Diabetes salad help

[Claire]

One thing that has happened in the past couple of years is that my husband is supposedly diabetic. I am being as cooperative as possible (luckily, I already made nutritious, balanced meals). But of course now he wants even more salads. I've always made us a salad with almost every meal, and I fed him dinner salads through the summers anyway. I'm running out of ideas. I need recipes for salads and dressings that do not have a lot of starch or sugar. I'm good, but my imagination is running out. I grow my own lettuce when the weather allows (right now it has bolted), and will use any kinds of greens I can get my hands on. But I'm becoming exhausted when it comes to dressings. Anyone with some low-carb salad ideas, please jump on board.

 

[Clienta]

My father-in-law has type 2 Diabetes. I use a lot of stevia & splenda in salad dressings. I like to make Asian dressings with soy, canola oil, rice vinegar, ginger, lime & a sugar substitute. I throw in edamame, peas, carrots, celery, red pepper, snow peas, almonds & mixed greens. Another fun salad is arugula with grilled veggies (carrots, eggplant, mushrooms, onions, aspargus & peppers). I make a roasted pepper dressing with balsalmic, olive oil, roasted red peppers & feta. We also do Caesar dressings.

Not a salad but check out the splenda website (SPLENDA® Brand Sweetener - Welcome to a World of Sweetness) I have made several of the cheesecakes & they taste & look just like the real thing. They have lots of great recipes for diabetics. Good luck!

 

[kitchenelf]

If you have your grill going cut a head of romaine in half, if big you might be able to do 1/4th's. Brush with olive oil, salt, pepper, and grill. Grill about 2 or 3 minutes on the cut side, turn over briefly. Just make sure the cut side doesn't burn but grill marks are ok. It just depends on how hot your coals are. Grill some veggies too with salt, pepper, olive oil, and a squirt of lime (I like cumin too). You might even want to marinate your veggies (red pepper slices, zucchini, portobello mushrooms, onions, asparagus, etc. Once everything is done you can chop everything up - chopped grilled salad. With the flavor of the grilled salad and the veggies it might not even need any dressing.

 

[Charlotte]

Kitchenelf has the right idea: no dressing at all is the best. I love vegetables done on the grill! I have had type 2 for 11 years and I use spices and different oils for dressings but no salt at all.

Good luck!

 

[kitchenelf]

Another nice salad is what we call chopped salad and the key is a really juicy tomato. Chop lettuce, chop tomato (pour juice in lettuce too), chop cucumber, chop spring onion, chop green pepper, and mix in some kosher salt and fresh grated black pepper. Toss this and again, no dressing is needed. But a small amount of a homemade red wine vinaigrette with a bit of Splenda makes a good dressing.

Also, roast some red peppers (take skin off and seeds out) and puree with some lemon juice and a bit of soy sauce - it makes a great dressing and probably counts as a vegetable, if you have to watch that closely. You can also use it as a drizzle for brown rice and chicken.

The key to making salads is tossing, tossing, tossing before you put it in a bowl. It makes such a huge difference in distribution as opposed to just drizzling or pouring on.

You can mix your protein in with your salad and then use a large leaf of lettuce as a wrap - making it sort of a sandwich but without the carbs. If carbs are needed you can grill or broil a couple pieces of ciabatta.

 

[Claire]

I grill veggies on a regular basis ... but do not live in a place where it works well in winter. I know there are die-hards to cook out when it is less than 10 degrees. I'd prefer not to suffer for my art! No dressing just doesn't work when you're eating flavorless salad makings in the winter. Yes, when my tomatoes come in, you betcha all there will be is ... well, nothing. But the grocery store tomatoes have no flavor at all, I use them just for color, and add some chopped olives or tapenade or somethig.

 

[soapgirl]

Apple cider vinegar dressing is da bomb and it has NO carbs! Also, recent studies indicate that vinegar might help control BG, but this is prelimenary.

2/3 apple cider vinegar
1/3 canola oil (one of the healthier oils)
add Splenda, garlic, onion powder, parsley, celery salt, Italian herbs to taste.

Shake and keep bottled in the fridge, use within 1 week.

Serve over fresh greens salad, sauteed spinach, or make a marinated salad (my favorite).

marinated salad:
1 part fresh broccoli
1 part fresh cauliflower
1/2 part tomato wedges
1/2 part black olives

Douse veggies with enough ACV dressing to be heavily coated and mix well. Chill in refridegerator in a covered bow overnight. Stir again the next day. Enjoy!

Also: low carb "ranch" and "creamy italian"
mix 1 packet of salad dressing dry mix with 1 cup of low-carb, fat-free, plain yogurt. I like the hidden valley ranch and good season's italian.