Diabetic Diva Susan with her latest recipe book.

Diabetic recipes are ‘Healthy’ because they have limited amounts of refined sugars and salts so if you want more healthy recipes take a look at her website.
Remember you don’t have to be diabetic to enjoy Susan’s tasty recipes, in fact eating these healthy feasts can help prevent you becoming diabetic so tuck in!

TWIRLY SPAGHETTI & MINCE SAUCE

A family favourite and so easy to make. The mince can be prepared in a batch and frozen for at least 3 months. Good with jacket potatoes, rice, pasta, mock pizza.

Main ingredient: Mince beef, spaghetti Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes Serves 4:

EQUIPMENT
Chopping board
Sharp knife
Can opener
Measuring spoon
Large saucepan with lid
Wooden spoon

For spaghetti
Measuring jug
Measuring spoon
Medium size saucepan with lid
Spoon for stirring

INGREDIENTS
500g lean ground mince beef
½ sweet pepper, roughly chopped
½ onion roughly chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 jar pasta sauce
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
2 tsp dried Italian herbs

METHOD
COOK the mince in a pot stirring with a wooden spoon until it’s brown in colour and no pink bits remain. ADD the onion and peppers and cook for another 3 minutes
NEXT add all the other ingredients and let meat mixture cook until the sauce starts to bubble. TURN the heat down to low and let this cook for at least 20 minutes
SERVE with spaghetti and a salad (even a teeny weeny one would be great) Remember your 5 A Day.

SPAGHETTI
PUT 500ml of water and ¼ tsp salt into a pot
LET it boil
ADD 100g wholemeal spaghetti to the boiling water
COOK for 8 minutes (al dente) cooked still firm
DRAIN and put on a plate
SPOON some mince sauce over
If you like sprinkle grated parmesan cheese over and dried parsley.

Try these
Make mock pizzas using the mince sauce. Slice a wholemeal French roll in 2. Spoon some of the sauce over and about 2 tbsp grated cheese. Grill under hot grill until cheese melts.

Or add red kidney beans, ½ to 1 tsp chilli powder and dried Italian herbs to make chilli.
Here is Susan cooking with some children.

Children love to cook when there's a grown-up to help.

Eating what you grow with child friendly recipes and cooking tips.

Runner Beans

Have you spent the summer nurturing and tending  your runners?  Well now is the time to get harvesting! But remember to send us a picture of your longest runner bean for our giant bean competition.

Is there a bean long enough for the Giant Bean Competition?

 Runner Beans give your plate brilliant colour and taste great! Try them boiled with your roast dinners; stir-fried in oil with garlic, peppers, beansprouts and chicken; or in a warm new potato and mackerel salad.
 
 

Spinach

Popeye knew what he was doing when he indulged in these leafy greens. Spinach is bursting with nutritional value. You can chop it up and stir it round in a frying pan with a drop of olive oil. after a few minutes it will have become much more ‘solid’ and reduced in size…delicious in our tartlets recipe with a little bit of cheese.

Courgettes

Another vegetable that is versatile.  Looks a bit like a cucumber but has a whole taste of its own! 

Wow! this courgette was yellow! It added colour to our tartlets.

 We put it in our tartlets but it is also great in stir-fries or mixed with tomatoes, peppers and onions in a ratatouille. Another favourite is in muffins or cakes.  You could even try it raw with carrot, pepper and celery sticks with a tasty dip to dunk it in.

Berries

Blackberries are bountiful this year, take a walk and pick your own. If you manage not to eat them all before you get home try mixing them into some plain yoghurt for a delicious pud.

Carrots

These are a wonderful colour…normally bright orange but did you know carrots were purple originally? For lots of ideas for making carrot soup see Carla Carrot.

Carrots add lots of colour to other dishes or can be used to make a wonderful soup.