26 Diabetes-Friendly Vintage Recipes Like Grandma Used to Make

Slow-Cooker Braised Beef with Carrots & Turnips

We love these healthy takes on the comforting recipes we grew up eating at grandma's house. From savory main dishes to classic sides and sweet baked goods, these recipes are sure to spark a little nostalgia. Plus, each recipe focuses on complex carbs, like whole grains, and is lower in saturated fat and sodium, so they easily fit into a diabetes-friendly, heart-healthy eating pattern. Recipes like our Slow-Cooker Braised Beef with Carrots & Turnips and Skillet Chicken Potpie are so deliciously cozy, they'll have you scraping your plate.

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Slow-Cooker Braised Beef with Carrots & Turnips

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The spice blend in this healthy beef stew recipe--cinnamon, allspice and cloves--may conjure images of apple pie, but the combo is a great fit in savory applications too. Serve over creamy polenta or buttered whole-wheat egg noodles.

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Skillet Chicken Potpie

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A store-bought pie crust, frozen veggies and precooked chicken simplify the prep for this easy potpie. This healthy dinner recipe is comfort food at its best.

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Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup with Rotisserie Chicken

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup with Rotisserie Chicken

This creamy rotisserie chicken soup has a delicious chicken pot pie feel to it. We call for rotisserie chicken to streamline your prep time--look for a nice big one with lots of breast meat on it. Pair this comforting and easy soup recipe with a green salad, or, if you're really hungry, a grilled cheese sandwich.

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Slow-Cooker Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows

Slow-Cooker Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows

The genius hack in this recipe: topping sweet potatoes with marshmallows while they're still piping hot from the slow cooker yields a baked marshmallow topping that's typical with baked sweet potato casseroles.

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Roast Chicken with Cider Gravy

Roast Chicken with Cider Gravy
Carson Downing

Tucking fresh herbs and garlic between the skin and the breast infuses the meat with flavor. We use thyme here, but you can also use fresh rosemary or parsley. If you have a rack, place the chicken on it to allow the hot air to circulate. You can also improvise a rack (as we do here) by setting the chicken on the neck and giblets.

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Skillet Broccoli-Cheddar Mac & Cheese

skillet broccoli and cheddar mac and cheese
Ali Redmond

Broccoli—just like pasta—makes a tasty pairing with sharp Cheddar. Here, we've combined all three ingredients in a homey casserole that's baked in a cast-iron skillet. Replacing some of the pasta in the dish with vegetables makes it more nutritious and helps you cut down on carbs.

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Zucchini Banana Bread

Zucchini Banana Bread

Shredded zucchini and mashed banana complement each other and ensure that this wholesome loaf stays nice and moist. The banana adds sweetness to this quick-bread mashup for just the right flavor without too much added sugar.

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Chicken & Mushroom Shepherd's Pie

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The creamy chicken filling is spiked with sherry and the potatoes are mashed with olive oil in this healthy shepherd's pie recipe. To make individual pies, use six 10-ounce ramekins. Serve with a green salad with balsamic vinaigrette and crusty bread.

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Instant Pot Potato Soup

Instant Pot Potato Soup
Photographer: Dera Burreson, Food stylist: Josh Hake

Russet potatoes turn tender and soft in minutes in a pressure cooker, so you can make this comforting soup quickly on busy weeknights. Garnish with the classic potato soup fixings--bacon, scallions and melted Cheddar cheese.

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Baked Beans with Ground Beef

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Upgrade baked beans from classic side dish to a meaty main meal by adding lean ground beef. The final result, a superfast hearty casserole, is an easy and fast dinner option. Ground turkey or even sausage would work nicely in this dish. Just watch the sodium.

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Spiced Pumpkin Cookies

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The deep flavors of molasses, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and nutmeg make these wholesome pumpkin cookies delicious without the addition of butter--and they lend themselves beautifully to the inclusion of whole-wheat flour. They are also the perfect texture for a sandwich cookie--fill them with a slightly sweetened cream cheese frosting.

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Linguine with Creamy White Clam Sauce

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Ripe tomato and fresh basil give this quick recipe tons of flavor. Serve this healthy pasta dinner with crusty garlic bread and steamed green beans.

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Instant Pot Beef Bourguignon

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Use your Instant Pot as a pressure cooker for this easy beef bourguignon recipe. If desired, serve this stew with whole-wheat egg noodles to soak up the delicious sauce.

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Slow-Cooked Ranch Chicken and Vegetables

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This creamy, veggie-packed chicken dinner comes together easily in your slow-cooker-and makes enough for another night's casserole (see associated recipe)!

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Slow-Cooker Arroz con Pollo (Chicken & Rice)

Slow-Cooker Arroz con Pollo

This one-pot chicken dinner, inspired by the traditional dish of Spain and Latin America, comes together easily in the crock pot. The instant brown rice is added near the end, to keep it from overcooking.

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Roast Chicken with Parmesan-Herb Sauce

Roast Chicken with Parmesan-Herb Sauce

A store-bought rice blend and quick-cooking chicken breast help get this healthy chicken recipe on the dinner table fast. Check the label to avoid excessive sodium or other undesirable ingredients. Other herbs, such as rosemary and sage, are also delicious in this recipe.

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Chicken-Noodle Casserole

Chicken-Noodle Casserole

Flavorful Chicken-Noodle Casserole comes to life with this diabetic-friendly recipe. Select light sour cream to lower fat and calorie content.

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Lemon Bread

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This moist lemon bread is perfect for breakfast or a tasty dessert. It's delicious on its own or topped with the optional lemon-sugar glaze.

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Classic Deviled Eggs

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We love the taste of dill relish in the filling of this deviled egg recipe, but if you like a sweeter deviled egg' opt for sweet relish instead. Our secret to healthy, creamy deviled eggs with fewer calories is to swap out half the full-fat mayo for nonfat Greek yogurt.

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Pork Paprikash with Cauliflower "Rice"

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Cut carbs and calories by using cauliflower "rice" instead of regular rice in this 30-minute pork paprikash recipe.

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Instant Pot Chicken Soup with Root Vegetables & Barley

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Be sure to use bone-in chicken here--it enhances the flavor of the broth, and the bones are easy to remove after cooking. This healthy chicken soup can be made in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker.

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Slow-Cooker Jambalaya

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This hearty jambalaya is bursting with chicken, smoked turkey sausage, and shrimp. It takes just 25 minutes to prep in the morning and then your slow cooker will work its magic and deliver a tasty meal at the end of the day.

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Three-Bean Chili

Three-Bean Chili

This rib-sticking bean chili is richly flavored with cumin, chili, paprika, oregano and an assortment of peppers. Use whatever beans you have in your pantry.

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Cinnamon Streusel Rolls

Cinnamon Streusel Rolls

You don't have to make a special trip to the bakery when you can whip up a batch of these heavenly cinnamon streusel rolls at home.

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Sautéed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon & Onions

Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Onions
Photographer: Fred Hardy II, Food Stylist: Margaret Monroe Dickey, Prop Stylist: Phoebe Hauser

Fresh herbs, onion and sautéed bacon flavor this easy Brussels sprouts recipe. This savory dish is delicious in the fall and winter months, when Brussels sprouts are in season. If you can find them still attached to the stalk, don't be intimidated--buy them, as they're likely more fresh. Recipe adapted from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters.

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Basic Meatloaf

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While meatloaf purists focus on the meat, we like to look at meatloaf as a way to pack extra veggies and whole grains into a meal, as we do in this healthy, classic meatloaf recipe.

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