How To Make A Healthy Italian Meal With Chef B. Smith
Celebrity chef B. Smith is encouraging people with type 2 diabetes to recognize that small changes, including food choices, can have a positive effect on managing diabetes successfully through the Journey for Control campaign. As part of the campaign, B. Smith visited Atlanta resident, Deborah Brown, who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2002. After her diagnosis, Deborah thought that cooking healthy, tasty meals for herself and for her husband, Chuck, who also has type 2 diabetes, would be a lifelong challenge. But a recent visit from B. Smith showed Deborah that, with a few small changes, she can manage her diabetes successfully while creating meals that are both flavorful and satisfying. Deborah and B. whipped up Deborah’s favorite lasagna with a side dish of roasted vegetables and rounded out the Italian theme with a dessert of tiramisu. Visit www.JourneyForControl.com for nutritional advice, exercise tips and flavorful recipes from B. Smith.
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Step 1:
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Cooking with B. Smith:
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Hi, I'm B. Smith, and I've been travelling across the United States with the Journey for Control program. We were visiting select people to turn their favourite recipes into Diabetes-friendly meals. Now, this is my third healthy menu makeover, and I'm here in Atlanta, Georgia, with Deborah Brown.
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Step 2:
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Italian meals for diabetics:
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Hi, Deborah! Hi, B., it's so nice to see you!Oh, it's good to be here. Now, both you and your husband have diabetes, right? Yes, we both are diabetics. How did you decide on these recipes? Well, these dishes are my favourite dishes and I thought it would be very nice and helpful to have them made-over so that they can be healthier for us. So, today, we're cooking Deborah's favourite recipes, a hearty lasagne, roasted vegetables with a creamy garlic dressing, and a traditional Tiramisu. So, Deborah, I've taken your original recipe and made some healthy substitutions. So, I'm using ground turkey here instead of beef. Brown this for 10 minutes. And what's adding the flavour to this dish is, I have lots of spices over here that we're going to be adding. Oh, that sounds wonderful. First, let's start with the vegetables. I'll just put the garlic in here. About one onion here, that we're using. I'll just add the peppers.Oh, that makes it look so much nicer too. The herbs add the spice. There's thyme, oregano, and basal. Oh, fennel seed.Yes, fennel seed. You know, I'm going to work on the other ingredients that are really great and low-fat. So, I've used a low fat ricotta cheese right here, and I'm using a low fat mozzarella. You can grate it just like regular cheese. Does it melt and taste just like regular cheese?Oh, oh yeah. And I'm using an egg substitute here. That's about two eggs. And I put the parsley in there, adding more flavour. Just layers and layers of flavour. So, in your recipe I decided to use plum tomatoes which are just crushed those up. And just put the entire can, and then a little tomato paste over there. The other key to making this a very healthy dish is we're using whole-grain lasagne pasta. The pasta looks really good. It does. I'll let you do the work here, since you'll be making it at home. And again, low fat, low sodium. Another layer of pasta right here. Mmm, it's going to be wonderful, the whole wheat pasta. We're working pretty well together here. Well, yes, this is a lot of fun, and this has been so quickly put together, too; it's not something that you really have to work a long time at. And let's, both of us, putting the parmesan cheese on top. So, we're going to put this in a pre-heated oven, 350 degrees, for about 40 minutes, okay?
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Step 3:
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The roasted vegetables:
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Now that our lasagne is in the oven, we're going to talk about the roasted vegetables. I'm going to have us start dumping vegetables in. I put everything that I could find in here for you. I love all the colourful vegetables. I'm going to put about half of the onions in. Do you like eggplant?Yes, I like eggplant. Oh, then put more in. Now, for the salad dressing, and we're just going to put everything in here, and then we'll toss it, and then we're going to put it in the oven. Here, you can drizzle the olive oil, and again, I'm using herbs, and this time I'm using dried herbs. I have oregano. I have basal. Here's rosemary, and then here's thyme. Oh, I love the smell of rosemary. Oh, me too! But I just love herbs. Just going to put a little pepper on here. Okay, that looks good. I'm going to put it on the baking sheet. We're going to bake it for about 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
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Step 4:
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Italian creamy garlic dressing:
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Now, to serve with the roasted vegetables we're going to have a creamy garlic dressing that you are going to love, Deborah!Yes, that sounds wonderful!You know what's great about this recipe, is that it's low fat and low sodium. This is low fat mayonnaise, and I'm going to put low-fat sour cream in. So, this gives it that creamy, creamy texture, but without the fat. A little olive oil, lemon juice, like that. Garlic, oh, the roasted garlic. Oh, my favorite, yes. We can dump it all in there, we like garlic. Cider vinegar, smells good. Worcestershire sauce. You know, again, flavor? Flavor's important. And a little season salt. Okay, you want to blend it? Now that looks good. Now, I'm going to put it in a ramekin right here. You can refrigerate this three to four hours. It's great as a salad dressing, but it's also great as a dip.
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Step 5:
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Making the Italian desert:
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Deborah, you've picked a really popular dessert that a lot of people who have diabetes feel that they could never eat, but with a few small changes that I've made here, you know, it's a dessert that you and Chuck are going to love. Tiramisu, oh, a picka me uppa. And that's what we're going to do here, okay? Okay! Alright, we're starting with lady fingers. You know, why don't you just start layering? And you know what the secret ingredient is here? It's imitation rum flavoring. And of course, we're using espresso, and I'm going to have you brush on the espresso, and I've actually put a tablespoon of brown sugar in there. And I'm using a sugar substitute, here. But I'm using cool whip and low-fat cream cheese, and I've already whipped this up. And we're just going to layer. I have some shaved chocolate, over there. So you just sprinkle that on. You could also use cacao powder, if you want to. Now that was pretty quick and easy, wasn't it?It was! I'm so excited; I can't wait to get home to make it for Chuck and I.Well, I have one for us to taste before I go. I like it in this container, too, so you can do it any way you want to.You can have it in your individual serving sizes, that way!That's right. That is so good.Isn't it?So light and creamy. Oh, good, I'm glad you like it.
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Step 6:
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Diabetes- friendly recipes!
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Mmm, this smells so good. Oh, that ground turkey lasagna looks fabulous. Now, we also have our roasted vegetables with low-fat creamy garlic dressing, and then we have our low-fat tiramisu for dessert. Let's taste. Oh, the lasagna's to die for. That is so good. Thank you. And you know, it's been great working with you. I have truly enjoyed it, B. Thank you so much, and I appreciate what you've done. It's been a fabulous day for me. I love it.Thank you. Enjoy our diabetes-friendly recipes. Thank you.
You can also find these healthy and tasty diabetes-friendly recipes along with many others on JourneyForControl.com