I've already mentioned that we have cut pasta and rice completely out of our diet. Our most common replacement is bulgur wheat (cracked wheat) that you cook like rice. It's easy in a rice cooker or steamer - 1 cup of bulgur wheat with 1.5 cups of water and cook for 30-35 minutes. Tonight we had that with Roasted Indian-Spiced Chicken and roasted broccoli and cauliflower (and salad from a bag).
The broccoli-cauliflower mixture is a twist on a recipe from another cookbook, but can be done with a variety of veggies (take out one of those, add carrots, etc.) and with a variety of spices. You'll see what I mean....
Roasted Indian-Spiced Chicken (from Betty Crocker 30 min meals for Diabetes)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fennel seed, crushed
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp ground ginger
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup mango chutney
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line cookie sheet with foil. In shallow dish, mix all spices. Coat chicken with spice mixture.
Spray 10-inch skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium heat. Add chicken; cook 2-3 minutes, turning once, until browned. Place chicken on cookie sheet.
Bake 10-12 minutes or until juice of chicken is clear when center of thickest part is cut.
Serve chicken with chutney.
Roasted Indian-Spiced Cauliflower and Broccoli
Chop up and wash broccoli and cauliflower. Toss with a small amount (about 1 Tbsp) olive or canola oil. Spread on a lined cookie sheet and bake at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine 1 Tbsp butter or margarine with 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cumin, and 1/4 tsp ground ginger. When the veggies are cooked, place in a bowl and toss with the butter mixture.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Weeknight dinner
Tonight's dinner was easy, but not very exciting - taco salad from a kit, but with some extra veggies in the salad (radishes, bell peppers) and using ground turkey instead of ground beef. Big meal, lots of protein, but low fat. Oh, and using the low sodium taco seasoning mix. Not bad.
Last night's dinner, however, was fabulous. When we started this journey last May, I didn't eat fish at all, and was a little in shock when I realized that making diet changes to help Robert's cholesterol would mean more chicken, more pork, more fish, and much less red meat. Since then we have been doing just that - red meat maybe one time per week, and lots and lots of fish and poultry in between. For instance, have pretty much eliminated hamburgers and replaced them with salmon burgers (Robert's preference) and turkey burgers (my preference). Hot dogs are now either turkey dogs (my preference) or 99% fat free Hebrew National all Beef Hot dogs (Robert's preference).
One of the hardest things for me about this lifestyle change has been meal planning - how do we find enough to eat without having a large portion of the plate taken up by rice or pasta or bread or something like that. We have learned, through a lot of trial and error, that if we have a veggie and a salad (which we can eat in almost unending quantities) to go with the protein, we can find enough to eat. Also, eating lower fat chicken or pork or fish means that we can have seconds on that without feeling guilty about eating stuff we shouldn't. This was the hardest part of the changes we have implemented, but now it just makes sense to us.
Anyhow, last night's dinner was walnut-crusted salmon, spicy green-beans with carmelized onions, and salad from a bag. Both of these are from Betty Crocker 30 Minute Meals for Diabetes (one of our "old standards" for cookbooks). Recipes follow:
Walnut-crusted salmon:
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
3 Tbsp finely chopped walnuts
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
3 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp honey
4 4-oz salmon filets
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Combine bread crumbs, walnuts, olive oil, and thyme leaves in a small bowl and mix.
In another small bowl, mix mustard and honey. Spread over tops of salmon pieces. Sprinkle with bread crumb mixture, pressing gently so crumbs adhere. Place on cookie sheet
Bake 12-14 minutes or until salmon flakes easily with fork and topping is lightly browned.
Spicy Green Beans with Carmelized Onions
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Large onion, thinly sliced
1 lb fresh green beans, trimmed
2 Tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
In 10-inch skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion; cook 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently, until tender and light golden brown. Remove onion from skillet.
To same skillet, add remaining ingredients. Cook 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly, until beans are crisp tender. Stir in onions, cook until thoroughly heated.
Last night's dinner, however, was fabulous. When we started this journey last May, I didn't eat fish at all, and was a little in shock when I realized that making diet changes to help Robert's cholesterol would mean more chicken, more pork, more fish, and much less red meat. Since then we have been doing just that - red meat maybe one time per week, and lots and lots of fish and poultry in between. For instance, have pretty much eliminated hamburgers and replaced them with salmon burgers (Robert's preference) and turkey burgers (my preference). Hot dogs are now either turkey dogs (my preference) or 99% fat free Hebrew National all Beef Hot dogs (Robert's preference).
One of the hardest things for me about this lifestyle change has been meal planning - how do we find enough to eat without having a large portion of the plate taken up by rice or pasta or bread or something like that. We have learned, through a lot of trial and error, that if we have a veggie and a salad (which we can eat in almost unending quantities) to go with the protein, we can find enough to eat. Also, eating lower fat chicken or pork or fish means that we can have seconds on that without feeling guilty about eating stuff we shouldn't. This was the hardest part of the changes we have implemented, but now it just makes sense to us.
Anyhow, last night's dinner was walnut-crusted salmon, spicy green-beans with carmelized onions, and salad from a bag. Both of these are from Betty Crocker 30 Minute Meals for Diabetes (one of our "old standards" for cookbooks). Recipes follow:
Walnut-crusted salmon:
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
3 Tbsp finely chopped walnuts
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
3 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp honey
4 4-oz salmon filets
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Combine bread crumbs, walnuts, olive oil, and thyme leaves in a small bowl and mix.
In another small bowl, mix mustard and honey. Spread over tops of salmon pieces. Sprinkle with bread crumb mixture, pressing gently so crumbs adhere. Place on cookie sheet
Bake 12-14 minutes or until salmon flakes easily with fork and topping is lightly browned.
Spicy Green Beans with Carmelized Onions
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Large onion, thinly sliced
1 lb fresh green beans, trimmed
2 Tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
In 10-inch skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion; cook 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently, until tender and light golden brown. Remove onion from skillet.
To same skillet, add remaining ingredients. Cook 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly, until beans are crisp tender. Stir in onions, cook until thoroughly heated.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Introduction
Robert had his heart attack on May 17, 2011. We found out that his diabetes was not as under control as we thought it was and neither was his cholesterol. We made drastic diet changes, monitored how his body reacted to different foods, and have changed our lifestyle. We have cut out most processed sugar and eat sugar-free at home. We eat low-carb bread, have eliminated pasta and rice, and manage to keep the carb count of our meals fairly constant. We have found low-fat, low-carb snacks, and started to exercise regularly.
We were both worried that this new diet and lifestyle was going to mean not eating food that we enjoyed, or having limited diet options. We have learned that is just not true. Thanks so many great cookbooks, some trial-and-error, and a lot of experimenting, we eat *very* well. So well, in fact, that people ask us where we find the recipes and time to cook. I will mention several cookbooks as I post recipes - we have 5 that we use regularly right now - but the time just comes from the necessity of changing our lifestyles. Grabbing pizza on the way home or a frozen entree is just not an option. And so we cook. And we have been lucky to find a bunch of cookbooks which have recipes that take reasonable amounts of time, even on a weeknight. We also take some shortcuts (salad in a bag is a big one). But we still read labels all the time, and manage to keep our diet on track. We hope that some of you might find these recipes and menus helpful, but are also always looking for new suggestions and recipes to try!
I should mention that these lifestyle changes got all of Robert's numbers down to normal levels (with appropriate medications) in three months. It's amazing how well these changes have worked!
We were both worried that this new diet and lifestyle was going to mean not eating food that we enjoyed, or having limited diet options. We have learned that is just not true. Thanks so many great cookbooks, some trial-and-error, and a lot of experimenting, we eat *very* well. So well, in fact, that people ask us where we find the recipes and time to cook. I will mention several cookbooks as I post recipes - we have 5 that we use regularly right now - but the time just comes from the necessity of changing our lifestyles. Grabbing pizza on the way home or a frozen entree is just not an option. And so we cook. And we have been lucky to find a bunch of cookbooks which have recipes that take reasonable amounts of time, even on a weeknight. We also take some shortcuts (salad in a bag is a big one). But we still read labels all the time, and manage to keep our diet on track. We hope that some of you might find these recipes and menus helpful, but are also always looking for new suggestions and recipes to try!
I should mention that these lifestyle changes got all of Robert's numbers down to normal levels (with appropriate medications) in three months. It's amazing how well these changes have worked!
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