Spaghetti and Meatballs

This was more of an experiment to see what it did to my blood sugar than anything else. The hardest part of this low sugar thing is the lack of pasta.  I love pasta.  I used to eat it about five times a week.  So this wasn’t to see if I could make a meal I’d like.  I know I love spaghetti and I know I love meatballs, I just needed to see if I could make a few small changes and make it better.

For the meatballs I threw a pound of ground turkey, half an onion, two eggs, and a bit of parmesan cheese into the stand mixer, along with a bit of garlic salt and cayanne pepper.  Mixed it up a bit and then added about half a cup of whole oats. Mixed for about a minute until it was completely mixed.  (If it’s too runny to form into balls add a bit more of the oats.) Then I formed it into meatballs.

They’re a bit larger than I usually make them, and oddly shaped, because last night’s hand injury left me doing this one handed. Then into a 350 F oven for about 40 minutes.

Then I boiled up some whole grain pasta and warmed the premade spaghetti sauce.  The sauce had one gram of sugar per serving, it was the lowest I could find.  Soon I’ll make my own batch up.

When the meatballs were done I simply mixed it all up together and sprinkled a bit of parmesan cheese on top.

Delicious!  Just the pasta I’d been wanting.  So the blood sugar verdict? 116.  Not perfect, but good enough for an occasional thing.  Yums.

Read Full Post »

Spinach Quesadillas for Cinco de Mayo!

Ok, so I planned the quesadillas before I realized it was Cinco de Mayo.  But still.

Today’s ingredients:  Whole wheat tortillas, reduced fat mozzarella cheese, onions, spinach, low sugar salsa, dried black beans, avocado, and tomato.  Before leaving for work, I put the black bean in a bowl of water to soak.  So when I got home they were ready, just needed to be rinsed and placed on the stove (in water) to boil.

Then I started on the quesadillas.  Very easy.  Lay out the tortillas and on one half put cheese, onions and a bit of spinach.  I also sprinkled some cumin on for some extra flavor.

Then just fold them in half and pop them into a 400 F oven! For 13-15 minutes.

Now for a quick quick guacamole for the side.

Right after this picture, there was an extended break in the cooking process.  I attempted to remove the avocado pit by my usual method of sticking the knife point into the pit and twisting.  It pops right out.  However, this didn’t quite work this time, as instead of going into the pit, the knife skidded and went into my hand.  Ow.  Lucky for you all, I didn’t take any pictures of this.  Lucky for me, I didn’t bleed on any of the food!  But my new advice for you is to just dig the pit out with a spoon.

So bandaged and back to work, I pulled the quesadillas out of the oven.  Mmmm, delicious.

Finished up the guacamole, instead of making it complicated I just mashed up the avocado and added a bit of garlic.  I was going to chop a tomato and add that, but I really just wanted to eat and nurse my sore hand for a while. The black beans had been simmering away this whole time, so I added a bit of salt and cumin and then spooned them out onto the plate.  Added a bit of salsa on both the beans and the quesadillas.

This is the lowest sugar salsa I could find in my store.  It’s not no sugar but < 1 gram per serving.

The end result was absolutely delicious.  And my blood sugar two hours after dinner was 108.

Read Full Post »

Garbanzo Bean “Scallops”

I was at lunch this week with my coworkers and several of them got scallops.  I don’t eat seafood, but scallops always look good enough to make me wish I did.  (I’ve tried them though, bleh.)  So I thought I’d try to make a bean patty that mimicked a scallop.

(Please excuse the camera phone quality, I didn’t charge my camera batteries yesterday morning, as I was not expecting to decide to start a food blog.)

Ingredients:

1 large can of garbanzo beans (7g sugar in entire can)

1/2 large onion

1/4 cup bread crumbs (1g sugar) – I used Italian flavored because that’s what I had, but plain would probably be better

2 packets Sazon Goya seasoning (no sugar) – I like my food very very flavorful, if you like less use just one packet or a packet and a half

Drain the garbanzo beans and then put them in the food processor or blender and run until they are a paste.  Add the onion (chopped into a few pieces to help it blend faster) and the seasoning.  Run until well blended.  Add the bread crumbs and mix well.  Form the mixture into small patties.  If the mixture is too soft to shape, add a bit more of the bread crumbs.

Place the patties into a hot frying pan, either non-stick or coated in cooking spray.  Cook until they are a golden brown and flip them over.

After both sides cooked they were still a bit…floppy.  So I thought I’d bake them a little bit.

I laid them in the baking dish and baked them at 375 F for about 15 minutes.

As a side for the “scallops” I turned to the thing I’d been craving for days: fettuccine alfredo.  But of course the fettuccine was something I am no longer supposed to have.  So instead, I went for green bean alfredo!

This was the simple part of the dish. I wasn’t up to make my own alfredo sauce tonight, so got a jarred sauce that had no sugar.  I was surprised to see that many of them did!  Warmed the sauce on the stove and poured it over frozen french cut green beans that I had cooked in the microwave.  Sprinkled a bit of Parmesan cheese on top.

Finally the “scallops” came out of the oven.  Dinner is ready!

Did I mention this was dinner for one?  Oh well, good thing I like leftovers!

So, the final verdict?

The green beans are definitely in the library of quick and easy, low sugar side dishes.  The scallops need some tweaking though.  The flavor was wonderful.  I loved them.  But the texture was off, even after the baking.  It was a mush patty with a slight crust on the outside.  This one will require some more experimentation before I call it ready.  They definitely taste good enough to overlook the texture though.  Overall I’d give it a B+.

My sugar reading two hours after dinner was 114.  And, perhaps more importantly, I was full.

Read Full Post »