Salad main course filling with chicken

This main-dish salad from The Everything You Need to Know About Diabetes Cookbook: Expert Advice, Plus 70 Recipes Complete With Nutritional Breakdowns by Dr. Karin M. Hehenberger made a perfect dinner on a recent warm evening. It was filling, yet refreshing.

The combination of flavors and textures — mixed greens, chicken, creamy avocado and mozzarella, sweet corn, juicy tomatoes and piquant onion — tastes like summer. I made some minor changes — subbing romaine for the baby kale and using the kernels from a small ear of fresh roasted corn in place of frozen corn. I roasted a chicken breast alongside the corn, but leftover or rotisserie chicken would work well, too. The only thing I’ll change next time — and yes, there will be a next time— is to add a tablespoon or so of nuts or seeds for crunch.

For dessert we tried the ultra-low carb sugarless Lemon and Coconut Bliss Balls. The two bite snacks combine coconut, almonds and lemon for a taste of the tropics. While tasty, the bites were lacking something … chocolate maybe?

The book is chock-full of valuable information for people living with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and for those looking to reduce their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. And the recipes are interesting and reliable, using mostly easy-tofind, everyday ingredients.

However, those watching cholesterol and sodium intake will need to do some extra work as the nutrition information with each recipe does not include data for cholesterol, and instead of sodium totals in milligrams, Hehenberger lists salt grams.

For the nutrition information below, we consulted the USDA Food Composition Database at ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb.

Chicken, Avocado and Tomato Salad

3½ cups baby spinach

3½ cups baby kale

½ small red onion, thinly sliced

½ cup cherry tomatoes, halved ¼ cup corn kernels (thawed if using frozen)

½ cup bottled balsamic vinaigrette

8 ounces cooked shredded or thinly sliced chicken breast

½ ripe avocado, pitted, peeled and sliced

2¼ ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced or coarsely shredded

In a large bowl, combine the greens, onion, tomatoes, corn and balsamic vinaigrette and gently toss to coat. Let stand 5 minutes at room temperature.

Arrange chicken, avocado and mozzarella over greens and serve immediately.

Makes 2 servings. Nutrition information: Each serving contains approximately 450 calories, 45 g protein, 24 g fat, 15 g carbohydrate (8 g sugar), 150 mg cholesterol, 400 mg sodium and 6 g fiber.

Carbohydrate choices: 1.

Lemon and Coconut Bliss Balls

⅔ cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut, plus more for coating

Scant ½ cup almond flour (see note)

3½ tablespoons coconut oil

½ teaspoon vanilla powder

Grated zest and juice of ½ lemon

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and blend well. (I whirled everything in a food processor.) Using your hands, divide and shape mixture into 10 balls.

Roll each ball in shredded coconut. Chill balls for 15 to 30 minutes before serving. Balls will keep, refrigerated, in an air-tight container for up to 1 week. Makes 10 balls.

Note: I didn’t have any almond flour on hand, so I substituted ½ cup slivered almonds that I ran through the food processor with good results.

Nutrition information: Each ball contains approximately 120 calories, 2 g protein, 12 g fat, 1 g carbohydrate (1 g sugar), no cholesterol, trace sodium and 2 g fiber.

Carbohydrate choices: 0.

Recipes adapted from The Everything You Need to Know About Diabetes Cookbook: Expert Advice, Plus 70 Recipes Complete With Nutritional Breakdowns by Dr. Karin M. Hehenberger (Cico Books, $19.99)