Diabetic Recipes
| Contrary to what people think, you don't have to stop eating sugar when you learn you have diabetes. Sugar is just another carbohydrate. Carbohydrates convert into sugar in your body. Simple sugars like cane sugar dump quickly into your system spiking your blood sugar up immediately. Complex carbohydrates dump slower thus helping your blood sugar not to rise as high or fast. The more fiber there is in the food, the slower the absorption rate of the carbs. Fat and protein also slow down how quickly the carbs are put into your blood.
Fifteen grams of carbs equals 1 Bread (or Starch) Exchange. Usually, the recommeded diabetic diet allows 4-6 exchanges of carbs a meal. If you are having a craving for a sweet, by all means, have the cookies and count their carbs into your meal. Of course, the fruit or lima beans has more nutrition but if you are in the mood for a cookie, don't deprive yourself. I don't count calories or fat grams, I eat what I like as long as I keep a mental note about how many carbs are in what I'm eating. Carbs react differently in each person's body. What the majority of people with diabetes have found is that their body doesn't handle carbs as well in the morning. Sourdough, rye, and pumpernickel bread generally react easier on your system than other breads. Pizza seems to skyrocket everybody's sugars. I have found that my homemade pizza is easier on my sugars; I make my own pizza dough, too (recipe below). Chocolate is great for a snack because there is fat in it and that slows down the absortion rate of the carbs in it. Some ways of lowering the carbs in food you prepare is to use some soy flour in place of regular flour when making pancakes, pizza dough, or bread. Use 1/4 cup soy flour per 3/4 cup regular flour. There is also a wheat called spelt that has 5 grams of fiber per serving. It's very interesting to use. You'll have a heavier dough but a very tasty one. Soy milk has 5 grams of carbs compared to 12 grams in regular milk. I like using soy milk instead of buttermilk in recipes calling for buttermilk. You can use half milk, half soy milk to get used to the taste of it. Soy milk in cooked puddings tastes yummy to me but don't put soy milk in instant puddings, it won't gel. Other diabetics say they use Half & Half cream in pudding (or you can do 1/2 cream and 1/2 milk or soy milk). I use Splenda exclusively for all my sweetening. It doesn't have such a strong artificial taste like Equal and no bitter taste like saccharine. Splenda is made for high temperature baking. It doesn't break down like the others. Using the cup-for-cup kind of Splenda is very convenient; it's really worth it. There's a link to the Splenda website at the bottom of this page. I've also found that if I use a little less of the measurement in the recipe for the Splenda that it tastes even better, that is when using over 1/2 a cup. My last word of advice is to read those nutritional labels on everything you purchase. That's the only way to learn how many carbs you are putting into your body. And test, test, test your blood sugars so you'll know what different foods do to you. Having said all that, it's time for the recipes: |
(150 carbs in total recipe, divide by the number of cookies you got out of the recipe to get how many carbs per cookie) 1/4 c. butter Cream together butter, peanut butter and Splenda. Add egg, water and vanilla, beating until fluffy. Combine flour, baking soda & baking powder in sifter and sift dry ingredients into creamed mixture. Stir to blend completely. Chill thoroughly, at least 2 hours or overnight. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto lightly greased cookie sheets, 2" to 3" apart. Press flat with a floured fork. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.  (food exchanges: serving is slightly more than a cup--1 vegetable, 1 bread, 2 leanmeat) 2 c. cooked brown rice Combine rice and chicken. Sprinkle with salt and chill. (2/3 cup per serving; 15 carbs per serving) 3 c. cooked tomatoes (28 oz. can) Cook tomatoes, onions, salt, pepper, hot sauce, and sugar together for 15 min. Strain into large liquid measuring cup or bowl. Melt butter in a 2-quart saucepan. Blend in flour. Cook until bubbly. While stirring, gradually add milk and cook until thickened. Add tomatoes mixture, stirring constantly. Heat just to a simmer. Do not boil. Variation: 4 cups of chopped fresh tomatoes may be used for canned tomatoes. |
(serving is a usually 1/16 piece of cheesecake; 13 carbs per serving, 12 g fat) Crust: Filling: Mix vanilla wafer crumbs, margarine, 2 tbsps. Splenda in bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Reserve 1 tablespoon of crumb mixture. Pat remaining mixture evenly on bottom and 1/2-inch up side of pan. Bake in preheated 350oF oven until crust is lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Beat cream cheese and whichever Splenda you're using in a large bowl until fluffy; beat in eggs, egg whites, and cornstarch. Mix in sour cream and vanilla until well blended. Pour mixture into crust in pan. Place cheesecake in roasting pan on oven rack; add 1-inch hot water to roasting pan. Bake in preheated 300oF oven just until set in the center, 45 to 60 minutes. Remove cheesecake from roasting pan, sprinkle with reserved crumbs and return to oven. Turn oven off and let cheesecake cool in oven with door ajar for 3 hours. Refrigerate 8 hours or overnight. Remove side of pan; place cheesecake on serving plate. Serve with strawberries and Strawberry Sauce (see below). Makes 16 servings. Strawberry Sauce 1 package (16 ounces) frozen unsweetened strawberries, thawed Process strawberries in food processor or blender until smooth. Stir in lemon juice and Equal®, refrigerate until serving time. Makes about 2 cups. |
(makes 4-6 servings; 22 carbs per serving) Have ready: 1/2 cup roasted almonds. Cut into 3/4" pieces: 2 lbs. firm tofu Whip together, then mix with the tofu cubes: Brown the tofu over medium heat until liquid is absorbed in 2 tbsp. oil. In another pan, saute together only until crisp tender: While the vegetables are cooking, shake together in a jar or blend in a blender: When the vegetables are crisp-tender, poiur the mixture over them and continue simmering until thickened. Add the browned tofu and roasted almonds. Mix together well and serve over rice. Variation: Replace almonds with roasted cashews for Cashew Tofu |
(Serving 1/8 of pie; 22 carbs per serving) 2 eggs, slightly beaten Mix filling ingredients in order given. Pour into pie shell. Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 15 min., turn oven down to 350 degrees for another 45 min., or until knife inserted into center of pie filling comes out clean. Cool. Garnish with whip cream, if desired. |
(Serving size is about 15 carbs unless you have rice with it and 1 cup cooked rice would add 50 carbs; a recipe book would probably say this serves 4) 1/2 cup chopped California walnuts Heat walnuts in a dry skillet over medium-high heat 1 to 2 minutes until walnuts are slightly toasted. Set aside and reserve. In a medium bowl whisk together broth, cornstarch and curry powder. Set aside and reserve. Coat a 12-inch nonstick skillet with vegetable cooking spray and set over medium-high heat. Add chicken and saute, stirring occasionally, until chicken is seared and golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in carrots, bell pepper and green onions; saute, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes. Stir in curry mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened, chicken is cooked throughout and vegetables are crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Season with salt. Spoon rice into individual warm serving bowls; top with chicken-curry mixture and walnuts, dividing equally. Makes 6 servings. |
(Serving size is 1/8 of a pizza; average 13 carbs per piece of pizza) Dough (for one pizza): Next, grease pizza pan with shortening and grease hands, too. Place ball of dough on pizza pan and carefully pat the dough out to the edges of the pan. Wipe shortening off hands. Open one 8 oz. can of tomato sauce and spread about 1/2 of it on the dough, more if needed to fill to edges of dough. Sprinkle with dried oregano and dried basil. Use 1 cup, or more to your liking, shredded mozeralla cheese and sprinkle evenly over sauce and herbs. Now your pizza is ready for the toppings. Toppings: Bake for 20-25 minutes until bottom of crust is nicely browned. Closer to 25 minutes is better as long as the pizza isn't burning, the bottom crust will crisp up. Cut into 8 pieces and serve immediately. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper and Parmesan cheese, if desired. |
| Some Fast Food Places | Carb Count |
| Arby's Roast beef sandwich Junior roast beef sandwich Turkey sandwich |
32 21 36 |
| Arthur Treacher's Fish, 2 pieces Fish, 3 pieces Fish sandwich Chips Cole slaw |
25 38 39 35 11 |
| Burger King Hamburger Cheeseburger Whopper Whopper, Jr. French fries Onion rings |
29 30 50 31 25 29 |
| Dairy Queen Single hamburger Hot dog French fries Cone, small Chocolate sundae, small Dilly bar DQ sandwich |
33 21 25 22 33 21 24 |
| KFC Original recipe chicken: Wing, 1 piece Drumstick Side breast Thigh Chicken breast sandwich Mashed potatoes, 3 oz. Gravy, 1 tbsp. Roll Cole slaw Fries |
4 3 7 7 34 12 1 11 13 28 |
| Long John Silver's Chicken planks, 4 Fish, 1 Hush puppies, 2 Cole slaw Fries |
35 11 13 16 33 |
| McDonald's Hamburger Cheeseburger Big Mac Quarter pounder File-o-Fish French fries Egg McMuffin Hash browns |
30 30 41 33 37 26 31 14 |
| Pizza Hut Thin 'n' crispy pizza, 3 slices: Pepperoni Supreme Thick 'n' chewy pizza, 3 slices Pepperoni Supreme |
45 51 68 74 |
| Taco Bell Beef burrito Beefy tostado Enchrito Taco |
37 21 42 14 |
| Wendy's Hamburger Cheeseburger French fries Chili, 8.8 oz. |
34 34 41 21 |
Splenda--sugar substitute
