Stuffed Poblano Peppers and Black Beans

I was out on Saturday for my morning walk to get the juices flowing. On the way back home I stopped by the local farmer's market. The Autumn harvest is in full swing, so I found some great deals on produce. Among the many bargains I found were huge lovely Poblano peppers. They looked perfect for stuffing, so it was time to take them home to play.

I wanted to make a tasty, satisfying, healthy main dish that fit into my current diet plan as either a dinner or lunch selection. The following recipe gives me plenty of room to add more carbohydrates to the meal. It also gives me a meat portion size that is in-line with a heart healthy diet. This dish freezes well so you can prepare them for a quick meal when you are short on time or energy.

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4 Poblano peppers, raw (150 g each)
• Filling
  • 8 oz. 96% extra lean Ground Beef, raw (224 g)
  • 4 oz Mozzarella Cheese, part skimmed shredded (112 g)
  • 1/4 cup (42 g) Brown Rice raw
  • Onions, raw, minced (100 g)
  • Garlic 4 clove, crushed and finely minced or microplaned (48 g)
  • 1/4 cup Cilantro, chopped
  • 1 tbsp Fresh Marjoram
  • 1 tbsp Fresh Thyme
  • 1tbsp Dried Oregano
  • 2 tbsp Cumen
• Sauce
  • 2 cups low fat low sodium Chicken Broth
  • Tomatoes, raw, diced (640 g)
  • 1 can Black Beans rinsed and drained (242 g)

Preparation

1. Remove the seeds and membranes from the peppers
2. Mix all the ingredients for the filling well
3. Stuff the peppers with the filling.
4. Mix the beans, tomatoes, and chicken broth in a casserole with a lid.
5. Place the peppers into the casserole.
6. Cover the casserole and place in an oven preheated to 350 f.
7. Bake until the peppers are soft and the rice is plump and tender.
8. Remove from the oven and let rest for 15 minutes.
9. Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings

Per Serving: 39 g Carbohydrates, 5.75 g Fiber, 25 g Protein, 27.5 mg Cholesterol, 9 g Fat, 304 Calories

And Now for Something Completly Different

As someone told me long ago, life is change. You learn to adapt or you go the way of the dinosaur or the dodo. Well life has changed, and I plan on not letting it drive over me without a fight.

It was a shock to find out that I had become a type 2 diabetic. The doctor gave me a blood glucose meter, showed me how to load it, but not much else. I was clueless and needed to be armed with some facts. Frustrated I began searching for the information I required to begin managing my diabetes. It made me reexamine my diet and lifestyle. I needed to get a handle on my intake of carbohydrates and calories.

I found the resources to monitor what was in the food I ate. At first I tried to keep track of my intake in my head, which lead to some problems. I was unable to see the shape of my eating patterns. I had information going to waste, and I needed to harness it.

For me the best way to do this was starting a diary of what I ate each day. It has been a learning process, and the process has been a bit time consuming. The results have been worth the effort. I now have my glucose levels back to normal again.

My focus on food will be changing here. I will be posting recipes that fit into a more healthy lifestyle. I hope they will help others to eat well but wisely.

Tips for Diabetic Cooking

Measurements

Measuring by volume is good for liquids or powders; but for anything else I recommend using a digital food scale set for grams instead of measuring by volume. Your measurements will be more accurate, allowing you greater control of your carbohydrate, fiber, fat and calorie intake.

If you are preparing fresh vegetables you know not all are the same size or weight, forcing you to guess at the real numbers for your meal. Using the nutritional information you can calculate the values for any amount of food item. Simply find the information for a food, divide the number of grams of carbohydrates, fiber, fat by the gram weight of the example. Next you take that number and multiply it by the gram weight of the food you want to eat.

The Formula is:

Grams Carbs (example)/Grams of Food (example)*Grams of Food (real)=Grams of Carbohydrates (real).

Here is an example:

Let's say you want to know the amount of calories in a 80 gram carrot, but you can only find numbers of a 50 gram one.

1 small carrot (50g)

• Calories 52
• Calories from Fat 3
• Total Carbohydrates 12.3g
• Dietary Fiber 3.6g
• Sugars 6.1g
• Protein 1.2g

You find that there are 52 calories in the example. Divide 52 by 50, you get 1.04 calories per gram. Multiply that by 80 and you get 83.2 calories in the carrot. It is just that simple.

Until we meet again, live life with all you got.