Being Borderline Diabetic...

...is really the same as being diabetic. I have to watch the carbs, cook and eat carefully, and test my blood sugar. The only difference is that I only check my blood sugar 2 times a week, fasting (in the morning before breakfast). (I made a big mistake on Saturday - I pricked my finger while sewing, and thought, "why not use this little blood to do a blood test?" It was right after lunch.... totally freaked me out how high it was! But this morning it was normal. Whew!)

I've learned how to "tweak" so many recipes, added so many new recipes to my repertoire, and continue to try new things - while I know I'm eating healthier, it just get so frustrating. I just hate it that so many good foods are so bad for me.

What does a diabetic eat for breakfast? I would love to keep working on this list - it's rather limiting, and you can't eat eggs all the time. I don't care that much for oatmeal, but I'll eat it just to have variety. What I really need is recipes for work mornings - things I can grab and take with me.

1. eggs - fixed every way you can think of
a. egg/cheese quesadillas on whole grain tortillas
b. migas (eggs scrambled with tortilla chips and salsa)
c. scrambled
d. "fried" (with nonstick cooking spray)
e. egg "muffins"
f. Huevos Rancheros
g. Sausage-Egg Breakfast Quesadillas
h. Mexican Soufflé


2. oatmeal - with additions like pumpkin purée or peanut butter
3. whole grain waffles - spread with cream cheese (Kraft makes some good flavors)
4. whole grain pancakes - with sugar-free syrup (Carey's tastes the best to me)


I started a list of general changes and tweaks - and will keep adding to it as I go. But it's been a long process, and continues to change every day. I fall off the wagon and climb back on all the time - you really have to take it one meal, one snack at a time.

Changes and Tweaks:

1. morning coffee - I use Splenda and sugar-free Coffeemate
2. white flour is no longer found in my kitchen - I use whole wheat, even for thickening gravy
3. Splenda granular - I now buy it by the "5-lb." bag, and the canister of sugar that used to be refilled monthly now gets refilled once a year.
4. fresh vegetables - we used to stock up on canned vegetables, which are still fine, but we rarely use them any more. I cook more fresh vegetables than ever before.
5. fewer potatoes - potatoes are my favorite "vegetable," and I've relegated them to an afterthought on most menus - if we have them, I deliberately make half of what I used to make, and serve Don the much larger serving.
6. substitutes for potatoes - I used to have potatoes as a side dish with nearly every meal (unless we had pasta - but that's another change). My mind still wants a white or yellow starch - so I use brown rice, turnips, cauliflower, okra, cabbage, sweet potatoes (sparingly), squash, corn, and other non-potato vegetables.
7. Dreamfields pasta - since it has a lower glycemic value (fewer digestible carbs), that's all we eat. I no longer buy any other kind. I wish, though, that Dreamfields made orzo or couscous.
8. If any ready-made product, such as ice cream, pancake syrup, or whipped topping, comes in a sugar-free version, that's what I buy. The only exceptions so far have been sweet pickles and jelly. The sugar-free versions of those were just nasty.
9. brown rice - I no longer buy any kind of white rice, with the exception of Uncle Ben's Converted - which, in addition to having a lower glycemic value than regular white rice, is good for making Spanish Rice.
10. fresh baby carrots as a substitute for potato chips - I have to have something with my sandwiches for lunch, and these give me that crunch.
11. popcorn as an occasional substitute for potato chips

This post will change often, as I learn more things about eating as a borderline diabetic. I'm open to all suggestions and ideas.

Roasting Pumpkins

Two weeks ago, before Halloween, I saw various posts on different blogs about roasting pumpkin to make pumpkin purée. Ree on Pioneer Woman said to make sure that I had a "sugar pumpkin" instead of the normal jack-o-lantern type, so I went in search of one. The first place I went to, our local fresh vegetable stand, had lots and lots of orange pumpkins. When I asked about "sugar pumpkins," the gal at the front said they only had "those," pointing to the ones outside. Since I was short on time, I grabbed two that were about the same size and took them home.

They were both small, so I decided to roast them at the same time. As I was cutting them up, I noticed that one had darker flesh than the other - but the difference between the two was more noticeable after they'd been roasted. For these two, I followed Ree's directions of cutting them in quarters (or eighths, depending on the size of the pumpkin), scooping out the guts, and then roasting at 350˚ for about 45 minutes. Next I peeled them. The one with the darkest flesh was very difficult to peel while the other one had stringy flesh and had peel that came off easily. I decided to mix them together while puréeing, and ended up making 6 cups of purée. This I froze in 2-cup bags. I've already used that purée up - in pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin butter.

The pumpkin butter recipe comes courtesy of Kevin, whose blog is called Closet Cooking. It tastes like pumpkin pie! I'm glad I discovered his blog - so many wonderful recipes.

Pumpkin Butter
from Kevin of Closet Cooking

2 cups pumpkin puree
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup apple cider
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cloves

Simmer everything in a pot until most of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce has thickened.

As it got closer to Halloween, I decided to go ahead and spend a bit more money on my pumpkins. I went to Live Oak Canyon Pumpkin Patch - not even 2 miles from my office - and asked for assistance in finding pumpkins meant for eating. They advertise that they have over 50 varieties of pumpkins - so it was quite fun to explore and try to pick out the "right" ones for me. These are the ones I got:



The large orange one is called a Cinderella. The gray-green one is appropriately called an Ironbark. The white one is a Casper.



Here's the Ironbark before I roasted it. This time, I followed the directions that were in a handout from the pumpkin patch and roasted it whole. I set the oven to 35o˚, put the pumpkin on a cookie sheet, and roasted it for 90 minutes.




This is the Ironbark after it was roasted and quartered. I decided I liked the other method better - where I cut it up before I roasted it. The flesh came out more evenly cooked that way. But this pumpkin had very smooth flesh that puréed easily without having to add any water.

Still down in the basement are the Cinderella and the Casper - they're supposed to last for months, so I'll do the next one in a couple of weeks.

How Time Flies!

I cannot believe it's been over a month since I posted last! That's terrible; inexcusable - but I've been busy. I've been busy at work, since the California budget is in the tanks and our governor and legislators are idiots, and it's been affecting everything our district does. I've been busy at home - yes, I've been cooking - I even took pictures, but for a while I just didn't want to connect that little cord from the camera to the computer to transfer the photos. I DO want to share a fabulous new recipe I got from my friend Chris. He brought it to the Halloween party I went to; it was potluck and I brought my mom's macaroni salad. What Chris actually brought was a salad made with orzo, but since I need to lower the carbs, I made this today with brown rice. It has a lower glycemic value, and the salad still was yummy.

Debbie's Orzo Salad with Feta
from Chris Brunette

1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 cup olive oil
1 box orzo (alternately, you can use 2 cups of brown rice)
6 cups chicken broth/stock (I cheat and use powdered bouillon)
2 cups grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced (green parts, too)
1 cup chopped fresh basil
6-7 oz. crumbled feta (I used a 6-oz. container from Trader Joe's)
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

In a small bowl, make the dressing: Whisk together the vinegar, lemon juice, and honey. Whisk in the olive oil.

In a large pot, bring the orzo or rice to a boil in the chicken stock. Boil until tender (orzo - about 7 minutes; rice - 40 minutes). Drain and rinse with cold water. Add remaining ingredients and toss with the dresssing. Makes about 12 servings; keeps well several days in refrigerator.

Another Winner from Ruth

If you've been reading my blog for several years, you'll remember that I tested recipes for Ruth as she was preparing for publication of her cookbook, Every Kitchen Tells Its Stories. Some of my favorites were her chili, her chocolate bark, and her sour cream coffee cake.

Last week, Ruth posted a recipe for roasted Italian sausage, along with some mushrooms and potatoes. It definitely sounded like something I wanted to try, so that's what we had for dinner tonight. Oh, MY! It's a keeper - and a new favorite. I've only recently started eating Italian sausage in ways other than my father-in-law's sausage and peppers, and I really like this way a lot.

I made a couple of small changes to Ruth's recipe - I had a half a basket of cherry tomatoes that we needed to use, so I tossed them in there, and I used hot Italian sausage instead of the sweet. I also cooked everything longer - 45 minutes did the trick for us. But the basic recipe is the same as Ruth's.

1-2 tbsp olive oil
4 Italian sausages (I used hot, but Ruth recommends sweet)
2 red onions, peeled and cut into wedges
1 8 oz. basket cherry tomatoes (not in Ruth's recipe)
4 small new potatoes, cut in eighths
8 oz. cremini mushrooms, (quarter large ones, leave smaller ones whole or halved)
Salt & freshly ground pepper
1-2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1 heaping tsp fresh rosemary leaves, chopped (I used 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary)

1. Preheat to 400°F/200°C. Drizzle a little olive oil in the bottom of a roasting pan large enough to hold everything in one layer.

2. Toss all the ingredients in the pan and roast until done, stirring occasionally (Ruth's recipe said 30 minutes; I cooked mine for 45)


If you want to get Ruth's fabulous cookbook, which is also available on CD, go here.

Apple Blintz Pancakes

I love pancakes. I love all kinds of pancakes, and when I saw this recipe in Real Simple magazine, I knew Don and I would like it. The cottage cheese adds some protein and cuts the carbs a bit, and since the only sugar is the little bit added to the apples, it's not as sweet as if we'd had syrup on our pancakes. The original recipe in Real Simple called for applesauce; I wanted to use some of the apples we got in our organic produce distributions. The filling is simple: dice up a couple apples (don't worry about the peel - I never peel apples in any recipes), and sauté them in a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of brown sugar (I used Splenda Brown Sugar Blend) until they're softened but not mushy.

Next, make the pancakes:

1 cup pancake mix (I used Trader Joe's multigrain baking mix, but any pancake mix will do)
* 1 egg
* 1/4 cup cottage cheese
* 1 cup whole milk
* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 3/4 cup sour cream

Place the pancake mix in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, cottage cheese, milk, oil, and ¼ cup of the sour cream. Stir the wet ingredients into the pancake mix and whisk just to combine. Let the batter rest according to the pancake-mix label directions (or for 5 minutes if you make your own mix). Place a nonstick griddle or skillet coated with oil, butter, or cooking spray over medium-high heat. Spoon or pour about 1/3 cup of batter for each pancake onto the griddle. Turn when bubbles rise to the surface and the edges look cooked. Repeat with the remaining batter. Before serving, spoon some of the apples onto one half of each pancake; fold in half and top with some of the remaining sour cream.

The ONLY way to cook fresh Bonito

Bonito is a kind of fish very closely related to tuna. There are some places that even call bonito "skipjack tuna," but the two are not the same thing. Last weekend Don went fishing out of San Diego, and in addition to 10 nice calico bass, he brought back four bonito fillets. We eat bonito grilled, and of course, fresh. I put it in the marinade Sunday morning, and we grilled it that afternoon - not even 24 hours off the boat.

Here's Don all geared up for the grill - notice the requisite beer? He cannot grill anything without a couple beers to keep him company.

Grilled Bonito

1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
four to six bonito fillets

Mix melted butter, Worcestershire, and lime juice in a gallon-sized zip bag. Add fillets, and marinate at least 4 hours. Remove fish from bag and grill in a grill basket until done (about 10 minutes on each side).

Pioneer Woman's Coq Au Vin

I'm not EVEN going to post my photo of the Coq Au Vin I made last week. Mine looks pale and washed out. Do you want to see what it really should look like? Go HERE.

Regardless of how mine looked, it tasted fabulous. I've never tried the "traditional" version of Coq Au Vin, but when I saw Ree's version, I had to try it. So rich and tasty.

Coq Au Vin
from Ree Drummond - Pioneer Woman

1 whole cut up fryer chicken (this is a whole chicken the butcher has cut into pieces.)
4 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
½ medium onion, diced
½ cup roughly chopped carrots, washed and unpeeled
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons butter
1 lb. sliced white mushrooms
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups Burgundy wine
1 lb. pasta (egg noodles or fettuccine)
2 tablespoons butter
Fresh minced parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste
Sautee bacon pieces in a large skillet over medium low heat until fat is rendered. Remove bacon from the skillet and set aside. Increase heat to medium.
Salt fat site of chicken pieces, then place chicken, fat side down, in skillet and cook in bacon grease until both sides are nice and golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside in a 2-quart baking dish, skin side up.
Saute onions, carrots and garlic in bacon grease until onions are translucent, about 3 minutes. Remove from grease with slotted spoon and set aside.
In a separate skillet, saute mushrooms in 2 tablespoons butter until golden, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
Layer half of the bacon pieces, carrot/onion mixture, and mushrooms in pan with chicken.
Drain most of the grease from the large skillet, then place over medium heat. Add flour to make a roux. Pour in 2 cups Burgundy wine, using a wire whisk to scrape loose all the burned/brown bits. Lightly salt liquid and allow to cook for 3 minutes. Pour over chicken and vegetables. Cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 1/2 hours.
Cook pasta until al dente. Drain and toss with 2 tablespoons butter.
Serve chicken in a pasta bowl with noodles, sprinkling minced parsley over the top. Spoon juice from baking dish over the top of everything.

Chicken in the Crock Pot - a new (to me) recipe

The best crock pot recipes, in my opinion, are those that don't require any browning or pre-cooking of the ingredients. I want to be able to just put things in the crock pot, turn it on, and come home to a finished dish. This recipes fits in that category, except for the rice that needed to be made when I got home.

Brown Sugar Chicken

2 lbs. boneless chicken pieces (I used 4 boneless thighs and 2 boneless breasts, which I cut in half)
1 cup packed brown sugar
⅔ cup vinegar
¼ cup lemon lime soda (this could probably be omitted)
2-3 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper

Place chicken pieces in your slow cooker. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over the top of chicken. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Serve with rice.

Note: If you'd like thicker sauce you could add a cornstarch-water slurry (1 Tbsp cornstarch + 2 Tbsp cold water) about 20 minutes before serving to the liquid in the crockpot.

Verdict: A definite keeper; a recipe we'll have again and again. The chicken almost fell apart - even the breasts are tender instead of dry and tough.

Another Donna Hay recipe: Chicken Roasted on Eggplant and Tomatoes

I was first "introduced" to Donna Hay about 3 years ago when I participated in a Donna Hay cooking challenge. This recipe is from her book the instant cook, which has simple, quick recipes with very few ingredients. I spent this afternoon with my daughter at a car dealership (shoot me NOW) and needed something that came together quickly yet would feed my hungry hubby. With a green salad, this was a tasty, low-carb dinner.

Chicken Roasted on Eggplant and Tomatoes
from Donna Hay

1 small eggplant, thickly sliced
2 roma tomatoes, sliced
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves
salt and coarse ground pepper to taste
2 chicken breast fillets, cut in half
½ cup grated Parmesan
½ cup grated mozzarella cheese

Preheat the oven to 350˚. Line a baking tray with baking paper (I used Reynolds' Parchment). Place the eggplant slices on the tray and top with the tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper. Top each pile with a chicken breast fillet and sprinkle with the parmesan and mozzarella. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is golden and the chicken cooked through. Serves 2-3.