food & dining
Diabetes-Friendly Foods for Thanksgiving
LINDA MOREL | SPECIAL TO THE JE
T wo weeks before Thanksgiving last
year, my husband’s endocrinologist
said his blood sugar was dangerously
high. David needed to bring it down —
immediately. But traditional Thanksgiving foods
can cause anyone’s blood sugar to spike.

Think of stuffing, sweet potatoes with
melted marshmallows, cranberry sauce
(my recipe calls for two cups of sugar)
and pumpkin pie with whipped cream!
On top of everything, our 30-year-
old niece, who was diagnosed with Type
1 diabetes at age 10, was joining us.

Recently, she’d worked hard to eat right
and exercise more. She became predia-
betic for the first time in 20 years.

I always knew Thanksgiving food is
carb-heavy and far too sweet, yet I fig-
ured, what could it hurt once a year?
But now that it was clear this menu was
harmful to two family members, I didn’t
want Thanksgiving dinner to catapult
their health backward.

Our family is not alone. In the United
States, 34.2 million people suffer from
diabetes, and another 88 million live
with prediabetes.

I decided to tweak ingredients in
Thanksgiving foods, lowering carbohy-
drate culprits, such as flour and sugar.

But in the process, I refused to sacrifice
flavor. Here is what I did.

Nonstick vegetable spray
6-8 Jerusalem artichokes
(sometimes called sunchokes)
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus 3
tablespoons Kosher salt to taste
10-12 ounces of peasant bread or
sourdough, presliced (about ½-⅔
of a large bakery loaf)
5 stalks of celery
4 large carrots
1 onion
3-4 cloves garlic
1½ inches ginger root
8 ounces mushrooms, presliced
¼ teaspoon sage
¼ teaspoon thyme
3 cups chicken broth
Place a shelf in the middle of
the oven. Preheat the oven to 350
degrees F. Coat a small roasting pan
with nonstick spray.

Dice the Jerusalem artichokes.

Move the artichokes to the prepared
roasting pan. Drizzle with 1 table-
spoon of olive oil (or more if needed).

Sprinkle with salt, tossing to coat
evenly. Roast for 35 minutes, or until
the artichokes are golden and fra-
grant. Cool to room temperature and
reserve. The recipe can be made to this
point up to two days in advance, if cov-
ered and refrigerated. Bring the arti-
chokes to room temperature before
proceeding. Tear slices of bread into bite-sized
pieces. Reserve.

Peel and dice finely the celery, car-
rots and onion. Peel the ginger and
garlic. Dice them and then chop them
finely. In a large pot, heat 3 tablespoons
of olive oil on a medium flame. Add
the mushrooms, celery, carrots, onion
and ginger. Sprinkle them with the
salt, sage and thyme. Stir to combine.

Sauté until the vegetables soften,
about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and
Jerusalem artichokes, and sauté for
1-2 minutes.

Add the bread, and stir to com-
bine. Slowly pour in the chicken
broth a little at a time, stirring after
each addition. When the bread
is wet and sticking together (but
See Food, Page 23
• I skipped cranberries, which
require excessive sugar. Instead,
I used raw cranberries to garnish
the platter of sliced turkey.

• In the stuffing, I upped the veggies
and lowered the amount of bread.

• I nixed candied sweet potatoes
with marshmallows. As an alter-
native, I served a sweet potato
casserole with a pecan topping.

• I substituted a couple of veggie
sides for mashed potatoes.

On Thanksgiving, everyone raved
about my enlightened recipes. My fam-
ily didn’t bemoan what we were miss-
ing, but rather we were thankful to be
together, sharing a delicious meal in
good health.

Jerusalem Artichoke Stuffing |
Pareve Serves 8
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 19