Tag: Prediabetes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:
8 oz. Mostaccioli noodles (see what I have to say about pasta on my TIPS page)
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
½ cup jarred spaghetti sauce
½ lb. lean ground beef (I buy 93% lean/7% fat)
Grated Parmesan cheese, to taste

Directions:
Cook pasta according to package directions. While pasta is cooking, brown ground beef and break it into small pieces in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook ground beef until it is no longer pink. Drain grease out of the skillet, if there is any. Mix your favorite spaghetti sauce with the ground beef and let simmer until pasta is done. Drain pasta. Mix with vegetable oil, so it doesn’t stick. The pasta and the sauce contain sugar. Look at the nutrition labels to see how much you can have of each and still stay under 10g sugar. Top pasta with meat sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese. Have with a glass of water.

I ordered a salad similar to this at a fast food restaurant. I tried to recreate it at home, but sometimes I put different things in it according to what I have when I make it, such as: celery, carrots, cucumbers, sugar snap peas, grapes, raisins, cheese, and different nuts and seeds. I use the chicken leftover from my Baked Chicken, Parmesan Spaghetti Squash, and Sugar Snap Peas recipe.

Serves: 1

Ingredients:
Caesar salad kit, to taste
shredded chicken, to taste
1/4 apple, rinsed and chopped
3 large strawberries, rinsed and chopped
1 handful blueberries, rinsed
1 handful pecans
granola, to taste

Directions:
Assemble the Caesar salad. The kit I buy comes with lettuce, Caesar dressing, croutons (which I don’t eat if they’re made with enriched flour), and grated Parmesan cheese. Use the dressing sparingly. Top with chicken, fruit, and nuts. Sprinkle with granola. Have with one serving (according to nutrition label) of milk.

Serves: 2

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 tablespoons mayo (I like the brand with the tangy zip.)
paprika, to taste
4 oz. dry pasta (I like a brand that’s made with dried tomato, dried beet, and dried spinach.)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
grated Parmesan cheese, to taste
2 large carrots

Directions:
Fill a pan with enough water to cover eggs. Place the pan on the stove and turn the heat to the highest setting. When the water starts to boil, turn the heat down to the medium high setting so the eggs don’t break during cooking. Boil for 10 minutes. Drain. Put the eggs back in the pan and shake until the shells are cracked all over. Fill the pan with cold water and let the eggs sit in the water for 5 minutes. Peel eggs. The shells should come off easily. Rinse eggs to remove any small pieces of shell and dry eggs with a paper towel. Cut eggs in half. Carefully remove the yolks from the whites so the whites stay intact. Mash yolks with a fork and mix with mayo. Spoon the egg mixture back into the egg whites so each egg has an equal amount and sprinkle with paprika. Put in a covered container and refrigerate until ready to eat. Boil water and cook pasta according to package directions. While pasta is cooking, wash, peel, and cut carrots into sticks. Drain pasta. Melt butter in the same pan. Remove pan from heat. Add pasta and stir until pasta is coated with butter. Sprinkle with cheese. Have with a glass of water.

Serves: 1

Ingredients:
1 thin cut pork chop
pork seasoning mix (I like the kind you bake after you shake, even though it’s made with an enriched flour)
1 corn on the cob (if not in season, use canned corn with no salt added)
unsalted butter, to taste
1 cup cubed cantaloupe

Directions:
Prepare pork chop according to seasoning mix package directions. Peel corn. Cook corn in boiling water for 6 minutes. Using tongs, carefully remove cooked corn from boiling water. Carefully spread steaming hot corn with butter so it melts. Serve with cantaloupe and 1 serving (according to nutrition label) of milk.

Serves: 4

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter
2 lbs. cubed stew meat
1 cup tomato juice
2 cups water
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup mayonnaise
yellow mustard, to taste
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
pepper, to taste
onion powder, to taste
4 oz. shredded green cabbage, red cabbage, and carrots
4 frozen warm and serve dinner rolls made with 100% whole grains, such as stone ground whole wheat flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.* Melt butter and brown meat in a pan over medium heat. Put meat in a casserole dish. Discard liquid in pan. Pour tomato juice and water in pan. Add flour and stir. Add salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1 tablespoon yellow mustard, and bay leaf. Simmer for 10 minutes, so sauce becomes thick. Pour sauce over meat. Cover casserole dish and bake for two hours, so meat becomes tender. In a bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup mayonnaise, yellow mustard to taste, sugar, apple cider vinegar, pepper to taste, and onion powder. Stir in shredded cabbages and carrots. Cover and refrigerate coleslaw before serving. Follow package directions for warming rolls to be done at the same time as the meat. The brand I buy goes in the oven at the same temperature as the meat for 15 minutes. Before eating the meat, remove the bay leaf. If you eat one serving of meat, have with 1 serving (according to nutrition label) of milk. If you have two servings of meat, have with a glass of water.

*Instead of putting this in the oven, you can cook it in a crockpot on high for three hours.