Bread Pudding Florentine Recipe by Holly Clegg

“This delicious make-ahead savory bread pudding makes a light breakfast-style recipe.  Pop in a cold oven if using a glass dish when baking,” says Best-Selling Cookbook Author Holly Clegg.

Ingredients

1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced

1 onion, chopped

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 cups packed baby spinach

2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

Salt and pepper to taste

Half loaf French or Italian bread, cut into slices, divided

1 cup shredded reduced-fat Swiss cheese, divided

2 eggs

3 egg whites

1 1/2 cups skim milk

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Directions

1.  Preheat oven 350°F.  Coat 9x9x2-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

2.  In large nonstick skillet coated with nonstick cooking spray, sauté mushrooms, onion, and garlic until tender. Add spinach, stirring until wilted, and add flour, stirring to mix well. Season to taste; set aside.  Place half bread slices in prepared dish. 

3. Spread spinach mixture over bread and sprinkle with 3/4 cup cheese. Top with remaining bread and remaining 1/4 cup cheese.

3. In bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, milk, and mustard. Pour egg mixture evenly over casserole, refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.

4. Bake at 350°F 40 – 50 minutes or until puffed and golden.

Terrific Tip: You can substitute 1 (10-ounce) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry for fresh spinach, if desired.  Adjust mushrooms and onions to your taste buds but they add great nutrition.

Nutritional Nugget:  This is a great dish to try several days before your next cycle of treatment. Good source of vitamins and minerals.

Makes about 7 (3/4-cup) servings

Nutritional information per serving: Calories 210, Calories from Fat 22%, Fat 5g, Saturated Fat 2g,Cholesterol 62 mg, Sodium 352 mg, Carbohydrates 26g, Dietary Fiber 2g, Total Sugars 6g, Protein 16g

With over 1.5 million cookbooks sold, Holly Clegg has become a culinary expert on easy healthy everyday recipes through her nationally recognized best-selling trim &TERRIFIC®, Kitchen 101 and Eating Well cookbook series, including Eating Well Through Cancer, (English, Spanish and Chinese editions), Eating Well to Fight Arthritis and Diabetic Cooking with the American Diabetes Association. Holly Clegg attended the Cordon Bleu Cooking School, London. For more information, visit About Holly or The Healthy Cooking Blog for more recipes and tips.

Several women from the Divabetic community have reached out to us with concerns about eating eggs. We contacted one of our favorite certified diabetes educators and registered dietitians, Jill Weisenberger, MS, RDN, CDE, CHWC, FAND for her expert advice. 

“I am very comfortable recommending eggs as part of a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables and other wholesome foods for most of my patients with diabetes. There is much to learn about individual differences, however, so it’s prudent to monitor cholesterol levels and adjust as necessary,” says Jill Weisenberger. 

Why You Should Consider Including Eggs In Your Diet:

Eggs are affordable and easy to prepare.

They contain lutein, a cousin to beta-carotene. Lutein makes its way into the macula of the eye where it helps protect vision.

Eggs are nutrient-dense, a source of high-quality protein, and are low in saturated fat. I encourage moderate amounts of protein at each of the three main meals to help my weight loss clients minimize muscle loss while they drop pounds.

What’s Up with Eggs?

The egg is one of those nutrient-dense foods that generates a lot of debate about its healthfulness. Because eggs are high in cholesterol, which has historically been linked to heart disease, the public has long been warned about eating too many eggs, especially the cholesterol-rich yolk. People with diabetes may have even greater concerns because their risk of developing heart disease is quite high.

Here Are a Few Things About Eggs:

Recently the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology and Dietary Guidelines for Americans Committee stated that the evidence is not strong enough to conclude that cholesterol in foods raises blood cholesterol.

Some population studies have found that eating seven or more eggs weekly increases the risk of heart disease among people with diabetes. Not all studies find an association, however. I see a problem with population studies like these. The researchers cannot account for all of the variables in people’s diets. For example, on some plates, eggs keep company with wholesome fruit and whole-grain toast or oats. On other plates, eggs sit atop buttery biscuits and sausage gravy. Does the company eggs keep influence health? I would have to think so.

Jill Weisenberger’s comprehensive guide, ‘Prediabetes: A Complete Guide: Your Lifestyle Reset to Stop Prediabetes and Other Chronic Illnesses’ will lead you through dozens of concrete steps you can take to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and other lifestyle-related chronic diseases. Taking an individualized approach to your lifestyle “reset,” this book will allow you to choose your own path to wellness, help you gain a greater sense of wellbeing, boost your confidence in your abilities to maintain a healthful lifestyle, and potentially even help you reverse prediabetes and avoid type 2 diabetes and other chronic illnesses. You’ll be feeling better than you have in years! Inside, you will learn to:

Identify your risks for developing type 2 diabetes

Set personalized and meaningful behavioral goals

Identify and build on your motivation for a lifestyle reset

Create positive new habits

Change eating habits for weight loss and greater insulin sensitivity

Choose wholesome foods in the supermarket and when away from home

Tweak your favorite recipes

Reduce sedentary time

Start or improve upon an exercise plan

Reduce emotional eating

Organize and track your progress with tools included in the book

Much more

Jill Weisenberger, MS, RDN, CDE, CHWC, FAND is a great resource for all things nutrition, food and diabetes. Whether she’s speaking, writing, chatting on social media, appearing on TV or working with individuals, her candid and energetic approach appeals to busy people, and her sound nutrition and fitness advice gets results. In fact, her appreciation for science and ability to translate science into actionable information earned her a place in US News & World Report’s 10 Dietitian’s You Need to Follow on Social Media.

Parsley Deviled Eggs by Verna ‘Lady V’ Henry 

Deviled eggs are one of the trendiest appetizers at  Backyard Cookouts this Summer. The good news is that Deviled eggs are packed with protein and can be a healthier choice than some other party foods. But, the traditional recipe is pretty high in fat and caloriesBy reducing the amount of egg yolks used and swapping the mayonnaise for Greek yogurt, you can make skinny deviled eggs. They’re the perfect low calorie, high protein snack.
This recipe was inspired by a recent trip to the Hamptons with my friend, Lady V. She loves to shop for fresh produce at the area’s Farmers’ Markets. From Montauk to Westhampton Beach, Farmers’ Markets located throughout the Hamptons are an easy way to shop local and enjoy fresh produce and other delectable finds.
We bought fresh tomatoes and parsley at Babinski’s Farm Stand located at 160 Newlight Ln, Water Mill, NY 11976. They also carry local fish, fruit and vegetables, Debragga Beef, as well as a variety of homemade pies and grocery items such as raspberry jam.
“What makes this Deviled Egg so delicious is the fresh parsley!” says Lady V. “It is also rich in a variety of different vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.”

Parsely Deviled Eggs by Verna Henry 

Ingredients:
8 eggs
1/4 cup of Best Foods/Hellmann’s Mayonnaise Dressing With Extra Virgin Olive Oil (tastes more like regular mayonnaise to me than some of the other light mayos)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/2  teaspoon of ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper 
4 cherry tomatoes (for garnish) 
 
Directions:
Boil eggs in water (about 10 minutes).
After eggs cool,  slice the hard-boiled eggs in half.
Scoop out the yolks and place them in a medium bowl. 
Combine yolks with mayonnaise or yorgurt, parsley, ground mustard.
Continue stirring until the mixture is creamy with no lumps. Season it to taste with salt and pepper.
Fill a pastry bag with the mixture. 
Lay the egg white halves on a platter with the yolk hole facing up. Hold the twisted part of the bag containing the mixture with one hand, and use the other hand to hold the bag near the bottom.
Apply even pressure on the top of the bag to force the mixture out through the tip or hole into the yolk hole in the egg. Continue until you fill all of the egg halves.
Garnish the eggs with parsley and cherry tomatoes 
 
Easy to Make Pastry Bag:
 
If you do not have a pastry bag, fill a medium-size plastic bag (Ziploc Freezer Quart-size) with the yolk mixture and twist the top of the bag to force the mixture toward one of the corners. Use scissors to cut a small hole in the corner of the bag.
Lady V’s Cooking Tip: Overcooked hard-boiled eggs develop a deep green ring on the outside of the yolk that can darken the color of your yolk mixture. To keep your yolks yellow, place the eggs in a pot filled with cold water. Set it over the stove on high heat. When the water begins to boil, immediately remove the pot from heat, cover and let it sit for 15 minutes for large eggs.

The American Diabetes Association considers eggs an excellent choice for people with diabetes. That’s primarily because one large egg contains about half a gram of carbohydrates, so it’s thought that they aren’t going to raise your blood sugar.

Be mindful that eggs are high in cholesterol. One large egg contains nearly 200 mg of cholesterol, but whether or not this negatively affects the body is debatable.

Monitoring your cholesterol is important if you have diabetes because diabetes is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. High levels of cholesterol in the bloodstream also raise the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. But dietary intake of cholesterol doesn’t have as profound an effect on blood levels as was once thought. So, it’s important for anyone with diabetes to be aware of and minimize other heart disease risks.

Tune in to Divabetic’s June Diabetes Late Nite featuring music by Edith Piaf on Tuesday, June 12, 2018, 6 PM, EST.  We’re talking about living well with diabetes by having ‘NO REGRETS’. Guests include Poet Lorraine Brooks, Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE, Dr. Lori Shemek PhD, Dr. Andrea Chisholm OBGYN, Cindy Lou from the ‘Diabetes What To Know’ community, and Mama Rose Marie. Throughout this podcast we will be featuring music from ‘EDITH PIAF TOP 40’ album courtesy of SONY Music.

 

A Yellow That’s Anything But ‘Mellow’

Rafael Nadal’s epic win at the Italian Open (Rome Masters) last week not only means that he will move back to the top of the tennis rankings for the sixth time in his glorious career, it also served as the tipping point for yellow trending in fitness fashion.  

Let canary yellow clad Rafael Nadal & Divabetic inspire you to brighten up your diabetes wellness routine with these sunny ideas in fitness, fashion and food!

While you might not have an excuse to wear a designer ball gown that often, we’ll bet you wear fitness clothes all the time. Take some inspiration from your favorite movie star, musician and/or athlete and look Red Carpet-worthy while you’re working out in canary yellow!

Actress and fitness fanatic Renee Zellweger’s canary-yellow Jean Desses gown’s sweetheart neckline comes with this moisture-wicking workout top: Lole Women’s Central Tank Top in Solar Power, $70 BUY NOW 

Milani’s limited edition Fantastical Plumage Collection has a dazzling array of colors to choose from including canary yellow! Milani’s limited edition Fantastical Plumage Collection. $4.49 LINK: https://www.milanicosmetics.com/products/color-statement-nail-lacquer

Trek’s Shift 1 WSD! The lightweight aluminum frame’s seating position is rider-friendly and places you in a relaxed, upright stance. It’s also incredibly stable and confidence inspiring, perfect for all types of riders, especially beginners. Take the long way home, you’ve got a super-soft saddle and a 7-speed drivetrain that allows you to pedal longer, with more comfort than you ever thought possible. Plus, the Shift sports durable Bontrager wheels, sandal-ready pedals as well as a high-rise handlebar with soft grips. Get to work, get in shape, get coffee and have a great time doing it. $439.00 BUY NOW

Garmin vívofit 2 is an activity tracker that shows steps, calories, distance and monitors sleep. It comes in many colors including canary yellow.  Garmin Vivofit 2 Energy-Themed Bands, 3-Pack l $22.33 BUY NOW

Salomon Sense Pro – SS15 Trail Running Shoes Womens – Canary Yellow/Black/Black. $55.16 BUY NOW 

Yellow Mustard features in most fast foods. This might make the condiment seem unhealthy, but it does offer certain health benefits according to Cure Joy.  Potassium and phosphorous in the sauce promote heart health. READ MORE

Yellow Squash, also called yellow zucchini or summer squash, is a hot weather vegetable picked in its immature stage to ensure a thin, edible skin and sweet, soft flesh. This squash typically ranges in size from 6 to 8 inches long, although it can be smaller, depending on when you pick the fruit. You can eat yellow squash raw, as well as stir-fried, baked, grilled or sauteed, and you can substitute it for any green summer squash since the taste is similar. One cup of raw, sliced yellow squash contains 18 calories. This low-calorie vegetable is an ideal side dish if you wish to lose weight  according to Live Strong.

“The egg is one of those nutrient-dense foods that generates a lot of debate about its healthfulness, “ says Best-Selling Author  Jill Weisenberger RD, CDE . “Because eggs are high in cholesterol, which has historically been linked to heart disease, the public has long been warned about eating too many eggs, especially the cholesterol-rich yolk. People with diabetes may have even greater concerns because their risk of developing heart disease is quite high.” READ MORE 

 

Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE compared prediabetes to a yellow light in a traffic signal. The basic concept that a yellow light signal means proceed with caution while driving is also applicable to your diabetes health. You can either choose to either stop, slow down and/or speed up a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. It’s up to you.

Eating healthy foods, incorporating physical activity in your daily routine and maintaining a healthy weight can help bring your blood sugar level back to normal. Yet if these people don’t take steps to control their blood sugar now, a diagnosis of diabetes within the next few years is highly likely. READ MORE

84.1 Million people are considered to have pre diabetes according to the Center of Disease Control. The trouble is, many of them don’t know it. Prediabetes often has no symptoms at all.. It’s a diagnosis made when your blood glucose is higher than it should be, but not high enough to be called diabetes. “Prediabetes is this kind of grey zone,” says Dr. Stewart Harris, a professor in family medicine at the University of Western Ontario’s Schulich School of Medicine who specializes in diabetes. “Your body is metabolically losing the ability to manage blood sugars after eating, and they start to creep up.”

Divabetic presents Diabetes Awareness Day featuring a Dog Fashion Show, Health Screenings, Healthy Food Tours, Diabetes Alert Dog Demonstrations, Poetry Readings, Art Displays & More on Sunday, June 3, 2018 at Mosaic Central Farm Market in Fairfax, VA

Here’s a complete listing of Events & Activities:

9AM -12 PM Lions Free Sight & Hearing Screenings for Adults & Children: Lions Club District 24A Sight and Hearing Van hosts free sight (including glaucoma) and hearing screenings for all visitors (men, women, and children). They will also offer a paper screening test for diabetes and blood pressure testing.

10 AM Healthy Food Tour of Mosaic Central Farm Market with Registered Dietitian, Certified Diabetes Educator Nadine Young RD, CDE with Virginia Hospital Center: Learn how the season’s best fruits, vegetables and artisanal foods can fit into your meal plan. Visit different booths to pick up tips on preparing seasonal fruits and vegetables, as well as local dairy, grain and protein products so you can build your healthy plate.

10:30 AM Dog Fashion Show Registration & Rehearsal: Dogs of all breeds and sizes are welcome to compete on the red carpet for fabulous prize awards compliments of Mosaic Central Farm Market vendors. REGISTER NOW: https://goo.gl/forms/WWxkBrs7ugpfK38P2 

10:45 AM Healthy Food Tour of Mosaic Central Farm Market with Dietitian Nadine Young RD, CDE with Virginia Hospital Center: Learn how the season’s best fruits, vegetables and artisanal foods can fit into your meal plan. Visit different booths to pick up tips on preparing seasonal fruits and vegetables, as well as local dairy, grain and protein products so you can build your healthy plate.

11:30 AM Dog Fashion Show: See the best dressed dogs pose on the red carpet at our 2ndAnnual Dog Fashion Show. Hosted by Mr. Divabetic:

12 PM Diabetes Alert Dog Demonstration & Talk: Find out how dogs help people manage their blood sugar high’s and low’s, answer your questions and share resources for purchasing a diabetes alert dog and/or training your own pet. Presented by internationally known Scent Detection Dog Expert, Debby Kay and Health Educator, Kathy Gold RN, CDE

1 PM Plate Poetry Project & Workshop: What’s Eating You? Fine Artist Susan McCaslin’s Plate Poetry Project explores the conservations that people have with themselves while eating. Poet Lorraine Brooks helps adults and kids to express their mealtime thoughts and concern after reading aloud several of her poems. Generous donation provided by Onieda.

Don’t miss the Capital Jazz Fest featuring Luther Vandross’ longtime collaborator, renowned bassist, producer and songwriter Marcus Miller.  Marcus Miller hosts the  Late-Night Jam Session on Friday, June 1, 2018, 11:30 PM – 2 AM. The Capital Jazz Fest takes place at Merriweather Post Pavilion, located at 10475 Little Patuxent Parkway in Columbia, Maryland. The venue is 28 miles northeast of Washington, D.C. and 18 miles southwest of Baltimore.