Healthy Home Cooking

Hi! Thanks for joining us in the kitchen again, where we are giving you food for thought as well as food recipes that are easy, healthy and tasty! Enjoy!

Have you thought about your kidneys, your diet, and how they work together? Kidney disease is called a “silent disease” as there are often few symptoms. Making healthy lifestyle choices can help to keep your kidneys functioning well:

• Eat lots of fruit and vegetables, including legumes (peas or beans), and grain-based food like bread, pasta, noodles and rice.
• Eat some lean meat like chicken and fish each week.
• Eat only small amounts of salty or fatty food.
• Drink water instead of sugary drinks.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Stay fit. Do at least thirty minutes of physical activity that increases your heart rate on five or more days of the week, including walking, lawn mowing, bike riding, swimming or gentle aerobics.
• Don’t smoke.
• Limit your alcohol to two small drinks per day if you are male or one small drink per day if you are female.
• Have your blood pressure checked regularly.
• Do things that help you relax and reduce your stress levels.

Two cleansing foods that are believed to help are cranberry juice and white rice. You may want to include these in your diet on occasion.

You may need to work with a dietitian to find the right food plan. Though you cannot avoid protein, because your body needs it to repair muscles and fight disease, you should limit the amount that you eat. The same goes for potassium-rich foods such as oranges, potatoes, bananas, dried fruit, dried beans and peas, and nuts. You need all of these in your healthy diet but again, on a limited basis.

There is one group of foods that you will also want to check with your doctor about before you avoid them. Beets, chocolate, coffee, cola, nuts, rhubarb, spinach, strawberries, tea, and wheat bran. In most cases, these foods can be eaten in limited amounts.

Since cranberries are a good food choice for helping keep your kidneys healthy, here are a couple of recipes for your good health that you can use during the upcoming holiday season.

CRANBERRY CRUMB PIE

3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
2 Tablespoons water
1 3/4 cups Splenda Granular
1/4 cup orange marmalade spreadable fruit
1 (6-ounce) Keebler graham cracker crust
1/4 cup purchased graham cracker crumbs
2 Tablespoons Bisquick Heart Smart Baking Mix
2 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!
Light Margarine

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium saucepan, combine cranberries and water. Cover and cook over low heat, for 15 minutes or until cranberries become soft. Remove from heat. Add 1 1/2 cups Splenda and spreadable fruit. Mix well to combine. Spoon mixture into pie crust. In a small bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, baking mix, and remaining 1/4 cup Splenda. Add margarine. Mix well using a pastry blender or two forks until mixture becomes crumbly. Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over top. Bake for 10 minutes. Place pie plate on a wire rack and let set for 30 minutes. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Cut into 8
servings.

Serves 8 – Each serving equals:
195 Calories, 7 g Fat, 1 g Protein, 32 g Carbs, 220 mg Sodium, 5 g Calcium, 2 g Fiber
Diabetic Exchanges: 1 Fruit, 1 Starch, 1 Fat
Carb Choices: 2

CREAMY CRANBERRY PUDDING

1 (4-serving) pkg JELL-O sugar-free vanilla cook-and-serve pudding mix
1 cup Ocean Spray reduced-calorie cranberry juice cocktail
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped
1 (4-serving) pkg JELL-O sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix
2/3 cup Carnation Nonfat Dry Milk Powder
1/2 cup Diet Mountain Dew
3/4 cup Cool Whip Free
2 Tablespoons chopped walnuts

In a medium saucepan, combine dry cook-and-serve pudding mix and cranberry juice cocktail. Stir in cranberries. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens and cranberries soften, stirring often. Place saucepan on a wire rack and allow mixture to cool completely. In a large bowl, combine dry instant pudding mix and dry milk powder. Add cooled cranberry mixture and Diet Mountain Dew. Mix well using a wire whisk. Fold in Cool Whip Free. Evenly spoon mixture into 6 dessert dishes. Sprinkle one teaspoon walnuts over top of each. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Serves 6 – Each serving equals:
77 Calories, 1 g Fat, 3 g Protein, 14 g Carbs, 141 mg Sodium, 104 mg Calcium, 1 g Fiber
Diabetic Exchanges: 1 Starch/Carb
Carb Choices: 1

We hope you enjoyed our time together in the kitchen. Remember, if you’d like us to revise one of your family favorites so it’s healthier, send your request to: Healthy Exchanges PO Box 80, DeWitt, IA 52742. Also, be sure to visit our Web site at www.healthyexchanges.com for more “common folk” healthy recipes to try. Until next time . . .