Chef Robert “The Happy Diabetic” Lewis, who is living with type 2 diabetes, has made it his  goal is to live happy and healthy and to create recipes that celebrate great-tasting food that both diabetics and non-diabetics can enjoy. His cookbooks are filled with tips, tidbits and humorous anecdotes that he hopes will make cooking fun! Below is one of our favorites:

Happy Diabetic’s Turkey Joe’s Fast Recipe

“Happy and Healthy sloppy style joes made with simple ingredients and ground turkey. Can you feel the love?”, says Chef Robert Lewis. 

What’s In It?

2 pounds ground turkey

2 cups tomato sauce (low sodium)

1 can tomato paste

1 Tablespoons garlic powder

¼ teaspoon Mrs. Dash Table Blend Salt

¼ Tablespoons chili powder

2.5 Tablespoons honey or maple syrup

1 16 oz can diced tomatoes, drained (optional I like to reserve the juice incase I want or need to thin down the sauce)

Let’s Put It Together:

In a large sauce pan, brown ground turkey over medium heat until completely cooked.

Stir in all ingredients. Once mixed, heat on low for an additional 10-15 minutes.

The NUTRITION Facts (approximate): Serving Size 4 oz, Calories 220, Total Fat 8 g, Sodium 178.7 mg, Total Carbohydrates 14.5 g, Protein 22.1 g

In a recent profile on the Everyday Diabetes website, Chef Robert Lewis admitted that he feared the worst for his own love of great food following his diagnosis with Type 2 Diabetes in 1998.

“I suspected that my days of good eating were over,” Lewis writes on his blog. “Yet, as I worked through my ups and downs, I came to realize that the selection of foods I could and should eat was vast and included many of my favorites. This motivated me to attempt to create delicious, diabetic-friendly dishes that were also easy to prepare.

Today he’s a man on the go! is a man on the go. When he’s not working as a director of training for 60 restaurants in the Midwest, he’s  traveling around the country as a keynote speaker for Taking Control of Your Diabetes and/or hosting his own podcast, ‘The Happy Diabetic Kitchen Podcast’! Read more about Chef Robert Lewis aka ‘The Happy Diabetic’ in Diabetes Health Monitor magazine.

Chef Robert “The Happy Diabetic” Lewis stars in Divabetic’s 5th Annual Diabetes Mystery podcast, “Swan Wake”  starring Best-Selling Author Tonya Kappes, We Are Diabetes organization founder Asha Brown, Seveda Williams, Catherine Schuller AICI, CIP, Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE, Mary Ann Nicolay MEd, DTR, Mama Rose Marie, Chef Robert Lewis aka ‘The Happy Diabetic’ and Poet Lorraine Brooks. Throughout the podcast we will be featuring music from Leonard Berstein’s recording of ‘Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Op. 20’ in celebration of the centennial of America’s greatest classical composer and conductor courtesy of SONY Music. Available for free on demand LISTEN NOW