different kind of christmas

Husband recently created a ground almond stuffing packed with sage, onions, bacon, butter and garlic which was very tasty. It's more crumbly than bread-based stuffing, but can be stuffed in a bird or cooked in a tray.

I've been making crackers using almond and coconut flours, seeds, etc. Most of them were delicious, so I'll make a selection for Christmas.

We've decided to have roast potatoes as usual, but of course they will be cooked in goose fat or similar. Christmas pud will be replaced with something involving whipped cream, nuts and berries. There will be lots of plain chocolate, nuts and cheese.

I was diagnosed before Xmas last year, no Xmas goodies for me. My Type 2 diabetes is in control now, though, and I have been allowing myself lots of carb desserts the past 2 weeks. Still good, blood sugar spikes of course, but it goes down back to control. If your blood sugar isn't too high, like below 7, I guess a couple of days eating xmas goodies should be fine. Then back to controlling yourself. This year, I will have some Xmas goodies in normal portions.

My wife craved for some egg pies and asked me to buy from her friend who sidelines as a baker, and I didn't know she had diabetes. I asked her if she ate her own goodies, and her answer was "of course, I've got medicine anyway". Well, not the right attitude, IMHO, but then it made me think that I can try and "enjoy" more carbs. It's been ok for me, I just try to time it when my blood sugar is like 4.4 to 4.8, where the meds are doing their work. This is just me of course, my own risk, so I'm not recommending it, just saying what I have tried.

ellagy said:

Today I had pancakes, I can not remember who posted it but it is 200g philidelphia, two eggs and a tsp granulated sweetener with some cinnamon added...blend the ingredients in blender till smooth. Let stand for 2mins to settle and then cook in frying pan in butter with a dash of olive oil. They were delicious! I also have omelette, to which I can add tomatoes, mushrooms and cheese, also cooked in butter, Yoghurt with a few nuts is easy if you have less time. I often have some low carb rolls (if you search the forum, put in Low Carb Rolls) or message me. There are only 2 carbs per roll and they are lovely... they can be toasted and you can top them with anything... I like fresh tomato on mine. Bon appetite! PS. I love bananas but have given up all fruit! Try Lidl kippers too..with or without scrambled egg!

My Blood Sugars were 98 three months ago... I had my Hb1Ac and they were down to 76 after only a month on this plan!

Click to expand...

here is the recipi just like you said : http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2012/01/cream-cheese-pancakes.html

@pugster75 You can still have your chocolate, but perhaps not chocolate money this year Try the high cacao (80%+) chocolate. My personal fav is Lindt 90%, but Tesco do an own brand 85% at a not too bad £1 a 100g bar

@PenfoldAPD might I suggest you substitute some of those crackers on your cheeseboard for sticks of celery?

Sorry about this but may I ask some questions that are puzzling me? Are roasties in goose fat better than those cooked in olive oil? We normally have roast pork, roast veg, sprout casserole and cider gravy. The gravy will be a vegetarian one but how evil is roast pork?

I know there will be no mulled cider or pork baps for me this year but I am not sure I can survive without cheese and biscuits; fruit cake and cheese, olives with olive oil and balsamic. I have already decided to treat myself to some lidl bread rolls (i have almost cut bread out of my diet completely so they are a treat). Have you any tips on how to make these sins more suited to diabetes?

The conflicting advice re butter is really confusing me. Is butter worse for diabetics than the spreads? I have been put on statins and have to cut bad fats. Some articles say that means no butter or eggs. They are the same sort of article that say use skimmed milk. Eggs do seem to be a staple foodstuff so is butter alright?

Hi Pugster you are doing well with the HBA1C drop. When I did my 1 day understanding course (2011). They said you cannot keep up anything 100% of the time so try for 6 days a week and most weeks in a year.



So If you decide to have a short break for any Christmas Celebration, don't go mad and steer clear of BG testing, you can start again soon enough. Unless you want to be Scientific and see what is the worst BG wise over the celebration.



Good luck

Rod

covknit said:

Sorry about this but may I ask some questions that are puzzling me? Are roasties in goose fat better than those cooked in olive oil? We normally have roast pork, roast veg, sprout casserole and cider gravy. The gravy will be a vegetarian one but how evil is roast pork?

I know there will be no mulled cider or pork baps for me this year but I am not sure I can survive without cheese and biscuits; fruit cake and cheese, olives with olive oil and balsamic. I have already decided to treat myself to some lidl bread rolls (i have almost cut bread out of my diet completely so they are a treat). Have you any tips on how to make these sins more suited to diabetes?

The conflicting advice re butter is really confusing me. Is butter worse for diabetics than the spreads? I have been put on statins and have to cut bad fats. Some articles say that means no butter or eggs. They are the same sort of article that say use skimmed milk. Eggs do seem to be a staple foodstuff so is butter alright?

Click to expand...

Hi there, I personally do not eat potatoes at all. Roasting them in fat may slow down the glucose release but the glucose is still there. Roast pork is a diabetics friend, fill your boots. I am not sure what a pork bap is? Cheese, olives, and olive oil are all diabetic friendly. Butter, eggs and cream are staples but milk is usually a bit too high sugar. If you must have milk full fat is better. Margarine and veg oils are the bad fats. NO ONE SHOULD EVER EAT MARGARINE in my opinion. Other than butter, olive oil and coconut oil are probably the best. Bacon, lard, or goose fat are also fine. There is no need to eat these to excess, just use normal amounts that you would normally use. Enjoy

Chalup you have just made my day. I am sure a roast parsnip will accidently fall on my plate but providing DH looks after the serving to ensure no roast failures accidently fall into my mouth I can be good and almost eat the same dinner has normal. It is amazing that goose fat is even better than olive oil. I have just read a post on another part of this site that said getting a goose from Lidl was better value than buying goose fat so I might do that with some of the roast veg.

Baps are bread so they are off the menu. I shall need my lidl bread roll for my olives and to replace the crackers that go with the cheese. The leftover pork will probably be served with chilli beans instead of as a sandwich.

Interesting how different the advice between the diet, heart and diabetes medics is. The womens and slimming mags almost universally condemn animal fats, butter and full cream milk. I fully agree with you about margarine but my dad was in the food industry in the 60's so I never have. I just learnt to keep quiet about it. Ditto re mass produced ice cream. Which from what you say is back on the menu. My ice cream is fruit puree and double cream. Blackcurrant is delish but raspberry or strawberry are better for people that like life sweeter. I do not add sugar. Never have. Diabetes is sooo unfair.

With a little tweaking it is just the fruit cake I have to miss. There is not much I can do about that because of the sugar in the dried fruit. A friend has promised me a recipe for an apple and cheese cake which she believes will fit the challenge and reduce the sugar and flour load considerably. Sounds tasty but perhaps a tad unfair on the family. Still I am glad I do not have to sit there being virtuous and making them feel guilty.

Joyous festive greetings to you

In a word.......CHEESECAKE!!!!!!! There are thousands of low carb cheesecake recipes out there. You can have one low carb and one regular so no one is left out. Your ice cream sounds wonderful, I have just acquired an ice cream maker but have not experimented with it yet. Be careful with chili beans, definitely something to test and enjoy your meal

Cheesecake. Yumm. Never thought of it. Probably because that is in the parts of the supermarket I never visit anymore. I made one about 30 years ago and it was such a disaster I never tried again. I shall research immediately.

Touch wood my new chilli bean recipe has been good to me. Allrecipes. co. uk and called The best mixed bean chilli ever!! I just put whatever veg and beans I happen to have and the only problem is I told the family it was a recipe for baked beans. As long as they do not think it is a replacement for chilli con carne with mince beef they eat it. I usually serve it with sausage. If you visit that website it is worth doing a search for the word diabetic. Plenty of recipes/ideas

I do not have an ice cream maker. I start it early in the day and get it out of the freezer every hour or so to beat it. It usually takes around 2 hours before it gets cold enough for the first beating. Of course that depends on the quantity you make.

I have just had a brill idea for mushroom wellington. Obviously wellingtom means pastry which means I have to not eat my own cooking which may not impress vegetarian guests. Then I thought roulade. Same filling with a herby egg swiss roll. They usually have to be served straight away and the rolling of it is a faff. I was just musing on the challenge as I ate my lunchtime omelette. Hey presto. Make filling in advance. Reheat it with the spinach and put it inbetween two cheese omelettes. Hey presto Mushroom sandal. Serve immediately probably on a big plate in order to handle potential slippages and a no faff dish everyone can eat.

Hmmm so um, you are coming to my house to cook right?

If you and beautiful furbabe in your avatar are brave enough to risk it.

I've just made these as an experiment for Christmas treats I used orange flavouring but I'll do mint or Baileys next time. Only 1 net carb per truffle. They are mini cupcake cases if you're thinking they are huge ! Very rich and a couple are very satisfying.
http://low-carb-support.com/dark-chocolate-truffles-low-carb-sugar-free/

I have never liked Christmas Pudding or Mince pies, but chocolate & sweets I do miss. I've substituted the chocolate with Atkins Chocolate bars. About 2grams of carbs per bar. They do various flavours, the mint & coconut are the best in my opinion, you wouldn't know it was low carb. I have noticed that the Avidlite website (they concentrate on low carb food & sweets) are selling Christmas Pudding, Mince Pies, Trifle & Turkish Delight. As I say I can't comment on the taste as it's not something I would eat anyway.

walnut_face said:

@pugster75 You can still have your chocolate, but perhaps not chocolate money this year Try the high cacao (80%+) chocolate. My personal fav is Lindt 90%, but Tesco do an own brand 85% at a not too bad £1 a 100g bar

@PenfoldAPD might I suggest you substitute some of those crackers on your cheeseboard for sticks of celery?

Click to expand...

No can do @walnut_face ... jeez, raw celery is food of the devil LOL

But I appreciate your comment - and sorry it's taken me a week to comment not sure notifications are working ...

pugster75 said:

Hi, I've recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and still trying to come to terms with it and trying to learn what I can and cant have anymore. Its that time of year when all the shops are filled with all the nice Christmas foods, the magazines are full of Christmas recipes and the tv food channels have got the celebrity chef's doing their versions of Christmas. It has suddenly hit me this afternoon, how different Christmas is going to be for me this year. I'm a foodie and loved baking for my friends and hubby especially this time of year. Anyone got any ideas, recipes or tips on how to get through the Xmas period and still enjoy it (and the food) as everything traditionally for Xmas is high in carbohydrates or sugar. I really need some expert help as I'm really struggling. Thanks

Click to expand...

You are exactly like me. I was diagnosed Christmas last year and it is miserable. I have found some good recipes: Suagr free mom Ferraro rocher chocolates are good; low carb yum raspberry chia jam is delicious just like regular jam and German chocolate cake too. I mostly bake with almond and coconut flour now and will be trying Mary Berrys baileys chocolate log which has no flour. Low carb yum is an excellent site as every recipe I've tried is good. If you like baileys I tried the sugar free version and couldn't taste any difference. Most important if you have the odd treat don't beat yourself up

Nigella does a gluten free chocolate cake in her Christmas nook, it's so rich you only need a tiny bit

Re the roast spuds cooked in goose or duck fat - they are likely to accompany a duck or a goose anyway. The roasties are our one concession to naughtiness. A few long walks to balance things out are also on the cards.