Our trip to Seattle included a stop early on at The Crab Pot in the city’s famed Pike Place Market. Yes, I know, the place is known as a tourist trap and many reviews complain of poor service in the evenings when it’s busy, but we were lured in by the seafeast in which they dump a bucket-load of seafood on your table and you have at it.Me, preparing myself for the Crab Pot seafood feast.
We had better seafood at other Seattle spots, but for sheer fun, the Crab Pot still is worth a visit. WE did go in the late afternoon when it was empty, so service was good for us, being one of the very few tables filled at the time. Continue reading “The Crab Pot, a Seattle Pike Place Market fun standby”→
Seattle is the salmon capital of the continental United States (Alaska does a pretty good job of it as well) but even knowing Seattle’s salmon reputation, I wasn’t prepared to find salmon sold at the Seattle Mariners’ ballpark, Safeco Field.
Salmon salad was a great surprise at Safeco Field in Seattle. Bring your own oil and vinegar packets so you can spike the high-fat dressing.
But that’s where I found it, specifically atop a salad. Ballparks are where we eat hot dogs, but hot dogs have been off my menu since my angioplasty two years ago. That makes going to a baseball game much less fun for me than it once was. I usually can scrounge up a chicken breast sandwich now. Continue reading “Safeco Field offers salmon salad…gotta love it”→
My love of salmon made Seattle a logical vacation spot for my wife and I. Seattle is awash in salmon. Indeed we had it everywhere from Pike’s Place Market to Safeco Field. How many baseball stadiums have a salmon offering on their menus? But when we ate out with a good friend of ours who lives in Seattle, she took us to a wonderful place we wouldn’t have found on our own, Ray’s Boathouse.
My salmon at Ray’s Boathouse in Seattle…wonderful.
Ray’s served me the best salmon I had during my time in Seattle. I asked for it and the asparagus and potatoes that accompanied it with no salt, as I usually do. The special request was not a problem for Ray’s The salmon was the thickest I had in Seattle, and so wonderfully flavorful.
My wife ordered her favorite, halibut, and called it the best halibut she’d ever had, high praise indeed from such a halibut fan. The atmosphere was upscale casual and the place is mammoth, so we had no trouble being seated fairly quickly after we arrived.
Ray’s is a special place to visit should you be in Seattle, enjoy.
John
My wife and I recently vacationed for a few days in Seattle, a city that’s synonymous with salmon which thankfully is allowed on my low-fat, low-sodium post-angioplasty diet because the nutrition thinking these days is that it has so-called good fat. Fine with me, until that view changes, I’m eating salmon often.
Seattle is a wonderful place to eat fresh salmon. I had it four days straight, including this wonderful offering at Ray’s Boathouse.
I had it everyday we were in Seattle recently, at tourist spots in Seattle’s famous Pike’s
Place Market, at more upscale restaurants where the locals go (we have a friend there who took us out for dinner), even at a baseball game! I’ll be posting about my salmon adventures, and about some food finds in Portland, Ore. where we also visited, over the next few days. Enjoy!
I wrote early this year about a great panko breadcrumb find at Costco. Indeed, the giant box lasted me from February through August. But I was very disappointed when I went back to Costco recently only to find it had switched to a different brand of panko breadcrumbs — one that’s incredibly high in salt. Shame on you Costco!
Costco has dropped a low-sodium brand of panko and now carries this from McCormick, an offering loaded with salt. Shame on you Costco.McCormick panko breadcrumb nutrition information
The warehouse store now carries McCormick brand Tuscan Herb panko bread crumbs. Anything that has a name like that is likely loaded with salt. A quick check of the nutrition panel confirmed my worst fears. A half-cup of this brand has 560 mgs of sodium, or a third of my daily limit. That’s simply unacceptable. Continue reading “Costco has switched bread crumb brands, shame on you Costco”→
Prairie Moon is a long-time Evanston, Il., standby when it comes to casual, fun restaurants. But because it’s menu skews a bit Cajun and barbeque, I haven’t been to eat there since my angioplasty two years go.
My wife recently decided we should go there with friends for dinner, though, so I braced for maybe at most a salad. But I was pleasantly surprised that the chefs there were able to modify a menu offering and still keep it tasty and hearty. Kudos to you, Prairie Moon.
Trout, potatoes and broccoli at PRairie Moon, no salt and no crust but wonderful in taste and simplicity.
Despite recent headlines like “Butter is Back” and “Eat Butter” and “Don’t Blame Fat,” dietary guidelines still tell us to limit our saturated fat intake to less than 10% of our calories and even 7% to further reduce the risk of heart disease. Total fat intake recommendations remain between 20-35% of the total diet.
I met Ginger Hultin MS, RD, LDN, is a Chicago-based freelance writer and dietitian, whle on a recent TV show to discuss diet, fat and health and was impressed by what she had to say.
The very low fat diet by Dr. Dean Ornish at about 10% total fat continues to be awarded “Best Heart Healthy Diet” each year and success stories like John Frank’s inspire people to eat healthy and stick to a diet relatively low in fat for optimal health.
All diets consist of three major food types, or macronutrients: carbohydrates, protein and fat. Even a very low-fat diet will have some percentage of fat included, so which are the best choices?
Recommendations show that unsaturated fats are healthful; you may hear the words omega-3, polyunsaturated, or monounsaturated. These are all types of healthy fat in the diet found in plant-based foods. If you’re going to eat fat-containing foods, opt for types including fatty fish (salmon, herring), nuts and seeds (almonds, walnuts, hemp and chia), healthy oils (flax, olive oil), and fatty fruits (avocado, olives). Choosing more highly processed, low-fat foods has been debunked (think low fat cookies!), so be sure to choose whole, unprocessed foods that have healthy fats in them naturally like the ones I listed above. Continue reading “Which fats should you be eating? A guest post”→
Eating healthy on a budget, while having health issues-ie: diabetes, heart disease, organ transplant, etc, can be difficult but attainable. A few hints and tips I’ve followed throughout my “Simple Healthy Fresh” cookbook series are, in fact, simple.
Increase low-carb and low-starch vegetables. Increase your intake of ‘free foods for diabetics’:
Eggplant is one. Now, don’t wrinkle that nose, eggplant is what I call a neutral vegetable, meaning it can take on any flavor and be in any dish you can think of.
Soups and salads are your friend. These can be made out of anything-especially those ‘free foods’ I mentioned earlier (including eggplant) like celery, onion, all cabbages, greens, cucumber, mushroom, radish, zucchini. With small additions of other items you can have ratatouille, gazpacho, spring/fall/winter/summer soups.
Salads for lunch, snack or dinner: Be creative with salads and ingredients. Make a slaw out of green and red cabbage-grate or use…
This blog began after I had angioplasty done to open a severely blocked artery to my heart. I recent passed the two-year mark since that surgery, passing a physical with flying colors.
To reach this point, I have completely changed how I eat, walking away from all the high-fat, high-sodium, high-sugar foods I once loved and lived for. It’s been extremely tough, but there are rewards. One came recently when I was invited to be a guest on a TV show dealing with health, fat and eating habits. Continue reading “Dumping junk food: two years and counting for me”→
I recently came across this video on the Boston Globe site for what’s dubbed healthy fish tacos. You’ll have to watch to get the recipe and leave out the salt, but other than that, it sounds very simple.
Tilapia such as these would work for fish tacos.
To make it healthy, the recipe substitutes Swiss chard for a taco shell or soft taco, either of which is loaded with salt. It’s a variation of the lettuce wraps many places sell these days. Rather than Swiss chard, I’d try romaine lettuce or maybe radicchio leaves.
Fish that would work include tilapia, flounder or just about any white fish. Grill the fish, inside or out, following her instructions here. Enjoy!
The No Salt, No Fat, No Sugar Journal 