Food for

Thought, Glycemic Index Recipes

Do you think that healthy eating has to be boring?  Well, you had better think again. Low GI diet cookbooks are everywhere nowadays, bookshops and Internet sites like Amazon.com are great places to find books full of ideas and recipes that make healthy eating both fun and convenient.

Here are three of my favourites to get you going.

Chicken with fried rice

For this recipe, you will need:

12 fluid ounces of chicken stock
5 1/2 ounces of cooked chickpeas
2 fluid ounces of light Soya sauce
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
2 cubed boneless chicken breasts (skinned)
8 ounces of sliced mushrooms
1 green onion (chopped)
1carrot (diced)
2 sticks of sliced celery
8 ounces of bean sprouts
Salt (to taste)

How to prepare:

Take a medium-sized saucepan. Add 10 fluid ounces of the chicken stock, season with salt and add the rice, bring to boil.
Once boiled, reduce the heat and cover, simmer for approximately 25 minutes or until all of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice.

Fluff the rice up with a fork and then set to one side.

Use a large non-stick skillet; add in the sesame oil and the warm up over a medium heat. Add in the chicken and mushrooms and cook for approximately 10 minutes, make sure the chicken has cooked all the way through. Now add in the onions, chickpeas, celery, carrots and rice. Thoroughly stir and cook for approximately 3 minutes.
Stir in the remaining chicken stock and soya sauce, after five minutes stir in the sprouts.

This delicious, glycemic index recipe is best enjoyed with a light salad.

Chicken tarragon delight

For this recipe, you will need:

2 chicken joints, approximately 4 ounces each
2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
Some fresh ground pepper
8 ounces of sliced mushrooms
2 ounces of white wine
1 small chopped onion,
1 teaspoon of margarine
1 teaspoon of dried tarragon
4 ounces of water or chicken stock

How to prepare:

Take a non-stick pan and add the oil, warm over a medium - high heat. Sprinkle the chicken with the fresh ground pepper sauté in the oil until cooked, and then take out the chicken and cover.
Using the same pan melt the margarine and sauté the onions and mushrooms until soft. This should take approximately 5 minutes.  Now add in the tarragon, and the wine.
Simmer for approximately 2 minutes, now and in the stock, let it simmer again for approximately 3 minutes or until it has reduced by approximately 50% season with a little salt and pepper to taste.

This tasty glycemic index recipe is great with rice.

G. I chocolate cookies

For this recipe, you will need:

3 ounces of non-hydrogenated soft margarine
3 ounces of wholemeal flour
1tablespoon of wheat bran
Approximately 4 ounces of sugar substitute
1 quarter of a pint of ready cooked white kidney beans (pureed)
1 1/2 ounces of cocoa powder, (un-sweetened)
3 fluid ounces of skimmed milk
1 fresh egg
2 teaspoons of vanilla
2 teaspoons of baking soda

How to prepare:

Add the bean purée, margarine, flower, sugar substitute, cocoa powder, baking soda, skimmed milk, vanilla, and egg into a bowl and mix thoroughly.

Preheat your oven to approximately 375°, spoon out cookie sized dollops of your mix onto greaseproof paper, placed them in the oven and bake for approximately 10 minutes or until firm and biscuit like.

Now, you may not be convinced about the bean paste.  Honestly you can't taste it and it really does prevent the batter from drying out. And as an added bonus it introduces a little more fibre into your diet!

As I have said, these three recipes, are just to get you going, if you come across any other really good low GI recipes suitable for inclusion, please do e-mail me, and I will add them to this page. For more great recipes I would recommend any of these books.