Fajita Lettuce Wraps

I would probably define my self as a food-lover, and I tend to get bored easily with the same foods over and over again.  So one of the things I need to keep my blood sugars in control is variety.  I can't eat the same thing for breakfast every day, or the same two things for lunch.  I have come up with a fun little plan for myself, and I was able to go for 6 weeks without a single repeat for lunch!

 One of my favorite things to have for lunch is a good lettuce wrap.  There are infinite possibilities of what you can wrap inside a lettuce leaf.  I was seriously craving fajitas the other day, and so I decided to try them as a lettuce wrap.  Wow were they yummy!  And because I didn't have any carbs from tortillas, I was able to indulge in some chips and salsa on the side.  Double YUM!

Now, you can make Fajitas about a hundred different ways, but here is how I did mine

Fajita Lettuce Wraps

(Serves 6)

Marinade:

3 tbsp lime juice

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ tsp red pepper flakes

1 lb boneless top round steak, sliced into thin strips.*

Fajitas:

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 pkg fajita seasoning(opt)

1 head butter or Romaine lettuce

1 yellow bell pepper, seeds and membranes removed

1 red bell pepper, seeds and membranes removed

1 orange bell pepper, seeds and membranes removed

1 green bell pepper, seeds and membranes removed

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

Optional extras:

Sour Cream or greek yogurt

Taco sauce

Pickled jalapeno slices

Black olives

Cilantro

*To make slicing steak easier – place in freezer for 10 min.

In a large ziptop plastic bag or a covered glass dish, combine all marinade ingredients.  Add beef.  Make sure marinade covers beef. Marindade 30 minutes to overnight for best flavor. 

In a large skillet, heat vegetable oil over moderately high heat.  Remove steak from marinade and cook until browned through, stirring occasionally.  Add sliced peppers and onions, and follow directions on Fajita seasoning package if using.  Cook and stir just until peppers are crisp tender.  Drain cooking liquid and discard.  

Assemble your fajitas using lettuce leaves instead of tortillas.  I add the meat and peppers, first, then Jalapeno peppers, cilantro, taco sauce and greek yogurt.  YUM!

Alternately, you could just make a fun chopped salad with all of these ingredients.  Just select what you want and chop away.  Then toss with a little extra taco sauce for a fun salad.

This recipe is extremely low carb.   The numbers will vary slightly depending on what optional toppings you use.  These calculations do not include black olives.

Per serving (1/6th of the recipe)

 - Carbohydrates = 16 grams(mostly from the peppers and onions) 

 - Fiber =  3 grams per serving.

Mediterranean Chicken Meatball Pitas

One thing I have found as a diabetic, is that I have to watch out for "hidden" carbohydrates.  Many times meat has no carbohydrates, but processed lunch meats, sausages, meat loafs and meatballs frequently have carbs from sugar, fillers or binders. Be sure to check the labels on your foods just to be sure.

Now if there is one thing I love - it is a good meatball.  They are so versatile and easy to make.  Personally, I bake my meatballs, which makes them super easy to do.   You can make up a big batch of meatballs and freeze them for later use in soups, sandwiches, pastas, etc!  You can use almost any meat to make a meatball, Beef, veal, pork, chicken, even fish.  The meatballs in the sandwich below, are also wonderful in soups, salads and several other dishes.  So yummy!

Mediterranean Chicken Meatball Pita

1 jar Marinara Sauce

2 16 oz jars Roasted Red Peppers, drained

2 Chipotle peppers in Adobo Sauce, seeds removed

1 Tbsp Adobo Sauce.

1 tsp dried oregano

½ cup diced red onion

4 tsp crushed garlic, divided

½ cup slivered almonds

1/3 cup olive oil

1 lb ground chicken, preferably white meat only

1 tsp greek seasoning

¼ cup chopped fresh mint

½ cup feta cheese crumbles

1 lemon

6 (whole) Low Carb pita pockets**

12 slices provolone cheese.

3 cups baby spinach leaves

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

For the Sauce: In a blender or food processor, combine the fire roasted marinara sauce with ½ of one jar of the roasted red peppers.  Blend until smooth. Divide in half and set aside.

For the Pesto: In a food processor, combine one full jar of the roasted red peppers, the chipotle peppers, Adobo Sauce, oregano, ¼ cup of the diced red onion, 2 tsp of the crushed garlic and the slivered almonds.  Pulse to combine.  Turn food processor on, and while processor is running slowly stream in 1/3 cup olive oil.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

To make the meatballs:  Chop remaining roasted red peppers. Pat dry with a paper towel.  Zest and juice lemon.  Combine ground chicken with greek seasoning, fresh mint, feta cheese, lemon zest, 1tbsp lemon juice and the chopped roasted red peppers.  Divide meat mixture into 18 portions, and roll each into a meatball.  Place the meatballs on a rimmed baking sheet.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until meatballs are cooked all the way through and nicely browned on the outside.

Remove meatballs from oven and place in a large sauce pan with ½ of the roasted red pepper sauce. Heat just until sauce is warmed.  Heat remaining sauce separately.

Spread bottom side of the pita pocket with the Roasted Red pepper pesto.  Place ½ cup spinach leaves on top of the pesto.  Spoon Three meatballs with sauce onto the spinach.  Top With 2 slices of provolone cheese. Return to oven for 2 minutes to melt the cheese.  Serve with remaining sauce for dipping.

*note – you can also add raw thinly sliced onion, zucchini, cucumber and any other of your favorite vegetables to this pita!

**For the Pita Pockets I used the St. Josephs Brand - only 8 grams of Carbohydrate and 4 grams of fiber!  Dependng on which brand you use, carbohydrate count and nutritional info could change.

The Sauce, Pesto and the meatballs for this recipe all freeze wonderfully, so you can prepare all of them a head of time and just throw them together in a pita.  You can also throw the same ingredients on a Hot Dog bun, in a tortilla or low carb wrap, or even make a soup out of them.  To make the soup. Chop the spinach, place 1/2 roasted red pepper sauce, meatballs and any veggies you desire in a large sauce pan.  Pour in 32 oz of Chicken or Vegetable stock. Cook and stir until veggies are done, Stir in spinach just until wilted.  Serve.  Very filling and even more low carb than the Pita. 

These Pita Pockets are nice and low carb.  The only real carbs come from the Sauce, the Pesto,  and the Pita. For two Pita Pockets (one full pita bread) I have estimated approximately 25-30 grams of carbohydrate, and more than 8 grams of fiber.  These are lovely and filling!

Middle Eastern Steak Tostadas

One of my friends, who is also a diabetic, mentioned to me that her doctor had told her that eating for diabetes was monotonous.  That was definitely not what my friend wanted to hear.  I don't think that that is the case myself.  I find that I can fit many many foods into my dietary guidelines.  I love to cook what I would call rustic comfort food, with an exotic twist, and today's recipe fits that bill.  It also fits beautifully into the low-carb diet.

When looking at nutrition labels, I found very quickly that flour tortillas don't often fit into my diet.  They are fairly high carb, and low in nutrients.  This recipe was originally for a wrap, using a flour tortilla.  I took the original recipe and changed several things around to meet my tastes, and voila - a fabulous lunch, fit for a diabetic diva (or a diabetic king)!  I also found that as a general rule, Corn Tostadas have far fewer ingredients!  The brand I buy, has Corn flour, Salt, vegetable oil, lime and water.  Some brand also contain food coloring.

If you are cooking for less than 4 people, this meat freezes wonderfully for a make ahead meal.  You can freeze it in the marinade, OR cook it and then freeze it.  You can also purchase pre-sliced beef for stir fry for this recipe and skip the first step of freezing and slicing the beef.

Middle Eastern Steak Tostadas

*Needs to marinate

1 ¼ lb lean round steak

1 med red onion, thinly sliced

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

½ tsp salt, divided

½ tsp ground coriander

¼ c. fresh lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

1/3 c. chopped fresh mint, divided

4 Tbsp olive oil, divided

1/3 c. plain Greek yogurt

1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and thinly sliced

3 c. fresh baby spinach, or arugula

12 Corn Tostadas

Siracha or your favorite hot sauce

Place steak in freezer for 10 min.  Remove from freezer and thinly slice against the grain into 2 inch long strips.

Combine steak, onion, spices, lemon juice, 3 tbsp olive oil, garlic, ¼ tsp salt, basil and ½ the mint in a large ziptop bag.  Massage meat well to coat.  Squeeze air out of the bag and seal.   Marinade 1 hr to overnight, turning over occasionally to redistribute marinade.

Mix together Greek Yogurt, remaining salt and mint, and sliced cucumber.  Chill until ready to use.  Can be done the day ahead.

Heat remaining olive oil in a large skillet until very hot.  Working in batches, add meat and onion mixture to the skillet in a single layer and cook until browned.  About 4 minutes.

To serve Tostadas – Layer Steak and onion with a handful of fresh spinach and a dollup of the cucumber salad on top of each corn tostada.  Drizzle with Siracha or Hot sauce to taste.  Enjoy!

For 3 Tostadas the carbs run as follows (again this will depend on the brand of tostada you buy)

Tostadas 3= 24 grams of carb, 2 grams fiber, 7 grams fat

The only other carbs in the recipe come from the onion, Lemon Juice, cucumber and Greek yogurt. And they equal out to be another 10 grams approximately.  So each serving of 3 tostadas has approximately 34 grams of carbohydrates.  Or 2 carb choices.

Yasso Greek Yogurt Bars - a Low Carb Treat

Every once in a while I will post some of my favorite go -to products on this blog.  One of my absolute favorite treats are the Yasso Greek Yogurt Bars.  The Coconut ones are amazing!  They also have Strawberry, Raspberry, Blueberry, Mango, and Vanilla Bean.

They come 4 to a box, and at my local Walmart, they run about $4.00.  They are smooth and creamy and not too sweet.  The Coconut ones have a distinct Greek Yogurt flavor.  Some of the fruit flavors have a less distinct yogurt flavor and taste more sherbety in my opinion.  All the flavors I have tried (Coconut, Strawberry and Blueberry) are beyond yummy!

One of the things I love about these treats on a stick, is that they are made in the USA.  They source their products from all over the US and use several different US dairies for their yogurt.  The product was launched in 2011 with the Strawberry, Blueberry and Raspberry bars.  Earlier this year they added the Coconut, Mango, and Vanilla Bean flavors to their product line.

These little bars have great nutritional content as well.  For this blog I am looking at the Coconut bars - my personal favorite of the ones I have tried so far.

With Only 80 calories, Half a gram of fat, 14 grams of carbohydrate and 6 grams of protein each, these are an ideal treat.   The protein helps make these such a satisfying treat.   I also love that I can recognize and pronounce every item on the ingredients list.   There are a few ingredients everyone may not be familiar with so I will give a brief description.

Maltodextrin  -  An Easily digestible carbohydrate made from rice, corn, or potato starch usually.  If you are gluten sensitive, be aware that it can also be derived from barley or wheat.  It is made by cooking down the starch and then adding an acid or an enzyme to break down the starch even further.  It is frequently used as a thickening agent.

Carrageenan -  Another thickening agent made from red seaweed.

Guar Gum  - Yet another Thickener - made from a seed from a plant typically grown and harvested in India or Australia.

Locust Bean Gum  - No it is not made from locusts - this thickener is made from Carob seeds.

I just love these frozen treats.  I love that I can have a guilt free dessert or even a snack if I want. They taste wonderful and fit well into my carb-counting lifestyle.  Have you tried them?  What flavors have you had?  What do you think?


**All opinions on this blog are my own.  I only feature products I really like and am not under any agreement with any company to feature their product.

Ricotta Breakfast Sundae

Besides watching carbohydrates, Diabetics also need to be aware of their cholesterol and high blood pressure, so a healthy and balanced diet is essential in managing our disease. Breakfast can be particularly difficult for me as I need something tasty and fast, and that will last me several hours until lunch!  I have always needed a good source of protein at breakfast, or I am hungry all day long.

These little breakfast sundaes are fun and easy to prepare ahead of time. By my calculations 1 Ricotta Breakfast Sunday ( made with strawberries) will have approximately 40-45 grams of carbohydrate. (or 3 carb choices, depending on how you keep track)   When choosing your ricotta, keep in mind that Whole Milk Ricotta  has slightly more cholesterol and fat in it then Part Skim Ricotta. Fat free Ricotta has even less cholesterol and no fat, but watch out, because many times Fat Free products add sugar to make up for the lack of flavor! I typically use either Part Skim or Fat Free Ricotta depending on the ingredients in the brand I am able to buy.

Ricotta Breakfast Sundae

Serves 1

½ of a 15 oz container of Ricotta Cheese (approximately 1 cup)

2 tsp honey

½ tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup fresh fruit – your favorite is fine.  I love Strawberries, peaches, blueberries, raspberries. 

Mix together Ricotta, honey, ground ginger and cinnamon.  This can be done several days ahead. Just put it in a covered container and keep refrigerated.

 

Just before serving, top ricotta with fruit.  Enjoy.

You can also substitute canned fruit for the fresh in the winter months, just read your labels carefully and portion out the serving sizes suggested - usually 1/2 a cup instead of a full cup of the fresh.  Canned peaches are particularly delicious(canned in light syrup or juice of course!)

If I have this for breakfast, it usually keeps me well satisfied until noon.  If you want to reduce the carb count further, decrease or eliminate the honey.  You could also substitute Splenda or Stevia in much smaller amounts.

Here are my calculations for this recipe - keep in mind these are only estimates as each brand of ricotta and each type of fruit vary slightly.

1 cup Whole Milk Ricotta = 13-20 grams of carbohydrate, 28-32 grams of fat, and 24-28 grams of protein, The majority of the fat in the whole milk ricotta is the saturated fat, and there are anywhere from 80- 125 mg of cholesterol in one cup of the ricotta, depending on the brand.
or
1 cup Part Skim Ricotta =    8-16 grams of carbohydrate, 20-24 grams of fat, and 20-26 grams of protein.   There can be anywhere from 70-120 mg of cholesterol in this ricotta.
or
1 cup Fat-Free Ricotta =      12-20 grams of carbohydrate, 0 grams of fat, and 22-28 grams of protein.       Some brands of fat free ricotta have no cholesterol, others have 20-50 mg.

1 cup of fresh fruit =              between 12-20 grams of carbohydrate - Berries are on the lower end of the     scale while a banana would be on the high end.

2 tsp honey =                       12 grams (a full Tbsp is 17 grams)

Cinnamon and ginger =          0 grams Carbohydrate.