Low salt dinner ideas

[sneezles]

schuh,
My DH is on a low-salt diet and I cook with Morton Lite Salt, it has half the sodium of table salt. I then reduce the amount called for in any recipe and go from there.

[Jewel]

Schuh, I just went through this during my 'turbo diet' where I could have NO salt. I found spices and spice blends were my saviors. Mrs Dash makes a few blends that are wonderful. Garlic & Herb, Onion & Herb, and their 'Extra Spicy' are all terrific. I used a product called 'No Salt' which is a salt replacement, but it's pretty strong if you get too much. If you use about half the amount that you would normally use in a recipe you get the flavor without the aftertaste. Balsamic and other flavored vinegars are really good for flavoring with no sodium added. Also, if you can find a No Salt Chicken Broth, it is very good to cook with. I could find Swanson Low Sodium, but it still has salt. There is a brand called 'Pritikin' (like the diet) that is salt free, but I couldn't find it here in the NW. HerbOx makes a VERY low sodium chicken buillion that has only 5mgs per cup which is about as No Sodium as you can get, just not the flavor as real broth or stock.

If you have the time, you might make some homemade chicken stock, CL has a wonderful recipe. Just don't use salt in the prep, and use that for cooking. I freeze my stock in ice cube trays and put the cubes in a big gallon size Zippie bag in the freezer and pull out cubes as I need them for flavor.

Be careful of any processed foods. Just about everything that is not 'natural' has added sodium, from cookies to hard candies. I found that out the hard way! I couldn't have sugar, so there I was sucking away on the sugar-free Butterscotch Disks and found that they had 30 mgs of sodium for every 2 candies. Whoops! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/rolleyes.gif

All in all, it's not hard to do if you have vinegars, broth, and salt-free spice blends on hand. Make your meals without added salt and have the rest of your family just salt at the table! Good luck! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[Leanne]

I agree with Jewel - I never add salt - I just don't care for it & heart problems run in our family. Garlic, onions, vinegars, etc really give great flavor without salt. If you make things yourself - then you'll know there's no salt. (Your own tomato sauce from real tomatoes, your own chicken stock, etc.)
I also just don't add it when a recipe calls for it.

I will say this too, that my DH is a salt-a-holic & he almost never salts what I make - he doesn't miss it with all of the other flavors added.

I also wanted to add - aviod things like soy sauce, worstershire sauce, hot sauces - that will all contain salt. Do things like - instead of hot sauce - use a jalepeno & a dash of vinegar. Also avoid things like jarred olives that are packaged in salt.

I think the easiest type of meal to avoid salt would be grilled steak, chicken, or fish with steamed veggies & pan roasted potatoes (use olive oil & Mrs Dash or other spices). Make your own salad dressing, etc. If you keep the recipes simple - there's less of a chance to pick up salt from pre-processed things.

[This message has been edited by Leanne (edited 05-10-2001).]

[schuh]

My mom and stepdad are visiting in June and I'm going to be cooking dinner for them. (Of course I want to impress them.) My stepdad just had open-heart surgery and needs to eat low-salt. I don't usually cook this way so I'm a little stumped. Any menu suggestions? Thank in advance.

[Julie O]

Watch out for salt substitutes! Many of them substitute potassium chloride for sodium chloride. If you're on a diaretic, the potassium chloride may be worse for you than regular salt.

I posted something a few months ago about foods to avoid in low salt diets. You may want to search for it in the archives.

Also, find out if he has a specific amount of sodium that he is allowed to eat. You'd be surprised how much a "low salt" diet can be sometimes. Most CL recipes are probably fine. They do include sodium in its nutritional info.

[Binny]

A few years ago, I was on a no salt/low salt diet for an inner ear disorder. I found the American Heart Association cookbooks to be a great help. In particular a small, paperback book for low salt cooking. Find out also if your stepdad can have beef. I have a recipe from a low cholestral cookbook for chicken cacciatore which is quite good. Hunt's makes salt-free tomato sauce (I've seen it in small cans). I'm at work and do not have the recipe here, but if you would like the recipe, I can post this weekend. Most of the AHA cookbooks are available at public libraries.

Originally posted by schuh:
My mom and stepdad are visiting in June and I'm going to be cooking dinner for them. (Of course I want to impress them.) My stepdad just had open-heart surgery and needs to eat low-salt. I don't usually cook this way so I'm a little stumped. Any menu suggestions? Thank in advance.

[makedah]

This is one of my favorite recipes. And as a bonus, it has ABSOLUTELY NO ADDED SALT. It's truly wonderful. I've served it at Thanksgiving and revised it with chicken breasts for two other family gatherings. I do hope you give it a try.

Note: all spices listed are dried (of course, it's Penzey's!). There is a note in the recipe: "the skin is
too strongly flavored with herbs and lemon to eat a lot of" so that probably makes this a 'light'
recipe since you don't really eat the skin. Although my guests did and liked it fine.

Sage and Lemon Roasted Chicken
Fall/Holiday '98 catalog

1 large roasting chicken (5-7 lbs)
1 T veg. oil
2 lemons
2 tsp whole sage leaves or 1 tsp. rubbed sage
1 tsp. thyme leaves
1 tsp rosemary, cracked
3 TB water
2 tsp. cracked black pepper (or coarse grind)
1 sprig fresh parsley (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place dried herbs in a small bowl, cover with 3 T water, let stand 5 minutes to rehydrate. Rinse chicken, remove giblets and any large hunks of fat, pat dry. Peel the lemons with a potato peeler, leaving some of the white inner skin on, then chop off both ends.
Discard the peel or save it for another recipe. Slice one lemon into thin slices (usually about 10).
Place the chicken in a large roasting pan with a rack. Slide your hands under the skin, loosening it as much as possible without breaking it. Start at the cavity toward the back.

At this point, the herbs should have absorbed most of the water. Rub each lemon slice with the herb mix, then slide up under the skin all over the chicken in roughly even distribution. Rub the outside of the chicken with vegetable oil. Roll the other lemon in the cracked pepper, place in the cavity. If
you have some fresh parsley, throw that in too.

Place the chicken in the oven, roast at 375 degrees for fifteen minutes, then reduce heat to 350, roast chicken until done. Chickens roast for about 20 minutes per pound, which usually adds up to about 2 hours total.

[This message has been edited by makedah (edited 05-11-2001).]

[Julie O]

One thing to be aware of is added sodium (salt) to some foods. Check the label on any chicken you buy to make sure that broth has not be injected into it. It increases the weight of the chicken & adds flavor, but it also increases the sodium amount.

The AHA books are excellent even for anyone who isn't on a low sodium diet. I would recommend their more recent ones on ethnic cooking, quick & easy meals, and desserts.