Diabetic holiday menu ideas

Ho, ho, ho….it’s the holiday season. We all know what that means, food, lots of food. In my younger years, I could eat all I wanted and didn’t have to worry about gaining weight. Blood sugar wasn’t in my vocabulary. Whatever I would gain came off in a few days. Now it’s time to review our diabetic holiday menu ideas.

As I’m getting older, I’m finding I don’t have the desire to want to eat as much as I could before. I’m coming to terms with how much I can eat and not being concerned. The bloated feeling isn’t comfortable and a few hours later I’m feeling uncomfortable, sometimes miserable.

So, this year for the holidays I’m not going to see the food as a challenge to eat more than everyone. I’m going to leave that to those under 43, that’s the age I was when food started to turn against me. Instead, I’m going to pay more attention to what’s in the recipes and pay more attention to want goes into the making of the various foods I’ll have to choose from.

So here are some thoughts on things to keep in mind when the dishes and bowls of food hit the table. Carbs are the first thing to watch when eating. Carbs raise blood sugar more quickly than other foods. Sugar and refined flour are things to watch out for.

So watch those cookies and breads. Foods that are protein and fat don’t raise blood sugar as quickly as carbs. So here’s our first recipe to consider, How about a Beef Tenderloin covered with a garlic and horseradish coating?

Beef Tenderloin recipe

Here’s what you’ll want to get:

A tenderloin roast of around 3 pounds

One to two garlic cloves

1 teaspoon of canola oil

½ cup of prepared horseradish

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of dried basil

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon of black pepper

1/3 cup of pork rinds (yep pork rinds)

How to do it:

1. Peel off the outer skin of the garlic bulb (don’t separate the cloves, leave them as is). Trim off the top of the garlic bulb; brush on some oil. Wrap in heavy-duty foil. Bake at 425° until softened, around 35 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temp setting to 400°.

2. Get a bowl and squeeze the softened garlic into it, now add the horseradish, salt, basil, Thyme, and pepper. Toss in the pork rinds and then mix everything so it is bent together. Next, rub the mixture all over the top of the tenderloin. Get your favorite shallow roasting pan put the tenderloin on a rack and put it all in the pan.

3. Now it’s time to throw the roast in the oven. Depending on how you like your cuts 135 degrees would be medium-rare (That’s my choice), for you medium folks you what to bake up to 145 degrees, for those that like medium-well you’re up to 150 degrees, and for those that want to be really sure it’s well- done let it get to 160 degrees. It should be noted that the USDA recommends steak’s internal temperature should be a minimum of 145°F. Your cooking time will vary from 45 – 55 minutes. Please remember to use a thermometer. Let the tenderloin rest for 10 minutes before carving.

Veggies for the most part are good to have with your tenderloin. Remember potatoes and corn will run up your blood sugar. Replace the potato with a sweet potato. If you like bread with your dinner be on the watch for bread that contains processed flour, typical white flour, you’ll want to look for bread that is whole grains. All of these items can be improved on with fiber.

Now if you want a good side dish to go with your beef tenderloin here’s what I call the best potato salad minus the potatoes salad. It’s a pretty straightforward recipe so give it a try, enjoy,

Potato salad minus the potato

· 1 head cauliflower, cut into small bite-sized pieces

· ½ c mayonnaise or mayonnaise substitute

· 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

· 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

· ¼ tsp. powdered garlic

· ¼ tsp. paprika

· ¼ tsp Himalayan sea salt

· 1/8 tsp. ground pepper

· ½ c. finely chopped celery

· ½ c. finely chopped onion

· 2 hard-boiled eggs chopped

· Parsley for garnish

1. Cook chopped cauliflower by placing in boiling water for 5 minutes

2. Mix all other ingredients together

3. Gently fold into cooked cauliflower

4. Garnish with parsley

Another good side dish choice is the luscious shrimp salad. Especially if you can get fresh shrimp, sometimes that’s hard to do here in the Midwest, but when you can, yummm. Anyhow, go for it;

Luscious Shrimp Salad

· About 1# medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

· 1 Tbsp. avocado oil

· 1 clove or 1 tsp minced garlic

· ½ tsp. chili powder

· 1/2 tsp. ground cumin

· 1/4 tsp. Himalayan Sea salt

· 1 Tbsp. olive oil

1. Combine all ingredients except shrimp

2. Place shrimp into the seasoning and set aside

Salad Topping

· 1 avocado, chopped into bite-sized pieces

· 1 tomato, chopped

· Generous portion of cilantro leaves, chopped

· 1 Tbsp lime juice

· 1/2 tsp. sea salt

· 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

1. Combine all topping ingredients together

2. Place shrimp mixture in lettuce leaves

3. Place generous topping mixture on top, wrap, and enjoy

Of course, no dinner, especially one for Christmas is complete without bread. Now bread is something that can really run up your blood sugar. So this recipe is developed with you the diabetic in mind.

Nut Bread with Orange and Cranberry

· 2 1/2 cups almond flour

· ¼ tsp. stevia extract powder

· 2 teaspoons of baking powder

· 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

· 8 eggs

· 8 ounces of cottage cheese or Greek yogurt

· 2 tsp. orange extract

· 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened

· 2 cups of fresh whole cranberries

· ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Orange Glaze

· 3/4 cup of confectioners sugar substitute

1 cup of dry milk powder
1 cup of cornstarch (or arrowroot powder)
1/8 tsp. stevia extract powder

· 3 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice

· 2 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream

· 1 teaspoon of orange extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Prepare a 10” loaf pan by greasing and lining it with parchment paper

3. In a medium-sized bowl measure and then sift the almond flour. After sifting almond flour add the baking powder, and sea salt, and get it all stirred up. Put this aside

4. Get yourself a large bowl and using your mixer of choice, (probably an electric hand or stand-up) blend the butter, cottage cheese, or Greek yogurt (your choice), orange extract, and sugar substitute until the mixture is light and fluffy.

5. Add eggs, blending after each one

6. Add dry ingredients with wet ingredients until completely blended

7. Fold the fresh cranberries into the batter. You can substitute frozen if you like

8. Spread batter evenly in a prepared loaf pan.

9. Bake for 60-70 minutes checking to be sure it is baked thoroughly

10. Cool in a pan for 30 minutes before taking it out of the pan and cool on a baking rack for another 30 minutes before adding the icing.

Orange Icing

1. Whisk the confectioner’s sugar substitute, lemon juice, orange extract, and heavy cream. Stir until fully combined.

2. Drizzle the icing over the top of the cooled keto cranberry bread, share and enjoy

And good night

You can add to these diabetic holiday menu ideas can customize your Christmas feast to your taste. Just remember to limit as much as you can of sugars and processed foods. Those items will run up your blood sugar and take away your joy of the season. The gift of controlling your blood sugar is the gift to yourself, Merry Christmas to all!

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