So who isn’t trying to cut down on sodium these days?
PeaceBang’s friends used to call her the Sodium Queen in college, so you can imagine that she has quite a little habit with the fleur de sel. I also like kosher salt, if you must know, and keep it in a little covered wooden bowl from Nicaragua.
Salt is special to me, and I like to treat it like the beautiful gift of Mother Ocean that it is!
But the doc says I need to cut back, so I shall. The first and easiest way to do that, of course, is to eat no processed foods. Not even the “healthy” stuff at Trader Joe’s, of which I am a wild fan. Cut open a bag, stir fry, toaster oven, microwave or steam away and you have dinner in 15 minutes! It was a good thing that I read the review and researched the oven I was to take, on Unclutterer. Because, there was one in particular I was looking for, and I found it there.
Ah, well. Good thing I like to cook. And I LOVE spices. I collect them like a little squirrel on all my travels, packing saffron in the toe of a shoe or gleefully tucking a bag of aleppo pepper into a sock. You should have seen me at the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul!
Imagine my rapturous delight when I visited Penzey’s Spices in Minneapolis, Minnesota this past June and was happily assaulted by the aroma of hundreds of fantabulous spices! Among my favorite acquisitions from that trip has been Sunny Paris, a super-tasty, SALT-FREE combination of flavors that I shake into salads, onto lean meats, onto popcorn (which I am learning to “appreciate” unbuttered … okay, I’m working on it!). The base of Sunny Paris is shallots, which gives it a garlicky intensity without burning out your mouth or stinking you away from civilized persons.
Whatever lifestyle changes you’re making in the effort to be a bit more healthy, PeaceBang salutes you! Be good to that good gift!
Penzeys spices – thanks be to G*d!
Penzeys has a local outlet which I think is in Arlington or perhaps Medford. [Yea, I think it’s Arlington on Mass Avenue. – PB]
Just used Sunny Paris tonight on scrambled eggs, fluffed up with a little 1% cottage cheese. Yum.
Can you bring spices with you from international travel? I wanted to buy cinnamon in Jericho but was afraid it was an agricultural product and I wouldn’t get it in… [It seems to be a little random, IMHO. I’ve seen people come in with loads of spices as long as they’re in sealed jars. And then occasionally the security guys will jettison those, too. I would take a chance — sealed jars! — and hope for the best. I’ve gotten through with items that I thought they would tell me they had to confiscate and I’ve had stuff confiscated that met all of the rules and regs. So go figure. – PB]
my strategy is to forego any and all processed food but to delicately put sprinkles of interesting salt; smoked salt, Hawaiian red salt, Himalayan pink salt,pure ocean salt,European black salt or sel de Gurerande on my grilled trout filet or my steamed cauliflower (add nutmeg to that too) – a neat little carousel with these salts is available in gourmet stores –
On popcorn, PB, try spraying a little olive-oil Pam or something similar on it. This makes the seasonings stick better and gives a lot of tasteBang without any real additional calories or fat. [Okay! Thanks for the idear! – PB]
I heart Penzey’s! One of my friends describes it as “like Bath & Body Works, but for spices.” I’ll have to try the Sunny Paris blend.
I believe sea salt has less sodium than regular salt. (If you want to get all technical, table salt is sodium chloride, and sea salt has a fair amount of calcium chloride). Sodium is what affects blood pressure. 🙂
We luuuuuuuuuuuuuurve Penzey’s. Especially their chili powder, which is also salt-free, I believe.
I can’t run my kitchen without apple cider vinegar and red wine vinegar– sharpens the flavors enough to replace that mean ole salt. For spice blends, I like Bittersweet Herb Farm. Their dry spice mixes are fabulous.
The potassium-chloride salt blends are salty-tasting and have less sodium; they work well. And potassium is good for you!