Pan-Asian Dinner

One of the things that we have eliminated from our diets is pasta and noodles.  Even whole wheat pasta seems to affect Robert's blood sugar strongly. I missed it for a while (ravioli and other pasta was a pretty common meal for us last spring, before Robert's heart attack). What I've realized is that I don't really miss having Italian food, but I do miss Asian noodle dishes (and I splurge on these when we are eating out).  We discovered a couple of weeks ago tofu noodles - they are low carb and not made from any wheat products, so are fine on our diet.  They are in the refrigerated section at the grocery store, and easy to prepare - you do want to rinse them well and then boil them for just a couple of minutes to "remove the odor," but then they are easy to use and maintain good texture. We have used them for Asian noodle salad, and, tonight, for veggie lo mein.

Tonight was an ambitious menu:  veggie lo mein, Asian broccoli with pecans, Asian slaw, Oven-fried chicken chunks with peanut sauce, and stir-fried shrimp.

The veggie lo mein was completely improvised and so I can't say much about it - get your favorite veggies (we used green beans, carrots, red onion, garlic, and snap peas) and chop them up.  Prep the tofu noodles as mentioned above. Cook the veggies until tender crisp, stir in the noodles, add your favorite sauce and there you go.

The following is from Betty Crocker 30 minute meals for diabetes (BC):

Oven-fried Chicken Chunks with Peanut Sauce


Chicken:
1.5 cups corn flakes cereal, crushed
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs, trimmed of fat and cut into 1 in pieces
Cooking spray

Sauce:
1/2 cup plain fat-free yogurt
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup skim milk
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp cayenne or crushed red pepper

 (About the sauce - I used only 1/4 cup of milk, and the sauce was still too thin for my taste, and so I will skip the milk entirely next time.)

1.  Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. In a 2 quart resealable food-storage plastic bag, mix cereal, flour, paprika, salt, and pepper. Shake about 6 chicken pieces at a time in a bag until coated. Shake off any extra crumbs; place chicken pieces on cookie sheet. Spray with cooking spray.

2.  Bake uncovered 20-25 minutes or until coating is crisp and juice of chicken is clear when center of thickest part is cut.

3.  Meanwhile, in a 10 inch nonstick skillet, mix sauce ingredients. Cook over medium heat 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until mixture begins to thicken. Serve sauce with chicken.

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From the same cookbook:

Asian Tossed Salad


3 cups shredded Romaine lettuce
1.5 cups coleslaw mix (cabbage and carrots)
1 cup fresh sugar snap peas, trimmed
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup very thinly sliced red onion
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup Chinese chicken salad dressing (or soy ginger dressing)
2 Tbsp slivered almonds

In large bowl, mix all salad ingredients. In a small bowl, combine the mayo and salad dressing.  Toss with the salad ingredients. Sprinkle with almonds.
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The following recipe are from Diabetes and Heart Healthy Cookbook (DH):

Asian Broccoli with Pecans


2 Tbsp pecan chips
10 oz fresh or frozen broccoli florets
1 Tbsp sugar (or sugar substitute)
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp grated peeled gingerroot (or 1/4 tsp ground ginger)
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1. Steam broccoli for 5 minutes or until tender crisp.

2. Meanwhile in a small bowl stir together the remaining ingredients.

3. To serve, arrange the broccoli on a platter. Spoon the sauce mixture over the broccoli. Sprinkle with pecans.