Fruit of the Month Club

Have you ever seen the Everybody Loves Raymond episode where he buys his parents Fruit of the Month Club? And, in typical Marie and Frank form, they act as though he has order stinkbugs to their house on a montly basis. "It's a club??!! Oh, my god! What do I do with all this fruit?"

In seems as though, at some point every summer, people turn into Marie and Frank Romano over their zucchini. I notice the prices on the zucchini get cheaper and cheaper as the summer gets on. Except no one is buying....because zucchini has taken over their gardens or their friends' gardens or their friends' friends' gardens and people can't seem to give it away fast enough. It can become so unweilding, that may parents decided to skip the whole zucchini craze in their garden this season.

Which I am sad about. Because I happen to love zucchini!

It also so happens that the only way people ever think of using zucchini is in a baked goods. Zucchini Bread. Zucchini Muffins.  Not so good for the diabetic.

Instead of producing muffin tray after muffin tray (which you know I'm totally down with too), I've started to use shredded zucchini as the main base for many of my salads. This has become my new favorite salad, complete with Pickled Red Onions (recipe to come)!

Shredded Zucchini & Kale Salad

by Bonnie Graham

Keywords: raw salad avocado beans kale zucchini summer

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Ingredients (1 large lunchtime salad)

Shredded Zucchini and Kale Salad:

• 3/4 - 1 c shredded zucchini
• 1 cup shredded Tuscan Kale
• 2 medium-sized carrots, sliced
• 1 ear of corn, kernels removed from the cob (you can use leftovers!)
• 1/2 c garbanzo beans
• 1/4 - 1/2 cubed avocado (depending on your preferences)
• 1 - 2 spoonfuls of Pickled Red Onions (recipe to come), or raw red onions

Lemon Basil Dressing:

• 1/3 c rice wine vinegar
• 1/3 c olive oil
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp honey
• zest of half the lemon
• 1 large handful of basil
• 1 garlic clove
• water if needed for consistency

Instructions

1. Add all chopped veggies into a bowl.

2. Combine all salad dressing ingredients in a food processor or mini-blender, adding water if you prefer a thinner dressing.

3. Add dressing to salad, toss, and eat!

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First Recipe: Kale Chips

It was a difficult decision, figuring out which recipe should be the first recipe of my blog! I turned it over in my head again and again...and realized it wasn't that big of a decision. Just post something already!

For the most part, I’m not much of a potato chip eater. But it’s amazing how once you’re not able to eat something, you really, really want it! Then, suddenly, potato chips become your absolute favorite food! In fact, they are the best thing that you've ever eaten! You can’t live another day without having another salty, yummy chip!

Ok....first, I know I can eat potato chips if I would really like them. Second, I don’t really feel that passionately about potato chips. I just like the drama of it all and needed a snazzy intro to what some may consider an uneventful recipe. Third, regardless of whether I can have potato chips or not, kale chips are a tastier, healthier, carb-friendly alternative to the tater chip. Lays’ Original potato chips are 15g of carbs per serving versus kale, which you have to eat an entire cup in order to make it to 7g of carbs (thank you, Calorie King)! 

As an aside, diabetes is all about carb counting and matching my insulin intake to my carbohydrate intake. It's important to know/guesstimate how many carbs are in the foods I eat.

Back to food...this recipe is super-simple and the results are very yummy. 

Baked Kale Chips

Ingredients

1 head of kale

Olive oil spray

Sea Salt

Pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 350.  

Wash and remove kale leaves from the stem.

Tear and spread on a pan.

Spray with olive oil, salt + pepper.

Bake for about 20-30min, turning every 10min, until desired crispiness is reached. You’ll see the edges will start to get brown and crispy!

Sorry for the crummy photo! I'm working on it!