Season's Eatings
By Mary Jo Plutt, Photo by John Hubbard
Tips and Treats for Enjoying the Holidays. It's that time of the year again...
Time for family gatherings, lots of food and those tempting sweet treats. The holidays can be a challenge for anyone who is trying to watch what they eat, but sticking to a diabetic diet plan from Thanksgiving to New Year’s doesn’t mean giving up your once-a-year favorite cookies, pies and other goodies. Instead, just follow a few simple strategies so you can budget them into your meal plan.
"To enjoy holiday foods, it’s important to first know the amount of carbohydrates in the food," says Beth Anderson, RD, CDE, a patient educator at Liberty Medical. "Read the nutritional analyses with recipes or the Nutrition Facts on labels. That way you’ll know how to balance these foods into your mealtime plan." For example, depending on your carbohydrate budget, you may need to cut back on the portion size of bread or potatoes at a meal in order to allow dessert.
Balance doesn’t mean depriving yourself of holiday favorites. In addition to counting carbs, Anderson offers the following suggestions for including holiday treats into your meal plan:
- Talk to your diabetes educator or dietitian about how to include holiday foods in your diet. It may mean eating less of other foods, exercising more, increasing medications or a combination of these.
- hare a dessert with a friend or family member.
- Check your blood sugar before a big meal and two hours afterward. This way, you’ll know the effect of the dessert and other high-carbohydrate foods from the meal on your blood glucose.
Apricot-Ginger Fruit Balls
Enjoy the natural sweetness of a mixture of dried fruits in these sweet bites. When choosing sugars, keep in mind that fruits give you the benefits of added vitamins, minerals and fiber.
Per Serving: calories: 60, 10 calories from fat, total fat: 1 g, saturated fat 0 g, trans fat 0 g, cholesterol: 0 mg, sodium: 0 mg, carbohydrates: 12 g, fiber: 1 g, sugars: 8 g, protein: 1 g, vitamins: vitamin A (6% DV), vitamin C (0% DV), calcium (2% DV), iron (2% DV). Exchanges: 1 fruit.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Chilling Time: 1 hour
Yield: about 20 pieces
- 1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted*
- 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup dried pitted dates (about 15 dates)
- 1/3 cup dried Mediterranean apricots (about 10 apricots)
- 1/3 cup golden raisins
- 1/3 cup dried cherries
- 2 tablespoons puréed apricots with mixed fruits (baby food)
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
- 1 teaspoon powdered sugar
- Place almonds and flour in food processor container. Cover and process until coarsely chopped. (Mixture should still be dry and not oily.) Set almond mixture aside.
- Place dates, apricots, raisins, cherries and apricot purée in microwave-safe bowl. Stir until fruit is evenly coated with purée. Microwave, uncovered, on HIGH (100% power) for 45 to 60 seconds or until fruit is soft and warm.
- Transfer fruit mixture to food processor container. Cover and process until coarsely chopped. Stir in almond mixture and ginger. Cover and refrigerate about 1 hour or until easy to handle.
- Form mixture into 3/4-inch balls using no more than 1 1/2 teaspoons for each. Store fruit balls in airtight container at room temperature for up to three days or in freezer for up to one month.
- To serve, thaw fruit balls, if frozen. Lightly sift powdered sugar over fruit balls. If desired, place in paper candy cups. Makes about 20 pieces.
*To toast almonds, place almonds in single layer in shallow baking pan. Bake in a preheated 350º F. oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool nuts before using.
Maple-Pecan Pie
This recipe uses sugar-free maple syrup instead of corn syrup to deliver more flavor with half the number of carbs in conventional pecan pie recipes.
Per Serving: calories: 380, 240 calories from fat, total fat: 27 g, saturated fat 4.5 g, trans fat 0 g, cholesterol: 80 mg, sodium: 75 mg, carbohydrates: 30 g, fiber: 2 g, sugars: 8 g, protein: 6 g, vitamins: vitamin A (15% DV), vitamin C (0% DV), calcium (10% DV), iron (10% DV). Exchanges: 1 other carbs, 1 starch, 5 fat.
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Baking Time: 40-45 minutes
Yield: serves 8
Pie Crust Pastry
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup trans-fat-free 67% vegetable oil butter spread, chilled
- 3-4 tablespoons cold water
Pecan Filling
- 3 large eggs, slightly beaten
- 1 cup sugar-free maple-flavored syrup
- 1/4 cup packed Splenda® sweetener & brown sugar blend
- 1/4 cup trans-fat-free 67% vegetable oil butter spread, melted
- 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups pecan halves, toasted*
- Preheat oven to 350° F. For pie crust, place flour in medium bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut chilled butter spread into flour until crumbly. Sprinkle water, 1 tablespoon at a time, over mixture; gently toss and push together until dough is moistened and forms a ball.
- Place dough between two large sheets of waxed paper. Roll dough from center to edges to form a 12-inch circle. Remove top sheet of waxed paper. Using bottom sheet of paper, turn pastry over and transfer it to 9-inch pie pate. Carefully peel off paper. Gently ease pastry into pie plate. Trim pastry edge to 1/2 inch beyond edge of pie plate. Fold under excess pastry and crimp edge. Refrigerate pie shell while making filling.
- For filling, stir eggs, syrup, brown sugar blend, butter spread, flour and vanilla in large bowl until well combined. Stir in pecans. Pour mixture into pie shell.
- Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. If necessary, to prevent over-browning cover edge of pie crust with foil during the last 10 minutes of baking.
- Cool pie on wire rack for up to 2 hours. For longer storage, cover and refrigerate or up to three days. Serves 8.
*To toast pecans, place pecans in a single layer in a shallow baking pan. Bake in a preheated 350º F. oven about 10 minutes. Cool nuts before using.
Holiday Sugar Cookies
Cutout cookies are a popular holiday tradition. Celebrate this year with these reduced-fat sugar cookies. For a splash of color, without the carbs, paint the baked cookies with food coloring diluted in water.
Per Serving: serving: one cookie calories: 60, 25 calories from fat, total fat: 2.5 g, saturated fat 1 g, trans fat 0 g, cholesterol: 5 mg, sodium: 15 mg, carbohydrates: 8 g, fiber: 0 g, sugars: 3 g, protein: 1 g, vitamins: vitamin A (2% DV), vitamin C (0% DV), calcium (2% DV), iron (2% DV). Exchanges: 1/2 other carbs, 1/2 fat
Prep Time: 35 minutes
Chilling Time: 2-24 hours
Baking Time: 8-10 minutes
Yield: 32 2-inch cookies
- 1/2 cup trans-fat-free 67% vegetable oil butter spread, chilled
- 3 ounces Neufchâtel cream cheese
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup Splenda® white sugar blend for baking
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- Beat butter spread and Neufchâtel cream cheese in large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, white sugar blend, egg yolk and vanilla; beat about 1 minute or until light and creamy.
- Add half of the flour and the baking powder; beat until combined. Stir in remaining half of flour with wooden spoon. Divide dough in half; wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Chill in refrigerator for 2 to 24 hours or until easy to handle.
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Place each piece of dough between two large sheets of waxed paper. Roll dough from center to edges to 1/8- to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into 2-inch shapes. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake cookies in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are lightly brown. Transfer cookies to wire rack; cool. Makes about 32 2-inch cookies.
Recipe Variation: For Lemon-Thyme Holiday Sugar Cookie, prepare dough as directed above, except mix in 2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel and 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice in Step 1 with the vanilla, and 2 teaspoons finely snipped fresh thyme and 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom in Step 2 with the flour.