pepper
Chilli flakes
Parmesan cheese

Instructions:


Start by bringing a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook your pasta according to the instructions. Meanwhile, you can prepare the sauce.
Combine the diced avocado, powdered garlic, salt, pepper in a blender, gradually adding water until you obtain a smooth sauce. Add the cream at the end and whiz to combine.
Drain your pasta when it is ready, and pour in your sauce. Toss it together to heat the sauce and serve.
Add the optional garnishes if you fancy them!

Well, that was easy. Happy eating, HFIers!

Do you like avocado? How do you like to eat it? Let me know, I would love to hear from you!

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What you should know about me

09:42 Unknown 0 Comments

Hello and welcome to my blog! I'm glad you've found your way here. You have probably been searching high and low for a decent blog if you suffer from HFI or DFI and love food as much as I do. I know I have, for years; with the emergence of low FODMAP diets, it has become easier. But I showed little interest for recipes consisting of baked chicken, wilted spinach and endless amounts of mushrooms. There is nothing wrong with these items, but I hardly ever eat simply. I am fascinated by the combination of different flavours and textures; for food lovers, cooking is more than just a function, it's a passion. As much as I want to preserve my health, I also want to preserve my figure. I would happily eat buttered gnocchi every day of the week, but I am fairly confident my jeans would feel snug, so to speak!




Snippets of deliciousness.



My main goal in life is to feel my best. I know far too well what an overdose of sugar feels like. Feeling your best when you have been diagnosed with HFI, like me, or DFI truly is an ongoing challenge, and sometimes a struggle. But we just have to keep our chins up and accept that we are exceptions (which make us exceptional. Obviously.) My brother and I weren't diagnosed until I was about 10. My mother spent 10 painful years chasing down paediatricians, witnessing two disgusted, scrunched up little faces each time we were fed baby pots or chunks of fruit, and not being able to put two and two together. Luckily, a single (unrelated) epileptic fit I experienced led my neurologist to pursue a DNA test to figure out what on earth was going on. HFI, or Hereditary Fructose Intolerance, was the answer to our concerns. I wish I could say the diagnosis changed everything for us; it did in some respects, I now understand that my natural aversion for sugar is the result of a deeper underlying cause (i.e. the absence of the enzyme adolase B, which breaks down fructose) and annual liver function tests, blood tests and check-ups with my dieticians insure that I am as healthy as possible. The days of unexplained illness have long gone and I am feeling better than ever! It is also easier to explain my condition when I need to; the emergence of all sorts of intolerances and allergies has led to stricter laws in the UK; anywhere serving food must have a full list of ingredients for all their dishes. Unfortunately, food shopping and eating out is becoming harder and harder with the development of 'fast foods'. As a general rule,  I stay away from packaged goods, but it isn't always convenient (pesto, anyone?).  I have made it my mission to provide other followers of a low-fructose diet the necessary resources to live a happy life, relieve boredom, provide inspiration and support!

I would just like to finish off with a word of caution: although being diagnosed with HFI puts us all in the same box, listen to your body. We are all different, and manifestations of an exposure to fructose will vary from one person to the next, as will their severity. I experience nausea and extremely uncomfortale bloating several hours later; I know these symptoms are signs I have had fructose. Experiment and test as much as you can, within your own limits. Test some of the safe recipes on my blog, they are always introduced by guidelines depending on how severely you are affected and how to adapt them! Happy eating, HFIers!


What would you like to see on this blog? Drop me a comment,  I would love to know!

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