‘Foody Friday’: 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet Recipe Review

I’m pleased to confirm that in my continued attempt to ‘reverse my diabetes’, I’ve now hit ‘Pre-Diabetes’ status, having reduced my diabetes blood readings from 60 when first diagnosed in March 2016 down to 45 in July and hopefully continuing to decrease.

I put my success down to the principles detailed in Michael Mosley’s book The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet and I’ll post more about this soon. In the meantime, here is a review of one of the great recipes in this book that I make and eat regularly. It’s really tasty and very low carbohydrate which is good for my diabetes. My husband loves it too so it doesn’t feel like a special ‘diet’ meal but is pretty healthy.

I love the addition of the pomegranate seeds which just add a bit of zing and pomegranates are now recognised for their fabulous health benefits!

Aubergine with lamb and pomegranate:

(serves 2 – approx. 490 calories per serving)

Ingredients:

• 2 aubergines, halved lengthways
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon (tsp) ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 200 g lean minced lamb
• 1 tablespoon pine nuts
• 1 tablespoon tomato puree
• 2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds
• Handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

I’ve detailed the ingredients as per the book recipe, however, I prefer extra spices and so add slightly more of each (probably 3/4 to 1 teaspoon) so you may want to adjust to suit your taste. Also, if I haven’t had any pine nuts in the cupboard, I’ve added walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts instead but I chop them to a crumb in my blender first..

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 220 degree C/Gas mark 7
• Place aubergines in a roasting dish skin side down. Lightly smear with some of the olive oil and season with a pinch of salt and plenty of black pepper. Bake in oven for 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile… heat remaining olive oil in a fry pan, add the onion & spices and cook over a medium heat for approx. 5 minutes until the onions are soft and browning.
• Add the meat, pine nuts (or alternative) and tomato puree and cook for further 8 minutes or so. Just before the end of cooking add the pomegranate seeds (I use fresh from Aldi..yummy!).
• Remove the aubergine from the oven and divide the lamb mixture evenly between each half. Return to the oven for a further 10 minutes.
• Serve topped with fresh parsley leaves..(or not if you can’t be bothered!)

I sometimes add a bit of crumbled feta cheese over the top.

This recipe is one of my favourites from Michael Mosley’s book. Try it and let me know what you think..