Carbohydrates– Why has it become such an evil word? The brain needs them, our liver stores the byproduct of carbs as glucose for steady blood sugars and  we love em! In shopping sprees, I have come across a whole new lines of cho ( chemistry short cut for carbs!) in the grocery aisle. We have quinoa mixed with rice, couscous, red lentils, and a gluten free low carbohydrate seed not a starch-wild rice. Its not a grain but a grass seed, fostered by the American Indians in the Great Lakes region. More on this type of seed in the upcoming blogs.

I’ll start this series with  couscous, though with gluten, it is a great alternative to pasta or rice. The mixtures of chickpeas and couscous are a great side dish with golden raisins, lemon and mint. The Israeli couscous or Ptitim as it is called or Fregola in Sardinia, is a starch, much like tiny couscous and is larger pearl like, with 1 cup cooked providing 170 calories and 36 grams of carbohydrate (like a little over 2 exchanges for diabetic meal planning)  no fat and 6 grams of protein. Why I like it? Bigger couscous is “toothier” and more substantial as a side or in soup..

The smaller couscous version is wonderful and I love it with Moroccan or vegetable stews where there is a lot of sauce.

A glycemic index of 61 for couscous makes it a great starch alternative to 1/2 cup of potatoes cooked.  With a GI of 90, potatoes also have much more glucose to raise blood sugars. So try this dish with your next meal! Add veggies, shrimp or chicken for a main dish.

The Recipe

• 1 cup uncooked Israeli couscous

• 2 cups of chicken or vegetable broth

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

• juice of 2 lemons

• 3 tablespoons of olive oil

• zest of 1/2 lemon

• 2-3 tablespoons of honey

• 1/2 cup drained and rinsed canned chickpeas or cooked chickpeas

• 1/2 cup golden raisins (soaked in 1/4 cup of water for an hour and drain)

• 1/4 teaspoon of harissa, Moroccan spice paste or a pinch of  cayenne pepper

 

Cook the Israeli couscous according to directions. Drain couscous and set aside aside.  Mix together the vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon zest, honey, lemon juice, herbs and harissa.  Mix thoroughly with the chickpeas and serve.

 

 

Happy Mother’s day with a fancy but easy dessert.

OK I’m giving in this one time to an Non-caloric sweetener or “NCS” called Stevia.

There aren’t very many sugar substitutes I would recommend in the grocery world.  But one stands out as a more organic type of sweetener from a Paraguayan plant called Stevia. The leaves have been sweetening foods for thousands years. There is no absorption in the gut thus no raising of the blood sugar, a wonderful substitute for Diabetics or wanting to indulge but want to cut the calories.. this can be it. I was impressed with no after taste trying the Stevia in the Raw product. According to the Academy of Dietetics and Nutrition, their position paper has given a thumbs up to this sweetener, Stevia, for the substance minimally effects low blood sugar and insulin levels and it is non toxic.

SO DOES IT TASTE GOOD? The answer is yes as you will see in the meringue disks made with sugar almost cut in half. Do I use completely Stevia? For meringues, I feel that some sugar softens the Stevia but total substitution can be made and it has a lot less bitter aftertaste than other zero calorie sweeteners.. In this meringue ice cream sandwich cookie of sorts. We  featured it with whipped heavy cream, a compote of rhubarb and cherries.

The Meringue Disk  Recipe:

• 5 eggs whites

• 6 packets of stevia (depending on sweetness)

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• Pinch of salt

• 1 cup of cherries pitted and halved or strawberries hulled and sliced (retain 4 or 5 cherries with stems on for show)

• 1/2 cup whipping cream

• 2 additional packets of stevia or 1 packet of stevia and 2 teaspoon of sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 2 stalks of rhubarb

  Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Separate egg yolks from egg whites and set aside yolks for another purpose.  In a small mixing bowl beat the egg whites with the salt, for 8-10 minutes until glossy with soft peaks forming.

  Add the sugar stevia mixture 1 tablespoon at a time until the egg whites are stiff and glossy for an additional 10 minutes and you can tip the bowl upside n and nothing moves.

• Draw 5 inches circles with a teacup saucer on parchment paper on a cookie sheet turn over the parchment paper and smooth with a spatula the meringue mixture over the circles.

• Bake in the oven on low heat for 1 1/2 hours. Turn oven off.  Let meringue  disks remain in the oven for another 1 hour. Take them out, let them cool and assemble.  Makes 6 disks.

Compote:

1 cup of pitted stemmed cherries or hulled strawberries

2 stal1 cup ks of rhubarb chopped

2 packets of stevia and 2 teaspoon of sugar or honey

Cook all the ingredients together on low heat until the fruit is broken down into a sauce. Let cool.

Whipped cream: use a commercial brand of real whipped cream or whip 1/2  cream for 4 minutes with vanilla extract and 1 packet of stevia, with 1 teaspoon of sugar, until soft peaks form.

Place whipped cream on the disk and pour some of the compote over the filling. Cover with another disk and place some fresh fruit over the top with additional whipped cream.

So you think Rhubarb is just for dessert and requires 1 cup of sugar to taste good? Hold on! Not always. This rhubarb sauce is great basted on chicken thighs, salmon, pork or tofu as a glaze with mustard seed, coconut sugar and a pinch of allspice.

In my post in May 8, 2016  Rhubarb Revisited, (check it out!), I wrote that the rhubarb has leaves which contain oxalic acid and are toxic to humans. Discard the leaves.  You may fear eating the stalks of a plant that has poisonous leaves but I eat rhubarb every spring and I am still standing! It is called the pie plant and for good reason. It makes a great pie filling recipe with other fruit. For more on the history of health benefits check out a website on rhubarb.   The positives: Good source of Vitamin C, Niacin, B1, Folate and is low in carbohydrate, no fat and if you sweetened with small amounts of sweetener and add strawberries or cherries, the sourness is lessened. So here is my sauce, a keeper, for 3-4 days in the refrigerator.

RHUBARB SAUCE                                                                         

5 -6 stalks of rhubarb with leaves cut off                                         

4-5  tablespoons of coconut sugar or  brown sugar                   

3 tablespoons of honey                                                                    

a generous pinch of allspice                                                            

salt and pepper  to taste                                                                  

2 tablespoon of red wine or balsamic vinegar                             

1 tablespoon of black mustard seeds 

1/4 cup of water

1 teaspoon oil

 

Spicy Baked Chicken Thighs

6 skinless boned thighs

1 teaspoon of paprika

1 teaspoon cumin

a 1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1//4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon powdered garlic or 3 cloves of garlic mashed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix chicken spices (and the fresh garlic mashed if preferred) together in a bowl and coat the thighs. Place chicken on a greased cookie sheet and set aside. In a saucepan, roast the mustard seeds with oil over medium heat until you hear them pop. Take off heat and set aside. Cut up the rhubarb into 2 inch pieces and add the rest of the ingredients into a saucepan with the  roasted mustard seed and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Bake up boned and skinned chicken thighs  30 minutes until golden and the meat is white without any pink. Baste the thighs with the rhubarb sauce and bake for another 10 minutes.  Serves 6

Lactose Controlled and Galactose controlled Nutrition Therapy are different forms of not tolerating dairy.  Lactose controlled patients lacks a full functioning enzyme called Lactase found in the small intestine.  Limiting or avoiding milk products can ease the symptoms of bloating, diarrhea and gas.  Taking Lactase supplements  before consuming milk products with your doctor’s approval may ease the symptoms as well. Check all your labels, for hidden lactose in beverages, dairy, & luncheon meats.

However, we have another sensitivity to dairy or lactose intolerance and it is called GALT or Galactosemia.  One should not consume any dairy products at all. A rare hereditary condition,  that does not allow lactose to be broken down to galactose. Lactose is the sugar found in milk and lactaid treated products are not acceptable for galactosemia patients.  There is a complete inability to break down lactose a milk sugar to galactose.  

With all this being said- The comforting food, rice pudding is always thought of as dairy heaven.  Not so, for I look to the Moroccans, whose cuisine combines great flavor and uses rice in there desserts. The cooking of rice twice first in water and then in a substitute, Oat or Almond milk creates a creaminess like a pudding. Adding the flavors of orange water, a middle eastern flavoring found in ethnic grocery stores, orange zest, honey and cinnamon creates this tasty dessert, milk free and gluten free too.

Dairy Free Moroccan Rice Pudding

• 1 cup of short grain rice

• 2 cups of water

• pinch of salt

• 2 tablespoons of butter or butter substitute

• 2 cups of Almond Milk

• 1/4 cup confectioner’s  sugar or 1/4 cup other sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon of orange flower water (optional) or 1/2 teaspoon of orange zest

• cinnamon

• 3 apricots chopped, pistachios chopped for garnish

In a saucepan, cook rice according to directions until all water is absorbed. Add the almond milk with sugar and continue cooking on medium heat until bubbly, keep stirring occasionaly  until all milk is absorbed. Add flavorings and sprinkle with cinnamon. Let cool for 15 minutes, sprinkle with chopped nuts and dried fruit if desired and serve.

 

• Blackberries are little gems of necessary nutrients like Vitamin C and Carotenoids.   If the thought of fruit is not on the top of the list for satisfying a sweet tooth, berries, maybe it. In a cobbler with some sweetness, they are a satisfying dessert for everyone.

•  With  Zeazanthin, an antioxidant, along with carotenoids and phenolic flavonoids, blackberries aid in creating healthy skin where it starts from within and works through our dermis to the epidermis the outer layer of our skin.

• Blackberries are 85% water, so munching  blackberries is a tasty way to get fluid into your system.

For Renal Diets: low potassium with berries at 180 mg of potassium per 1/2 cup.

Diabetic, Carbohydrate Controlled Diet: one cup of blackberries equals 15 grams of carbohydrate or one exchange.

Try this cobbler :

• 3 cups of blackberries

• 8 tablespoons coconut sugar, or brown sugar

• juice of 1/2 lemon

• 2/3 cup coconut flour or all purpose flour

• 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter

• 1 teaspoon of tapioca (used as a thickener)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together, blackberries, lemon juice, 4 tablespoons of brown sugar or coconut sugar, tapioca, lemon zest. Let sit for 15 minutes.  Place the mixture in  4-  6 ounce baking cups. In a food processor, mix the butter, flour and 4 tablespoons of sugar. Process until like sand. Do not over blend. Sprinkle topping over the berries and bake until bubbly and juice is pouring over the sides. Cool for 5 minutes and serve. Serves 4

 

 

 

Ok. I know fish is not the first item on the list for dinner favorites.  The memories of fish night were always filled with dread.  The square fish breaded and sometimes odiferous if cooked as filets with tartar sauce an absolute must!  Well the following sauce recipe will make any non fish eater like their meal. Nutrition facts: Grapefruit: Vitamin C and a glycemic index of 25, making it a low carbohydrate choice for diabetics.  Salmon has Vitamin A, Omega 3’s and Tryptophan and in combination with grapefruit makes a high immune enhancing meal!

A great tasting recipe for salmon:

Citrusy sweet with honey, grapefruit or oranges, a little shallot and crushed pink peppercorns:

• 1 lb of salmon- 2 filets

• 2 grapefruit or 2 oranges

• 1/4 teaspoon pink peppercorns

• 1 tablespoon of butter or oil

• 4  tablespoons of honey

• pinch of salt

• 1 shallot chopped

Melt butter in a saucepan and saute shallots for 3 minutes. Add the juice of one whole fruit cut  in half and squeezed for juice. Cut the peel off the other grapefruit or orange and remove the white pith. Place a knife between the segments and cut away at the slices into a bowl or just seperate the segments as you would to eat them. Put aside.  Add the honey to the saucepan with the juice and reduce for 5 minutes on medium high heat until syrupy. Add crushed peppercorns and a pinch of salt. Cook up your salmon and pour the glaze over the fish. Continue cooking until glaze is thicker and remove from heat.  Add the grapefruit slices. Serve with spinach.

I have been noticing a scarcity of good fish in the market. What it takes to get a frozen wild caught sockeye these days takes one to an Alaskan river competing with grizzlies for this delicacy. It ain’t happening in the stores. When you find wild sockey salmon grab it and make this sauce!

When I was  very young, I remembering my mother making up blue fish with a side of spaghetti  or plentiful and cheap lobster from the ocean mind you.  Hailing from  Connecticut,  the east coast had its bounty of seafood as other coasts, but recently this is what I found to be the dilemma in the freezer and deli case in supermarkets near and far. Blue fish and scrod are rare and farm raised salmon with antibiotics is more common.

Look at the label for a crusted salmon I found in the grocery lately. It pays to make meals from scratch!

 

 

Strawberries are a delicious pick for Valentine’s Day and beyond. A great bang for the buck, strawberries at 1 and 1/2 cups, are a one portion size in the carbohydrate counting for Diabetics meal planning and  have 89 mg Vitamin C, 233 mg Potassium, 34 mg  of Calcium with a Glycemic Index: 40!  So enjoy.

As a soufflé, strawberries mixed with egg whites and only 1/3  cup of sugar for  4 servings, makes a fancy but easy dessert, low in calorie and only aprox 150 calories, 35 grams of carbohydrate per serving.  All gluten free and low fat. Inspite of the very fancy name, it is an easy dessert to make incorporating strawberry puree, or if allergic to the berry one can use raspberries as well. Just remember to mash the berries into a fine sieve to remove the raspberry seeds before making the puree.

NOTE: This can be a very low sugar and satisfying dessert with great flavor like a fluffy cake! To cut sugar intake even more in the recipe, only beat egg whites with 3 tablespoons of white sugar and macerate the fresh strawberries in Splenda.  

• 1/3 -1/2 cup of white sugar

• 12 ounces (aprox) 2 cups of strawberries hulled and sliced

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• 4 egg whites

• 4  -8 ounce soufflé dishes buttered and coated with a 1/4  teaspoon of sugar

• a drop of almond extract

• Tablespoon of lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine the trimmed strawberries, lemon juice and a couple of tablespoons of white sugar or Splenda with the cornstarch together in a bowl and let macerate for 15 minutes. 

Place the strawberry mixture in a  food processor and pulse for 4-5 times until pureed. Place in a medium saucepan and cook until bubbly and take off the heat. Cool for 20 minutes. Add a drop of almond extract.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks, adding the sugar by the tablespoon until stiff peaks form.  Push the egg whites to the side in the bowl and add the puree. Fold in together until you see streaking of strawberry with the egg white, making sure not to deflate the mixture. 

Spoon a cup into each ramekin or soufflé dish, and with a knife make the top flat and even. With your finger make a rim like an indentation around the soufflé or baking dish.  Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until puffed and a knife inserted comes out clean. Serve immediately. 

 

 

Hi!

You see me talk a lot about carbohydrates in my blog. Well I speak on the subject weekly in the Diabetic education class at the hospital I work at and receive a lot of questions on eating right from my Diabetic patients/students. We all should be watching our carbs… and learning what can spike blood sugars for weight loss and glycemic control. So here is another as  promised, low carb, high protein food that I just made an hour ago! Split pea soup.

Very low in fat, split peas at one half cup cooked offers 21 grams of carbohydrate, 8.5 grams of protein, 32 on Glycemic Index and 144 calories. For Diabetics, a great carbohydrate substitute, split pea soup is recommended as one of the legumes to incorporate into a carb counting diet.

They also have tryptophan , an essential amino acid, a precursor  to the neurotransmitter serotonin.  Not manufactured by our body, we need outside sources to maintain this pathway of producing serotonin. The legumes, meat, especially turkey and dairy products have this nutrient. Let’s call them feel good foods.

So a bowl of  split pea soup might just do the trick to maintain that anti anxiety metabolism.

Split Pea Soup With Marjoram

• 2 cups of dried spit peas, picked over and washed in a colander

• 3 cups of water

• 2 cups of chicken broth or vegetable broth

• 2 carrots sliced

• 1 celery stalk chopped

• 1 onion diced

• 2-3 cloves of garlic chopped or 1 teaspoon of garlic powder

• 3 sprigs of marjoram leaves

• Ground black pepper to taste

• Salt (only a couple of pinches)

Saute the onion  over medium heat in a stock pot or 4 quart saucepan until soft and transclucent, about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until the split peas have broken down and are soft, similar to a chunky pureed texture, about 30 minute.  Adjust seasonings to taste.

 

 

 

Resolution # 1:

Include Legumes in your soup as a main course for healthy weight loss.

Legumes include chickpeas, beans, lentils and split peas. We see them on the supermarket shelf next to the rice. They are low in glycemic index, meaning good for diabetics, and are high in fiber, lower in starch than noodles and rice  (but they are great too, just higher in carbohydrate). Don’t be alarmed by the additional carb in the couscous. Only a half a cup of cooked couscous is added to the soup.

So here goes on the nutrition facts:

Chickpeas: High in fiber and selenium which is cholesterol lowering. 1/2 cup of chickpeas has 8 grams of protein.  Glycemic Index 10.

High in insoluble fiber which creates the undigestible fiber (I know it sound unappealing) ..but it’s the undigestable fiber that creates bulk and short chain fatty acids in the colon , allowing your lower GI tract to function properly.

The next soup is a Moroccan soup with tomatoes, chickpeas,  carrots and cilantro in a rich chicken stock with tomatoes. Try Harissa, a spicy paste of paprika, coriander, mint and chiles. I use  1/8 teaspoon (a smidgeon) in the serving. Can’t eat  a spicy condiment? Omit and stick with the recipe.

Moroccan Chickpea Soup

• 3 cups of chicken broth

• 2-3 cups of peeled whole tomatoes

• 2 carrots sliced

• 2 zucchini sliced

• 1 cup of chickpeas (if canned, drained and rinsed)

• 1 bunch of cilantro chopped

• 1 onion chopped or sliced

• 1 teaspoon of ground coriander seed

• 1 teaspoon of ground cumin

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon paprika

• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

• 1/4 teaspoon of salt

• Harissa (a spicy paste  found in ethnic stores or Trader Joe’s)

• 1/2 cup Israeli couscous or Middle eastern couscous

• 1 1/2  cups of shredded cooked chicken

Saute the onion, garlic and add the carrots, zucchini and spices and  continue to saute until onions are transparent and vegetables slightly soft. Add the broth, tomatoes, chickpeas  and continue to cook on moderate heat for 5 minutes or until the tomatoes are broken down.  Cook the couscous according to package directions.  Place a serving of couscous in the soup bowl and pour the soup over the couscous. Add the shredded chicken if desired. Garnish with chopped cilantro and Harissa, to taste ( approximately 1/2 teaspoon). 3-4 servings

 

NEXT POST: SPLIT PEA SOUP

 

 

Cranberries are not only that red sauce you see with turkey for the holidays.  A little science before we get to baking!

The berry is filled with proanthocyanidins,  in other words, good for your immune system and also with Vitamin C.  A study published within  Obstetrics and Gynecology Feb 2016, has shown that the berries themselves not the juice, will help UTI’s (urinary tract infections) due to their (pac’s) or proanthocyanidins that block bacterial adhesion also called biofilm. Research being done  on cranberries eliminating ROS ( reactive oxygen species)  in the gut, and modulate inflammation as in IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) too.

In the blog MNT, (Medical Nutrition Therapy) written by Megan Ware RD,  Dr. Timothy Boone PhD, a Vice Dean at the Texan A&M Health Center of Medicine, states that cranberries have polyphenols that exert a have a strong influence on the gut microbiota but not the juice. So eat the whole berry either in a sauce, smoothie or added to a tart. Yes, we have the sour notes of the fruit to consider, so adding any number of sweeteners will help with that. I particularly like coconut sugar for its quicker caramelizing capabilities!  The following recipe is a gluten free nut crust and a filling of pears, cranberries and coconut sugar with a  couple of tablespoons of maple syrup thrown in.  Seasonal but freeze very well.

Pear Cranberry Tart

Gluten Free Almond Crust:

1/1/2 cups of almond meal

1/2 stick 4 tablespoons of earth balance or regular butter

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

2-3 tablespoons of sugar

1/4 cup oat flour or other gluten free flour

Filling :

4 ripened and cored pears any kind

1/2 cup of fresh cranberries

1/4 cup of coconut or brown sugar

zest of a 1/2 orange

1/4 teaspoon of powdered ginger or 1 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger

2 tablespoons of maple syrup (optional)

Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the ingredients are combined and become a ball.  Take the dough which adheres as a ball out of the food processor and flatten into a tart pan or pie pan and up the sides and bake  @ 350 degrees  for 20 minutes. Remove from oven.

Cut up 4 cored pears, any variety which are ripened and cover the base of the crust.  Add ginger and orange zest to cranberries. Cover the top of the tart with the berries, maple syrup and sprinkle coconut sugar or brown sugar over entire tart. Cut up the butter substitute or butter into small pieces and dot the tart.  Bake for 30 minutes or until the cranberries pop and the pears are knife tender.

 

 

Cover blog photo of cranberries: healthyfruit.blogpost.com