All About Diabetes

Toasted bread for breakfast has always been a default for everyone. Make it a tad more exciting with a healthy ham and cheese variation.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 pieces wheat bread
• 4 slices lean ham
• 2 pieces tomatoes, sliced
• 4 pieces eggs
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1/4 cup low-fat cottage cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped herbs (basil or parsley or even spring onions)
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedures:

1. Toast bread on both sides then top with ham and tomatoes
2. poach eggs by boiling water and adding vinegar. Stir rapidly before adding egg in center. Allow whites to wrap around yolk and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from pan and keep warm. Repeat with remaining eggs.
3. Mix cottage cheese and herbs. Season to taste.
4. Serve toasts with the cheese on the side

Nutrition Facts Per Serving:

• Calories (kcal) 179
• Carbohydrates (g) 23
• Protein (g) 27
• Fat (g) 7

In today’s fast-paced world, we usually try to think of meals that can be whipped up in a jiffy. And more often than not, these can also mean dishes that have higher fat content or are laden with cholesterol, in pursuit of tastier meals. However, cooking can always be done faster, if one is armed with some handy tips that can help diabetics and non-diabetics alike enjoy great-tasting and healthy dishes in half the time.

Tips:

1. Secret’s in the Sauce: Always prepare some extra sauces in your free time. It is easier to prepare big batches of pesto or tomato sauce that can easily be stored in the refrigerator. In emergency meal situations, just bring it out for great pasta meals, sandwich spreads or dips for chicken and fish.
2. All Stocked Up: In the same vein as making extra sauce, stocks are handy meal enhancers, that can be used for instant soup and in our recipe for this issue, a savory Brown Rice Risotto.
3. Salad Time: Salads are one of the easiest meals to prepare, especially with the advent of bagged lettuce leaves which save up time on washing and picking leaves. Add more fillers such as fruits, chicken slices, fish fillets – all of which can be prepared in no time.
4. To make cooking meat items easier, buy prepacked meat cuts. Buy boneless chicken cuts if possible, to make the stewing time shorter.
5. Try to prepare things in advance such as cooked rice and pre-cut ingredients so that actual cooking is much faster, with all the ingredients prepared ahead of time.

Enjoy preparing your short-cut meals in half the time…

• Basil Pesto Fish Pasta
• Mushroom Brown Rice Risotto
• Fruit and Prawn Salad
• Hungarian Chicken Goulash Stew

Yield: 8 portions

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup Basil leaves
• 2/3 cup walnuts
• 4 pieces garlic cloves
• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 pinch salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, for gilling
• 4 pieces tilapia fillet
• 8 cups whole wheat pasta cooked

Procedures:
Basil Pesto:

1. Combine basil, walnuts and garlic in a food processor or blender and blend until ingredients are chopped finely. It may be necessary to clean up sides two to three times to get everything chopped evenly.
2. Add 1/3 cup of oil slowly and blend. Add remaining oil and blend.
3. Transfer mixture to a bowl and add parmesan. Stir to mix.
4. Taste and add salt only if necessary.

Basil Pesto Fish Pasta:

1. Reheat pasta in salted hot water and set aside.
2. Coat fish with 1 tablespoon pesto and grill both sides until done.
3. Transfer to paper towel to drain oil from fish.
4. Slice fish into strips.
5. Combine pesto and pasta. Top with fish strips and serve.

Nutrition Facts Per Serving:

• Calories (kcal) 546
• Carbohydrates (g) 36
• Protein (g) 24
• Fat (g) 34

Asian flavors are always close to our hearts – none more so than this hearty bowl.  Kaffir lime leaves add that sour flavor and are available in specialty shops like Spices and Flavours at Market! Market!.  If you can’t find it, replace with calamansi juice to spice up the sour flavors.

Yield: 6 portions

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 1/4 cup ginger, finely sliced into strips
• 1 piece large onion, chopped
• 4 pieces chili peppers
• 3 pieces lemongrass stalks, white parts and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup thai fish sauce
• 8 cups vegetable stock
• 6 pieces kaffir lime leaves
• 1 piece star anise
• 1 piece tofu
• 3/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup basil leaves
• white pepper

Procedures:

1. Heat 2 tablesppons oil in soup pot.
2. Add mushrooms and saute for about 6 minutes. Set aside mushrooms when done.
3. Add remaining oil and saute giner, onion, chili, and lemongrass.  Cook until soft for about 6 minutes
4. Add fish sauce and vegetable sock, lime leaves and anise.  Cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes until stock reduces by one-fourth.
5. Strain stock then return to pot.  Add shiitake, vinegar, basil and tofu.
6. Adjust seasoning and serve hot.

Nutrition Facts Per Serving:

• Calories (kcal)138
• Carbohydrates (g) 6
• Protein (g) 4
• Fat (g) 11