Eating fresh means knowing when to dump old food too

Heart-healthy approaches to eating usually emphasize eating a lot of fresh, rather than processed, foods. That means your refrigerator should be stocked with fresh produce, fresh fish and fresh chicken, depending on your tastes.

Start with white meat chicken. Cut it into bite-sized cubes. — How long can you keep chicken in your refrigerator, even after you’ve frozen it? Check this list.

But how long can you keep those before they start to spoil, even in the refrigerator?

WebMD has a handy illustrated guide, although the first thing that struck me about it is that we shouldn’t be eating many fo the items covered here — like deli meats, Mayonnaise, butter, most high-fat ground beef and cheese. Continue reading “Eating fresh means knowing when to dump old food too” →

October 2, 2018 0

Easter no-salt, no-sugar dinner recipes abound here for you

With Easter less than a week away, we’ve been getting a lot fo visitors to a post we did back in 2014, Low-salt Easter dinner: how to enjoy the holiday meal.

One of our many no salt, no sugar recipes. We cut the salt and sugar to a minimum, along with the fat.

That meal included low-salt turkey, green beans in a balsamic/olive oil glaze and asparagus roasted with low-salt panko breadcrumbs and low-fat cheese.

But we also have other Easter suggestions, such as A no-salt Easter side dish — asparagus with balsamic tomatoes. Continue reading “Easter no-salt, no-sugar dinner recipes abound here for you” →

March 26, 2018 0

Mustard-crusted salmon, a quick, tasty dinner option

Salmon really has become like steak once was for me, a satisfying, relatively quick main course that I now have at least once and often twice a week. My recipe page has a variety of ways to prepare it, many involving salt-free Mrs. Dash and other brands of marinades as well.

But as I was getting ready to make dinner recently, I recalled an old favorite I hadn’t made in years, mustard-crusted salmon. Mustard is a condiment I can eat without worries since it usually does not include salt, saturated fat or sugar. I grew up in New York eating, more often than not, a spicier brown mustard, the Gulden’s brand to be specific.

So I still look for brown mustard today and used it in this recipe from Rachel Raye instead of Dijon mustard. Another substitution I made was using a slat-free spice mixture from a local spice story instead of herbes de Provence which I did not have handy. I also served it with asparagus instead of rice.

Cooking it was easy in the oven and it came out flaky and moister than when I’ve done it on the stove top in a frying pan.

Here are the details from Rachel’s site, she is the queen of quick meals, nice to see such a healthy one:

Ingredients
1 1/3 pounds center-cut salmon fillet
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill or 1-1/2 tablespoons dried dill
1 1/2 tablespoons herbes de Provence
1/4 cup Dijon mustard

Baking it:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Rub the salmon with the olive oil. Place on a foil- or parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with the dill and herbes de Provence. Spread the mustard over the top, using a table knife or rubber spatula to cover completely.

Bake the salmon until no longer translucent, about 15 minutes.

March 24, 2018 1

12 days of no-salt, no-sugar Christmas recipes — Chicken with strawberry & pineapple salsa

We’re bringing back a site favorite this holiday season, our 12 days of no-salt, no-sugar Christmas recipes to help you come up with a fun and healthy menu for this busiest time of year.

I’ll be linking to and discussing recipe favorites every day for the next 12, starting today with a recipe I wrote about recently and just made myself this past Sunday, grilled chicken with strawberries and pineapple salsa.

I suggested when first reviewing this recipe that you could substitute Mrs. Dash salt-free taco seasoning for the salt-free steak seasoning called for in the recipe. That worked out really well for me, giving the chicken a nice flavor. I rubbed the seasoning on both sides of each breast I made. Continue reading “12 days of no-salt, no-sugar Christmas recipes — Chicken with strawberry & pineapple salsa” →

December 19, 2017 1

Salmon so simple anyone can make it

My lemon salmon. I used leek instead of scallions and it came great. I loved the garlic flavor.

Some people shy away from cooking fish at home because they think it too complicated. But eating fish at restaurants often means getting more salt and fat added than you want or need. So check my recipe page for a variety of fish recipes I think you can handle. Or start with this simple yet tasty way to make salmon at home.

Salmon is a great fatty fish, with what’s being called good fat these days, so enjoy it in place of steak or other meats you once ate but are giving up now because of “bad” fat concerns. Continue reading “Salmon so simple anyone can make it” →

August 8, 2017 0

Simple can be delicious, try this no-salt chicken recipe

Finding new chicken recipes is an obsession of mine that began shortly after my 2012 angiopasty when I cut down on red meat and substituted more chicken and fish meals. So I’m always on the lookout for new chicken recipes.

Cooking Light recently sent me an e-newsletter with a top story entitled One-Dish Chicken Recipes, so I immediately dove in to see what it included. Of the three recipes, only one is suitable to become a no salt, no sugar no fat recipe which I’ll eventually list on my recipe page. Continue reading “Simple can be delicious, try this no-salt chicken recipe” →

February 2, 2017 3

No salt, no sugar, 4th of July recipes

Happy July 4th everyone, time to heat up the grills and celebrate. And don’t be discouraged that traditional July 4th food is filled with salt, fat and sugar, the devil’s triangle of food additives in our country. I’ve written about how someone trying to avoid them can starve on July 4th at someone else’s house.

In another sheet of aluminum foil, place your four pieces of salmon and separate with aluminum foil. Then rub in marinades for each. — Grilling salmon is a luscious experience. Click the links here to see two grilled salmon recipes form Costco.

So take charge of your diet and look to our recipe page for a variety of dishes you can make today, like:

You don’t have to fast on the 4th when you’re trying to eat healthy. We have recipes for you. Enjoy the day!

John

July 2, 2016 0

A new take on turkey meatballs — apples and cranberries

Turkey meatballs have become a major part of my redone Italian recipe file when cooking at home. I also make them for parties, serving them in my low-salt, low-fat homemade Italian tomato sauce (we call it gravy in my family).

Turkey meatballs are a low-fat, low-salt alternative to beef meatballs.

So I was excited to see this take on turkey meatballs that includes apples in the meat mixture and a cranberry sauce. The recipe appeared in a recent LoseIt newsletter where LoseIt linked to another site that had the recipe and lots of photos. Here’s the ingredient list:

For the Meatballs:

1 pound 93% lean ground turkey
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup shredded tart apple, such as Granny Smith, washed with peel on
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped sage
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Chopped fresh parsley, optional for garnish

For the Cranberry Sauce:

1 cup whole berry cranberry sauce
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons maple syrup
Zest of 1 orange
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice

Continue reading “A new take on turkey meatballs — apples and cranberries” →

December 8, 2015 3

A salmon dish for garlic lovers

Salmon is a fish I love and garlic is another favorite, a is lemon. So I was excited to try a recipe I saw in People magazine for salmon with lemon, garlic and leeks. Oddly enough, I can;t find the recipe online, it may be behind a People pay wall of some kind. So I’ll just detail it for you here.

Start with 4 pieces of salmon, about 6-7 ounces each. Cut up two scallions and mince two gloves of garlic.

Whisk together a quarter cup of olive oil, the scallions, a tablespoon of lemon juice, a tablespoon of honey and the garlic. The recipe also calls for tamari, a soy product. I’ve never used that and don’t have it in my house, so I just left it out. The dish tasted great without it.

Put the liquid mixture into a large zip-top bag and add the salmon to marinate it. The recipe calls for marinating 15 to 30 minutes at room temperature. I went with 15 minutes because we were hungry and it worked fine.

Continue reading “A salmon dish for garlic lovers” →

December 7, 2015 3

An arctic char recipe for Christmas time, or any time

Fish of all types has become a bigger part of my eating routine since my 2012 angioplasty, so I’m always open to new varieties. Arctic char is a fresh water fish that started making its way here in the 1990s from northern climes in Europe and Iceland.

Slow roasted char, as featured ina Bon Appetit recipe. Click the link to it in my post to get details.

It’s a bit of a cross between trout and salmon, with less fat than salmon, although it has a resemblance in terms of its somewhat pink color. It reminds me a bit of the steelhead trout I’ve blogged about here in the past. Continue reading “An arctic char recipe for Christmas time, or any time” →

December 3, 2015 1

Category: protein