low carbs

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Diabetic-Friendly Thanksgiving Side Dishes and Dinners This Week

It is somehow the week before Thanksgiving and I am trying to tamp down my panic through denial and distraction.

One distraction is that I keep thinking about what diabetic-friendly side dishes I can offer for the family member who is pre-diabetic. We make the same things every year, because everyone has their Favorite Thing they don’t want to give up: dressing (my husband’s favorite), mashed potatoes (my favorite, and honestly the only thing I want to eat on Thanksgiving), sweet potatoes with marshmallows (Carla’s favorite), and turkey (the source of the gravy). We have tried adding a salad in the past, because honestly I like salad much more than anything else on the Thanksgiving menu, but no one eats it and salads do require a significant amount of work. (Plus, my plan is make butternut squash soup and a big salad for dinner the night after Thanksgiving, and those who like leftovers can eat those too. I don’t want to make a big salad two days in a row, is what I’m saying.)

The idea of adding another side dish to the rotation is awful, but I want every family member to have something to eat – and something enjoyable to eat, at that. So I think it would be highly worthwhile to find another dish that my pre-diabetic family member can enjoy without worry. (Before you suggest that I simply ask this person for suggestions, know that I have considered this idea! But this person is notorious for not wanting to be a bother, and I am SURE would simply say, “Oh, I don’t need anything extra! Don’t make a fuss!” and then would eat only turkey on Thanksgiving Day.) 

There are complications, of course. Ideally, this mystery dish would be something I could prep, at least in part, before Thanksgiving. And, ideally, more than one person would eat this additional side. If it were Brussels sprouts, for instance, I think only three of us would eat them. My mother-in-law loves creamed spinach, and I am 100% sure she would make it for us… but again, only three people would eat it. Maybe that’s enough people. 

(Also, just to clarify – my guests are all from out of town and will be staying with us. So there is no way to ask them to prepare a dish and bring it with them. All the food will be prepared here in my house. Mainly by me, because I am a control freak.)

In my perusal of internet options, here are a handful that sounded workable (although I honestly don’t know how truly diabetes-friendly they are):

  • Balsamic Oven Roasted Carrots: I hate cooked carrots with the fire of a thousand suns, but maybe other people would like them?
  • Steamed Broccoli with Lemon: This is a standard side dish in my house, and it’s easy, and if I steam it in my steamer basket I can use the microwave and don’t need to find another spot in the already-crowded ovens. (Yes, we have two ovens this year, although it is debatable whether one of them heats fully.)
  • Holiday Rice Salad: This sounds hearty and different, and I could make it ahead. (Perhaps without the golden raisins; raisins are my sworn enemy.)
  • Sauteed Green Beans with Garlic: This sounds easy and yummy… but the only thing more hotly in demand than the oven on Thanksgiving is the stovetop, so I don’t know if this is really doable.
  • Lemon-Herb Asparagus with Pine Nuts: I think it was Kae who said she is ordering the entire Thanksgiving meal this year, and I am 100% behind that. It doesn’t work for our family, because my husband likes a very specific stuffing, and I like a very specific mashed potatoes, and Carla likes a very specific sweet potatoes… we are difficult, is what I’m saying. But I am getting our turkey from Whole Foods, and they have ready-made sides like this asparagus dish… maybe it would be good?
  • Green Bean Salad with Toasted Almonds and Feta: Hmmm. This requires cooking on the stovetop, so it may be a no-go. But it sounds yummy. 
  • Low Carb Cauliflower Stuffing: I really, vehemently dislike regular dressing (soggy bread? no thank you), so this sounds preferable. (We would still have regular dressing.) I bet I could prep all the veggies in advance, ask my mother-in-law to put everything together the day of, and maybe there would be space in one of the ovens??? 
  • Rosemary Roasted Root Vegetables: This sounds delicious, but it would require a LOT of chopping and peeling. Probably doable mostly in advance, though. And maybe with two ovens, I could manage this. I would skip the beets and maybe the potatoes. Maybe carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash? I wonder if I could throw some cauliflower in there too?

Do you have any low-carb or diabetes-friendly sides you swear by?

Okay, even though my mind is already in the thick planning for next week (HOW is Thanksgiving NEXT WEEK), we have to eat this week too. (Why?) So let’s think of some easy meals to make.

Dinners for the Week of November 13-19

What are you eating for dinner this week?

I am kinda sorta attempting to complete NaBloPoMo, with the full expectation that life will make it impossible any day now. If you want to follow along, or join the fun, check out San’s blog here. 

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Cravings

Do I write about anything besides food? Is this a thing where I have A Serious Problem and I am just breezily unaware of it? I’m hoping it’s just Keto, which forces me to think about food waaaayyyyy more than I want to, and way more than is probably healthy.

Right now is my food witching hour. Well. Witching Hour #1. (The second takes place after Carla goes to bed when I flop onto the couch and watch something ridiculous.) This is the period of time between when I am starting to get hungry for dinner (about 4:00/4:30) and when we actually EAT dinner (anywhere between 6:30 to 9:00, depending on my husband’s schedule and/or my ability to time the dinner correctly). 

(This is also some sort of mating witching hour for a local… chipmunk? bird of some sort? other creature that makes repetitive clock-ticking – but, like, a loud cuckoo-style clock-ticking sound, not a tiny click that a normal wall clock makes – noises every single day at right about this time?)

(Well, now whatever it is has finished his business and has moved on. Soon the neighbors will release their dog into their backyard where he will bark persistently until they let him in. Which takes MUCH longer than it reasonably should.) 

Anyway, I am typing this post right now to avoid snacking. I have already snacked on my Allotted Keto Snack, which is an ounce of cheddar cheese, and which was delicious. I have been doing Keto for one week and two days and it has been going fine – you know, as fine as it goes when you hate it and all food seems super sad and/or requires too much chewing. But today I have been smacked right in the face by Severe Cravings.

Maybe if I write them down here I will transfer some of the craving energy from my belly into the Internet. That’s a thing, right? Like how if you post about your baby sleeping through the night, she is guaranteed to wake up seven times the next night and for every night for the next three months? Maybe it’s like that with cravings: I tell you all about them, and then they disappear. Yes. That is going to happen.

At some point, I hope to have a relationship with Keto that is less restricted. Where I can take little breaks. Or even… eat regular amounts of carbs on the weekend or something. I don’t know. But right now, everything feels very fragile and precarious, and I’m worried that one rogue glass of wine is going to tip me right off the wagon and into a bag of tortilla chips.

(Here is where I note that this weekend, we have not one but TWO [outdoor, masked-except-while-eating] family get togethers [of the exactly three families we have gotten together with since March, these are two of them] and so I am already sure that I will be pretty lenient with myself. My husband is making these amazing cookies, for one thing, and for another, we will be watching football [outdoors, on their deck; I don’t understand how this will work either; do they have an outdoor TV?] and football goes so very well with beer. Maybe I will take some Michelob Ultra with me?)

(Also: TWO get togethers??? That seems so incredibly extravagant. But it is also coming at a good time; this is the anniversary of my friend’s death and I am feeling wan and tearful, so being with other friends should be a lovely and welcome distraction.)

I am slightly surprised by the things I am craving most fiercely; for one thing, “chips” is not up there. Not that I’d throw a plate of nachos out of bed, mind you. But I have other carbs on the brain.

  1. Bagel. This is my top food fantasy right now. A thick bagel, soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside, perfectly toasted. Coated in a slick layer of butter with salt and a nice gooey topping of honey. Oh my GOD. 
  2. Wheat thins. We have a box in the pantry and I ate one this past weekend and it was SO GOOD and I have been thinking about gobbling up its brethren ever since.
  3. Triscuits. We also have a box of these bad boys because I was eating cheese with Triscuits all summer when I needed a little pre-dinner snack. So now when I eat cheese, there’s a Pavlovian Triscuit bell that rings in my head.
  4. Apple anything. A nice, crisp, juicy apple. Apple cake. Apple crisp. Apple pie. ANYTHING WITH APPLE.
  5. Mango smoothie. I think this is a spite craving and will be therefore fleeting; I made a smoothie today with raspberries but before I did that, I looked up how many carbs mango would set me back and it was A LOT. My raspberry smoothie left a lot to be desired, so I have been really jonesing for the mango version I used to make for myself and Carla on nights she had ballet.
  6. Bruschetta. I would love a nice crusty baguette, sliced into pillowy rounds, and coated with wonderful things like spinach and artichoke dip or a mushroomy tapenade. YUM.
  7. Garlic bread. Droooooooool.

I thought for sure I would really want pizza, because I love pizza with all my heart. But I have been making a Keto version (with fathead dough) and I guess it is an adequate-enough stand-in that I am not missing pizza too much. (Yet.) (Adequate is the absolute highest praise I can give the fathead pizza dough. I think all the people who say it tastes just! like! regular! dough! have either been on Keto for too long or have never eaten really good pizza.)

I would also love a big glass of Sauvignon Blanc. And a Coke. 

I have thinking about Coke so intently today that I may temporarily suspend my “no artificial sweeteners” rule and drink a Coke Zero. We’ll see. 

What are you craving right now?

Thank you for joining me on this cravings journey. It is now time to put my dinner in the oven and feel resentful toward our neighbors and their dog who has, right on cue, begun to bark in their yard.

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My Year of Giving Up: Carbs

In April, I gave up sugar. Well, added sugar. I wasn’t super strict about it. If we’re being specific, I really gave up sweets. Anyway, among the things that were on the Off Limits list was diet soda, for which I have deep affection.

After the no-sugar month ended, I returned to diet soda. But lightly. It’s no longer an every-day necessity.

And I’ve been won over to La Croix, which I previously found revolting. My favorite flavor is mango, which has a nice mango-ness essence to it. My least favorite flavor is tangerine, which tastes like licking someone’s hand after they’ve peeled an orange.

In May, I gave up carbs. But, as with sugar, I don’t mean CARBS. I mean, I was back on sugar after all. I was not turning down the occasional scoop of ice cream, that’s for sure. What I mean when I say “carbs” is the biggies. You know. Rice. Pasta. Bread. Potatoes. Oh, and I also gave up beans and legumes.

And I wasn’t even THAT strict. Sometimes I would have corn on my salads. One day I was sick with a stomach bug and so I ate a bagel. I still drank alcohol.

Even though I cringe a little bit at saying this, because it sounds like I am being glib about something that is very serious for some people, I wasn’t going low-carb because I had to; I was doing it for entertainment. So I could bend the rules here and there.

Really, though, I stuck to it. I found a previously unknown love for zucchini noodles (I REFUSE to call them zoodles), which were a perfectly delicious alternative to rice in my favorite Instant Pot Panang Curry dish. I made basically the same meals that we always make, which includes a lot of chicken/pork and a veggie side. And sometimes I would make a side of rice or couscous for my husband, and sometimes we would both just eat veggies. I begrudgingly ate taco salads instead of tacos-in-shells. And it was all fine.

There were a couple of meals I just didn’t make in May. Pizza, obviously. (I toyed with the idea of getting one of those cauliflower crusts from Trader Joe’s but I didn’t end up trying it.) I didn’t make anything that required potatoes or pasta, like chicken paprikash or spaghetti. I did make more stir fries than I thought I would (since I usually eat stir fries with rice); I either substituted zucchini noodles or I just added extra veggies.

I thought it was going to be SO HARD. I love pasta. I love pizza. I love rice. I love potatoes. I love beans. And I wouldn’t be able to have ANY of those things! For a month!

But… it wasn’t that hard.

Maybe it’s because I had just come off a month of no-sugar, and that was SO UNBEARABLE at the beginning, that going low-carb felt easier. Maybe it’s because I was allowing a little bit of sugar/sweets back into my life, so I felt like I was getting TREATS. Maybe it’s because I eat fewer carbs than I think I do. Maybe it’s because it was only for a month, and I was high on the feeling of power that I got from giving up sugar for so long. If I had to do it full time, it would probably be a lot more unpleasant. It was so not-difficult that I kind of feel like I got away with something. Or I didn’t do it correctly, which is probably more likely.

As with the no-sugar month, I didn’t experience any of the supposed benefits of a low-carb lifestyle. No weight loss, for instance. No feelings of increased energy. Possibly, this is because I didn’t cut out sugar. Or because I didn’t cut out ALL carbs. Or because I didn’t do it long enough. It was an entertaining experiment, that was all.

In any case, I am back on carbs. I have enjoyed MUCH pizza and MANY chips since May ended. There has been no longterm effect of my month off. If anything, I may be OVERcarbing. So perhaps it was harder than I realized.