Traveling always feels somewhat of a challenge to fodmappers and restricted eaters. I always plan ahead and pack a few snacks (or half a suitcase full), however much to my delight, my ability to eat outside my comfort zone truly astonished me on my recent travels.
Maybe it was the beautiful sea air in Portugal or the bustling markets of Marrakech but I found myself doing things I would never have imagined I could or would! Like eating tinned fish, cooked onion and a lot of bread goods, amidst of a lot of vino drinking. To most, these few things don’t sound like much, but to a strict (at times fussy) fodmapper they were a big deal and made the trip that much more delicious!!… Believe it or not, I had never even tried canned tuna until I arrived in Portugal, a city where tinned seafood is a prized delicacy, and for good reason.
It was there I fell more in love with seafood than I thought possible, even the tinned stuff, which I ate almost daily! Then there was Morocco, where one cannot just request no onion, no garlic as many of meals are pre-prepared and cooked for hours and hours. This meant I inevitably had to eat onion if I wanted to experience Moroccan cuisine (and not starve). So tagines and bastilla I ate a plenty, with no variations (because that would be rude, right!?). But luckily for me, in these Moroccan dishes onion wasn’t over-used and it was always cooked down until it almost disintegrated.
What astonished me the most on my travels was not my brazen disgraced for the usual rules of the FODMAP diet, but that my belly stayed in pretty good shape.
And (very surprisingly) my stomach didn’t mind even the pastries and bread I allowed myself to indulge in! For someone who always has a healthy breakfast (and is gluten intolerant mind you), I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so many pastries and bread goods for breakfast in my life. Again, I’m looking at Morocco here! I’m honestly not sure why I coped so well overseas. Maybe it’s that I was super relaxed and my digestion was in tip top working order but I personally put it down to the type of flour that must be used in Moroccan cooking, because seriously I was in awe at my ability to chow down a piece of bread with not even the slightest bloating. If only I could get some of that action here!!
As you can probably tell, and if you followed my travels on Instagram you would know, my trip was centred around eating. Needless to say, getting back into my healthy eating routine was top of mind on my return. But I also wanted to keep some of these fun new habits rolling! I mean, who doesn’t want to eat baked goods everyday! With freshly baked Pasteis De Nata (Portuguese Tarts) and Moroccan bread no longer at my disposal, a few things had to be done to fill the void of those beautiful baked delicacies…
This is where my delicious, easy, healthy-ish, friendly and freezable scones come into play. They are the perfect baked good to settle a craving, and fill that Europe-sized hole in my life post travel. They’re also inspired by my new SodaStream! That’s right these scones are made not with lemonade and cream (can’t have that now I’m back on home soil and on the healthy eating bandwagon). Instead, they’re made with soda water and milk, now that’s nifty!
When SodaStream approached me to try out their new SodaStream Power, I of course jumped at the opportunity. I have long swooned at my friend Maddie’s SodaStream and her ability to make me sparkling water at the drop of a hat. It seriously excites me and soda water is, of course, so much more fun than plain old tap water! But little did I know the added benefits of having sparkling water on tap, also meant I could now easily and conveniently whip up a batch of scones when ever I got a travel inspired longing for a freshly baked treat. So now whenever a craving kicks in, I can brew myself a cold glass of sparkling water to sip on and whip up some delicious scones. This SodaStream really could not have come into my life at a better time :)
Cranberry & Cardamom Scones
Makes 8 large scones
2 cups, plus extra for dusting, organic spelt flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
Good pinch of salt
75 grams unsalted butter, cubed
1 tbsp rice malt syrup
Zest of half an orange
1/4 cup milk of choice
3/4 cup soda water
1/4 cup dried cranberries
Preheat oven to 200C and prepare a tray with baking paper and a good dusting of flour. Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Rub the butter into the flour with your hands until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre, and add rice malt syrup, orange zest, milk and soda water into the well, and gently mix to combine. Add the cranberries, and continue to mix until it forms a nice soft dough. Dust with a bit of extra flour and place the dough on to the tray. Pat the dough into a 2cm thick circle, and use a large knife to cut the circle into 8 scones (don’t separate them until after they’ve baked). Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden.
I love these served warm with a lathering of butter, or a little jam and yoghurt :)
Enjoy!
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