Homemade Fish Crackers

Tomato soup just isn't the same to a three-year-old without fish crackers. 

On a whim, and after seeing them on Pinterest, I thought why not give homemade fish crackers a shot? 

I used this recipe as the basis for my experiment. 

But then I had to tweak it. 

Originally, we began with eliminating GLUTEN and DAIRY from my daughter's diet, so we started with shredded SOY cheese, margarine, and GF Flour (we LOVE President's Choice GF flour!).

The result was amazing! My daughter was thrilled with her crackers...

...unfortunately soy ended up being a trigger for an upset tummy, so we had to change our cheese... but it was a start for making "normal food" for her. 

Low FODMAP/GF Homemade Fish Crackers:

8oz shredded cheese (we use Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds)**

4 T. margarine, cubed

1 cup President's Choice GF Flour

3/4 tsp salt

2 T. cold water

Pulse everything (except water) together in the food processor until the dough resembles coarse sand.
Pulse in water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
Remove dough from the processor, wrap in plastic, and chill for 20 minutes.
Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes.
Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. 
Bake at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes, or until crispy. 

Makes approximately 7 dozen crackers. 

**While cheddar cheese is allowed in the Low FODMAP diet, we haven't introduced it back yet because of her history of dairy intolerance. 

Labels, ingredient lists & FODMAP foods

As we continue down the path of figuring out what our daughter can eat, a friend who happens to be a dietician recommended checking out the FODMAP diet. I had no clue what she was talking, along with most others I talk to... But after researching and starting to follow it, it feels revolutionary. I'm not blindly and randomly trying different foods. I have a set of guidelines to work with (works well for the upholder that I am!)

But goodness. I used to think I was good at reading labels. Ha! Companies are very, very tricky...

For instance, while looking for snack options - I realized many would be out because of glucose-fructose.... but, I thought I'd be safe looking at snacks such as SunRype's Fruit Source bars. But, the Strawberry bar (a fruit allowed on this particular diet), surprisingly, the first ingredient is NOT strawberry, but rather "apple puree".  Strawberry "concentrate" doesn't show-up until after apple, pear, and elderberry.

And while Larabars are so healthy, dates are a definite NO on the diet. 

Boo.

So homemade it is!

Want to know more about the Low FODMAP diet? 
Check out the Monash University website. There are LOADS of other resources out there as well, but this is a good starting point as they are the originators of the diet.