Italian Hoagies

Just a warning before you read this:  I'm not a recipe writer or a photographer.  I love to cook and I love to share recipes and my favorite food blogs always have pictures.  That's all.  So please forgive the weird spacing and such.  I'm still learning how to blog...  As I've said many times before, I'm a work in progress!  :)

The original post starts NOW!

I tried a new recipe tonight and Bill gave it two thumbs up, so here it is... (with pictures!)... (and extra recipes!)...

Italian Beef Hoagies (with 2 extra meals-worth of seasoned ground beef for your freezer)
Potato Chips in the Microwave
Sugar-free Coleslaw

Place 3 pounds of ground chuck in the Deep Covered Baker.  Chop 3 onions and add it to the meat in the Baker.  Throw in 3 cloves of minced garlic.  Don't worry about stirring anything and put the lid on the Baker.  Microwave on HIGH for about 7 minutes.

I should probably say here that you could also use a skillet to brown the meat, onions, and garlic. Using the Baker allows me the luxury of not feeling I have to stand over the meat or stir it a lot, which I tend to do because I'm a little impatient sometimes.


Meanwhile, slice a potato very thin (on blade setting 1 of  a mandolin slicer).  Place the potato slices on papertowels and pat them dry.  Leave them sitting on the papertowels.




By this time, the microwave has probably beeped, so stir to break up the cooked parts of the meat. It won't look very delicious right now, but it should smell pretty good. Return the Baker to the microwave and cook on HIGH for 4 more minutes.



While the meat continues to cook, make your slaw dressing.  Whisk together 1/4 cup mayo, 6-9 drops liquid Stevia extract, 1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar, and a pinch of dry mustard.  (I don't have a picture of that, but you get the idea...)


The microwave should be beeping again.  Take the meat out and place a third of it in a skillet.  Add 1 cup water, 1 teaspoon beef base, 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar, 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning, and 1 packet onion soup mix.  Stir it around over high heat, then let the mixture simmer until completely reduced.


Remember those potatoes resting on papertowels?  Well, put them on the Pampered Chef Microwave Chip Trays.  Sprinkle the potato slices with your preferred seasoning.  Tonight, I tried a small tray sprinkled with barbecue rub and a larger tray sprinkled with a little garlic salt and some pepper.  Microwave the trays on HIGH 3 minutes.



Mix about 2 cups of shredded cabbage and carrots (I buy a bag of it) into the dressing you whisked up earlier.

Don't forget to switch the potato chip trays and microwave on HIGH another 3 minutes.


And take a look at the meat in your skillet.  It should be simmering away and smelling wonderful.  Has the family started coming around to see what you're cooking?  It gets crowded in our kitchen sometimes near mealtime!

At this point, everything is getting done.  Go ahead and plate up some coleslaw (unless you want everyone to serve from the bowl, which is the way we do it when the kiddos are home).  You can throw some chips fresh from the microwave on the plates, too.

Now assemble your sandwiches--nothing fancy, just put it together like a sloppy joe.  I used whole wheat high fiber hoagie rolls.  Give each roll a generous amount of the meat mixture and a slice of provolone cheese.  This recipe makes four to six sandwiches, depending on how hearty your appetites are (and how big your spoon is).  Next to the chips and the coleslaw, it should look something like this...

I have to say that this was a deliciously flavorful meal that I will definitely make again!  The net carbs for half of a bun is 15g, the chips equal about half of a potato, and the slaw is essentially carb-less, making this a diabetic-friendly meal.  The only thing I would change is that I would make that fantastic broccoli, raisin, and bacon salad to make the plate more colorful and to add a greener vegetable.  Don't let that stop you, though ~ let me know if you decide to give any of it a try.  Enjoy!

P.S.  I forgot to tell you what to do with the other two-thirds of the meat!  Stick it in your freezer in two freezer bags.  To one bag, add 1 cup chunky salsa, 6 ounces tomato paste, 3/4 cup water, and 2 Tablespoons Chili Lime Rub, Chipotle Rub, or Taco seasoning.  (You'll use this one for a quick heat & eat taco meal that even the kiddos can throw together.)  To the other bag, you can add everything for the meat filling for some more Italian Hoagies, OR just add 2 Tablespoons Smoky Barbecue (or Smoky Applewood) Rub and 2 teaspoons cider vinegar.  (You'll use this one to heat & eat some Barbecue Beef Sloppy Joes.)  In about 30 minutes, you've got supper tonight and two more meals in your freezer. Easy-peasy!!

The Incredible Edible Egg

I tried. Again.  I just can't do eggs.  People think I'm crazy for not liking eggs.  I've tried them every way I can think of, but I just can't eat straight eggs.  This week, I made some little "egg muffins," which are like mini-strattas made in muffin tins.  Mine had turkey bacon, broccoli, cheese, chives, pepper, and eggs.  They looked great, smelled great, sounded great, but they weren't so great on the taste buds.  I don't think I screwed them up, I just think it's my aversion to eggs.

I do like scrambled eggs as long as they're not still yolky and it's an added bonus if they have plenty of cheese in them... and bacon on the side. (Hence, the reason I thought I'd like the aforementioned "egg muffins.")  I also like deviled eggs.  Sometimes I can even eat half of an egg salad sandwich because it tastes like deviled eggs on bread.  I can definitely eat eggs in a cake, in cookies, in fried rice, and sometimes even in a quiche or a stratta.  I love the idea and the smell of a fried egg sandwich or of a BLT with an egg added to it, but can't bring myself to actually enjoy such a thing.

I think all this dislike of eggs must stem back to a book I had when I was a kid that showed how a chick develops inside an egg.  I remember checking my eggs for signs of chick parts when I was a kid.  Why does that bother me?  I have no idea!  I love to eat chicken!  Damn books.

It doesn't bother me when other people eat eggs--the rest of my family loves them.  It does make me gag if someone tries to get me to taste, think, or talk about fried eggs as they're eating them.  What's that about??

Eggs are good for me.  Eggs are a fantastic source of protein.  Eggs are a quick and easy way to handle the most important meal of the day.  Eggs are incredibly edible... for other people.

I wonder if hypno-therapy would help...

True Love on Valentine's Day

My post on Facebook today:  Today, I was having a bad day. One of my students came up after class, hugged me, and told me she hoped my day got better. It did... right then. :)

And then I added:  "Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." ~Leo Buscaglia

When I taught Kindergarten and 1st grade, I got hugs all the time.  I used to tell people that's why I kept teaching those little ones:  What other job could I have where every day someone (usually more than one someone) told me they loved me and that I was beautiful?  Where else would I receive so much love just by going into work each day?

Now I teach 6th grade.  Occasionally, I get compliments from students, but they don't come often and it's really more like "regular" working where it's generally unexpected and surprising every time.  I love my job for different reasons now. (I won't go into all that in this entry... maybe another time.)  It's the difference between working with 5-year olds and working with 12-year olds.  Both are trying to assert their independence, both are trying to figure out the world, both are learning new things every day without even realizing it.  The 5-year olds, though, aren't self-conscious pre-teens.  They give love so freely and without caring what others think of their shows of affection.  Sometimes when you're 12, it's very uncool to show affection... especially to a teacher.  Plus the teachers aren't as prone to be showing affection to kids that are as tall as they are (or often taller than they are, in my case).

So today, when J took just a quick moment of her time and hugged me in front of her peers and told me she hoped my day got better... wow.  It touched me more than I could have imagined it would, and probably more than she realizes.  I used to ask my own kiddos every day to tell me the best and the worst thing that happened at school.  Today my worst thing is hard to discern, but my best thing... that's easy.

*****
Since this is my Diabeetus blog, I probably should mention that the only chocolate I ate today was one piece from a box of sugar-free chocolates.  I ate relatively well and avoided all the Valentine's Day treats that float around a school on February 14th, then had supper with Bill and the kiddos at Chipotle.  I had a bowl instead of a burrito, chose brown rice (and asked for a half-portion of it). I had chicken, tomato salsa and corn salsa, sour cream, cheese, lettuce.  My blood sugar at this moment is 224.  Next time, I'll choose tomato OR corn salsa... and I probably don't need to eat the whole thing... and I could probably get rid of the cheese... I'm definitely a work in progress.

Wait!!  I forgot!  I did eat a chocolate covered strawberry that a co-worker offered me this morning.  *sigh*

Ugh. Damn Diabetes.

I just poured my heart out about all of my anger regarding my diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes, then deleted it accidentally. I don't know if I have it in me to type that part again...  Basically, I was really really pissed at myself and the world when I received my diagnosis back in September.  And I cried a lot.  (Poor Bill had to listen to that part... Sorry, Babe.  I love you all the more for being so constantly patient.)  I wasn't obese and I was in the middle of training for a half-marathon.  Let's just go from there...

Sooo, when the doctor told me to cut my carbs in half to see what it would do to my blood glucose levels, I really wanted to do just that. I really wanted to keep eating my favorite foods in moderation.  I really didn't want everyone to know I had Type 2 Diabetes.  And I especially did not enjoy the idea of taking insulin. I had already received my lifetime sentence of taking Metformin daily (to control my liver's urge to dump glucose into my body and make my cells more sensitive to the reduced amount of insulin my pancreas so lovingly still produces).  I was told that if I could lower my A1C (remember those PSAs you heard not long ago?) to around 7 in 90 days, I could skip the insulin for a while.  My A1C was 9.1 and the best ways to lower it are to either lose weight or lower your blood sugar consistently or do both.  I didn't listen to my doctor and I worked my ass off to get it down to 6.9 in just over 2 months.  After another month, which included holidays, it was only up to 7.

I don't think I fit the typical profile of someone with Type 2 Diabetes.  It doesn't run in my family.  I'm active. At my heaviest, just after Cami was born in 2000, I weighed 186.  I haven't weighed that since around the end of 2001.  Right now, I weigh less than I have since my early 20s.  Most people (even medical professionals) say, "You have Diabetes? Your not... well, you're just not who I thought would get it." They might even ask, "Are you sure? How do you know?" Then they give me that tight-lipped half-smile that you get when people feel sorry for you and don't know what to say. I know they're caring because I've given that same look to people before when bad news hit. I feel like I need to soothe them somehow, "It's okay. I don't have to take insulin or anything like that. I control it through my diet." Smile. Hug. "It really is fine. I can eat just about anything in moderation." Because who really wants to hear about all this crap?  I know I don't.

(In fact, feel free to stop reading any time. I truly won't be offended... I won't even know!)

Which leads me to this... I've completely stopped tracking my blood sugar levels unless I feel like something's wrong. For example, today I checked and it was 242. That's with eating healthy yesterday, skipping breakfast today, and eating a low-carb healthy lunch. *insert "Ugh!" here*  I couldn't believe it. That means my A1C is probably creeping up again to a number well above 7. When I say I worked my ass off to get that number down, I mean it. It pretty much consumed all of my free time--researching, making menus, creating a spreadsheet to count carbs in each food I love, making changes to my favorite recipes, worrying, crying, yelling. Then, as my doctor predicted (damn it, I hate when he's right) I got tired of doing it, so I stopped.

I have no idea what my A1C is now because I'm avoiding the test. That's right. I'm avoiding the test.

I've only known about my Diabetes for a few months and I'm already tired of talking about it, thinking about it, planning around it, poking my my fingers to check for it, blah, blah, blah.  I don't say that to make anyone feel sorry for me.  In fact, please don't give me your sympathy (read back a couple of paragraphs).  Just know that even though I'm feeling okay with it more often these days, I still have days like today when I feel really pissed off and whiny.  I feel like screaming, "Get out! Go away! Fuck you if you think you're going to control me!!" Then I realize that, right now, the Diabetes is in control.  Honestly, it always will be because it will always dictate what, how, and when I eat.

What can happen if I don't control it?  Well, nothing immediately, except that when my glucose levels are too low or too high I feel pretty crappy--dry mouth, headaches, lethargy.  I would just go on living my life like I always had before.  It's one of those diseases that people don't really realize unless you tell them or they notice you eating differently or something.  Then, one day, in the near or the distant future, I would notice little changes... my feet and hands would start feeling cold all the time and some of my toes or fingers might be numb.  I might get a sore on my leg that wouldn't heal.  My blood pressure and cholesterol would both be elevated.  I would probably have vision problems due to retinal nerve damage.  Think of it like my blood turning into thick sugar-syrup.  Imagine that trying to make it through narrow arteries, veins, and capillaries.  Stroke and heart disease are both more likely with Diabetes.  Also, I could miss out on being able to play with my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  I could miss out on spending more years with Bill--something I wouldn't want to miss for anything.

Why am I telling you, dear blog-reader, about this? Because I have to be held accountable. If I'm not posting here, it's probably because I'm not eating like I should. I ate a reasonable supper tonight and right this moment, my blood glucose is right around 140, which is higher than yours might be if you ate the same thing, but not too shabby for me.  Considering that it was over 100 points higher than that earlier today, I'm pretty proud of myself.  It proves that I can do something about this crazy disease.  It doesn't mean that every item on every plate for every meal every day has to be "diabetic friendly."  It means that, more often than not, I need to eat well, avoid refined sugar and flour, and think about what I'm putting in my body.  Don't expect to see me declining the Red Velvet Cheesecake that Cami requests for her birthday or the chance to share Sushi with Logan or the delicious Sweet William Blossom Boutique apples that Janet brings me... but I can make better choices for myself every day that will include better choices for the people I love.

I recently read this statement on someone's blog: "Well-controlled Diabetes is the leading cause of nothing."  So, Diabetes, get your ass ready. I'm going to keep kicking it!