Before the recipe, here's the update. My 30 day AIP diet went really well, however, I wasn't seeing the improvements that I'd hoped. My nutritionist realized that I was having a reaction to histamines in my foods. That meant that the high-histamine, gut-healing foods were actually making my inflammation worse. Now I've mixed AIP with a low-histamine diet and things are improving. I haven't entirely decided where to go from here, but things are going ok for now. It is hard to take out another category of foods so I'm being a little more lenient on some foods that are not ok on AIP, but I don't have a strong reaction to.
With the new challenges I am trying to maintain good variety in my diet which isn't easy. I was so bored with my typical lunch today that I decided to try something new. I am not really familiar with fennel so I tossed a bunch of things together and hoped it would go well - it did.
Fennel (to me) looks like a human heart with celery sticking out of it! More importantly to cooking, it has a licorice taste which, originally, turned me off as I've never been a fan of that flavor. My mom's fennel experiments encouraged me to try again and it was really worth it!
Here's what I did:
Fennel Stir-Fry
1/3 fennel - bulb, stalk, and fronds
2 T chopped onion (you are welcome to add more, I use very little because it is a FODMAPS)
3 basil leaves, chopped
1/4 cup cauliflower heads
2 T lard
1 T butter
I threw everything in together except the basil. You are welcome to use more or less lard and butter, choose one instead of both fats, or use another fat altogether. I like the taste that mixing fats gives. I sauteed the food with leftover turkey breast until almost cooked, threw the basil in, and continued to cook until the veggies and turkey were browned. I loved the result, let me know if you do, too!
