Tell us about your holiday meal and modifications (if any). I'd be especially interested in hearing from those outside the US where I am from. If you wish feel free to share your blood sugar results
For myself we have been having Mexican food the last 5 years or so. My sister said we just had turkey on Thanksgiving, lets try something different.
I had beef and chicken fajitas minus the tortillias. The filling also contained green and red peppers, onion and squash), an egg cheese and green chillie casserole, and a few bites of Anasazi beans. Desert was low carb chocolate cheese cake, low carb almond meal chocolate cake topped with a few strawberries and a dab of vanilla icecream
Blood sugar 93 pre meal 118 at 1 hr. 116 at 2. I have recently upped my time exercising and it showed up in my numbers yesterday. Nice when something works like it's supposed to.
When I was taking R, I'd pound appetizer, run my BG up and then take some in my leg and run up and down the stairs to get ready for the second round. I don't worry about it too much. We had stuffed manicotti last night and, while it was mostly cheese, my mom heaped more on my plate, having commented the previous day that "you look gaunt" so I was like 'ah, no thanks' and scooped it back in the serving dish.
I would love to have Mexican food though. I could eat that every day of the year! I had a nice day yesterday too. It makes the holidays a bit less stressful than having to correct or run low or whatever all the time?
I made Christmas lunch for 12 people of 9 nationalities. I actively dislike virtually every traditional British/American Christmas food so went for a smorgasbord of different things to nibble at. This is what we had:
Sushi - maki rolls with crispy garlic chicken, crabstick/avocado, spring onion/olives. (I did a lower-carb one with just the crabstick and avocado, no rice.)
Hot tartlets with blue cheese+hazelnuts, and with spicy cheesy crab. (I didn't eat these but used the leftover crab in an omelette the next morning.)
Duck soba noodle salad. (I picked at the duck and vegetables but left out the noodles.)
Nachos with homemade guacamole. (Here in the UK you can get ready made guacamole but it's absolutely disgusting. Like green Miracle Whip. I bolused for the tortilla chips.)
Chicken with a creamy onion sauce
Spicy eggplant parmigiana with a gorgeous green chili salsa secret kick!
Cold dessert was fruit flan. Hot dessert was banana tarte tatin with a hazelnut streusel topping. I don't like dessert (never did even before diagnosis) so I finished my glass of sparkling Pinot Grigio and nibbled on a piece of Manchego cheese while making the espressos.
I had a great time cooking and I think my guests had an even nicer time eating so everybody had a fab time :)
We had smoked buffalo short ribs (no sauce, a spicy, peppery dry rub instead), stuffed mushrooms & green beans sauteed with garlic & almonds. My sweet husband was out in the snow smoking ribs on the grill. Chocolate rum balls (actually made with Irish whiskey) for dessert.
Lila, we have packaged guacamole in the US also. Nasty!
Very low carb, very easy. About 1 carb per ball, depending on how large you make them. I double the recipe & make them about 1" or smaller. The combo of ethryitol & liquid Splenda works great. No artificial after taste.
1 cup almond flour (best without skins)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
2 Tablespoons powdered erythritol
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons rum, brandy, whiskey, etc --according to taste
Artificial sweetener to taste - equivalent to about 1/2 cup sugar (I use zero carb liquid Splenda. Mixes in easily.)
Mix all dry ingredients together. Add butter.
Add vanilla and liquor. If the artificial sweetener is liquid and concentrated, add it to the liquor. Since there are different liquid sweeteners of different concentrations, you may have to play with the total amount of liquid, and cut down on the liquor, or add water. Usually the total liquid you want is about 2.5 to 3 Tablespoons. Add the liquid slowly and mix until it all comes together. If it's too dry to form balls, add just a little bit of cold water.
Roll into balls. They get better as they age a bit. Flavor of the alcohol mellows.
Erythritol is a zero carb sugar alcohol, Unlike the others (malitol, sorbitol, xylitol), it doesn't cause gastric upset. Some people can actually metabolize sugar alcohols (I'm one) & it then it acts just like sugar on BG. Erythritol has no effect on my BG at all. It has 70% of the sweetness of sugar, so not one of those overly sweet sweeteners. Never seen it in a grocery store, but I live in the sticks. Stuff is expensive, but not a lot is needed. Powdered form is easier to use than the granular form. I order it from www.netrition.com. I sift it with a strainer & use it to top cookies & cakes. No funky taste.
I made Christmas dinner this year and here's what we had:
Starters
veggie tray with ranch dressing
crackers and cheese
Main
Turkey
Homemade mashed potatoes with plenty of milk and butter
Green bean casserole
Steamed broccoli
Salad
Cranberry sauce
Wine
Dessert
Homemade pumpkin pie
Various brownies and cookies
You'll notice there was really only one starchy carb in the main course; I didn't make potatoes AND stuffing . . . I had plenty of turkey and veggies and salad, about 1/2 c. of mashed potatoes, and then 1/6 of the pie (I love pumpkin pie), offset my meal with 2 glasses of wine, and at 2 hours after the meal I was at 113, which I was happy with.
Every Christmas and Thanksgiving, my husband gives me a break from cooking by taking me to Sizzler. The only modifications needed there was to order a side of steamed veggies with their Malibu Chicken and having more meat/veggies from their all-you-can-eat salad bar. It’s not hard to eat right at Sizzler.
