Cooking in the playground: Living a low salt life.

[Talanic]

Early this year, my wife was diagnosed with high blood pressure, at age 23. We got her checked out thoroughly and it appears to be simply genetic - no heart defects provoking it, and we caught it before any complications developed.

This meant a significant restructuring for our eating habits, as, in her words, "Salt's what everyone adds to make things taste good." No more tv dinners for me. No more Taco Bell for her. Frozen pizza? Once a month at the most.

Fortunately, the two of us are great complements to each other. She's got the discipline and presence of mind to keep track of everything's sodium levels, and I'm a middling to decent cook. Between the two of us we've worked out a number of reduced salt recipes.

So far we've got homemade spaghetti, beef stroganoff, and taco salad in a rough rotation. Sometime this weekend (it's our first anniversary) I'm hoping to find the time to try a lower-salt lasagna, and we picked up a used breadmaker and will be trying some salt-free but flavorful recipes in that as well.

I'm always looking for more recipes, especially low salt versions.

My low-salt spaghetti:

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We're still experimenting with this one - she likes it but I'm not entirely sold.

Brown 1 pound of ground beef in frying pan; drain grease. Add one medium onion, two cups of water, and one 12 oz can of tomato paste; stir and simmer for 30 minutes to cut down on tartness. After this, add pepper, and various italian herbs to taste, including but not limited to rosemary, oregano, and marjoram.

The stroganoff:

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This one is new-ish but it went over so well that it's already a staple.
Chop a medium onion. Add to frying pan along with 1 tablespoon olive oil, cook until tender, then add 1 lb ground beef. Brown and drain, as usual.

After draining the grease, add one cup of wine. We've been using Moscato from Sutter Homes - cheap, perhaps, but we're new to alcohol in general and it's good enough. Allow to simmer while assembling other ingredients, cooking off most of the alcohol, although some will probably linger regardless. After a few minutes, add 2 cups no salt added beef stock (finding that was a little bit difficult but it does exist!), 1 1/2 cups milk, 8 ounces of egg noodles, 1 tablespoon of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of paprika.

Simmer, covered, for 10-15 minutes; when the noodles are tender, add 1/3 cup sour cream, stir in and simmer for five more minutes.

Taco salad:

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Simpler than the others. Brown a pound of ground beef (hrm, we do seem to just tear through that ground beef, eh?) in a skillet, then drain the fat. Mix in a cup of water, two teaspoons of cumin, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, 2 teaspoons flour, 2 teaspoons oregano, and a little under 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper. Cook down the water; serve with sour cream, tomato, and chips on the side.

[TechnOkami]

For the Spaghetti: add some Basil and Garlic into that mix. It usually turns out well.

Or: try something simpler. Drizzle some olive oil over the spaghetti, toss in some basil, heirloom tomatoes, parsley, and then some kind of low sodium fish of choice if you're into seafood.

[Talanic]

Thanks. I think I've been using basil and garlic wrong; apparently their flavors break down some when cooking. Tried adding them more towards the end this time; flavors existed but I'm afraid that this spaghetti sauce is just not doing it for me.

My wife still loves it, fortunately.

We used it to make a lower-sodium lasagna on Sunday. I used a cheddar/mozzarella blend, as it was significantly lower in salt than the pure mozzarellas that I found.

We will be looking very hard for lower sodium mozzarella. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't what we wanted in a lasagna either.

My breadmaking adventures have yielded four small loaves. Most of them (after the first) were oversweet and fairly flat, as I experimented with adjusting yeast and sugar levels compared to salt input. The latest loaf raised my suspicions, leading me to put some of my yeast into a shotglass full of sugar water. The result? Nothing. Dead yeast since the first loaf.

[Dumbledore lives]

Thanks. I think I've been using basil and garlic wrong; apparently their flavors break down some when cooking. Tried adding them more towards the end this time; flavors existed but I'm afraid that this spaghetti sauce is just not doing it for me.

My wife still loves it, fortunately.

We used it to make a lower-sodium lasagna on Sunday. I used a cheddar/mozzarella blend, as it was significantly lower in salt than the pure mozzarellas that I found.

We will be looking very hard for lower sodium mozzarella. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't what we wanted in a lasagna either.

My breadmaking adventures have yielded four small loaves. Most of them (after the first) were oversweet and fairly flat, as I experimented with adjusting yeast and sugar levels compared to salt input. The latest loaf raised my suspicions, leading me to put some of my yeast into a shotglass full of sugar water. The result? Nothing. Dead yeast since the first loaf.

In terms of a bread I've taken a liking to beer bread lately. Here's the recipe. Depending on what recipe you use and what drink you use it can taste radically different. Apply beers taste quite good, though I'm more partial to grating about a cup of cheese and putting it in for a more hearty loaf.

[Morgarion]

Have you considered cutting back on your use of meat in cooking? I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that would help reduce the sodium levels of your food. I feel like I've heard that there's something about meat being bad for your blood pressure or heart.

I actually made stroganoff last night. Instead of beef, it was just mushroom stroganoff. And vegetable broth instead of beef stock. Also, I would suggest switching to a different wine for cooking. Moscato is a very sweet wine, and most recipes will work better with dry wines.

EDIT: Here's the recipe I used as a jumping off point.

[Feytalist]

Well. My father has been living with dangerously high blood pressure for as long as I have been alive. I grew up in a household that used minimal salt and spices in cooking, and none as condiments. (Really. Tomato sauce? Didn't exist.)

Couple of basic things: Salt is evil. Raw salt even more so. Never add salt to food after it's prepared. Processed and preserved things should be anathema in your household, as much as that is possible. That means as much fresh herbs and things as you can manage. Red meat is bad, bad, bad, but lean mince and stuff like that once a while are fine. And no fast food. At all. That should be a no-brainer, really.

Surprising fact: a glass of red wine per day, with meals, is apparently good for high blood pressure. Who knew.

If you really need to, you can do some nice things with various herbs and things. I'm by no means an expert, but I'm sure there are hundreds of recipes out there that utilise stuff that you can feasibly grow in your garden.

Really though, putting salt and spices in food is simply a habit; one that is relatively easy to break. Apparently, we tend to put as much as 10 times as much salt into food as is really necessary. Just stop doing that. In a month or so, you won't even notice the difference.

[TheThan]

I came across a similar problem years ago.

My solution was to simply reduce the amount of salt in our recipes by half. So if you’re cooking a dish that calls for a teaspoon of salt. Try only putting half a teaspoon of salt in it and see how it goes. Heck sometimes I skip the salt altogether. It just depends on the recipe.

I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of dishes call for more salt than is actually needed to make the food taste good anyway.

Oh, another thing to stay away from is cola. This stuff is loaded with salt as well (especially diet cola), I’ve seen someone drink half a can, and watched her blood pressure skyrocket.

[Philemonite]

I use almost no salt when I'm cooking, my dad is so used to it he salts the food before he even tastes it.

Depended on your taste, mushrooms and soy can be a great replacements for meat. I'm on a diet (at least I'm trying to be) and I try to eat healthy food. It helps that I have fresh mushrooms of my own.
It helped me when I was having trouble with my blood pressure and I lost weight. I will try to post something tomorrow, but translating will be a bit of work.

Here's one simple flexible recipe(I apologize if I made any mistakes):

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-Simmer(I think that's the right word) the onions.
-Add mushrooms and continue simmering.
-Boil potatoes and mash them, but not completely.
-Cook the rice.
-Once the mushrooms are almost done add water.
-When the water boils add potatoes and rice.
-Let it boil a while on a low temperature

This is a very nice base for a stew, you can add anything you like.
Rice and potatoes give it thickness, so there is no need for flour.
Some soy chunks make it even better, since it makes you think there is meat in there.

[bluewind95]

I don't really have any recipes to share, but I do have a few tips.

- Instead of salt you can use substitutes. I know that in a store called Costco, they had a bunch of spices to substitute salt with. It's a non-salt seasoning kind of thing. I've seen similar things in other places.

- Cheese tends to have a pretty big amount of salt. You'll have to find a type you like that has the least amount of salt possible.

- Avoid places like Chili's, Cheesecake Factory and such. I'd also recommend a site called Eat This Not That. The newsletter can help a whole bunch with that!

- Read the labels of food CAREFULLY. Keep a calculator with you at all times cos labels are misleading with serving sizes!

- Things with monosodium glutamate and certain preservatives will have a lot of sodium, even if they don't especially have salt. These things are to be avoided too.

- Avoid trans fats at ALL costs. ANYTHING with hydrogenated oils is something that should never pass your lips. Trans fats are worse than cholesterol.

- Eat foods rich in potassium. While they won't directly lower your blood pressure, they will help your body deal with sodium better.

- Exercise and meditation are great aids.

[Knaight]

I usually just completely omit salt from recipes - with the only major exception being that I do occasionally use premade sauces, which often have salt in them. I've found that after you omit it for a while, you really don't miss it.

As for good recipes without salt, I recommend stir fries. Frequent stir fries, with either no meat at all or poultry. Get some sort of peanut oil, add chilli oil, toss in some spices (garlic, lemon pepper, anise), heat that up and stir, toss in a few vegetables (broccoli, carrots, and onion are my current preferred mix), and once everything is well coated and heating up toss in a small amount of water and keep stirring for a while. It's simple, it's good, and salt really isn't needed.

[Talanic]

Meat's not especially salty, so long as you stick with reasonable portions and sauces. The problem arises with 'plumping' - some grocers inject their meat (especially poultry) with tons of saline and/or chicken broth. Even before we went low-salt, I considered that kind of chicken to be inedibly salty. It can be spotted on nutrition labels quite easily; untainted chicken usually has under 10% of your daily sodium per serving, and plumped chicken usually has closer to 50%.

Speaking of, I'm fond of chicken, so long as it hasn't been ruined by saline. She, on the other hand, grew up eating her mother's chicken, which was apparently broiled into leathery oblivion. I'm trying to reintroduce her to the tastiest of birds, but what progress I had made was obliterated when we had to swap to low salt; all the recipes I'd come up with were no longer usable.

Do you have any recommendations regarding mushrooms? My wife's fine with them but has no preferences. I, on the other hand, have always felt that the ones I tried tasted unappetizing. Are there specific mushroom types that have particularly different flavors from each other, so that I should try each?

[Crow]

Dude.

Cutting your intake is as easy as staying away from processed foods. If a recipe calls for salt, go ahead and use it. You will drastically lower your intake by cutting out fast food, stuff from a can, or things from a box. So much so in fact, that you can feel free to season your meat before putting it on the BBQ without feeling any guilt. As long as your'e not slamming down a Virginia ham every week, you guys will be just fine. Put a little salt on your sauteed vegetables, it will be fine.

If you really need to cut salt out completely, give your recipes a little twist. You can substitute chipotle powder in place of salt at a 1 for 1 ratio, and give some kick to your recipe.