Crohn's Cuisine: Cook Fried Foods Without the Grease

Fried foods are often considered a poor nutritional choice for Crohn's patients. This is mainly because inflammation of the small intestine, a common occurrence with Crohn's disease, causes fats to be poorly absorbed by the bowels. When fats are poorly or incompletely absorbed, the result is diarrhea and gas for the Crohn's patient, two symptoms most would rather avoid.

Still, the American culture, with the emphasis on fast-food, teaches us at an early age to love fat and salt. It isn't just culture, though; part of our love of fat and salt is in our genes. In mankind's early years as hunters and gatherers (still common in many third world nations), life was often a case of "feast or famine." Since fat, as we know all too well, provides a lot of calories for the portion, when fat was available, it was devoured. Although most Americans no longer are forced to go through long periods with little or no available food, that pattern is encoded in our genes, as dieters well know.

Fat isn't a "bad" food; it just needs to be used in moderation. If you have Crohn's and are having a flare you should obviously limit or avoid fats. But if you're between flares, and want to enjoy that taste of fried food, this article offers some recipes to help you do just that.

"Fried" Sweet Potatoes

I choose sweet potatoes over white potatoes because one way to help balance a diet is to make sure you have a variety of colors on your plate. The orange of sweet potatoes and yams indicates that they provide more nutrients than plain white potatoes. But you can use this with white potatoes as well as sweet potatoes.

Ingredients

8 medium or 5 large yams or sweet potatoes

2 tablespoons sea salt (or less)

2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel the potatoes and cut them into half inch slices, then cut the slices into half inch strips. Rinse in cold water and dry with paper towels. (If you have one of those tools that can make waffle fries, try using that. I don't understand why, but waffle fries just seem to taste better!) Put the olive oil in a large plastic bag, the type with the "zipper" lock; add the fries and shake to coat them with the oil. Spray a large cookie sheet or jelly-roll pan with olive oil cooking spray, and spread the potatoes out so that none of them cover each other. Bake for about 7 minutes, then turn the potatoes so that a different side of each is up. Bake for about 7 more minutes (watch them, because how thin they are, and how hot your oven gets, may vary the cooking time), and if they aren't crisp on the outside, turn them again. Another 5 minutes should have them done perfectly: crispy on the outside, cooked but tender on the inside. Remove from oven, and sprinkle with salt to taste. I use sea salt because it adds more flavor with less sodium. This makes about 8 servings.

Apple Fritters

Just the sound of the word "fritter" conjures up images of bakeries, with their wonderful aroma, and deep-fried doughnuts of all sorts. But you can have the taste with a lot less fat by making these at home.

Ingredients

Four medium apples, with a crunchy texture and slightly sweet flavor, such Pink Lady, Fuji, or Gala

1 cup flour

1/4 cup milk

two eggs (or egg substitutes if you prefer, but in this, what's the point?)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon canola oil

Canola oil for frying

Peel, core, and dice the apples. In medium bowl, combine the apples, flour, milk eggs, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and 1 tablespoon canola oil. Stir with a fork until just blended (don't over mix!). In a skillet, heat ½ inch deep canola oil to 400 degrees. Drop batter by tablespoonful (or larger, if you prefer) into the hot oil. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, turning once, until golden brown. Remove from skillet with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels, blotting both sides. Then roll in a dish of powdered sugar, or a cinnamon-white sugar mix. Makes 4 to 6 servings, and is a great side dish with breakfast. (Note: if you need to reheat these, don't use a microwave, as it will make them soggy. Instead, wrap in foil and heat in a warm - 300 degree - oven for about 10 minutes.)

Oven-Fried Turkey with Raspberry Sauce

To make this recipe less time consuming, try to find boneless skinless turkey filets. You can substitute chicken if you like. The sweetness of the raspberry makes an interesting contrast to the traditional sage and onion flavor of the turkey.

Turkey Ingredients

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 cup fine herbed bread crumbs (if you can't find these, use a stuffing mix such as Stove Top TM, and combine the seasoning packet with the crumbs, then crush with a rolling pin)

1 2-pound turkey thigh, or 1 pound of boneless, skinless, turkey filets

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 9 inch by 13 inch baking dish, melt butter or margarine in the oven, then remove the dish from heat. Remove the skin and bone from turkey thigh (you can save the bone for soup-making), and cut into four pieces. If you've purchased boneless, skinless filets, rinse them with water and pat them dry. Roll each piece in the herbed bread crumbs, to cover all sides of each piece, then arrange in the baking dish. Pat any remaining crumbs into the top of each piece. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for one hour. Uncover and bake for another 45 to 60 minutes, or until turkey is fork-tender and cooked completely. Serves 4.

Raspberry Sauce

2 10 ounce packages frozen raspberries, thawed, or 2 cups fresh raspberries, washed

1 10 oz. can condensed beef or chicken bouillon

½ cup seedless raspberry jam or "all-fruit" product

finely grated peel of 1 lemon

1/4 cup lemon juice

sea salt, pepper

Drain the raspberries if you are using frozen ones. In a medium saucepan, mix undiluted bouillon, ½ can (use bouillon can to measure) water, raspberry jam, lemon peel, and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until the mixture is bubbly hot, stirring constantly. Stir in raspberries and salt and pepper to taste, and continue cooking just until the raspberries are heated through. (Hint: If you want the sauce to be thicker, mix 1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch with 1/8 to 1/4 cup of COLD water; stir until cornstarch dissolves. Add this to sauce, stirring constantly, before you add the raspberries. Add raspberries when it is almost thick enough to suit you; it will thicken slightly as it cools.) When raspberries are heated through, remove from heat and pour into serving bowl or gravy boat. Makes about 2 ½ cups; serve it with the turkey, steamed green beans, and a blend of white and wild rice for a festive meal for four.

Pan-Fried Fish

When I was growing up, my family spent much of each summer at my grandparents' lake cabin, where we kids would go fishing with my grandfather. He'd clean the fish we caught (usually perch, sometimes northern pike), and my grandmother would cook them. This is a lower-fat version of her unwritten recipe.

Ingredients

4 to 8 (depending on size) FRESH fish filets

1 cup cornmeal

1 teaspoon sea salt

½ cup skim milk

Make sure filets are as boneless as possible. If you've purchased them, rinse thoroughly in cold running water until the "fishy" smell is completely gone. In one shallow dish, pour the milk. In another, mix the cornmeal with salt. In a 12 inch cast-iron skillet (cast-iron is vital to get the right taste) pour enough olive oil to just cover the bottom of the pan; heat on medium. When the oil is hot, dip each filet in the milk, then dredge through the cornmeal to completely coat it, and place in frying pan. You can cook two or three, sometimes even four, at a time. Cook about 2 minutes, then turn and cook the other side about 2 minutes more. The fish is done when you can flake it with a fork; don't over-cook! Serve with a lemon wedge and baking powder biscuit, and a salad of mixed greens. Serves 4.