Thanksgiving sides for diabetics

[Winchester]

My brother and SIL are coming for Thanksgiving dinner. She is a diabetic and just had a small stroke a couple weeks ago. She asked me not to brine the turkey and I told her that I wasn't planning on wet brining this year.

My sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash are roasted with just a wee bit of olive oil and grated black pepper. I won't add any salt to help her out.
My corn pudding will have butter. The recipe uses sugar, but I just won't add any. Nor will I add salt.
Stuffing is corn bread, white bread, and whole wheat. I can eliminate the white bread and use no-salt chicken broth. Unfortunately, I can't do much about the sausage, unless I use turkey sausage. That might help.
My mashed potatoes do contain low fat cream cheese and low fat sour cream. Maybe I could just use a bit of browned butter instead of the cream cheese and sour cream?
Gravy is made with butter and turkey drippings. I use thawed chicken broth that has no salt.

I already ordered that tiramisu cheesecake for dessert for Rick and wasn't going to make anything else. But I do make a really good pumpkin custard. It tastes like pumpkin pie without the crust. Is is specifically made for diabetics; I used to make it for my GF when she came for dinner.

What else can I do? I want to make sure she has a balanced meal that won't knock her numbers out of whack!
Thanks!

 

[danteshuman]

You can always ask her? Or ask her what her favorite diabetic dessert is and make that? Or ask her what side dish she would like?

Corn, potatoes, bread, stuffing & pies are all on the avoid or eat sparingly list for diabetics.

Sugar free chocolates can be good. But you or she could easily make sugar free pumpkin pie by substituting the sugar with baking Splenda & using I Un-whipped whipped cream instead of evaporated milk (it makes it more creamy.)

I know that salad with toppings on the side is safe but boring. Steam veggies are fine. Sweet potatoes/yams are slightly better than regular potatoes and butter nut squash had less sugar than sweet potatoes. So maybe bake an extra butternut squash that is just the squash, just for her?

One of my favorite thanksgiving side dishes is low sugar. Sauté 1package of diced bacon in a large pan, pull the bacon out & set aside. Then add one bag of whole fresh green beans (I cut the tips off) to the bacon fat. Cook until almost done yo your liking (I like mind crispy.) Making sure you stir constantly. Finally add 1 package of slivered almonds for a minute or two (jugs to Greg slightly toasty) and add the bacon. Serve. It is yummy but not low fat ..... and fat is not good for diabetics either

My stepdad of over 20 years is diabetic. He generally fudges his diet a lot on holiday meals. His favorite joke is “How do you prepare healthy food for a diabetic? Put a pot of water on the stove and boil it, then serve!”

 

[Winchester]

Thank you danteshuman . I have to agree with your stepdad.
I'll give her a call and see if there's anything I can do to make things easier for her. Although, knowing her, she'll just tell me to make what I want and she'll eat what she can.