Monday, February 21, 2011

Pasta Carbonara

While you may think this is not a diabetic meal, you are partially correct.
For every carb I eat a fiber and protein. This of course is my own diet and may not work for everyone, but following this guideline for myself, helped me drop weight rather quickly.

So for each serving of carbs, I'd have 8 oz protein and since fiber is a free food, you can pretty much eat what you'd like.

If you can, look for whole wheat pasta, or egg pasta. These both have lower carbs which mean bigger servings.
As a diabetic or cooking for one, you need to start reading nutritional value and serving sizes.

To start, you want to get veggies that you like. Especially if they are high fiber. When I can I like to use spinach, white beans, green or yellow squash, green or red onions, chopped cabbage, carrots, kale, peas or tomato's. Keep in mind some of these do have natural sugar in them.

I made this Carbonara tonight using yellow squash, bacon, green onions, and fresh on the vine tomatoes.
All you want to do is dice the squash into small squares, as well as chopping the onions, and tomatoes close to the same size.
To cut your bacon easier, stick it in the freezer for 15 minutes. This helps you cut it into pieces easier and it's not as sticky to deal with.
While you are cutting things up, make sure you have a pot of water on the boil, adding a dash of salt and a splash of olive oil.
Chop the bacon into small pieces and saute them in a pan. You don't need to use olive oil because the bacon of course has fat.
Once the fat renders a bit clear, drain as much fat as you can and add the veggies.
Saute on low so that you don't overcook the veggies.  It should look like this :)

Your water should be boiling, so add linguine, angel hair, spaghetti, or whatever kind of pasta you like. Try to get the whole wheat or low carb if you can!
Let it boil for about 10 min  so that it's al dente (i never know the spelling for that).

Drain the pasta and set aside for a moment.
In the same pot you cooked the pasta in, add the saute mix you've created.


Time for the fun stuff!
Now you want to add the pasta you just cooked on top, keeping a medium flame.
Crack 2-3 eggs on top.


Grab two wood spoons or a good set of tongs, and stir while the heat is still on.
This is going to kind of glaze the pasta with the egg.
Don't worry the egg will fully cook but come out really yummy like a thick sauce.
Do this until the pasta is coated real well and shut the heat off.
Continue to stir for a bit and serve up as soon as you can or the egg will turn solid and look kind of clunky.
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I like to add a sprinkle of Parmesan or low fat mozzarella on top before eating.
This should be a side dish for a diabetic. I like to have a small bowl (serving suggestion will tell you on the box how much pasta is safe) On the side I'll have a salad or steamed veggies.
You will learn to love vegetables when you are a diabetic.

Instead of bacon I like to use chicken, flaked halibut or salmon, steak, or pork tenderloin.
The thing about my recipes is, it's okay to get creative. Just remember to add fiber filled foods so that you can have the pasta without guilt or high blood sugar.

Hopefully someone will try this and confirm that it is tasty. I love it, and don't feel super guilty with the amount of vegetables I have with it or the fact the sauce isn't a sugary tomato sauce but total protein. :)

ENJOY!!!

2 comments:

  1. Whether a diabetic can handle pasta depends on what they have with it (as you said), what type (as you also said), how much, how bad their diabetes is, and what they use to treat it. Looks delicious!!!!

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  2. Some people I know that are type 2 are very sensitive to pasta or carbs in general. I'm usually fine with a serving, and lots of fiber and some protein.
    Sadly i'm one of the few that Splenda has a bad effect on. I might as well eat sugar!
    But dinner came out good, and Hiei ate all that was on his plate, so the universe still turns.

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