What you eat makes a difference for your blood glucose levels, cholesterol, blood pressure and weight. Eating healthful foods does not have to be difficult. Using the Create Your Plate approach to meal planning (also known as the Diabetes Plate Method), which includes five easy steps to balance your meals, helps simplify your food choices. The Diabetes Plate Method, created by the American Diabetes Association, is a simplistic, realistic and delicious way of eating.
This recipe is from “The Create-Your-Plate Diabetes Cookbook: A Plate Method Approach to Simple, Complete Meals,” which brings the Diabetes Plate Method to life and can help those with diabetes select healthy and tasty foods at every meal.
Sheet Pan Chicken with Artichokes and Onions
The slightly higher fat content of dark meat chicken imparts a lot of flavor and helps the chicken stay moist when cooked in the oven. The fat found in the dark meat (without the skin) is mostly heart-healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat. Plus, dark meat is more plentiful in iron and zinc than white meat chicken.
Total time: 1 hour plus 10 minutes cooling time Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 45 minutes Serves 4 Serving size: 2 drumsticks and 1 cup vegetables
Ingredients:
2 small red onions, peeled and quartered (with ends still attached so the quarters stay intact)
Add the red onion and artichoke hearts to a medium bowl. Add the canola oil and toss to coat. Place the vegetables in a single layer on a sheet pan.
Add the drumsticks to the empty medium bowl. Add the garlic and salt and toss to evenly coat the chicken. Place the drumsticks in the center of the vegetables on the sheet pan. Top each drumstick with a basil leaf and place the lemon slices on top and on the sides of the chicken.
Bake until a thermometer inserted into a drumstick reads 165°F, 45 minutes. Remove the sheet pan from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Using the “Diabetes Plate Method” Toby Amidor teaches at-home cooks how to plan nutritionally rich and healthy meals — that also happen to be diabetes-friendly and delicious — without any counting, measuring, tracking or calculations. She trained as a clinical dietitian at New York University. Through ongoing consulting and faculty positions, Amidor has established herself as one of the top experts in culinary nutrition, food safety and media communications. She writes the Healthy Eats Blog for FoodNetwork.com and is a regular contributor to the U.S. News and World Report Eat + Run blog. She also writes an “Ask the Expert” column in Today’s Dietitian magazine.
