Co-Stars Cook-Off

Last Friday I was invited to the the Diabetes Co-Stars: Cook-off in New York City.  Since I love to cook and bake, I was excited to see what this cook-off of “diabetes friendly recipes” would be all about.



The Diabetes Co-Stars are actor Paul Sorvino and his actress daughter Mira.  In 2006 Paul was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, a diagnosis he chose to hide from his family.  Mira learned of her father’s condition when he became ill after eating a big plate of pasta fagioli (a carb-filled tomato based soup full of beans and macaroni, for you non-Italians out there!!).  Mira was inspired to learn all she could about Type 2 diabetes and to become a great support system for her dad.  Paul has since lost 20 pounds and they both work hard to eat a healthy diet.  Although they admit the dietary changes were tough at first, they said eating healthy  has now become second nature.

The big keyword at the event was “diabetes friendly”, which was mentioned time and time again.  I’ll admit, those words usually make me bristle a bit because I think healthy food is important for everyone -whether you have type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes or NO DIABETES!   Lower fat and lower carb choices are good for everyone.  That said, I really did like these recipes!! 



The two contestants in the cook-off were Lauren (pictured with Mira above) and Hidemi (pictured with Paul below), and they both have family members with diabetes.   They also were cooking yummy pie recipies - although I’m not sure if the contests called for only dessert recopies to be submitted.  Lauren’s pie was an Apple Rhubarb Fantasy Pie, which was made healthier by swapping the white flour for whole wheat flour and by using vegan butter, which is  lower in fat.  She also bakes with Splenda because it’s one-for-one swap with sugar makes substituting easier.



Hidemi made a Berry Soy Milk Cream Pie with a Panko Crust.   They soy milk makes it a dairy-free pie and she used sugar-free honey as her sweetener.

Once they demonstrated how to make the  pies, the judges sampled them both.  And so did the audience!!  Little pies were passed around for everyone to try.  (No carb counts though - I had to swag it and ended up low during my walk back to Grand Central Station.)  Here’s my Pie-Opinion . . . . they were both very good.  The soy milk in the Berry Soy Milk Cream Pie was cooked down into a pudding layer that was then topped with the berries.  It was light, but in my opinion it was very bland and needed some more flavor and some more sweetness.  While Lauren was cooking the Apple Rhubarb Pie she made the comment that it was “a very sweet pie”, and it was, but not overly sweet.  It had a crumble topping and it was delicious!!  I couldn’t tell the crust was made with whole wheat flour instead of regular flour and I couldn’t taste the rhubarb (which I’m not a fan of) - it just tasted like a yummy apple crumb pie!!


I guess the judges didn’t agree with me, because Hidemi’s Berry Soy Milk Cream Pie was declared the winner.  Not to say it wasn’t a good pie - it was - I just liked Lauren’s Apple Rhubarb Fantasy Pie better.  (Click those links to see the recipes and bake them at your house!!)

What do you think of recipes that use the words “diabetes-friendly”?  And what is your favorite healthy meal?

D-Feast Friday: Noodley Soup

Mmmmm soup!  I love soup and I eat it all year round.  Although I do keep a few cans of soup around for Soup Emergencies, I usually like to make my own.  This one is not really a recipe, it’s more like a quick list of things to throw in the pot.  It’s yummy and soothing but easy enough to make even when you are feeling like road kill.



First, grab a package of fresh pasta - these are going to be your noodles.  I usually use Fettuccini but all they had at the store last time was Linguine.  It doesn’t really matter; you can use whatever you want.  Just cut them up into bite-size noodley pieces.  I do this with my kitchen shears.  Put about 1/3 of the noodles in your pot.  You can package up the other 2/3s into two zip-top freezer bags and pop them in the freezer for your next two pots of soup.



Now chop up some garlic and add it to the pot.  Then grab half of a lemon and cut off a few slices.  Toss those in the pot too, and squeeze in the juice from what is left of your lemon half.  (Just the juice, not the seeds, silly!!)  Pour four cups of chicken broth into the pot and bring it to a boil for a few minutes to cook the noodles.

Once your noodles are cooked and yummy, ladle the soup into your bowl and sprinkle on some grated cheese.  And that’s it - you are done!  A bowl of lemony, garlicky noodley chicken goodness - perfect for warming you up and soothing a sore throat!  Trust me, this stuff beats any noodle soup from a can!



If you are feeling energetic and want to bulk up the soup a bit more, you can add some chicken meat and perhaps some vegetables.  Fresh spinach is wonderful wilted into this soup right before serving.  Or you could probably add a bag of frozen vegetables at the beginning and let them cook in the soup.

For carb counts, you should probably consult your packages of noodles and broth.  For the brands I used, 1/3 of the package of noodles was 46 grams, and the box of broth was 4 grams - bringing my pot of soup to a 50 gram total.  I’d say it serves four - but honestly, I usually eat half the pot at a time.

Click here for a printer friendly version!!

D-Feast Friday - Wilted Spinach with Artichokes

When Elizabeth, Lorraine and I were organizing the first D-Feast Friday we debated if it should be a weekly / monthly / quarterly event.  In the end, we decided to just focus on getting the first one going and worry about the rest later.  I've been thrilled to see so many bloggers continuing to share recipes on Fridays!  It looks like we’re almost up to 150 recipes and I’m just so excited the see the list continue to grow.  So I guess it’s high time I posted another recipe myself.



I’m pretty picky when it comes to vegetables.  Okay, I’m pretty picky in general, but today lets just talk about vegetables.  There are A LOT of them I don’t like.  But I do love spinach.  And I recently discovered that I really love artichokes.  A few months ago I was at Bertucci’s and noticed Spinach & Artichokes listed under their side dishes.  “A delightful combination, gently sautéed with roasted garlic butter sauce and sprinkled with cheese.”  The description had me sold and I ordered it.  And it was so good that I’ve made it at home over and over again.  Here’s how:

In a large pan, heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.  Chop up a bunch of garlic (I use about four or five cloves, but you can use as many or as few as you like) and sauté it for a minute or so.  Don’t let the pan get too hot or the garlic cook for too long or it will burn and burnt garlic is nasty!!

Open one can of quartered artichoke hearts and drain them.  I usually rinse them with cold water too.  Once the garlic starts to soften, dump the drained artichokes into the pan.



Sometimes I add a pat of butter too - if I feel like splurging.  This dish is still good without the butter, so I’ll leave that up to you.



At this point, I usually season it with some sea salt and fresh ground pepper.  A few red pepper flakes would be fabulous too.  The last step is to dump in a whole bag of baby spinach and stir together as it wilts down.  This will only take about a minute or so - you’ll want to be all set to eat before you add the spinach.  Once it’s all wilty, plate it up and sprinkle some Parmigiana cheese on top.



In my house this makes just two servings, as Pete and I really love it and eat huge portions.  I don’t need to bolus for vegetables, so this is a free side-dish for me.  If you count the carbs in your veggies, simply tally them up from your artichoke can and spinach bag.

Click here to download this recipe in .pdf form.

D-Feast Friday - Leftover-Chicken Tortilla Soup

Welcome to D-Feast Friday.  I am sharing a recipe I made up after trying Chicken Tortilla Soup for the first time at a restaurant.  It was so good (except for the corn kernels floating around in there, which I left out of my version), so when I got home I thought about what was in it and came up with this recipe.  It's a great way to use up leftover roasted chicken or rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.

Leftover-Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 yellow onion, diced
2 cubanelle peppers or 1 bell pepper, diced
Chicken breast, cooked and cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon grill seasoning blend (I like McCormick Grill Mates Montreal)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 cup rice (I use organic brown rice)
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with green chilies (such as Del Monte Zesty Mild Green Chili)
2 quarts chicken broth (I use Pacific Organic broth)
Toppings: tortilla chips, shredded cheese and sour cream or plain Greek yogurt

Heat a large soup pot over medium heat.  If I'm roasting a whole chicken at home, I roast the onion and pepper right along with it so it's ready to go for the soup.  If using leftover rotisserie chicken or leftover grilled chicken, add some olive oil to the pot, dice the onion and pepper and sauté until they begin to soften.

Now dump in the chicken pieces and spices.

Next, add the rice and the can of tomatoes.  I always add the stock last.  Why?  Because if I put the stock in first and then try to dump in the rice or tomatoes, there is major splashage and I make a big mess of the stove-top!

Now, turn the heat all the way up to high until the soup comes to a gentle boil.  Then turn the heat way down low and put a lid over the pot loosely, leaving a crack for the steam to escape.  Let the soup simmer until the rice is cooked and tender.  The longer the soup is left to simmer, the better the flavors will be.  (This soup is also even better the next day.)

When it's time to eat, gather your toppings.  I used baked tortilla chips and non-fat Greek yogurt in order to eliminate some of the fat and calories.  I use full fat cheese though, because I just don't like low-fat cheeses.

Ladle your soup into your bowl.  Sprinkle the cheese on top, and then add as many crumbled tortilla chips as you'd like.  (I tend to use a lot, making my soup not-so-low-carb.)  Spoon a dollop of yogurt or sour cream in the center.  And enjoy!!

This recipe makes about 8 servings of soup.  (Although when we have it for dinner, we usually eat two servings each.)  Before adding the toppings, each serving of soup has about 12 grams of carbohydrates if you use the Pacific Organic chicken stock.  (Each quart of stock has 4 grams of carbs - if you use a different brand you'll need to check the carb content and adjust accordingly.)  I weigh out my tortilla chips on a food scale before adding them to my soup so I can get an accurate count of the carbs I'm eating.

Click here to download this recipe in .pdf form.

Do you have a recipe you'd like to share for D-Feast Friday?  Post it on your blog, then come back here and click the D-Feast Friday button to add your post to the link list. Put the name of your recipe in the "Your Name" box and the URL of your blog post in the "Your URL" box.

Join us for a D-Feast!

I've heard people badmouth Twitter, saying it's only good if you want to hear drivel about what people are eating for dinner.  To me, Twitter is an important Health Activist tool and a source of diabetes support and information.  And yes, there are often Tweets about what people are having for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  But that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

For instance, one day Lorraine was cooking up a wonderful stir-fry and tweeted a picture of the pretty veggies cooking in the pan.  Then she tweeted a picture of the finished dish and a link to the recipe.  Soon we were having a cooking conversation and Elizabeth mentioned how happy she was that she had the ingredients for the stir-fry recipe in her fridge.  And then, Elizabeth tweeted a wonderful idea . . .

Maybe we should have a d-blog day where we all post our favorite carb-friendly recipes.

And the idea was born.  After some discussion and fine-tuning, we are happy to announce . . .

We invite you to join us for a D-Feast by blogging about your favorite "blood glucose friendly" recipes next Friday, July 23rd. Your recipe might be low carb, but doesn't have to be.  We know that everyone’s blood sugars react differently to foods, so unfortunately there are no guarantees every recipe will work for everyone. But hopefully we can each walk away with a few new wonderful recipes that do work well for our blood sugars.

Feel free to include pictures of you cooking and of the final meal, and any special techniques you use. Have fun with it! (If you’d rather simply link to a favorite recipe that’s already online, feel free to do that as well.) Nutritional information is always welcome, particularly carb counts with defined serving sizes, but also calories, fat and protein if you know it. If your recipe is low carb, gluten free, low calorie, vegetarian or vegan, please indicate this in your title so that people looking for these types of meals will be able to reference pertinent recipes quickly.

Link to your D-Feast Friday blog post next Friday by coming back to my blog or to Elizabeth's or Lorraine's.  We will each be posting a button for you to click on to add your recipe post to the link list. 

Want to add a recipe but don't have a blog?  Just contact us and we'll add your recipe to the list.

Next Friday is the official D-Feast Friday, but feel free to continue posting and linking to recipes whenever you feel the urge. The list will be ongoing, and the more recipes the better.

Now lets get cooking!!