Tag Archives: low salt

Improving on the near-perfect – no sodium catsup substitute

Hi readers.  I posted this ersatz salt catsup substitute recipe a while back because it’s so almost perfect I figured you’d love it if you tried it.  But today I trumped that recipe.  I added three large green onions into the blender with the rest.  Watched them get liquified with everything, then added about half a bundle of fresh cilantro.

I believe with some jalapeno in the mix this might provide the best salsa I’ve ever eaten.  And not one speck of salt added anywhere in the equation.

sweet pepper and bells

Hi readers. Thanks for coming by for a read. I’m sitting here dipping home-made no sodium catsup substitute in Art’s & Mary’s no salt homestyle potato chips.

So shoot me. Fact is, this catsup substitute tastes so much better than catsup a person might as well call catsup a substitute for whatever this como se llama delicious concoction is. And it’s so damned easy to make they ought to put grocers in jail for carrying the original salt-bomb Hunts, Heinz, you name it catsups on the shelves. Killing people slowly.

sweet pepper and bells in blender

What you need to make Como Se Llama? Sweet peppers and/or Bell peppers of various colors. A blender. 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar. A cup of sugar, or however much less you prefer. A tablespoon of black pepper.

sweet pepper and bells blended

Blend it until it’s all liquid, adding the sugar and vinegar while it’s blending. I use unground peppercorn and let the blending reduce the grain size with everything else.

sweet pepper and bells ireducing

Once that’s done all you need to do is put it over medium heat and bring it to a boil, then let it simmer until it’s reduced approximately 1/3, but mainly is the thickness you prefer in a Como se Llama. Keep it in mind you’re using it for a dip.

If it gets so you’re on the road or for come other reason can’t make Como se Llama, you can always stop into a grocery store and buy a bottle of catsup for a temporary substitute.

Old Jules

About that Herb Ox Bouillon – MSG Deniers

Low sodium / no sodium Saimin

I got this in an email from Jeanne sometime during the night:

it has two ingredients which  minimize the amount of MSG, but they don’t remove all the MSG in the product.   Better read up on them before you decide it’s safe to consume any.

http://healthybliss.net/the-truth-in-food-labeling-food-additives-to-avoid-hidden-sources-of-msg/


http://www.livestrong.com/article/551058-disodium-guanylate-vs-monosodium-glutamate/

 

To be honest I hadn’t gotten around to hoping it would be this complicated.  MSGs more of a poison to me than too much salt.  But I’m not sure I’ll be able to figure out yea or nay without bellying up to the bar and watching my blood pressure afterward.

Old Jules

Sumptuous low sodium avocado sandwich

Once again readers, you’re hearing it here first.

  • 2 slices low sodium [85 mg per slice] oatmeal bread
  • 1/2 avocado mashed to paste
  • handful of bean sprouts
  • 14 leafs fresh spinach
  • 1 green onion, chopped
  • handful of chopped fresh cilantro
  • no other seasoning

Count’em:  190 mg of sodium, total.  And it melts in your mouth.

Old Jules

Curry steamed ginger blueberry okra pepper asparagus on rice

This rice/veggie steamer might be the single electrical appliance I've used more than any other my entire lifetime.  Originally cost me $1.00 still in the never-been-open-box at the Salvation Army Thrift Store, Kerrville, Texas.  Several years of heavy use for that buck.

This rice/veggie steamer might be the single electrical appliance I’ve used more than any other my entire lifetime. Originally cost me $1.00 still in the never-been-open-box at the Salvation Army Thrift Store, Kerrville, Texas. Several years of heavy use for that buck.

Hi readers.

I like to get a few calories with my meals, so I used half-jar of strawberry preserves from Dollar Tree [$1.00] as chutney.  Spices added were celery seed, black pepper, lime powder, onion powder, in addition to the various chopped poblanos Anaheim green bell peppers and fresh cilantroso on in the taste explosion.

Curry steamed ginger blueberry okra pepper asparagus on rice: If it’s looks you’re after you could toss a sprig of parsley across it, I suppose, or add a slice of orange, maybe.

It went down smooth and easy, didn’t attempt to come back up.  All’s well that ends well.  And the ticker won’t be sneaking around finding excuses to blink or belch from the sodium.  Prepared with no sodium added, this is a no sodium meal.  On the other hand, if you want it to be a 2 gram sodium meal add two grams of salt.

Old Jules

Easy no-salt potato-jalapeno pancakes

Hi readers.  Thanks for coming by for a read this morning.

I gather some of you besides me count sodium mgs in your diet the way overweight people used to count calories.  If so, and if you’re on the lookout for a tasty treat you’ve probably never encountered before you might try this.

Blend or process a potato, a jalapeno, half an onion, a tablespoon of minced garlic and a teaspoon of grated ginger together until they reach the color of guacamole and the consistency of pancake batter.  [Works well without the ginger, too, whole different culinary experience.  I’m betting cinnamon could fit into it somewhere, to doctor it up into a mutation worthy of a space alien.]

[Edit:  Cilantro.  I forgot to mention adding some chopped up fresh cilantro.  Important, too]

Pour the mix into a sizzling pan of olive oil or butter and flip them a couple of times as they cook until they’re brown on both sides.

Pop those moneymakers into a dish and eat them like pancakes, or let them cool and eat them the way you’d have a bagel or donut.  Great under blackstrap molasses and buttered, great dry.  Name your own poison

Remember where you heard it first.

Old Jules

Desalinated, molassted and tofued into submission

Believe it or don't, this stuff makes a tasty substitute for soy sauce and woostershire sauce.  Blend it with rice vinegar and it makes tasteless goop go down easier.

Blackstrap molasses:  Believe it or don’t, this stuff makes a tasty substitute for soy sauce and woostershire sauce. Blend it with rice vinegar and it makes tasteless goop go down easier.

Hi readers.

I’m not going to say I think cardiologists know what they’re talking about, but in the matter of no sodium/extremely low sodium in the diet I believe they’re correct in spite of the fact they said it.  I’d always thought if a person didn’t eat canned goods and didn’t salt his food he was on a low sodium diet.  But when I left the hospital they handed me a sheet of paper and took the trouble to read it to me as though I couldn’t read it for myself.

2000 mg.  2 grams of sodium per day these people were unsmilingly demanding I confine myself to.  And they sent along a list of food items in one column and how much salt each contained per one-measure-or-another.

I could see with one eye these ivory tower quacks didn’t know what they were talking about.  Heck, I’m betting there’s never been a day of my life when I wasn’t fasting when I didn’t consume more than two grams of salt.

So when I arrived back at Jeanne’s I slouched toward low sodium, waved the bloody flag at it, but was completely reasonable.  Non-fanatic, not any sort of no-salt extremist anyone need fear.  And noticed a rapid decline in my physical capabilities concurrently.

You all know by now I enjoy messing around cooking and experimenting with food preparation in sometimes bizarre ways.  And since I was losing my ability to walk any distance, I figured what the hell?  Jeanne got me a couple of books from the library on no salt and lowest sodium cooking, and I began concocting all manner of experimental food with no salt, or so little salt as to pass for none.  2 grams?  Ha!  I spit on 2 grams!  1 gram until I get this down pat.

cilantro corriander

Cilantro!  Onion powder!  Tomato powder!  Lime juice powder!  Molasses.  Garlic.  Dill.  These are the soldiers, the legions of the war against salt.

Began making chips from steamed sticky rice rolled down thin and baked.  Made the best catsup I’ve ever eaten in my life from tomato powder, lime juice powder, molasses and rice vinegar.  Made an absolute jewel of guacamole with garlic, green onion, jalapeno, avocado, tofu, and cilantro.  Deeeeelicious!

Made a soy sauce alternative from black strap molasses and vinegar, along with a few other spices.

And after a couple of days of less than two grams, yesterday I walked to the end of the block and back, one-way being an uphill grade.  Didn’t get knocked to my knees by my top-kick drill instructor, either.

So I doubt those cardiologists know what the hell they’re talking about, but sometimes even a blind hog finds an acorn.  A person doesn’t have to know what he’s talking about to be correct.

Old Jules