Winter in the Northeast demands stew. For survival.
I can’t tolerate dark meat or beef, so I’ve had to get a little creative with my stewing. I will say that this doesn’t freeze super well unless you thaw it with gentle stirring in a pot on the stove – no microwaving or it turns to absolute mush.
You’ll need:
Instant Pot Blender (bullet, immersion, whatever you want) 1 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into inch or so chunks 1 cup of home made veggie broth 1 cup water 1 tablespoon oil of choice – olive and melted coconut both work nicely here Two stalks celery, chopped Two medium carrots, peeled and chopped 1 white or yellow onion, diced 2 cloves garlic (omit if you can’t tolerate garlic) 1 1/2 -2 cups baby Yukon gold potatoes, peeled 1 bay leaf 1 teaspoon ground sage 1 teaspoon fresh or dried thyme 1/2 teaspoon dried basil Salt to taste 1/4 teaspoon black pepper Chopped fresh parsley for garnish
1. Add ingredients to the pot. Stir to combine. 2. Seal pot and pressure cook on high for 20 minutes. 3. Allow pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes, then vent remaining pressure. 4. Open lid. Ladle out 2 cups of the liquid and vegetables into your blender. Don’t add chicken to this mix. 5. Blend until smooth. Pour mixture back into pot and stir to combine. This will naturally thicken the stew. If it’s still too watery, you can blend more of the vegetable broth mix. 6. Serve with chopped fresh parsley overtop.
Getting an Instant Pot as a low histamine eater is honestly life changing. It’s one of the few appliances that I don’t mind giving space to in my tiny galley kitchen.
I put off getting one for the first 6 months of my low histamine diet – I didn’t grow up in a house that pressure cooked, and culturally we’re taught to fear and respect unattended cooking devices. When I did break down and get one, I got it like new off of Facebook marketplace. Turns out they’re a popular holiday gift, and there are lots of non-limited eaters out there who don’t want it and can’t wait to get rid of it.
But once I did get the hang of Instant Pot cooking, I started using it multiple times a week and bringing it with me on the rare occasion that I travel overnight. It’s excellent at time saving for some of my harder-to-cook staples and the best way to handle broth and soups.
Here are a few of my Instant Pot staple recipes that I can’t live without.
Combine 1 cup quinoa with 1 1/4 cups water in the pot.
Close the lid and set to pressure cook on high for 10 minutes.
Allow the pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes, then vent the remaining pressure. Open and fluff with a fork. I like my quinoa well cooked and soft, and this amount of time fully opens the germ for easier digestion.
Wild Rice
Wild rice isn’t actually rice at all, but a kind of seed! It’s high in protein and freezes and thaws well. It can be pricey if you don’t know where to purchase it. Trader Joes sells bags for a reliably low price, as does Whole Foods’ generic brand.
Combine 1 cup wild rice with 1 1/4 cups water in your pot.
Close the lid and set to pressure cook on high for 30 minutes.
Allow the pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes, then vent the remaining pressure. Open and fluff with a fork. Properly cooked wild rice will be soft and fully split open so that the lighter colored insides are visible. If your wild rice is still closed, don’t eat it.
Brown Rice
I’m that weirdo who always used to ask for brown rice at Chinese restaurants (back when I could eat at Chinese restaurants…) instead of white rice. It has more fiber, it holds you longer, and it has a nice nutty taste.
Rinse 1 cup of brown rice under water to allow the starches to drain, until the water runs mostly clear.
Combine the cup of rice with 1 1/3 cups of water in your pot.
Close the lid and set to pressure cook on high for 15 minutes.
Boxed or canned broth is off limits on the low histamine diet. Making your own with an Instant Pot is super easy, and also a way to ditch the sodium that a lot of pre-made broths carry.
Peel and roughly quarter two small or one very large white/yellow onion. Add to pot.
Add two stalks of celery snapped in half, as well as two larger carrots or several heaping handfuls of carrot peels, if you’re being thrifty.
Pour in 1 tablespoon of olive oil or your tolerated oil of choice.
Optional but nice – add the stalks from your shucked parsley, a bay leaf, and cracked black pepper to toleration.
Add 1 tsp of salt, or more to taste. Shake in a small amount of turmeric for color.
Seal your pot and set to pressure cook on high for 1 hour. Allow all pressure to release naturally.
Open the pot and remove vegetables and herbs. Your broth should be golden in color and have a nice neutral taste.
Beets are an anti-inflammatory superfood. I love how they taste but always hate the next day when you forget that you ate them and think that you’re dying when you go to the bathroom. *Gold Beets Have Entered The Chat* Like their purple siblings, golden beets are a root veggie with a nice earthy taste, but a little mellower. Best of all, they’re bright orangey yellow – no staining to your counter top or insides.
Peel your beets. If they’re larger, cut them into pieces. All beet pieces that go into your instant pot should be roughly the same size, maybe 3 inches across.
Place the metal trivet that came with your Instant Pot into the bottom of the pot, arms reaching upward towards the pot’s opening.
Pour 2 cups cold water into the bottom of the pot over the trivet.
Place your beets in an even layer on the trivet. Don’t stack them upwards.
Close the pot and pressure cook on high for 14 minutes.
Allow pressure to naturally release for another 15 minutes.
Manually release all remaining pressure.
Your beets should be fork tender. If they’re not, reseal the pot and cook for another 10 minutes. I’ve only had this happen once or twice, and I think it was due to under ripe beets because the cooked beets also had very little color or flavor.
Beans on the low histamine diet are controversial. Let’s start there.
Some sites list them as histamine liberators and therefore discourage eating them. The SIGHI list has them at a rating of 2, and says that ‘Some tolerated exceptions are possible in some cases,’ whatever that means. And most commonly, beans come in a can, with canned food being off limits for its ability to accumulate histamine. Those I don’t eat.
All my tolerated beans start as dry in a bag, then soak and are pressure cooked before being frozen in individual portions. I’ve found that these never set me off and are a true safe food. They’re also thankfully a cheap protein source, and more sustainable than animal proteins.
You’ll need: -1 cup dry black beans (Goya is always a quality bet, or loose from a bulk store) -5 cups of water for cooking -5 cups of water for soaking -Instant pot -Colander or strainer -Containers for freezing
Soak your dry black beans in enough water to cover them by three inches, either overnight or for at least 6 hours. I’ll often throw them in water at breakfast, and they’re ready for cooking by dinner. It’s good to note that soaking black beans turns the water black and you’ll want to do this in something like a steel cooking pot or bowl, not something stainable and precious.
After soaking, dump your black beans into a colander and drain. Pick out any beans that look shriveled or weird.
Put your strained beans in the instant pot. Cover them with 5 cups of water. You might be tempted to use less water and more beans – don’t. This ratio is needed for proper cooking. Depending on the size of your instant pot, this means that you might be limited to cooking just one cup of beans at a time. Don’t overfill the pot! This makes a huge foamy mess.
Close the lid on the instant pot and set it to pressure cook on high for 28 minutes. Then, allow the pressure to naturally release.
Open the pot and test the beans for doneness. They should be quite soft. If for some reason your beans are crunchy, don’t eat them. Close the pot and pressure cook for another 10 minutes. Crunchy beans = digestive hell
Immediately decant the beans into your freezing containers. I like to use jam jar sized mason jars for individual portions. Add a small amount of the bean liquid to the container to keep them from drying out when you reheat.
Additional Tips: -The time for cooking applies to black beans, which are a softer bean. If you try this with something like a navy bean or great northern bean, that will take significantly longer. -I’ve never experienced this, but have read that using hard water with high mineral content to cook the beans can alter results. If you live in a place with hard water, consider using filtered or extending your cook time. -Once thawed from frozen, these mash up nicely with whatever spices and oil you can tolerate as a dip.
Pre-COVID, I was a huge tea drinker. Green, white, rooibos, decaf black…. cups and cups a day, warm in the winter and chilled in the summer. Tea on a low histamine diet is complicated. I’ve seen conflicting information all over the internet and no real consensus other than to stay away from caffeine.
Instead, here are three of my favorite histamine-friendly teas.
Roasted Dandelion Root by Traditional Medicinals This may take a little getting used to for some, but is a pretty good replacement for morning black tea or coffee. Dandelion root tea is also said to stimulate the liver, which is always a good thing for my chronic tick borne infections. I do not recommend overbrewing for your first cup, which can increase the taste. I drink it daily with a little plant-milk of choice.
Organic Hibiscus Tea by NOW This isn’t easily available at stores but can be found on Vitacost. It’s a straight hibiscus tea, which is rare – most blends I’ve found have citrus or berry flavoring in them, both off limits on the low histamine diet. If you find the tang to be too bitter this is also good brewed with fresh mint leaves or the fresh juice of pomegranate seeds. But be warned, this stuff will stain your clothing and your cups if left to sit for too long.
Tulsi with Ginger by Traditional Medicinals Ginger also seems to be controversial. I’ve personally found ginger to be an important part of my diet to keep my histamine bucket from overflowing, and it helps with my digestion as someone prone to low stomach acid. In winter this feels a little like a spicy chai to me. Tulsi in general is a mast cell inhibitor, a member of the basil family.
When using canning jars for hot liquid, make sure you go genuine! Ball and Mason both make quality jars. Generic glass may fracture under boiling temps.
Any of these teas are also great chilled in the summer months. To prepare, I pour hot water right over the bag into a canning jar, which is made of a special kind of glass that won’t crack with heat. You can let the jar sit and cool naturally before drinking, or add ice cubes to speed up the process. I also personally tolerate chilled teas in the fridge for up to 48 hours after brewing.
1 cup steel cut oats (regular or quick oats will not work for this recipe)
1.5 cups plant milk of choice (I used unsweetened oat)
1.5 cups water
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp salt
2-3 apples of choice
Pumpkin seeds (if not tolerated, chia seeds or pistachios also work well)
Vanilla extract (optional)
Honey or maple syrup (optional)
Instant pot
Directions
Add your oats, salt, milk, water, ginger and coriander to the instant pot.
Decide if you want to peel your apples. Keep in mind, most of an apple’s quercetin is in its peel, but peels can be hard to digest for some. Either way, definitely remove the seeds and core before dicing into bite sized pieces and adding to the pot.
If you can tolerate vanilla extract, add that now. I don’t personally have issues with it because the alcohol cooks off. You can also add additional sweetener like honey or maple syrup at this time if you’d like, but remember that low histamine means low added sugar. Your apples will also give natural sweetness to the oatmeal.
Close your instant pot and turn it on. Set it to cook on high pressure for 4 minutes, then do a natural pressure release of 10 minutes before opening the valve and releasing any remaining pressure.
When you open the lid, the oats will seem watery, which is good. Let them sit for 5 minutes and watch them firm up.
Scoop into a bowl and top with your pumpkin seeds (or other substituted topping).
Remember to freeze your leftovers into single serve portions immediately!
Post COVID Kitchen 