Cooking Well Without Salt

The bad news: a family member with a kidney disorder requiring a low sodium diet. The good news: a dietitian with an insatiable desire to create great-tasting healthy food is in the house. My mission: to feed a high school athlete while keeping the sodium content of his food as low as possible. I’m up for the challenge!

I needed to satisfy the caloric requirement for this 17-year-old male athlete with thousands of calories of his favorite foods, pizza, pasta, and burritos. At the same time add no salt, use no processed foods, and absolutely do not rely on any fast food. A very tall order!

The culinary assignment was intriguing. I combed the grocery store aisles for items containing 140 mg of sodium or less. These foods fit the definition “low sodium”. Most of the acceptable foods were located on the periphery of the store as we know. Fruits and vegetables, fresh meats and fish, unprocessed grains, and fresh, soft cheeses met the requirements. I found a few low sodium crackers, cans of no-salt-added tuna, and one brand of flour tortillas.

I roasted many vegetables by tossing them in olive oil and pepper. Then I needed a pizza sauce with an additional ingedient to balance the acidity of tomatoes without relying on salt. Roasted and puréed shiitake mushrooms added some dimension. And I developed a lower sodium pizza crust and grilled them so that they could be assembled whenever hunger strikes.

My thoughts: I know that our meals are lower in sodium because I do not cook with a lot of salt, we do not eat very many processed foods, and because I enjoy cooking, we do not eat out often. However, the meals and snacks I made available for my son were much lower in sodium than what we are used to eating. As I tasted this food I prepared for him, I found it very palatable and so did he. Using cooking techniques like roasting and drawing on the unique flavor of mushrooms helped to add dimension to an otherwise bland dish.

Sodium is a mineral that our bodies need and it’s easy to consume too much by adding salt (sodium chloride) to our food. On the other hand, a little salt in a dish enhances flavors. We can train our palate to enjoy less salt. Fresh, good quality ingredients seasoned with citrus juices, vinegar, herbs, and spices are a good start. Then, just a sprinkle of sea salt will help to bring out the character of a dish. Give it a try. Even if you are not on a reduced sodium diet, you may feel a little better after giving your body a sodium reduction.

Low Sodium Vegetable Pizza

crust:

Consider a Vegan Meal

After viewing Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s recent report, The Last Heart Attack, I renewed my obsession with the vegan diet. I frequently include vegan meals in my routine, but would generally classify my eating style as flexitarian. However, after reviewing the convincing evidence of the health benefits of a vegan style of eating I am once again exploring vegan recipes and snacks.

The questions to answer are:  How much more labor intensive and time consuming is it to produce vegan meals and snacks?  Is it more expensive to eat this way? Can it be as tasty as a non-vegan diet?

I would say yes there is more time involved in preparing the vegan meals. However, taking the time to collect fruits and vegetables of the highest quality you can find and doing the peeling and chopping your self instead of depending on the pre-processed ones that are now available can have advantages. The flavor and freshness will be superior as well as the vitamin content (vitamins may be lost in pre-cut fruits and vegetables). I would rather make time to do my prep work than spend time later on in a doctor’s waiting room.

It could be more expensive, but one way to stay within your budget is to shop at farmers markets and purchase seasonal produce whenever possible. Grains and beans will not make the impact that meat and seafood will on your food costs.  Again, the money is better spent on healthy meals eaten with family and friends than on co-pays.

If you stop and think about it, you may be already be enjoying tasty vegan food everyday. Your salad, some rice and beans, a bowl of vegetable soup. There are so many resources available to help us get a few vegan meals or even just a side dish on our tables. Including ingredients such as miso, nut butters, and mushrooms can be the crutch for those missing that “meaty” flavor.

Although this sweet potato recipe could be a side dish for any type of meal, what I wanted to create was a vegan dish with personality. So as an alternative to the uninspiring baked sweet potato consider:

Chili Sweet Potato Fries

• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch sticks

Healthy Cooking in a College Dorm

We’ve spent some time taking a look at a few college dorms in the past few months. Of course, one of the questions in my foodie mind is “how will my college freshman get his hands on something healthy to eat when those hunger pangs strike?” I’m sure he will be studying hard and will have both limited time and cooking equipment available to wrassle up a tasty snack. He may want to save money by avoiding the cost of restaurant and carry-out meals, which may be a tremendous motivator in itself .

Whenever I have the parent of a teen in my audience I take the opportunity to remind them to make sure their child masters the fundamentals of cooking before leaving the nest. Their only option to feed themself in a college setting, other than the dining hall, will most likely be fast food. However, a graduation gift of a few healthy meals which can be created using a microwave oven or by a no-cook method would be a priceless offering. There are quite a few cookbooks specifically on the topic of cooking for the college student. Here is one delicious recipe I created for my own soon-to-be college freshman:

Quinoa with Olives, Sundried Tomatoes, and Feta

• 1 cup quinoa
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons kalamata olives, chopped
• ¼ cup oil packed sundried tomatoes, drained on paper towels and chopped
• 3 tablespoons feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon salt

❶ Combine the quinoa and 2 cups of water in a 2 quart microwave bowl. Cook on 100% power for 5 minutes and 60% power for 8 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes.
❷ In a bowl combine the olive oil, lemon juice, olives, tomatoes, cheese, oregano, and salt. Mix well. Add the quinoa and combine all ingredients.

The Right Skills for the Job

Do you love watching the cooking shows? Bring a cookbook to bed for light reading instead of a novel? I sure do.

But it’s a big jump to get the recipe off the pages of the book or off the TV screen and onto your plate. It’s also rare to be able to find video support for the very basic skills needed to get healthy ingredients into a deliciously edible form. The shows I love to watch on the cooking channels skip over the basics and this cooking knowledge is essential to making a dish correctly and efficiently so you won’t be anchored to the kitchen agonizing over chopping up a butternut squash, for instance.

Rouxbe.com online cooking school offers to show you how to pick out the best ingredients for your money, get them organized in preparation for cooking, and then tackle each technique correctly to ensure complete recipe success. You’ll get the step by step video instruction for methods such as braising, stewing, pot roasting, and steaming. As well as how to properly cook meat, fish, vegetables, beans and legumes, and grains.

After learning or reinforcing your basic knife skills, ingredient preparation, and basic cooking techniques you may want to advance and expand your culinary knowledge. I reinforce my own culinary skills by using Rouxbe.com frequently.

View video demonstrations of techniques which build upon the ones you’ve mastered and practice at your own pace. You could realistically go from a proficient basic cook to a gourmet home chef by attending Rouxbe cooking school. So exciting! And don’t forget Eat Well Meal Plans and Rouxbe.com are offering a 14-day free cooking school membership to you to check out all the cooking lessons, video recipes, tips, and techniques.

I’m very enthusiastic about this opportunity because I know how it can help you to lose weight, decrease the amount of sodium you eat, increase the amount and flavor of the vegetables you eat, help you to control your portion size, and more because you are doing the cooking!

Take a tour:

Rouxbe Online Cooking School & Video Recipes

Meatless Monday with Eat Well Meal Plans: Spaghetti Squash

photo by DocteurCosmos on Wikimedia

What a curious vegetable, spaghetti squash.

The flesh in it’s raw state appears just like other winter squashes. However, when cooked the flesh separates from the rind in strands resembling spaghetti. The taste is mild so it easily takes on the characteristics of other ingredients in a recipe. Calories are low making it popular with dieters looking for a substitute for pasta. Although it can be prepared by baking or boiling, microwaving is my favorite method.

Cut squash in half lengthwise and remove seeds. Place squash cut sides up in a microwave dish filled with ¼ cup water. Cover with plastic wrap and cook on HIGH for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on size of squash. Let sit for 10 minutes to cool slightly. Use a  fork to “tease” out the strands.

Here is a vegetarian recipe which demonstrates how accommodating the squash can be for many different flavor combinations.

Spaghetti Squash with Lemon and Capers

• 3 pound spaghetti squash
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium zucchini, diced
• ½ cup canned, diced tomato, drained
• 2 tablespoons capers
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ cup fresh parsley , chopped

❶ Preheat oven to 400℉. Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds with a spoon, and rub inside with olive oil. Place on a baking sheet cut side down. Bake for about 40 minutes, until rind is slightly soft. Remove baked squash strands with a fork and set aside.
❷ Melt butter in a large skillet. Add zucchini and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 minutes. Add tomatoes, capers, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Stir, and cook 1 minute. Add spaghetti squash to pan and cook 4 more minutes, stirring to combine ingredients. Sprinkle with parsley.