My semester is almost done (classes ended last week, grading final projects this week), so my schedule has eased up significantly. Going to try to start working on this diabetes thing. As I said before, I don’t need general advice — I had gestational diabetes with Anand fifteen years ago, so I did the five finger pricks / day and carb counting, and I have a pretty clear idea of how I should eat in order to bring my glucose levels down.

That said, eating the same dishes over and over again gets boring — and when I get bored, bad things happen. So one thing I’d like to do is start working on incorporating more fish into my diet. I really like fish, but the kids and Kevin don’t, so we just don’t eat that much of it; it’s easier to default to things they’ll eat too.

But I usually eat breakfast on my own, and I like fish (and savory) for breakfast, so here’s a request — give me your breakfast fish dishes, the more varied the cuisine, the better. If they can be made in less than 10 minutes, you get a gold star! If you happen to know calories / carb counts, even roughly, that’d be helpful to include.

This was this morning’s breakfast, along with a persimmon (I love persimmon season) — I’ll probably have some more fruit mid-morning. Part of diabetes for me was switching to eating six small meals / day, to keep my sugars more regulated — that worked well for me fifteen years ago, and it became part of my regular routine. Second breakfast, afternoon tea, supper — hobbits know best.

This is one slice of multigrain toast — while it’s toasting, take out the whitefish spread (I like the Door County whitefish paté, available at my local Whole Foods, if I’m not making my own), capers, and jar of pickled onions. Slice up some cherry tomatoes (they’re pricey, but we’ve gotten addicted to the Cherry Bombs, Sugar Bombs, etc. lines that have come out the last few years, and when it’s so hard to find good fruit in Chicago in the dead of winter, we’re willing to budget a little more for them). When the toast comes out, assemble. I forgot to salt / pepper this time, but you certainly can, and it’ll be even tastier. It was really delicious as is, though.

5 minutes, start to finish.

Rough calorie count, 250-300.

Rough carb count, 33 grams (mostly from the bread, 21 grams, the rest divided between the fish and tomatoes, with a bit for the pickled onions).

Carbs in a persimmon: 8 grams

Rough guideline: “It can be helpful to eat carbohydrates consistently throughout the day. For example, adults with diabetes may aim for 45–60 grams of carbohydrates per meal and 15–20 grams per snack”