Tortellini Salad

[julienc]

1/3 cup olive oil
2 T white vinegar
2 t dijon mustard
1/2 t seasoned salt
1 t lemon juice
2-9oz packages cheese tortellini
1 pound asparagus cooked & blanched & cut in 1" pieces
2 cups spinach leaves

Mix all the above ingredients together and chill (or chillax ;D).

This recipe was from a Rachael Ray episode that was for quick and easy cooking. The idea is to buy 2 packages of those refrigerated cheese tortellinis. I'm not sure of their sugar content, but instead I used some frozen cheese tortellini from Costco that does not have any sugar. The dijon and seasoned salt I used both had a touch of sugar, but not enough where I noticed. I'm sure you could find substitutes if it's a concern.

This salad is soooooo yummy, and I've never really been a big fan of pasta salads (probably because they are usually sweet). I made it up for a bunch of friends, and they all raved about it, too.

[sarahk]

Mike: Looks good, except sarah can't eat asparagus--too sweet. -

Fantabulous use of chillax, I'm glad to see it spreading to NC

Try this fat-free potato salad
Here is the fat-free (and sugar free) potato salad sarah makes–I posted this elsewhere which explains the notes

6-7 white potatoes, with skin
1 cup plain non-fat yogurt
1 cup non-fat sour cream
1/2 cup fresh dill
1/2 cup fresh parsley
4 tablespoons of capers*
3 tablespoons of plain yellow mustard--or mix in some dijon
2 tbsp, of Cajon seasoning
Salt/pepper to taste
*she really likes capers, and since her body can not tolerate sugar, she often craves salt-others may find 4 tbsp too much-but nobody at the party thought it was too salty

[julienc]

Mike, that looks yummy! I'll have to try it.

Wow, no asparagus for Sarah? She must be super sensitive. It seems that those diagnosed pre-adulthood tend to have higher sensitivities, which would make sense. My brother and I were able to limp along without causing too many problems. Sure we thought we were strange, but our "illness" wasn't enough to get the doctors to do anything other than shrug their shoulders. Interesting...

Sarah eats lima beans, right? How about artichokes?

[sarahk]

sarah does eat artichokes-she likes the leafs better than the heart.
aside from asparagus she also can NOT tolerate zucchini, and other similar veggies. She eats spinach, and other green leafy veggies, broccoli-the head not the stems, cucumbers, green onions (not white), spaghetti squash-lima beans are big favorite with hers-she makes this really tasty dish with lima beans, in a cream of mushroom soup (I think), cheese, and covered with fried shoestring onion.
I'd say she is more sensitive then most of the other HFIers

[colormist]

I've tried a lot of the Rachel Ray recipes. They're all pretty bland, but that makes them easier to adapt to HFI diet. I had this recipe for sage turkey burgers that were to DIE for.

[sarahk]

Her recipes nevery come out right for us either

[jeanee]

Hi I was reading this and wondering about some of these ingredients-I take it lima beans are okay for HFI? I was told no olives by our nutitionist I thought that these seemed like they would be ok?? Any other bean ok for HFI??

[julienc]

Hi Jeanee,

Welcome to the boards! I saw your other post in the children's section.

To give you some background on me, I was just recently diagnosed this summer at the age of 30. My brother and I grew up with the same bizarre eating habits (starting with rejecting fruit as babies) and always figured something was genetically wrong with us. A DNA test confirmed HFI for me, and my brother has not yet been tested. As part of this diagnosis, I met with a nutritionist whose advice in some cases was completely opposite of what my body had told me all those years. So, it really depends on the person and the tolerance level. I think you (or your daughter) is the only one who really knows. Not to say we should discount the nutritionist's advice, but I we need to be careful. One example - the list my nutritionist gave me said I could eat green peas, which I believe was a typo and was supposed to say green BEANS. When I challenged her on it, she really didn't know. We can't take everything they say at face value. (Green peas are a big no-no.)

I can't tell you for sure what is okay for all HFI people but I can tell you what works for me. I eat black olives like a crazy person. As a kid it was one of my favorite snacks. I do great with spinach, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, and asparagus. I do try to eat the broccoli in moderation, and in general I limit my veggies to once a day, if that. Beans in general have always been a bit confusing to us. The nutritionists say green beans are a-ok, but for some reason I do not tolerate the fresh green beans, and I eat them only from a can. My nutritionist said no other kinds of beans, but I do fine with most other kinds of beans (pinto, black, lima).

As you can see even from this post, some cannot do asparagus at all, so it really just depends. How's that for a solid answer.