Eating for IBS Recipes ~ Sides, Salads, Soups, & Sandwiches

Side dishes and salads offer a great opportunity to add more soluble fiber to your meals, and it's quite easy to do so deliciously. Potatoes, probably the most traditional American side dish, are a terrific staple for the IBS kitchen and can be cooked an infinite variety of safe and tasty ways. Favorite family recipes such as scalloped potatoes can be easily adapted with soy or rice milk, and stand-bys like crispy hash browns can be cooked in a non-stick skillet for plenty of crunch without the oil. Think of sweet potatoes when you want a change of pace, as they're absolutely crammed with nutrients.

Traditional green salads, a trigger food due to their high insoluble fiber content and typically oil-based dressings, are best eaten in small quantities and only at the end of meals, never on an empty stomach.

For salads that can be safely eaten as meals in their own right, try delicious alternatives like Summer Chicken, New Potato, and Green Bean Salad, Roasted Sweet Potato Cider Salad, or Thai Rice Noodle Salad with Shrimp and Mango. Soups and sandwiches are among the quickest, tastiest foods to make following the IBS diet, and they both offer great ways to add lots of fresh vegetables to a soluble fiber base. For most soups, the only modifications needed are the substitution of soy milk for cream-based broths in chowders or bisques, and the addition of high soluble fiber foods like rice, potatoes, carrots, turnips, or other root vegetables. Make sure to simmer your soups until all the vegetables are quite tender, and remember that you can puree them as well to further minimize the insoluble fiber. Replace high fat chicken or beef stock with low fat vegetable broth, and top your soups with homemade croutons or fat-free crackers for additional soluble fiber. For sandwiches, using French or sourdough bread provides a built-in soluble fiber base and gives you the perfect opportunity to incorporate a variety of fresh produce. Stick to low-fat poultry or seafood choices, use flavorful chutneys, bean spreads, or marinades instead of high fat dressings, and add in a medley of finely sliced vegetables. You just can't beat soups and sandwiches for fast, delicious lunches, and all of the choices in this chapter pack well for a brown bag treat at work or your next road trip picnic. Add in some baked potato chips or pretzels, a slice or two of homemade fruit bread, and a small fresh peeled pear or apple for dessert, and you've got yourself a safe, tasty lunch in a flash. Side Dishes, Salads, Soups & Sandwiches Crunchy skillet-browned garlic new potatoes New England Clam Chowder Cantonese jok (rice porridge soup) Sandwiches of rosemary fig chutney and smoked chicken breast Rice noodle salad with shrimp and mango Candied sweet potatoes Korean seasoned potatoes Steamed sweet potatoes with Japanese miso dressing Japanese-style steamed fresh soybeans Asian sweet pickled cucumbers Maple glazed red cabbage Basic rose rice Basic jasmine rice Basic basmati rice Basic brown rice Sweet cardamom and currant Indian rice Old-fashioned bread stuffing with dried apricots and currants Raisin bread rosemary stuffing Tuscan tomato bread salad Tangy Thai salad with fresh herbs Summer chicken, new potato, and green bean salad Roasted sweet potato cider salad Italian tuna, lemon, and basil pasta salad Basic vegetable stock Country tomato onion soup with basil Parmesan croutons Smoky sweet potato soup Roasted cauliflower caraway soup Chinese sweet corn and crab velvet soup Moroccan chickpea and bread peasant stew with harissa Sandwiches of sesame chicken and Asian coleslaw Sandwiches of lemon-herb chicken with watercress and roasted red peppers Sandwiches of sweet tomato-currant chutney and smoked turkey breast Sandwiches of teriyaki-grilled Portabella mushrooms with Asian coleslaw Italian lemon tuna sandwiches English teatime shrimp and watercress finger sandwiches Open-face Chesapeake crab cake sandwiches Toasted bagels with lox and lemon-caper cream cheese Pumpernickel bagels with smoked trout and dilled cucumbers Louisiana barbecued catfish sandwiches with sweet and sour wilted cabbage slaw All recipes included in Eating for Irritable Bowel Syndrome have a nutritional analysis per serving of calories, protein, percentage of calories from protein, carbohydrates, percentage of calories from carbohydrates, total fat, percentage of calories from fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and total dietary fiber. (Analysis provided by NutriBase Nutrition Manager software.) All content is copyrighted by Heather Van Vorous and MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED without permission.