Low Carb Diabetic Diet

Every spring I eagerly await the first asparagus, and fortunately an increasing demand for it over the last few years has resulted in a lowering price, making this superb vegetable accessible to all in peak season. Asparagus goes well with chicken, veal and fish and is, of course, lovely cold in salads or sandwiches. Have you tried it?

Select: small, crisp asparagus with firm heads and petals closed. There are several varieties, which can all be cooked in the same way. It is best to eat asparagus soon after buying it.

Preparation: Small asparagus need no trimming, but if the spears are large, peel them by starting from just below the head and descending towards the base; snap off the tough part at the base of the stalk. Asparagus can be steamed, stir-fried, microwaved or boiled, and they take 2-10 minutes to cook. When boiling or steaming them, tie the spears in bundles of five to eight before cooking. Remove them from the hot water by taking hold of the string with the aid of a fork. Place on plates and cut and discard string before serving.

Suggested seasoning: Soy sauce or oyster sauce (low salt varieties), lemon with a little butter or margarine, orange rind, grated cheese, curry spices.

Low Carb Diabetic Diet

Easy Slimming Diet

Everyone can learn the joys of shopping, and shopping for fresh food is a very special task. Colourful arrays of fruits and vegetables are a delight to the eye, and savouring the seasonal smells of mandarins, apricots, peaches, pears and strawberries, to mention just a few, is something we all enjoy. I can think of few ‘live’ scenes that offer more colour and entertainment than a food market. And it is within the reach of all city-dwellers. When shopping for fresh food take your children with you as often as you can and share your knowledge of food with them. They will enjoy it immensely. Our eight-year old daughter, Joey, can easily distinguish good fruit and vegetables from bad ones. As an adult, therefore, he will be confident shopping for himself and will, I am sure, pass on his enjoyment of marketing to his own children.

For a person who works outside the home, as as doing housework and caring for children, it is desirable to have help from a sharing partner if family eating patterns are not to suffer. Eating badly is detrimental to family health and happiness. Because busy lifestyles we cannot all shop as often as we should; but for the sake of freshness it is best to she: at least twice a week and share the task as much as possible. Shopping for three or four days ahead requires a certain amount of planning. To buy the freshest ingredients you should choose the best shopping days of the week, that is Tuesday for midweek, then Friday or Saturday morning for good quality ingredients for the weekend.

Low Carb Diabetic Diet

Ever tempted by the advertisement how good a garlic crusher is? Me too. I was so tempted that I nearly bought it. But I am glad I didn’t because that will add up to another kitchen utensil a.k.a. white-elephant-kitchen-cabinet.

I don’t believe in crushing a lot of the garlic together and keep it in the refrigerator — simply because the natural nutrients of garlic will be lost by storing it for days. Fresh garlic should be cooked as soon.

Then finally I realized that it is just so easy to crush garlic: easy and fast, and easy washing too!

What I need are:

• knife which is about 2-3 inches wide(just pick it from your kitchen) which is the one usually used for chopping
• normal chopping board
• Pestle — yes, you name it right, a traditional pestle, but do away with the bulky mortar. Just leave your mortar aside.
• Cloves of garlic, of course.

Method 1: (Knife and chopping board only)

1. Divide garlic into individual cloves.
2. Place them on the chopping board.
3. Place your knife flat so that you can press on the garlic.
4. You dont have to hit it like the grandmother does, so simply press the flat surface of the knife
5. And ta-da, the garlic, will be crushed.
6. Peel off the garlic skin.
7. Cut the garlic, clove by clove, horizontally, on all, then vertically.
8. If the garlic are still too thick, cut horizontally once and vertically once again.
9. Then wash away the residue with running water on the knife and chopping board.

Method 2: (With help of pestle)

1. Divide garlic into individual cloves.
2. Place them on the chopping board.
3. Crushed the garlic with the pestle, make sure this is done on the kitchen surface which is hard (not wood). Crushed once will do.
4. And ta-da, the garlic, will be crushed.
5. Peel off the garlic skin.
6. Cut the garlic, clove by clove, horizontally, on all, then vertically.
7. If the garlic are still too thick, cut horizontally once and vertically once again.
8. Then wash away the residue with running water on the pestle, knife and chopping board.

How to Chop Onion

How to Peel Tomatoes

Ever wonder why your vegetables turn yellow in the refrigerator before you have time to cook it? Most of us tend to shop once a week to stock up whatever we want. Vegetables such as broccoli, is among the most prone to turn yellowish after 2-3 days.

Here is how I do it immediately after the shopping session:

1. Wash under tap water to clean off the dirt (if any) – just like normal

2. Pour 1 cap of Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar plus 200-400 ml of tap water into a plastic container –aluminum or stainless steel or ceramic are not encouraged due the acidic nature of vinegar.

3. Dip the vege into the dilution.

4. Wait for about 3-4 minutes.

5. Pour away the dilution and shake out access water from the vege — No need to dry vegetables completely.

6. You may now store these vegetables in air tight container.

If you do not have air tight container, a container such as ice cream /pop corn plastic container will be equally good.

Vegetables Recipes

Low Carb Diabetic Recipes

Although popular, deep frying cooking method is best avoided as it adds too much fat to our food. Other cooking techniques that use less fat, e.g. steaming, are therefore recommended. If you occasionally deep-fry, use very clean oil which has neither been burnt nor contains any previously burnt food.
•    When deep-frying without a coating or batter, e.g. potatoes, dry the food before cooking it.
•    Avoid deep-frying large pieces of food, like chicken, which take too long to cook and absorb a lot of fat.
•    Keep oil at a constant temperature during cooking. Ideally it is around 160-170°C (320-335′F).
•    Avoid cooking too much food at one time. This reduces the temperature of the oil, thus lengthening the cooking time and allowing more fat to soak into the food.

Fried Oyster, Clams or Scallops Recipe

Chicken Fried Round Steak Recipe

Brush vegetables with a little oil and cook on a rack rather than in the tray where they will absorb fat unnecessarily. Carrots, pumpkin and sweet potato can be roasted in their skins but must be well washed first.

Roasted Corn On the Cob Recipe

Roasted Orange, Carrot and Parsnips Recipe

•    Preheat the oven before roasting.
•    Cook your roast on an oven rack.
•    Do not allow juices and oil in the bottom of the pan to burn.
•    Place diced onion and/or one or two cloves of garlic in the roasting pan halfway through the cooking to give flavour to your gravy.
•    Once the roast is cooked, remove it from the oven and leave it to rest before carving (15-45 rains, depending on the size of the roast). This resting time relaxes the meat, which has tensed up during the cooking process, and also redistributes the moisture which the heat has: pushed in towards the centre of the meat.
•    To serve, slice your meat thinly across the grain.
GRAVY Discard the fat from the roasting pan but leave the onion and garlic in it. Place the pan on top of the stove and, over high heat, pour in one cup of liquid (water, or wine and water, a little brandy and water, or orange juice and water) and reduce this liquid by half. Season with pepper and strain into a sauce boat or bowl. For special flavor, add a tablespoon of chopped herbs, e.g. tarragon with chicken, veal or beef, basil with lamb; and parsley with just about anything.

Roast Pork With Fennel Recipe

Roasted Pork Chop Recipe

•    Trim meat of as much fat as possible before cooking.
•    Keep meat in one piece. Ask your butcher to stria it together if it is loose, or do it yourself. Even a chicken is better when the drumsticks and wins are trussed close to the body.
•    Before cooking, brush your roast with a little oil, perhaps mixed with spices and herbs.
•    Do not add salt to meat before roasting; the salt  absorbs juices from the meat, wasting flavor, moisture and nutrients.

Roast Pork With Fennel Recipe

Roasted Pork Chop Recipe

All cooks know the joys of roasting. There is great pleasure in observing the meat change color and become more and more appetising. The aromas are irresistible, and when the roast is carried to the table to be carved, the family is united by a feeling of anticipation. It is important that we preserve this wonderful tradition.

By today’s standards, keeping in mind the recommendations of the Anti-Cancer Council, a beautiful roast is lean, the fat having been trimmed before cooking; the meat is not overcooked and is therefore moist; it has retained its nutritive value and taste and preserved its natural salt content; and the outside of the roast is golden. The serving for an average adult should be about 125 g of meat.

Roast Pork With Fennel Recipe

Roasted Pork Chop Recipe

Pan-frying allows food to be cooked in a minimum of  fat. As mentioned earlier, for best results it is important to use the right size pan, for if you cook a small piece of meat in a large pan, the fat around meat will burn. A few points to remember:
•    Use oil (olive, cold-pressed or other polyunsaturated) rather than margarine or butter
•    Brush the pan with oil rather than pouring it, and you will cut your oil consumption by at least half.
•    Wait till the oil is hot before you start cooking.
•    Never allow the oil to burn.
•    Dry ingredients well before pan-frying, as moisture or juices create steam and lower the temperature the oil.
•    Trim fat from all meat before pan-frying.
•    Avoid pan-frying cuts of meat thicker than 3 cm.

Fried Clams, Oyster or Scallops Recipe

Low Carb Diabetic Diet