Pasta Fazool

The wonder child of Lorraine, Elizabeth and Karen!

I am happy to be participating in the First (Weekly?) D-Feast Friday!!  It's a day for us to come together and share a recipe, diabetes-friendly or not, and walk away with a slew of new recipes to try!  So, without further adieu...

Pasta Fazool

Now, this is a staple meal in our home and has been, long before diabetes entered the picture.  But what's so great about it is that it really works great with C's blood sugars.  And, as anyone who deals with a faulty pancreas can tell you, usually pasta is one of those foods that misbehaves.  Because this recipe is balanced with beans, the fiber can actually be subtracted out of the total carb count.  Hence, making it a more manageable meal, bloodsugar-wise.

Some of you might be more familiar with it's other name:  Pasta Fagioli.  It's kind of like a pasta/bean soup.  My dear mother-in-law taught me how to make it.  In fact, when each of the grandkids were old enough (11-12), she taught each of them how to make it too.  Unfortunately, she is no longer with us to teach our kids.  I have already taught my oldest and now middle C is next in line.

When I was still a newlywed, she brought a bag full of groceries to our little apartment and showed me exactly what to do.  It's a challenge for me to write it down because it really does help to see it done.  But, I'll try!

Ingredients:

2 (15 oz.) cans of Great Northern or white beans
+ 2 cans of water
1/2 can (4 oz.) of tomato sauce
+ 1 can of water
3 T. olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 heaping T. oregano, crushed between palms
1 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
1 c. ditalini pasta
1/2 c. spaghetti, broken into 1 " pieces
chopped onion for garnish (optional)

*Keep a couple cans of water near stove in case you need to add to pot when pasta is boiling.

Heat all ingredients (except pastas) in large pot to a gentle boil.  Turn down to low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Turn heat up to boiling again and add pastas...stirring every few minutes so that the pasta does not stick.  Gently boil for 10-12 minutes.  At 10 minutes, check the ditalini for done-ness.  If, during boiling, mixture becomes too thick, add water.  It should stay at a thick, soupy, consistency.  (I like it thinner and usually add water when it's done.  This cools it down a bit too.)

That's it!  My kids love it and ask for it regularly.  I wish I had a picture of it to share.  But it's been so hot that I haven't made it recently.

It serves 6-8.

After much trial and error, I have finally found that counting a 1/2 cup serving as 10 grams of carbohydrates works well for C.  But, please do your own calculations from the bean label and pasta packages.  The great thing is...you can subtract out the 7 grams of fiber per serving from the carbs!

Enjoy!  And, Happy D-Feast Friday!!

Carb-o-licious

Day 4 of Diabetes Blog Week:  To carb or not to carb?...That is the question for the day.
By the title, I'm sure you can guess on which side of the fence I stand!

Our daughter, C, was diagnosed when she was just 22 months old.  Whether or not she would eat carbohydrates was not a question for us.  The question, rather, was how to count the carbs and bolus accordingly. 

In the hospital upon diagnosis, the cafeteria staff definitely did not know how to feed a toddler with type 1 diabetes.  When meal time came, and a nice young candy-striper brought in C's dinner, I couldn't even imagine even myself eating what was on that tray.  Here's what I remember:  some kind of unidentifiable meat smothered in gravy, a mound of mushy vegetables, hot water for tea, a lemon slice and an enormous amount of sugar-free lemon Jell-o.  Yes.  This was what they offered my baby to eat.  The next meal looked way too similar to this.  And, the next.  And the next.  Finally I asked the nurse "Do you think they have a different flavor of jello other than lemon?"  It was ridiculous.

She was down in her weight as it was.  And there's only so much sugar-free lemon Jell-o a person (at any age) can swallow.  We began sneeking in food that a toddler might actually eat:  mac 'n cheese, fish crackers, cheese.  It was so great to finally see her weight increase.  She had been, literally, starving!
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We don't place restrictions on what she can and can not eat.  The exceptions are:  regular fruit juice, regular soda, strictly sugar-y candy, regular popsicles and the like.  Those items are reserved solely for treating lows.  And, of course, there are the times when an extremely high blood glucose number dictates whether she can have a snack now or later.  It's a constant balancing act. 

Some foods are just more difficult to count...but we work hard at it.  We have our problem foods (pizza, pasta and anything with corn in it) but we don't deny her these things.  We may not hit the mark each time, but we correct and move on with life.  We want C to grow up with healthy eating habits and a great self image.  We want her to enjoy food, to feel free in choosing what to eat.  I guess you could say we want her to have her cake and eat it, too!

"Lemon Jell-o?"

"No, thanks.  I'll have the chocolate cake!"

Low Carb Treats

It's pretty much a given around our home that when you open the fridge/freezer, you will find sugarfree popsicles, "no sugar added" fudgsicles, sugarfree jell-o, string cheese...blah, blah, blah. Can you tell, we need some new snacky-snack foods around here!

At the grocery store, sometimes I'm simply on auto-pilot. S.O.S....someone, anyone...help! What are some of your low-carb or sugarfree goodies that put a smile on your little one's face? I mean a kid can only have so much sugarfree jell-o.