Bacon (again)

 

We found another low sodium bacon!! This one is even better.. 54g for 150mg. It is Kirkland -Costco brand and it is great. It is nice to be able to have bacon in our house again. 

Dill Pickles

 

Even at 50% less salt, these are are not really a good option for people on a low sodium diet.. but they are the ones that we get for our pickle obsessed son.

Bacon

 

I picked this up today.. i didn't know they made low sodium bacon!

160mg for 2 slices isn't that bad.

Our low sodium journey

It is with a happy heart that I am announcing our venture back into the world of sodium.. although many of our lifestyle changes we plan to carry on.

A few weeks ago Matthew received a kidney transplant! 

We have been advised to always remain vigilant about our sodium intake, but we definitely do not need to be on such strict watch. I hope this (short) blog of products is helpful to other people starting  down the low sodium path. 

I will try to update this blog when I find new products but it likely won't be quite as often as I have updated it in the past. 

Chips

When I first tried these chips I thought they were so plain that I actually salted them for myself (without telling Matt). But I have to say that these chips have really grown on me, they taste like potatoes not salt.  I would actually purchase them over the salted variety now. 

Low Sodium bread machine pizza dough

I keep stalling at posting this recipe because I want to include a picture but I can't seem to remember to take a picture... so here is a the recipe for low sodium pizza dough for the bread machine.
We love to make pizza from scratch but struggled for a long time to find the right combination of salt and yeast. I think we finally have it:

1 cup water
1 Tbsp shortening
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 2/3 Cup flour
3/4 tsp yeast

There you go! You will have to trust me as I have no picture proof..

We usually top it with homemade low sodium pizza sauce, our favourite low sodium mozzarella cheese (here) and different combinations of low sodium toppings.

Mr. Spice- hot wings

 

Matt's favourite Mr. Spice is the Hot Wings. I think he has tried the whole line now.. here are some others.

We notice that most stores carry one or two different Mr. Spices but hardly any carry the whole line. We have to go to Whole Foods for this particular one.

Seasoned pepper

This isn't really a "no-sodium product", as pepper doesn't usually contain salt anyway but I thought it was worth a mention. It is a seasoned pepper, which is great as it gives extra flavour to the food. I find the grains a bit too large, but the flavour is very nice.

Chicken broth

 

We like to make our broth from scratch in order to keep the sodium level as low as possible.

We start with a bed of onions, lots of garlic, lemons, pepper and a whole chicken. After about 5 hours (on low) in the slow cooker we remove most of the chicken meat, leaving the bones, skin and other bits.. add some water, Kombu seaweed and spices and let it go for another 5 hours before straining.

Pop crisps, corn.. Mini taco bowls

I found these low sodium (and low fat) treats at Thrifty's today. They worked perfect as mini taco bowls. 

 

Low sodium bread- Thrifty's

The BEST bread option out there. 

We love our Thrifty's bread. 5mg per slice, 10mg per bun. This is amazing as there are not many options at all for low sodium bread. This bread tastes the same as any regular bakery bread. The only difference I have noted is that it tends to spoil faster.

Mayonnaise

Matt found this mayonnaise at Trader Joe's. It isn't super low in sodium (compared to plain mayonnaise- see below) but it is a bit lower and has a lot more flavour.

Sweet ginger chili dip

Soy sauce

Regular soy sauce is about 920 mg per 1 Tbsp, which means that it is out of Matt's diet.

 

The Braggs liquid Soy Seasoning is 960 mg per 1 Tbsp, so it is out too!

 

Low Sodium Soy Sauce is 580 mg per 1 Tbsp. Therefore Matt uses it sparingly with his sushi.

I have tried making homemade soy sauce.. which was OK..

Here is the receipe:

2 T Sodium Free Beef Bouillon
2 t Red Wine Vinegar
1 t Molasses
1/8 t Ground Ginger
dash Black Pepper
dash Garlic Powder
3/4 c Water
In small sauce pan, combine and boil gently uncovered about 5 minutes or til mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup. Store in refrigerator. Stir before using. 

Cereal

 

The amount of sodium really varies with cereal.  This is Matt's current low sodium favourite.. 50mg/ 3/4 Cup.

We get this at Costco, but I am sure I have seen it elsewhere.

Mr. Spice

 

I am not sure where we would be without Mr. Spice. Matt's favourite flavours are the hot wings (not shown here) and the Honey BBQ. There is an amazing line: http://www.mrspice.com/

I haven't found a store that carries all of them. Whole Foods probably has the most variety.

Salsa

Our search for the best low sodium salsa continues. Today we found the Que Pasa fresh salsa at Costco. It is really quite low.. 1/4 C for 150mg.

This is another low sodium (ish) salsa we found. However this one works out to 210mg per 1/4 Cup.

Salad dressing- Little Creek

 

 After we fell in love with the Little Creek Caesar dressing, we tried the Vinaigrette. It is great! 

We found it at Nourish Market in Lynn Valley Library Square but I have also seen it at Queensbusy Market.

Peanut butter

 

Most natural peanut butter have little or no salt. This one is our favourite from Thrifty's, with 0mg of sodium.

Lime and Chile nuts

This is Matt's favourite new discovery. They are spicy!

From Trader Joe's.

Cinnamon almonds

These are my favourite nuts and they are sodium free!

No sodium bread

This is the only low sodium bread we know of in the States and it is from Trader Joe's. It is sodium free (and flour free). It is ok, a bit dry and it spoils quickly but it does the trick.

Mrs. Dash

We are currently in the states on holiday and found a new Mrs Dash: fiesta lime. We tried it tonight on chicken and it was great. The one on the right is the regular one we brought with us.

Salsa

This is one of Matt's favourite salsas from Trader Joe's, it isn't super low sodium but it is better than most.

Bocconcini

Sausage

The serving size equals 2 sausages. 

These aren't low salt, by any means, but they are the lowest sodium sausages I have ever found.

(I didn't think to take a picture of the until after i froze them- so sorry for the bad photo!)
This is from Queensbury Market in North Vancouver.

Caesar Salad Dressing

 

Pretty low, especially for Caesar dressing.

Mozzarella cheese

 

Lowest sodium cheese i have ever found.

Found at Thrifty's, unfortunately the other types of cheese from this name brand aren't as low.

Corn tortillas

 

I am sure anyone reading this is well aware that Corn Tortillas are the obvious choice over flour tortillas on a low sodium diet. They are no salt!!

Today we tried this recipe: http://www.justataste.com/2013/04/healthy-baked-chicken-cheese-taquitos-recipe/

And they turned out delicious (the picture makes them look  a little blah.. but they were very good!) 

Obviously we omitted the salt, roasted our own chicken, used homemade broth, salsa and guacamole.. but otherwise stuck to the recipe.

Nutritional Yeast

 

I keep hearing about Nutritional yeast to use in place of salt. Apparently it tastes a bit like Parmesan cheese. We haven't tried it yet, but I will report back.

Reporting back.. 

Matt has been a bit reluctant trying this but I have sprinkled it on quite a few things. It definitely does have a Parmesan flavour to it. The lady at the store recommended it on popcorn, which I tried and I do agree it is a very nice addition.

Mustard

I was super excited to see that dry mustard has zero sodium. Prepared mustard has 60mg per tsp! I usually add mustard to homemade salad dressing and marinades, so now I am using dry!

Tuna

 

Who knew there was low sodium tuna?

Kombu

 

A homeopathic nutritionist recommended Kombu seaweed to us when we first went on this diet. 

I throw it into any sauce, soup, broth that I am cooking and it adds depth and a bit of saltiness.

On the packet is says to soak in water overnight and use the liquid but I have never been organized enough to do this. I usually just throw it into the soup while it is cooking and remove before we eat.

Homemade Salsa

 

The bottom right is the final version... this particular version used fresh tomatoes, cilantro and jalapeno mixed with roasted onion, corn, tomato and Anaheim peppers. After mixing I added lime juice, cumin and a bit of Mrs. dash.  It is a very forgiving recipe that you can play with.

We have only been able to find one low sodium salsa and it is a Trader Joe's brand Chipolte one. Matthew loved it but since we don't have a Trader Joe's here, it is hard to come by. We have literally looked at EVERY salsa at EVERY store and we haven't found one that is even reasonably low in sodium. The one that Matthew ate constantly before going on this low sodium diet ended up being the worse one on the market. For 2 tablespoons it is 230mg of sodium.

We have started to just make our own, and as you can imagine it is much tastier than the store bought version.

 

Of course we eat it with our unsalted tortilla chips.

David's spices

 

A whole line of salt free rubs! 

(Whole Foods)

Few new items at the shop

We get very excited when we find new low sodium items at the store. Here are a few new finds from Whole Foods.

 

This looked good, we thought we would try it in spaghetti sauce.

 

Using this tomorrow night for Spanish rice. First time I have seen a no salt can of tomatoes with add-ins. 

 

We love the Mr. Spice line but haven't tried this one yet. Review to come.