With his tinted glasses and Beatles-type hairstyle, everyone knows him as the three-star Michelin chef with restaurants worldwide as well as a colourful judge on MasterChef Canada.
But Alvin Leung lives with Type 2 diabetes, diagnosed a little over seven years ago. It’s a disease that runs in his family. According to Diabetes Canada ( Diabetes.ca ), this is a serious chronic disease and uncontrolled diabetes can lead to heart disease, kidney disease and other conditions. Over 11 million Canadians are living with it or are pre-diabetic.
For Leung, the key to controlling his diabetes is controlling the blood sugar, monitoring it with proper eating habits and meal times. “Type 2 is all about lifestyle. And unfortunately with lifestyle nowadays, the diet, all the fast-food revolution, it’s spreading like wild fire,” said Leung in an earlier interview with the Sun’s Jane Stevenson. He’s now a spokesman for the glucose monitoring system FreeStyle Libre, a wearable device which makes measuring diabetes manageable.
Just recently Leung visited Toronto to talk about diabetes and offer tips for healthy eating. Here’s one of Chef Leung’s go-to desserts that are not only healthy but delicious (check out Myfreestyle.ca for further details).
Spring Delight Cheesecake
For this recipe, you’ll need 4 mason jars and a whipped cream charger. Alternatively, you can whip the filling with a hand mixer and refrigerate until stiff.
Filling:
- 8 oz. (1 cup/250 mL) low fat cream cheese
- 1 cup (250 mL)f resh orange juice
- 1 1/2 tsp. (7 mL or 6 packets sugar substitute
- 1/4 tsp. (1 mL) vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. (5 mL) lemon juice
- 2 gelatin sheets (dissolved in orange juice)
Crust crumble
- 1/2 cup (125 mL) whole wheat flour
- 1 cup (250 mL) steel cut oats
- 1/2 tsp. (2 mL) baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. (1 mL) salt
- 1/2 cup (125 mL) margarine, room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60 mL) dried apricots finely chopped
- 1/2 cup (125 mL) sugar-free jam
- 4 oz. (113 g) fresh strawberries, sliced (or any other fruit)
FILLING: Put all filling ingredients in a blender to liquify. Strain and pour content into a siphon (whipped cream charger) charged with two cannisers of gas. Alternatively, blend ingredients together with hand-held mixer and refrigerate until assembling.
CRUST: Preheat oven to 375F (190C). Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Add margarine and work into dry mixture
with your fingertips until pea-sized lumps form. Add oats and dried apricots and mix with your fingertips into clumps. Chill 30 minutes.
Transfer crumble mixture to a parchment-lined sheet tray and bake for 8 minutes. Using a spatula, stir and toss crumble. Rotate tray and
continue to bake for another 8 minutes, until colour of crumble is a dark golden brown. Let cool.
ASSEMBLE: Line each mason jar with the oat crumble. Siphon (or layer) some cream cheese. Add a layer of jam and some fruit. Top with a second layer of cream cheese. Finish with a final layer of jam, fruit and oat crumble. Chill for 30 minutes before serving.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
