A diet of meat, fish,
vegetables fruit; avoid dairy and high carb foods….hello, welcome to the eating
lifestyle of the diabetic. That’s
correct, what celebrities made famous as a “diet” is actually the lifestyle
that the typical individual, with diabetes, has to live by. Factually, if every individual ate this way,
those who are pre-diabetic, or possibly at risk, may just be able to avoid the
disease. Give it a fancy name and
celebrity endorsement though, folks will jump on the bandwagon without even
knowing why. Remember the “cabbage soup
diet”; that didn’t last long after people became very sick from it. Point?
Don’t do things just because a famous person (actor, athlete, singer)
says to; they are not trained nutritionist or dieticians!
Author, Dana Carpender,
began her career as a newspaper food columnist, with many a published cookbook
under her belt. Two recommended are,
“500 Paleo Recipes” and “200 Low-Carb High-Fat Recipes”; and the recipe I’ll be
giving you is from the latter. I am not
attempting to push the “Paleo Diet” on you; I am giving you information about
an alternative eating lifestyle. Being a
Type-2 Diabetic myself, I fully understand the frustration, anger, fear and
confusion this disease causes a person; perhaps this will ease the pain a
little.
“Winter Night Short Ribs”
uses a marbleized, tough, meaty section cut from the ribs of cattle or pigs;
hence the name. Unless it is cooked carefully,
it will end up being a chew bone for your dog.
Personally, I find this recipe perfect for a lovely meal for two
(leftovers for later, of course); holiday, anniversary, birthday, or a
celebration of some special event. The
sauce created is rich and full bodies, the vegetables so tender that they
actually melt in the mouth, and the meat….mind blowing in taste and texture. After cooking, the rib bone easily falls
away; the fat has melted into the meat to tenderize into that mind blowing
perfection.
Perhaps a change in lifestyle is far down on
your to-do list, at least make this meal for yourself and that special
someone. This is major pointage you’ll
be making in their eyes.
Winter Night Short Ribs
(from “200 Low-Carb
High-Fat Recipes” by Dana Carpender, page 127)
Ingredients:
2 pounds beef short ribs
2 Tbsp. bacon grease½ large onion, or 1 small onion
1 turnip, size of a baseball
1 cup beef broth
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
½ tsp. ground black pepper
\½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Optional: Guar or xanthan (for thickening, but you won’t need it, believe me!)
Preparation:
In a heavy skillet,
medium-high heat, sear the short ribs all over in the bacon grease. While doing this, slice the onion into 1-inch
pieces; peel the turnip and cut into 1-inch cubes. Place these into bottom of a 4-quart slow
cooker (crock pot). When the short ribs
are browned all over, place on top of the vegetables.
Pour the broth into the
skillet and add the seasonings; scrape up the browned bits (called “faun”) and
mix well, including all the fat. Pour
over the ribs in the slow cooker; cover, set to low and cook 8 to 9 hours. (Note: at 6 hours the sauce was bubbling a
lot; checked the meat and veggies, they were done!)
The recipe states it
yields six servings, but it ended up only being four for us; hence the meal for
two plus leftovers. A suggestion, a nice
roasted and mashed sweet potato as an addition to the other vegetables. The sweet potato is naturally sweet, so
simply add butter and cinnamon for taste, or spoon the sauce from the short
ribs over it. Sweet potatoes are also low
in carbs, so fits well with this meal.
Mary Cokenour
