Spaghetti Squash

Oh so good! When you buy it for the first time, I’m not going to lie it can be scary! Seriously, when is the last time you looked at these in

Well get past it and buy it, I’m going to walk you through this. Use a large knife with a point.

  1. Score the squash all the way around length wise.
  2. Somewhere along the score put your knife in starting with the point, push through as if it’s a needle. Some muscle might be needed but don’t get crazy. See picture below.
  3. Now move the knife around to whole squash to get two halves. Cut off all ends.
  4. Boom there you have it look below at my pictures below. Clean it out like a pumpkin and wash it.
  5. Now brush olive oil on and add seasoning. I don’t use salt but you can and pepper. I used Mrs. Dash Original.
  6. Pop into your air fryer, I could only fit one if both fit add both.
  7. Set temp at 360° and timer for 20 minutes. Cook till it shreds easily with a fork.
  8. Once done let it cool down a bit it will be easier to handle. Move to a plate and shred using tongs, this should be easy!

Now add tomatoes and onion to a skillet with 1tbsp of Olive Oil, cook onion is translucent. Add is squash for an additional 2-3 minutes.

It’s ready to serve … I included pork chops cooked in my air fryer.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Cookbooks!!! I love them! The Joy of Cooking is my main goto because of my low sodium diet – I cook from scratch. You don’t need a low Sodium cookbook you just need to know how to cook meals by substituting items for salt when it’s called for or just eliminate it completely. Either of these methods works but what I do consistently is spice heavily with other spices the recipe calls for.

Chicken tortilla soup is a perfect example of this the recipe is in the Colorado Classic Cookbook. I recently found this used for $5 so if you get a chance pick one up you won’t be disappointed.

In this cookbook I found chicken tortilla soup.(watch your chicken broth and cheese!). I don’t always add carrots or tortilla chips. You can use water instead of broth. Here are the ingredients:

  • green bell peppers
  • red bell peppers
  • yellow bell peppers
  • carrots
  • ground cayenne pepper
  • Monterey Jack cheese
  • chicken breasts
  • chili powder
  • canned green chiles
  • cilantro
  • corn
  • ground cumin
  • limes
  • onions
  • dried oregano
  • chicken broth
  • tortilla chips
  • canned diced tomatoes

Soup Madness!

Soup does not go well with low sodium diets. Even a low sodium, less salt label on an item does not mean it’s a safe bet. I challenge you to look at the label on your next shopping trip.

Tonight I made Broccoli and Cauliflower soup, I used low sodium broth because that’s what I had but I wish I had a no salt one. Again don’t be caught off guard with low sodium broth because it’s labeled as such, read the label. I buy only ONE broth – Simple Truth Low Sodium. I also used milk. Cheese was added individually. These 3 things are the only items in my dish with salt. Without the cheese – total of about 300mg’s for the entire pot; about 75Mg’s per serving and this is the win!!!

Recipe:

3 tbsps of unsalted butter, put into pot add onion and celery, cook this, both need to be tender add broccoli and cauliflower, 12 oz frozen, stir in 1/4 cup flour (how thick do you want it? Add more or less flour) add 2 cups of broth. Bring pot to a boil cook for 5 minutes. Add your milk, cream or half and half turn heat down, season with pepper, paprika, and no salt salt substitute.

Add cheese on top but keep in mind the MG’s.

ENJOY!

Broccoli Cauliflower Soup and Chicken Salad

Orange Orange Roughy

Looking for a quick, easy and healthy dinner? Well don’t wait to try this dish during grilling season!

2 orange roughy filets

1 orange juiced

1/2 lemon juiced

Mrs Dash Lemon Pepper

Mix the juices and lemon pepper, prepare your grill (we have a fish pan for the grill) used a basting brush and continue using the sauce on the fish as you grill. About 5 minutes per side.

On the stove I make with rice, with olive oil and Mrs Dash Caribbean Citrus (don’t be shy with this)

Steam frozen broccoli … (fresh if you have it, I always have frozen veggies on hand)

A meal in about 15 minutes … your significant other will be impressed!

Corn Orzo Salad

This salad is so good! And healthy! When you can get both in one meal I call that a bonus. An added bonus is there should be enough for tomorrow’s dinner!

Salad … mix in a large bowl

  1. 1-1/2 cups of dried orzo … cook it according to directions
  2. 1 red pepper chopped
  3. 1/4-1/2 red onion chopped
  4. 1 avocado chopped
  5. 1 large tomato diced or (1 container cherry tomatoes sliced in half)
  6. 2 mangos chopped
  7. 1/2 cup cilantro
  8. 1-1/2 cup corn frozen or fresh
  9. 1 can of black beans

Dressing

  1. 1/3 cup olive oil
  2. 2 tbsp of lime juice
  3. 2 tbsp of honey
  4. Chipotle seasoning, cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper, oregano (I use salt substitute) to taste
  5. Mix all ingredients

Pour dressing over salad and mix!

I added chicken on top to complete my meal.

Chili con Carne … with Chili Cheese Bread

Winter time, means warm dinners! The bread recipe is in a previous post so I will skip this recipe. For spices … I don’t use salt so I spice heavily on all else so how much is up to you.

  1. 2 cups pinto beans (I make these in my Instant Pot) no salt
  1. 1 pound of cooked ground beef. I use Mrs Dash extra spicy when I cook this.
  2. 1 can no salt kidney beans
    1 can no salt diced tomatoes
    Water – 6 cups
    2 tablespoons of red chili powder
    Garlic powder
    Onion powder
    Cumin … 2 tsp
    Cilantro … if you fresh use that
    Black Pepper
    Morton’s Sodium Free don’t go crazy with this! The bottle should have a warning!!!!

Add it all from top to bottom, bring your pot to a boil turn down the heat and cook it for 15-20 minutes.

Serve with cheese and sour cream, and don’t forget your chili cheese bread.

Fresh Brewed …

Soda’s are so bad for us … I quit this poison about 25 years ago! I love fresh brewed tea, recently I’ve tried a cinnamon flavor! Stop by your local grocery store, you may be surprised what they have in flavors. Tonight it’s straight up tea, my tea maker is in the back. It’s electric and boils water in minutes, you can find one at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

  1. 1 cup hot water
  2. 1 tea bag
  3. Honey to taste
  4. Fresh squeezed lemon
  1. Glass full of ice

Put tea bag in water, leave for 2-3 minutes. The longer it’s in the water the stronger the tea. I go by color. Pour water over ice add lemon.

Refreshing!

Philly Steak …l

This is an Instant Pot recipe!  If you don’t have one you need to get one, the dinners you can make are endless.  Today I made philly steak sandwiches on my homemade sandwich thins.

Low sodium can be hard but a few things will make it so doable.

  1. Mrs Dash … tonight I used the steak one.
  2. My bread machine … bread has a lot of sodium, buns have so much more.
  3. Salt substitute …
  4. My Instant Pot … process foods have a ton of salt so cooking every meal can become difficult but with this gem, dishes can be made in no time at all and when working a full time job this becomes very important.

So philly steak here’s my version, my husband gave me a thumbs up.

  1. Round steak, the one I picked up was 1.5 pounds
  2. Mrs Dash Steak
  3. Mortons Salt Substitute
  4. Frozen diced onions (use as much or as little as you like) use fresh if you want
  5. Frozen “Recipe Beginnings”
  6. 1 cup of low sodium beef broth
  7. Shredded Italian Cheese
  8. Sandwich Thins
  9. French Dijon Mustard

I cut the steak in half, seasoned it heavily with Mrs Dash Steak.  Place this in your pot add broth and salt substitute to taste. Add the vegetables, put the lid on and lock it (be sure you close the release gadget on top), use the manual setting and set the time for 45 minutes. (30 minutes for each pound). I let it self release at the end for 15 minutes.

Remove the meat and shred (this will be so easy) strain the vegetables and add it to the shredded beef.

Put it all together and you have Philly Steak Cheese sandwiches!

Let me know what you think, thanks for visiting my blog.

Dressing Chaos …

Low Sodium and condiments don’t hang out in the same arena. Most salad dressings creamy or not have at least 200 MG’s of salt per serving which is a small amount.  So I stay away from them, but what should I use?  Well Mrs. Dash to the rescue, my go to is the Table Blend with red wine vinegar.  But … Fiesta Lime is sooo good!

Try this 1/3 cup golden vinegar, 1/3 cup olive oil and Mrs Dash Fiesta Lime 1 tablespoon or however much you want.  It kicked up this salad a notch or 2.

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