good, healthy recipes

[TCJohnson]

Hey all,

I need to cut the salt out of my diet. So that means very little preprocessed foods and very little red meat. Which, other than a small salad, that is all I eat.

I was wondering if anybody had some good, cheap, healthy recipes for me to try. I hate fish (except shellfish) but other than that I am pretty open.

Any ideas?

[TheLyle]

Hey all,

I need to cut the salt out of my diet. So that means very little preprocessed foods and very little red meat. Which, other than a small salad, that is all I eat.

I was wondering if anybody had some good, cheap, healthy recipes for me to try. I hate fish (except shellfish) but other than that I am pretty open.

Any ideas?

Generally, I'd recommend checking out Cooking Light magazine. Their recipies are pretty healthy and if you can still have some fat in your diet they subscribe to a "fat is necessary for flavor, but use only as much as necessary" philosophy. Overall, it's a very good food magazine with a nice focus on learning to become a better cook and expanding your cullinary horizons. I just found a great Bananas Foster recipe in a recent issue that didn't use tons of butter but still tasted very rich.

Watch your portions, though, because some of their recipes have servings that are smaller than you'd expect.

However, I'll throw my Manhattan Clam Chowder recipe at you. Keep in mind this is from memory. I made it this weekend for the oncoming cool weather.

Ingredients
3 slices bacon* cut into small pieces
1 brown onion, diced small
3 carrots, diced small
6 stalks celery, tops removed and diced
1 green bell pepper
1/4 - 1/2 c. chopped fresh curly parsley **
2 bay leaves
2 Tablespoons fresh thyme **
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 large cans (28 oz?) diced tomatoes, packed in tomato juice, undrained
3 cans (6.5 oz?) chopped clams, packed in clam juice, undrained
1 bottle clam juice
3-5 Yukon Gold potatoes, diced small
1/2 lb frozen corn

Add the chopped bacon into a hot pot and stir until the fat has rendered.

Once the bacon has cooked off most of its fat, add the onion, carrot, celery and bell pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally until the vegetables have softened.

Add the parsley, garlic, pepper and thyme to the pot. Let cook 1-2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, the tomato juice, the clams, clam juice and the bay leaves to the pot cook until warmed through. Add the corn and potato and let simmer for 20-30 minutes until the potatoes have cooked tender.


* Yes, bacon... don't worry it's our primary fat source and three slices in a pot this big isn't much per serving

** I believe you can divide by three and use dried herbs.

[Red Berens]

Chicken and noodles with little or no sauce is always good. Make sure it's grilled.

[outlander78]

Load up on spices - any you like - that aren't salt, to make up for its lack.

Grilled chicken and noodles with either tomatoes or tomato sauce is good - flavourful and healthy (anti-oxidents and all that).

Try different kinds of noodles - whole wheat and others have more flavour, I find.

Read how to make your own sauces - pick your favourites and learn to make them without the store-bought packet.

Back to spices - if you're stuck with chicken and fish for protein, get good at adding spices. There are many to choose from, especially if you look for other cultures' cooking styles. Mix and see what you like. It's the only way to survive on a low salt, no red meat diet! :)

[the4thpip]

I find a lot of variety in replacing rice and pasta with different kinds of grains - bulgur and Quinoa are particular favorites of mine, and they are quick and easy to cook.
I make a pesto rosso that is high in fat, but it's mostly healthier fat (from olive oil and nuts) and the flavor is so intense that a small amount will last you a long way, and it's incredibly versatile.
The recipe:
Clean an old tomato sauce or jam jar and dry it well.
Fill with sundried tomatoes and 2 - 3 peeled garlic cloves. Now pour in enough high-quality olive oil until everything is covered. Put in a dark cupboard for about 5-6 weeks. Fish out the tomatoes and one or all of the garlic cloves with a fork and chop them finely in a food processor. Add a cup of pecan nuts (or other nuts you like, but I prefer pecans) and a half of cup of grated good parmesan cheese) and pour in as much of the oil as you need to get a nice pasty consistency. If you have oil left over, keep it in the fridge - it has taken on a lot of the garlic flavor and tastes great on toasted rye or on pasta.

As I said, the flavor is intense and the more money you spend on the olive oil and the parmesan cheese the better it tastes. A teaspoon is enough for a plate of pasta, rice or quinoa. Or mix a teaspoon with a cup of fat free cream cheese and have it on baked potatoes or as a sandwich spread on whole wheat bread. Or put a little of the pure pesto on grilled fish or chicken just before you serve.

[Cam63]

Good luck with it, TC.

[YoGo]

Try chinese stir fry?

Simple, quick and tasty.

Like vegetables stir fried with a bit of oil,garlic and a bit of low salt oyster sauce.

You could do long beans (do you get long beans there?) fried with the same but add some minced meat as well.

Or cut up some beancurd, pan fry it and then toss it in with the vegetables as well.

Simple fare, but pretty common here to eat with rice.

[Patriot07]

Hey all,

I need to cut the salt out of my diet. So that means very little preprocessed foods and very little red meat. Which, other than a small salad, that is all I eat.

I was wondering if anybody had some good, cheap, healthy recipes for me to try. I hate fish (except shellfish) but other than that I am pretty open.

Any ideas?

Yuck. I had to do that (rare disease). I really didn't do much. They have low salt recipie books. Rice and Potatos are very good for low salt diets.

[Pixies Chick]

Hey all,

I need to cut the salt out of my diet. So that means very little preprocessed foods and very little red meat. Which, other than a small salad, that is all I eat.

I was wondering if anybody had some good, cheap, healthy recipes for me to try. I hate fish (except shellfish) but other than that I am pretty open.

Any ideas?

Bananas.

Any fruit, really.

Any reason in particular? I know a buttload of nutrition websites, but I'm not sure which ones would be most helpful. Kinda depends on your motivation and goals.

[TheLyle]

An additional tip to cutting the salt in your diet... learn to make your own broth.

Chicken stock is fairly easy to make once you get your handle on "fire and forget" cooking. Take the bones from a whole chicken (either make a roast chicken or buy a rotissarie chicken from the market and save the bones) with a couple carrots, celery, an onion, some peppercorns and about a tablespoon of salt and put it in a large pot. Cover with water and bring to a simmer and let simmer for several hours, adding water as needed (this step is really nice, IMO, on cold winter days when you can fill the home with the aromatic steam).

You can make veggie stock by making it without the chicken. You can also fancy it up with more root vegetables like a fennel bulb or more whole herbs and spices. When it's done, I usually fill 8-ounce ziploc containers with and freeze them in 1 cup portions.

Broth is a central ingredient to a lot of cooking but a lot of the store-bought stuff has a lot of salt, so this is a way to make more flavorful stuff with less salt.

It takes a little effort to get into the 'fire and forget' nature of making broth, but it's quite simple when you get used to the time involved because you're not doing most of the work... there's no fancy chopping, you just check on it every half-hour or so and add more water. I'll often make it an activity for while I'm watching TV, checking on the pot during commercial breaks.

[sk716]

Hey all,

I need to cut the salt out of my diet. So that means very little preprocessed foods and very little red meat. Which, other than a small salad, that is all I eat.

I was wondering if anybody had some good, cheap, healthy recipes for me to try. I hate fish (except shellfish) but other than that I am pretty open.

Any ideas?

Sorry, man, I'm southern, everything we eat qualifies as "bad for you."