Tag Archives: low sodium snacks

February 2, 2011 · 2:56 pm

Wassabi Edamame

Today’s Super Bowl post is dedicated to the one true reason (besides the gluttony of food) that I sit down and watch football games.

Commercials.

And to fully celebrate that truth, let’s begin with this simple video.

Roll it, Budweiser.

If you haven’t guessed it yet – and hey, it’s in the title – I’m paying homage to not only some of the greatest Super Bowl advertising, but one of the greatest bar food bites: wasabi snacks.

Now, traditionally, these crunchy treats are made with peas and loads of sodium. But thanks to a suggestion from one of my food savvy friends, I thought I’d give it a low-sodium go.

First, I found sound green, freeze-dried veggies that would serve as the flavor canvas. I had intentions to use Just Peas (0 mg of sodium), but Whole Foods was out. Luckily, the Ferry Building had some Crunchies Edamame (0 mg of sodium) on hand instead, and I thought that this turned out to be a more appropriate wasabi vehicle.


As for the tangy, eye-watering taste, I did have some wasabi powder on hand. But for some reason, when I mixed it with water, it just didn’t taste right. Perhaps my powder was old. So I approximated the same flavor with horseradish, mustard, and a few other special ingredients.

All that was left was to mix, bake, and eat. It was that simple.

So Jenais and my other Sodium Girl friends, the rest is spicy, snacking history.

This bowl’s for you.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups freeze-dried edamame or peas (0 mg of sodium)
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon of olive oil
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon horseradish (look for brand with 20mg of sodium per teaspoon)
  • 1/4 teaspoon powdered mustard
  • 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon brown sugar

Directions:

1. Turn oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a small bowl, mix the honey, olive oil, cayenne, horseradish, mustard, garlic powder, and brown sugar.

3. Add the freeze-dried veggies (edamame or peas) to the bowl and mix by hand.

4. Spread the veggies onto a greased/non-stick baking sheet and put into the oven.

5. Allow to cook for 5-10 minutes. Check to make sure it is crisping, not burning.

6. Take the veggies out of the oven and put into a serving dish. Enjoy.

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January 5, 2011 · 7:49 am

Ganoush is the New Guacamole

Move over guacamole, there is a new boy in town. (Don’t worry, this is only for dramatics. I could never really lose my love for a creamy avocado).

But for those dinner parties and friendly gatherings that need a little extra class and sass, the hot new dish is ganoush – babaganoush – and it is taking all the chips.

A few years ago, I discovered a very purple and very low sodium spread at the San Francisco Ferry Building Farmer’s Market. It turned out to be a delectable babaganoush that was bursting with flavor. As I licked my tasting spoon clean, however, I thought that there was no way that this tasty Arabic treat could be truly salt-free.

But upon inspection, the label read roasted garlic, parsley, lemon, and grilled eggplant. No salt in sight. The combination of the roasting and grilling gave the ganoush its husky flavor and the parsley and lemon lent a bright sparkle.

After years eating tubs of someone else’s vegetable puree, I finally decided to take the dish into my own hands. With some tahini butter, smoked paprika, and a hot oven, I whisked up my very first batch of ganoush to celebrate Stanford’s appearance at the Orange Bowl on Monday Night. And it turned out that both my spread and my team were victorious.

Other than the time it takes to roast the eggplant and garlic (50 minutes at 400 degrees), this is a simple dish to make and most importantly, it has been approved by salt-loving palates.

So get ganoushing and remember, chow on.

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium sized Japanese eggplant (the long skinny kind)
  • 3-4 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1 drizzle of olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons of low sodium tahini
  • 1/4 teaspoon of low sodium (20 mg per teaspoon) horseradish
  • 1 tablespoon of water
  • 1/4 teaspoon of smoked paprika
  • 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
  • Juice from one lemon
  • Some chopped parsley for garnish

Directions:

1. Turn oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Peel eggplant (with a vegetable peeler) and chop in half. Place the eggplant and garlic cloves on tinfoil and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap up the tinfoil and place the aromatic veggie package into the oven for 1 hour.

3. While the eggplant and garlic are roasting, mix the tahini and the water with a spoon in a deep bowl or a tall plastic container (like the kind that comes with an immersion blender) until it is smooth.

4. Add the lemon juice, the horseradish, the pepper, and the smoked paprika to the tahini/water mixture. Wait.

5. When the eggplant is soft to the touch, add the garlic and eggplant to the tahini/water/lemon juice mixture. Use an immersion blender, cuisinart, or stand-up blender to mix all the ingredients, adding a few more drizzles of olive oil as it blends to make it silky smooth.

6. Garnish with roughly chopped parsley and some chips. Enjoy.

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September 10, 2010 · 8:23 am

Toot Your Horn, It’s Time For Corn

In the somewhat altered words of Steven Tyler, “it’s a-maize-ing.” And I’m not just referring to Aerosmith’s extremely long career, or Tyler’s obsession with scarves, but I’m also talking about the savory, sweet, and ultimately flexible culinary properties of a fresh ear of corn.

While this vegetable may be best known for its simple work on the cob, there are many ways these little kernels can fill your plate – as a side, as a snack, as an entrée, and as a sweet treat to end the day. And as such, I’m planning to write about this ancient crop, and only this crop, next week.

But let’s back up a bit and take a second to appreciate my obsession with corn.

As a child, I knew it was summer not because the school bell stopped ringing, nor because the afternoons became longer and the sun hotter. I knew it was summer when my dad came home with fresh cracked crab from the local seafood house, artichokes from the grocery store, and milky white corn from my grandfather’s garden. It was a taste and olfactory alarm clock that could not be denied. A town crier that screamed the good news – the summer solstice had arrived.

This year, however, stormy weather and cold fronts hit the snooze button for a few months and, while there were still some nights of shucking and boiling, most of my corn came from a frozen bag. Zero sodium, good flavor, but just not the same. Like sitting in a blow-up kiddie pool instead of screaming down a water slide.

But on the horizon, there was husking hope and I began to notice corn recipes cropping up all over the internet fields: Hogwash’s New Lobster Chowder with Corn Stalk; Daily Dish’s Corn & Potato Chowder; and Low Sodium Adventures in Cooking’s Scalloped Corn. With all this cyber buzz, clearly this stalky crop’s ears were burning (bam – corn joke) and I was listening.

So, as I already revealed earlier, next week will be filled with corn recipes. And the best news is that you – yes you – get to decide the final menu. Just take part in the poll below to weigh in on which corn-based, Salt-Free My Recipe you want to see.

In the meantime though, let me leave you with something simple and delicious for the weekend. Forget about the savory and let’s focus on the sweet. Close your eyes and imagine for a second that you are off to the movies this weekend, a picnic in the park, a county fair, or a football game as the season kicks off. You have everything you need to enjoy your day – a hat, sunscreen, a sweater in case the theater gets cold – but your hands seem to be longing for something. Mittens? No way. A hand to hold? Nah, this weather is a case for sweaty palms. Popcorn? You betcha!

Now, while freshly popped popcorn (i.e. you, some kernels, and a pot over medium heat) has no sodium, it does require either a microwave or a stove and, of course, some creativity. I’ve enjoyed many homemade bowls of this airy treat, dressed up in flavored olive oil, browned butter, and spices (like cayenne, cumin, herbs, and even curry). But sometimes, you just want something that comes ready-to-eat.

And low and behold, with enough praying and patience, another low sodium wish has come true and yesterday, at my grocery store Mecca (thank you, Whole Foods), I found a huge bag of salt-free, cinnamon sprinkled popcorn.

With a whopping zero mg of sodium per serving, Colby’s Kettle Corn is truly authentic (only three ingredients) and each crisp, bite is truly delicious. Colby’s makes a point of being, as they say on their website, the “low sodium popcorn for those watching their salt intake.” Their product, and purpose, is greatly appreciated by the low-so community and as a side-note, their popcorn is also totally addictive and I suggest buying a complimentary bag clip in order to stop yourself from consuming the whole thing.

So that, my friends, is just the start of an exciting week of corn – baked, boiled, fried, and popped. And to make future posts even more exciting then these sugar dusted fairy nuggets you see in the picture above, take the poll below and let your low sodium voice be heard. Better than a rumbling tummy.

Have a great weekend and chow on!

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July 14, 2010 · 11:41 am

Fancy Food Show

Two weeks ago, I was literally a kid in a low sodium candy store when I was lucky enough (slash: I bought a ticket) to attend the Fancy Food Show in New York City. Although I didn’t think I would find too many salt-free products in the endless aisles of food booths, I actually ended up discovering a handful of wonderful artisans and manufacturers who are based throughout the US (from Cali, to Wisconsin, to NYC) and who are making delicious and shelf-safe products, without the salt.

Although I had my camera with me and was prepared to take some fabulous shots of the bustling scene, the light was low and my hands were too busy stuffing cheese, chips, and chocolate into my mouth. So none of them turned out to be blog-worthy. Case in point below:

But luckily, my good friend and fellow blogger, KM Lake, was to the rescue and introduced me to a new cyber tool called Polyvore. Although it is most widely used for fashion websites, Polyvore is quickly infiltrating the food world. And with this collage-creating gadget, I was able to locate and clip out all the products I loved from the Fancy Food Show and create a nice little set of them for you. Not only does Polyvore produce a beautiful picture, it also provides links directly to Amazon where you can buy the product, if so moved. It’s a win-win situation: a pretty sight for your eyes and a satisfying treat for your mouth.

(Note: The only product that is not low sodium in this Polyvore set is the cheese – truth be told, I couldn’t find a picture of the paneer I saw and ate at the food show, so here is the real link to the Karoun website, where you can buy a block of paneer that only has 5mg of sodium per serving).

So have a Fancy Food Show of your own with this Polyvore set and look forward to many more grocery store round-ups with the same polished look in the near future.

Collage and chow on.

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May 24, 2010 · 10:10 am

The Dehydrator

A few weeks ago, when I was having a minor operation, Boy was thoughtful enough to buy me a little get well gift. It was a totally unnecessary, completely adorable gesture that warmed my heart and really did make me feel better.

And I bet you’re thinking, he probably got her some flowers, a good book, or maybe a DVD set of the past 800 billion seasons of Lost (which I am so behind on that I think, like the Harry Potter craze, I will have to completely ignore instead of trying to catch up and admit to my complete, pop culture disconnection).

But I’m sorry to say you’re wrong. The gift was not a bouquet of lilies. Nor was it a book, a DVD set, or a box of chocolates. It was in fact something more useful, delicious, and entertaining than all four of those options. It was a dehydrator.

Now, Boy and I have only tested this monsterous machine once – to make dehydrated bananas, which look like slugs but taste like banana bread – but I see endless batches of low sodium fruit snacks and beef jerky in our future.  The dehydrator is first and foremost useful for making low sodium treats on the cheap – and thank goodness, because those plastic tins of dried fruit from Whole Foods were really starting to cut into my bank account.

But the dehydrator can do much more than slim down an entire 3-D pear to a 2-D slice of perfect proportion. The dehydrator is also a wonderful tool for making travel-freindly meals. For only $53, I am now able to make all kinds of dried, low sodium dishes that I can easily pack for the trips abroad and adventures in the wild.

While available backpacking food is incredibly space efficient, it is also extremely high in sodium.  So usually, when I travel or camp, I have to forgo these options and find flat, non-perishable items (like tortillas, granola, and sodium free nori sheets) that I can stick in my bag and nibble upon. These solutions work, but the low sodium, space-friendly choices are pretty limited and tend to not be very nutritious or filling.

With my new toy, though, I can now reduce entire pots of vegetable heavy, carb-filled pastas, rice dishes, and soups into travel-sized portions. And when I’m hungry, all I have to do is add hot water and chow down.

I am still not sure how to properly preserve the food without salt – and after my experiment with bacon, my stomach is a little reticent to risk another round of self-imposed food poisoning.  But as I have a four week back packing trip coming up in my near future, expect some major research in the coming months.

So its time to plug that dehydrator in and get plugging on some salt and moisture free recipes. And  no matter where you are, or what deserted road you’ll travel, you’ll be able to chow on.

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