I Must Love Me Too

If you have neglected yourself,
make a sincere apology to thee.
Gather the "love-me-not-petals" of your life
and start counting "I-must-love-me-too".
In no time at all you have
a beautiful flower blossom within you. ~ Dodinsky Writings

Friday, April 24, 2009

Healthy Exchanges (Diabetic) Pantry Items

She has a list of staples in all her books. And once a year in the March
Newsletter she relays her staples.

For me, my staples I just noticed what I like the most and use the most
of, and wrote that down as my staples, and keep it in my head kind of.
Like I said my opinion is, go through recipes that you will be using and
note what is not perishable or can easily be frozen, and what pops up over
and over again in all the recipes, those will become your staples.

For me.....

Sugar Free puddings and Jellos of all kinds are definitely a huge staple
for me.

Carnation Dry Milk Powder

Low fat ground turkey-I use it all the time, in place of beef. (don't get
the 99 percent fat free though, it's nasty, I get the 93 percent fat
free!). I can make any thing from breakfast sausage, to lasagna to tacos
to meatloaf with ground turkey and the right spices/herbs/seasonings!

Canned veggies, like green beans, carrots, peas, and corn.

Canned Tomatoes of all kinds, diced, whole, paste, sauce, and juice. (I
get the no salt added of all my canned foods!)

Canned beans of all kinds-Navy, pinto, red kidney, garbanzo, etc etc.

Canned Healthy Request Soups-Chicken Noodle, Cream of Celery, Cream of
Chicken, Cream of Mushroom, and Tomato.

Canned Broth, I prefer Swansons or Tyson, Chicken and Beef, 99 perfect
fat free. And low sodium. I make my own broth.

Frozen veggies, like brocoli, onion, peppers, cauliflower, okra, spinach
and zuchinni.

Laughing Cow Lite Cheese, Fat Free Chedder/Swiss/America Slices (I don't
like fat free shredded cheeses!). These last forever in the fridge!

2% shredded cheeses of Chedder, and Swiss. And also reduced fat Parmesan.
(can be kept in the freezer for a long time! And defrost fastly! I just
sit it out and with in a hour it will be defrosted. Or put it in the
fridge the night before.)

Also Walden Farms Pancake Syrup-zero calories and GREAT! Walden Farms
Petso-10 calories, and will make any italian food burst with flavor! For
only 10 calories! And I like Walden Farms Raspberry Vinigrette, and Bacon
Ranch dressings as well.

I like David Rio Chia Tea-sugar free Orca Spice, only 42 calories a cup
and delish, same with sugar free fireside coffees (taste like hot cocoa
no coffee flavor what so ever!). And Miss Meriegn (sp) sugar free Dulce
Leche Cookies (13 for 35 calories!) These are good for snacks when you
just have to have something sweet.

I keep ice cream in the freezer all the time! My favs are Weight
Watchers, and Skinny Cow. No Pudge is lower in calories, but I think they
are just so-so in flavor. All have fiber added though.

I like light breads of all kinds, weight watchers and the store brands
lite English muffins freeze very well. I don't care for frozen sliced
bread though, once defrosted taste too dry to me.

And of course Polanders Sugar free, with splenda, 10 calorie jams and
jellies! I like strawberry, orange marmalade, and Apricot the best. I
have not tried the grape yet. The blackberry and the Raspberry just
didn't have the right texture in my opinion.

Keebler and Nabisco Pie Crust, and also Pillsburry pie crust. For graham,
and short bread pie crust I prefer Keebler, for chocolate I like
Nabisco's Oreo, over Keeblers Chocolate. I like the taste better, I like
the color better, I like the texture better, and I like that it don't
fall apart as bad.

Of course Flour, Corn Meal, Reduced Fat Bisquick, baking soda, and
powder, corn starch, spices and herbs-especially garlic, and Worcestshire
sauce. I really like JoAnnas Sausage seasoning as well. (although we have
a closet full of spices/herbs and seasonings, and use them daily. I like
sea salt, and pepper medley (fresh ground pepper mixed of all kinds of
peppercorns) by McCormick the best!

I like Parkay Spray butter for toast, and to spritz on veggies over the I
can't believe it's not butter, it sprays much much more evenly and don't
have to spray and spray to see something come out!

For when she calls for light Margarine, I personally prefer Brummel and
Brown, it's only 45 calories a TB, and that's just one fat window,
usually that is divvied up between 6 to 8 servings so not even a whole
fat window, it's practically free when divided up into that many servings.
Plus it's trans fat free and won't clog the arteries, and taste very rich
and creamy cause it's made with yogurt, and don't melt into a puddle of
water! With oil sitting on top!

Water

That's off the top of my head. I know there is more things though. But,
with the above, I can make almost anything.

Heather