Monday, August 6, 2012

The Diabetic Challenge Sunday Brunch

How many of you love breakfast sausage, those moist, seasoned fatty links and patties. I grew up on sausage gravy over buttered biscuits, among other preparations.

It is a high sodium flavor and fat sensation that is not the best thing to eat.

But that stops few, even diabetics. Sunday brunch is a day when sausage can be justified, after all you walked to church didn't you?

What if I can give you all the flavor but teach you way to use less?

Sausage crackers.

I large lavash
4 ounces of pork sausage

With your hands spread the sausage thinly on the lavash, like butter on bread. Bake at 400 for maybe 8 minutes until brown and crisp. Break or cut into pieces.

The entire piece is barely over 300 calories and 25 grams of carb. If you split it with another person and add in a poached or scrambled egg and some yogurt it becomes a protein packed and powerful breakfast. I had mine with a large nectarine and my coffee with goat milk, making my breakfast 42 grams of carb.

I repeated the sausage crackers for lunch, tasty but neither nutrition dense nor fiber packed.

I spent some of my afternoon in the grocery reading labels.

Among the e mail I get are the "I have not got the time to cook when I get home". There are a lot of working women who are single and have a child or children. Children who are hungry when mom gets home and to pull out the vegetables and start chopping is not something that can be done every day.

I get it.

My favorite "Mommy dinner" when my mother had little time was Macaroni and Cheese with tuna, and often frozen peas.

For a diabetic mom with a hungry child would this be something I could recommend? Turns out the answer is yes IF.

Forget the Kraft, Neon orange powder is not in the cards anymore if you want to be healthy. Head to Trader Joe's and get the white shells with cheddar. Half a box is just over 50 carbs and if you add a can of tuna and some frozen vegetables it becomes a 10 minute one pot decent meal.

I tossed the frozen beans in the water just as the shells were done and they finished cooking as I put together the cheese sauce with butter and milk. I stirred in the can of tuna and I must say, it tasted damn good.

Under 600 calories for HALF the box and the tuna added 18 grams of protein. All in all busy moms, you could do worse. Just stay away from Kraft and most of the generics,they are just loaded with crap. 

I went to a concert last night. Helen Reddy among some other entertainers. She was great and I got home at 10:30 starving.

Were I wise I would have gone for steamed broccoli, however I was impulsive and chose popcorn. Because it is a carb I used a little butter and had it with some cheese (2 ounces).

I feel like it was a crappy eating day for me. Not enough green healthy stuff and a lot of convenience eating. We all have days like that, however I kept my carb count below 180 and was somewhat in balance. The nutrition is not as bad as I expected. 1760 calories.


 

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