Spring and Asparagus go hand-in-hand

*Asparagus ready for my backyard grill. I use these disposable grilling sheets to keep my main grill clean.*

In spring, an old man’s fancy turns to — asparagus? Well, hopefully still other things as well. But spring is traditionally thought of as asparagus season, the New York Times tells us.

Asparagus should be on your healthy menu. It’s high in probiotics and a good source of Vitamin K (although if you’re on some blood thinners as I am, vitamin K may not be your friend, see below for details).

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May 16, 2025 0

Balsamic-Roasted Broccoli — try this for summer fare

I saw this recipe for balsamic-roasted and was shocked to discover I’ve never written about it on this blog. I did have a piece on roasting broccoli and cauliflower, but never just the broccoli.

Start with fresh broccoli, cut off the bulky stems and trim as you like — Broccoli often is on sale in the Chciago area where we live. Watch out for sales near you.

So here it is. Leave out the salt, obviously. The balsamic vinegar will give it plenty of flavor even without the salt.

Leave out the cheese too if you’re worried about salt and fat. OR search out low-fat or no-fat cheese to help a bit.

Recipe

Balsamic-Roasted Broccoli

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Yield: 2 side-dish servings

Ingredients

3 cups broccoli florets (about ¾ lb/350 g fresh broccoli)
1 small onion, peeled, halved, and thickly sliced
1½ tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
¼ teaspoon coarse salt
⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoon fresh grated Parmesan cheese, for topping (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425F.
Toss together all ingredients, then arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Roast until the broccoli is tender and browned in spots, about 18 to 22 minutes (depending how crispy you like your broccoli), tossing once halfway through.
Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top, if using, and serve immediately.

May 14, 2025 0

A new turkey meatloaf recipe

Lean ground turkey (be sure to buy the leanest kind) is a great addition to any healthy diet, taking the place of fattier meats. I’ve long been a turkey meatloaf lover. Now, here’s a new turkey meatloaf recipe I just saw on the Food Network site that you can try.

The ingredient list (before we take the salt out):

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April 10, 2025 0

You can cook like Julia Child, at least when it comes to salad dressing

Cooking icon Julia Child was a hero of mine when I was a kid. Her PBS shows kindled my love of cooking, and of experimenting when I cook.

But I’ve never attempted her recipes, even though I’ve owned some of her books over the years. They all seemed more complicated than I could handle.

Another Standard Market Grill salad offering. — *Top your salad with a little piece of Julia Child’s food legacy.*

If you’ve felt the same way, take heart. I found one of her recipes you and I can easily make, and enjoy, since it seems relatively heart-healthy too.

It’s in this piece, Julia Child’s Timeless Vinaigrette Helped Me Fall in Love with Salad on Eatingwell.com.

Start with these ingredients:

2 tablespoons wine vinegar or a combination of vinegar and lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil and/or salad oil, such as grapeseed oil
1 1/2 teaspoons minced shallot or scallions and/or ¼ teaspoon dried herbs, such as tarragon or basil
Big pinch of freshly ground pepper

I’d omit the salt and stick with olive oil. But even if you use the salt, it’s still a relatively small amount given the amount of dressing you’re creating.

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February 13, 2024 0

A healthy salmon recipe for the New Year

Happy 2024 everyone! Now that the year-end holidays are out of the way, it’s time to get back to healthy eating. Here’s a tasty recipe to start with, Sheet-Pan Roasted Salmon & Vegetables.

Here are the ingredients with my notes on what to change to cut salt content and help in other ways as well:

1 pound fingerling potatoes, halved lengthwise (red potatoes are better if you’re worried about sugar and diabetes)
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
½ teaspoon sea salt (omit this, fish has enough of its own salt)
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 5 to 6-ounce fresh or frozen skinless salmon fillets
2 medium red, yellow and/or orange sweet peppers, cut into rings
2 cups cherry tomatoes
1 ½ cups chopped fresh parsley (1 bunch)
¼ cup pitted kalamata olives, halved (substitute low-salt regular olives to cut salt)
¼ cup finely snipped fresh oregano or 1 Tbsp. dried oregano, crushed
1 lemon

Directions are fairly straight-forward:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place potatoes in a large bowl. Drizzle with 1 Tbsp. of the oil and sprinkle with garlic and 1/8 tsp. of the salt and black pepper; toss to coat. Transfer to a 15×10-inch baking pan; cover with foil. Roast 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, thaw salmon, if frozen. Combine, in the same bowl, sweet peppers, tomatoes, parsley, olives, oregano and 1/8 tsp. of the salt and black pepper. Drizzle with remaining 1 Tbsp. oil; toss to coat.
Rinse salmon; pat dry. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 tsp. salt and black pepper. Spoon sweet pepper mixture over potatoes and top with salmon. Roast, uncovered, 10 minutes more or just until salmon flakes.
Remove zest from lemon. Squeeze juice from lemon over salmon and vegetables. Sprinkle with zest.

Salmon is great if you’re looking for a substitute for red meat main dishes. It has body and flavor to it, and supposedly some of the good fat we’re supposed to eat.

Enjoy and Happy New Year!

January 3, 2024 0

Going low-carb? Here are 19 recipes

If you’ve been advised that a low-carb diet is good for whatever heart issues you’re dealing with, here are 19 recipes for low-carb dinners from Eatingwell.com.

*The One-Pot Garlicky Shrimp & Spinach recipe I checked out.*

As always, though, check the nutrition information thoroughly before making any of these. Thankfully, you can click through for a full nutrition read-out on these, unlike on some other recipe sites.

So look for the salt and fat contents before making these. I checked a shrimp recipe, for example, and found 444 msg of sodium in one serving. Not bad is you stick to the one-cup serving but I would likely eat twice that much.

November 28, 2023 0

Halibut with Romesco sauce — hold the nuts

Halibut is a luxury fish, one more commonly eaten at restaurants than at home because many people are afraid to try preparing fish themselves. But this recipe sounds worth trying, albeit without the almonds mentioned if, like me, you can’t stand nuts.

Halibut on a carrot puree at a restaurant in Milwaukee which is, sadly, no longer there.

Here are the basics, from the site lovelyfoodblog.com, minus changes I would make:

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 pounds halibut fillets
3/4 teaspoon salt (leave out the salt)
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Sauce

1 large red bell pepper
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 cup slivered, toasted almonds (only if you like them, I don;t so would omit)
1 thick slice of bread, torn into pieces (find the lowest salt bread you can)
1 teaspoon salt (omit, fish is salty as is, no extra is needed)
1 teaspoon paprika
1 cup drained canned diced tomatoes (buy low- or no-salt ones)
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar

To create the dish:

To make the sauce, preheat the broiler. Quarter the bell pepper and place it, cut side down, on a baking sheet along with the garlic cloves. Broil, turning the garlic once, until the garlic is browned and soft and the skin of the bell pepper blackened and blistered. Removed from the boiler and set aside cool slightly.
peel the blackened skin from the pepper and remove the core and seeds. Put the bell pepper and garlic in a food processor along with the almonds, bread, salt and paprika. Process to a paste. Add the tomatoes and vinegar and process until the tomatoes are small and fully incorporated.
To cook the fish preheat a broiler to high. Season the fish with the salt and pepper and broil about 4 minutes. Turn and broil for another 4 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through. Serve the fish immediately, with the sauce drizzled over it.

Enjoy. And if you love halibut, try this other recipe on my site, halibut with wine and herbs.

March 17, 2023 0

When Mrs. Dash can’t help, make your own spice mixtures

I’ma. Bog fan of Mrs. Dash salt-free spice mixtures and its spice packets or such offerings as taco and fajita seasonings.

But lately, the Healthy Heart Market where I order such items has not had the Mrs. Dash fajita mix in stock, so I started looking for a recipe of my own.

I found that, like everything else I suppose, there are lots of options for such recipes online.

*Some of the results of my search. You can find many more.*

I did a search for “mixing your own fajita seasoning salt-free” and the results poured in.

You can easily do the same, then pick one that appeals to you.

March 7, 2023 0

10 more salmon recipes to add to your files

In another sheet of aluminum foil, place your four pieces of salmon and separate with aluminum foil. Then rub in marinades for each. — *Soon it will be time for grilling salmon outside again in my Midwest home. Can;t wait. In the meantime, check out these baked salmon recipes.*

I’ve written in the past that you can never have too many salmon recipes. So here are 10 more from MyRecipes.com. All are baked, which is healthy, ut check recipes to see if you need to eliminate any salt, fat or sugar that ingredients may bring.

Salmon with Green Beans and Smashed Potatoes, the first recipe listed, looks simple to make and tasty, I’d leave out the salt and go with a fat-free mayo. If you’re worried about sugar intake, substitute red potatoes too. This recipe shows its nutrition info, which is always helpful.

Not all the recipes have nutritional information however. Crispy Sheet Pan Salmon with Lemony Asparagus and Carrots sounds tasty too but has no nutrition info, sadly. I may try it anyway.It also includes mayo, get that fat-free. And again, leave out the salt, you don’t need it for fish.

March 1, 2023 0

Save money, buy whole fish; then use the discarded parts for fish stock

One way to save money as prices rise at the supermarket is to buy whole fish and fillet them at home rather than buying more expensive fillets.

Filleting a fish was once intimidating but there are scores of videos online these days that can lead you through the process.

Once you’ve created the fillets, you have the head, tail and spinal column left over. If you just throw these out, there goes your savings from buying a whole fish. So why not make fish stock from them instead?

I did that recently with a salmon I bought at a local supermarket. I found this relatively simple recipe for fish stock using salmon on delectabilia.com.

You can use what veggies you find on sale, feel free to vary the recipe a bit. Also leave out the butter, using olive oil to saute the veggies works fine. I liked this recipe because it doesn’t have a lot of fat or salt in the ingredients it recommends. Remember to get the lowest sodium vegetable stock you can find too.

Here’s a short video taking you through all the steps, enjoy.

February 23, 2023 0

Category: recipes

Spring and Asparagus go hand-in-hand

Balsamic-Roasted Broccoli — try this for summer fare

A new turkey meatloaf recipe

You can cook like Julia Child, at least when it comes to salad dressing

A healthy salmon recipe for the New Year

Going low-carb? Here are 19 recipes

Halibut with Romesco sauce — hold the nuts

When Mrs. Dash can’t help, make your own spice mixtures

10 more salmon recipes to add to your files

Save money, buy whole fish; then use the discarded parts for fish stock

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