Easy Vegetarian Lasagna

Ingredients:

•  cooking spray
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1 ½ teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon fennel, crushed
• 1 teaspoon dried orange rind
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 15 ounces low-fat ricotta cheese
• ½ pound zucchini, grated and squeezed of excess liquid
• 2 small carrots, grated
• ½ cup egg substitute
• ½ cup shredded skim milk mozzarella cheese, plus 1/4 cup for garnish (the garnish is optional)
• 2 tablespoons grated Romano cheese, plus 1 teaspoon for garnish (the garnish is optional)
• 6 oven-ready lasagna noodles

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Spray a non-stick covered pot with cooking spray. Add the onion and garlic and cook over medium heat until the onion is transparent (about 5 minutes). Add the tomatoes, basil, fennel, orange rind, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a slow simmer, cover and cook while you ready the rest of the ingredients.
3. Place the ricotta in a large bowl. Stir in the grated zucchini and carrots. Stir in the egg substitute, grated mozzarella and finally the Romano cheese. Set aside.
4. Prepare an 8-inch oven-proof square pan by spreading 3 to 4 tablespoons of the tomato sauce on the bottom.
5. Place 2 lasagna noodles on the bottom. Spread with 1/3 of the cheese and vegetable mixture and top with 1/3 of tomato sauce.
6. Repeat this, making 3 layers and ending with tomato sauce.
7. Top with reserved mozzarella and Romano.
8. Cover the lasagna with aluminum foil which you tent a bit to make sure it does not touch the cheese on top. Make sure to crimp around the edges of the pan.
9. Bake for 45 minutes, uncovering the last 10 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and allow to set for 10 minutes before cutting.

Per serving:

260 calories (26% calories from fat), 19 g protein, 7 g total fat (4.2 g saturated fat), 29 g carbohydrate, 4 g dietary fiber, 30 mg cholesterol, 426 mg sodium

Today's Recipe Apple Spinach Salad

Apple Spinach Salad
Ingredients
4 cups spinach, baby
1 medium apple, Granny Smith, cored and sliced
1/4 cup onion, red, thin wedges
2 tablespoon cherries, dried, snipped
1/2 cup cheese, feta, crumbled, (optional)
1/4 cup oil, olive
1/4 cup vinegar, balsamic
2 teaspoon thyme, fresh
1 teaspoon mustard, dijon-style
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cooking Instructions
Make-Ahead Directions: Prepare the vinaigrette as directed.
Cover and chill for up to 1 week. Serve the leftover vinaigrette
with a tossed vegetable salad.
Apple-Spinach Salad:
In a large bowl, toss together spinach, apple, onion, and cherries.
Shake Thyme-Dijon Vinaigrette; drizzle onto salad. Toss to coat.
If desired, top each serving with cheese. Makes 4 (1-cup) servings.
Thyme-Dijon Vinaigrette:
In a screw-top jar, combine 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup white or regular balsamic vinegar, 2 teaspoons snipped
fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon crushed dried thyme, 1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Cover and shake well to mix. Chill until ready to serve. Makes 2/3 cup.




Diabetes Store Online

Diabetes now epidemic in US

Diabetes is now considered an epidemic in the United States, and nearly 26 million children and adults are living with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes, says LSU AgCenter nutritionist Beth Reames.

Another 79 million people have pre-diabetes and are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes.  Recent estimates project that as many as one in three American adults will have diabetes in 2050 if current trends continue.

“In Louisiana, diabetes prevalence increased from 5.2 percent in 1997 to 10.1 percent in 2007 among adults age 18 and older,” Reames says. And Louisiana has the highest diabetes mortality rate in the country at 35.5 deaths per 100,000 population. 
Every November during American Diabetes Month, the American Diabetes Association encourages the public to learn more about diabetes and the importance of diabetes prevention and control.  

The risk for diabetes increases with age, excessive weight gain and inactivity and is more common in African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, Reames says.

Diabetes complications include heart disease, blindness, kidney disease, stroke and amputations. Keeping blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol in control can reduce the risk for heart attack or stroke.

“Although diabetes can’t be cured, type 2 diabetes may possibly be prevented or delayed with a healthful lifestyle – eating nutritious foods and being physically active,” Reames says.  

Because healthful eating is important for managing diabetes, Reames recommends a meal plan that includes vegetables, fruits, whole grains and fat-free or low-fat milk products along with seafood, poultry, lean meats, eggs, beans and nuts.

“It’s important to decrease intake of sodium – salt – added sugars and saturated fats found in animal products like cheese, fatty meats, whole milk and butter,” Reames says.  “Also, avoid trans fats, which are often found in cakes, cookies, stick margarines and fried foods.”

She also offers these tips from the American Diabetes Association for making healthful food choices:

– Eat lots of vegetables and fruits. Try picking from the rainbow of colors available to maximize variety. Eat non-starchy vegetables such as spinach, carrots, broccoli or green beans with meals.

– Choose whole-grain foods over processed grain products. Try brown rice with stir-fry or whole-wheat spaghetti with pasta sauce.

– Include dried beans (like kidney or pinto beans) and lentils in meals.

– Include fish in meals two or three times a week.

– Choose lean meats like cuts of beef and pork that end in “loin,” such as pork loin and sirloin. Remove the skin from chicken and turkey.

– Choose non-fat dairy products such as skim milk, non-fat yogurt and non-fat cheese.

– Drink water and calorie-free “diet” drinks instead of regular soda, fruit punch, sweet tea and other sugar-sweetened drinks.

– Choose liquid oils for cooking instead of solid fats that can be high in saturated and trans fats. Remember that fats are high in calories. If you’re trying to lose weight, watch portion sizes of added fats.

– Cut back on high-calorie snack foods and desserts like chips, cookies, cakes and full-fat ice cream.

– Watch portion sizes. Even eating too much of healthful foods can lead to weight gain.

Regular physical activity is important for everyone, especially for people with diabetes, Reames says. Exercise helps control weight, increase circulation, decrease stress and reduce the risk for heart disease and strokes by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol.

“For people with diabetes, exercise can do even more,” she says. “It can help keep blood glucose levels in a healthy range and can go a long way toward preventing the complications associated with diabetes.”

To get the health benefits of physical activity, do a combination of aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities. Aerobic activities like brisk walking make you breathe harder and cause your heart to beat faster. Muscle-strengthening activities like lifting weights make your muscles stronger. Start at a comfortable level and gradually increase activity level and time.

According to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, adults gain substantial health benefits from two and one half hours a week – or 30 minutes per day – of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity, or one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous physical activity.

“If you have diabetes, talk with your doctor about what type and how much exercise is right for you,” Reames says.


http://gobogalusa.com/articles/2011/12/12/news/doc4ecd00f275c87855450537.txt

Gingerbread-Pumpkin Yule Log

• 3eggs
• Nonstick cooking spray for baking
• 1cup all-purpose flour
• 1teaspoon baking powder
• 1teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4teaspoon salt
• 1/2cup granulated sugar or sugar substitute blend* equivalent to 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4cup molasses
• Powdered sugar
• 1recipe Pumpkin Cream Filling
• Fresh rosemary sprigs (optional)
• Fresh cranberries (optional)

1.Allow eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly coat a 15x10x1-inch baking pan with nonstick spray for baking. Line the bottom of the pan with waxed paper or parchment paper; coat with nonstick spray for baking. Set pan aside. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt; set aside.

2.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, beat eggs with an electric mixer on high speed for 5 minutes. Gradually add granulated sugar, beating until well mixed. Stir in pumpkin and molasses. Fold in flour mixture. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.

3.Bake about 15 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. Immediately loosen edges of cake from pan and turn cake out onto a towel sprinkled generously with powdered sugar. Slowly peel off waxed paper. Starting from a short side, roll up towel and cake into a spiral. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour. Meanwhile, prepare Pumpkin Cream Filling.

4.Unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cake with Pumpkin Cream Filling to within 1 inch of edges. Roll up cake and filling into a spiral. Trim ends. Cover and chill for 2 to 48 hours before serving. To serve, place cake roll on a platter. If desired, garnish with rosemary sprigs and cranberries and sprinkle top with powdered sugar. Makes 10 servings.

Tip

• *SUGAR SUBSTITUTES: Choose Splenda® Sugar Blend for Baking. Follow package directions to use product amount equivalent to 1/2 cup sugar.
  PER SERVING WITH SUGAR SUBSTITUTE: same as above, except 153 cal., 27 g carb.

Xmas

Its the Christmas Season and things will be quiet around here for the next month.  But not to worry.  Updates will probably be once or twice a week.  In the mean time I'm working on getting an app up so you can take us mobile.  Stay tuned!

Reduced-calorie diet could beat diabetes in four months

Don't get excited yet.  In my opinion this is not healthy, even if you are morbidly (perhaps especially) obese.  See, this recuded calorie diet, was 500 calories a day.  500!  In case you weren't sure the recomemded daily allowance on calorie intake for an average healthy individual is 2000 calories.  This of course isn't exact for everyone.  Women don't burn calories as fast as men so yours could be more or less also depending on how active you are. Here is an online calculator in case you are wondering how many calories you should be eating to maintain, gain or loose weight.

I can not imagine only taking in 500 calories a day.  I myself try to stay under 1500, but I'm also trying to loose weight.  If I go less then this I'm hungry all the time and I am MUCH more likely to binge and of course that binge is going to be on something disgustingly bad for me loaded with fat, sugar and yummy carbs.  Take a measly 500 calories a day and add any kind of activity to that and you are likely to pass out  just trying to get out of a chair because you're body doesn't have enough nutrition, hence the warning at the end of the article.

After the warning there is a note that even just two weeks of a really low calorie diet can help significantly with diabetes.  If you even have the tiniest inkling that you want to try this, TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR.  I DO NOT recommend ANYONE try this on their own.  You could die, seriously.

Here is the full article