Man revels in making dinners for diabetic wife
Charlie Alcorn doesn’t eat lunch. But by early afternoon, he starts preparing dinner. If his wife, Melinda, wants to know what he’s cooking, all she has to do is peek at his hand-written menu, usually lying on the kitchen counter.
When the Peoria couple married 33 years ago, they created a blended family of five – his, hers and theirs. Charlie, then a school psychologist, got off work earlier than his wife, a school social worker.
“She didn’t have time to cook, and I did,” he says.
Besides, Melinda says, Charlie was always more willing to plan and cook meals that suited the differing, sometimes picky, tastes of each child. The kids grew up and left home, he retired 15 years before she did, and it seemed just as practical for him to continue cooking duties.
And as he did with the children’s tastes, he began cooking to suit her needs once she learned she had diabetes two years ago.
“I’ve basically given up the old typical cookbooks with cream and butter and rich stuff like that,” he says. “Now we’re on a cholesterol-free diet.”
Melinda tracks her carbohydrates, and Charlie plans meals with her diabetes in mind. One of his favorite cookbooks, he says, is “1001 Delicious Recipes for People with Diabetes.” He also likes “Six Ingredients or Less Diabetic Cookbook” and “Harriet Roth’s Cholesterol-Control Cookbook.”
Nowadays, says Charlie, 83, there are so many cookbooks and recipes geared to diabetes control that it’s just a matter of choosing the main dish you want to cook, whether it’s vegetarian, seafood, chicken, beef or pork.
And after years of retirement together, Melinda knows exactly what she’s supposed to do when Charlie starts pulling out pots and pans.
“Funny, after all these years, when he cooks he doesn’t want me in the kitchen,” she says. “I’ll sit right here and I’ll say, ‘Will you bring me a glass of tea?’ ”
Shrimp & Sausage Gumbo
Like many cooks, Charlie Alcorn varies the recipes used in his favorite cookbooks. For instance, he prefers andouille sausage to the turkey sausage called for in this shrimp and sausage gumbo from “1001 Delicious Recipes for People with Diabetes.”
The Alcorns don’t serve the gumbo with rice, but that’s strictly because of preference, Melinda Alcorn says. However, if they did use rice, they’d serve brown rice, which is lower in carbohydrates.
4 ounces turkey smoked sausage, halved and sliced thin
1 teaspoon margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
8 ounces fresh or frozen, thawed okra, sliced
2 cans (14 ounces each) reduced-sodium stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 dried cayenne pepper, minced or 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
8 ounces medium shrimp, peeled, deveined
Salt, to taste
3 cups cooked rice, warm
Sauté sausage in margarine in large saucepan until browned; add garlic and sauté one minute longer. Stir in bell pepper, okra, tomatoes and liquid, cayenne pepper and shrimp.
Heat to boiling, reduce heat and simmer, covered, until shrimp is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt. Serve over rice in bowls.
Nutrition per serving: 316 calories; 14 percent calories from fat; 5 grams fat (1.2 grams saturated fat); 104 milligrams cholesterol; 49 grams carbohydrate; 20 grams protein; 395 milligrams sodium.
Source: nwherald.com
Man revels in making dinners for diabetic wife
