Low-salt cookbooks or websites

[Pan]

Hi, everyone! I'm on a very low-salt (<2g of sodium per day) diet and love very savory, delicious food! I'm also trying to lose weight and not currently really low-carb but likely to increasing go that way, within reason (I don't ever plan to give up the nutrition I need from fruits and vegetables). I've found that Indian recipes often work great without salt, but I'm wondering if any of you have favorite cookbooks or websites that specialize in very savory (i.e., in no way bland) saltless recipes, or that are particularly well adaptable to omitting salt and salty ingredients of all kinds. I did already start a thread in the Cooking forum on Low-salt recipes and have read several other relevant threads in that forum, so this question is specifically about cookbooks and websites.

[FauxPas]

I had to do some very low sodium cooking a few years back and found that the cookbooks written by Donald Gazzaniga were very useful. They get good reviews from others at Amazon and a couple of them are inexpensive or you can get used copies. I see one is only $1.99 for the Kindle version today (the Soup, Salad and Sandwich one). I used some of his bread recipes and thought they were pretty decent. I liked some of his spice blends. 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Donald-A.-Gazzaniga/e/B001ITVYRU

 

Edited to add: I also liked some of the ideas in one of Dick Logue's books. He has a few others out, though not all may be low sodium cookbooks. 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Dick-Logue/e/B001JPBQPS/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1453519441&sr=1-1

 

Edited January 23, 2016 by FauxPas (log)

[Pan]

Thanks a lot. I'll check 'em out.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I just thought of another recipe made without salt that is just as good as the salted version, and it comes from The American Heart Association cookbook published in 1989. I cannot speak to any edition other than that one or even say they still publish, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

 

The recipe is for Herbed Baby Potatoes. It calls for:

 

1-1/2 pounds small red or new potatoes (works well with small fingerlings, also works with larger potatoes cut into chunks)

2 T olive oil

2 T minced fresh parsley

1 T chopped fresh oregano OR 1 t dried oregano

1/2 t paprika (smoked is good)

1/2 t garlic powder

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

 

Oven 350F. Toss potatoes with oil in 2 qt. casserole. Add everything else and toss again. Bake 30-40 minutes until lightly browned and potatoes are cooked through. Larger potatoes will take longer, of course. Garnish with 2 T minced fresh parsley.

[Pan]

That sounds good. I'd probably use fresh garlic, though.

[Lisa Shock]

I think there are certain foods, to me anyway, that taste great without salt. Like red potatoes, I can roast them, boil them, whatever, plain (no oil, no herbs) and I think they are very tasty. Russet potatoes not so much. Just like I eat melon without salt, but some people apparently cannot stand to. I'll eat cucumber spears, tomato wedges, carrot sticks and celery sticks plain, too. I don't salt oatmeal, and find that if it's made with salt it tastes weird. So, I'd say gravitate towards foods you naturally don't like to salt anyway. Then start reducing salt in foods you do normally salt. And try some things you've never had before, without salt.

[Pan]

Thanks for the reply, but I almost never add salt to anything, anyway (with the exception of sul long tan that I've gotten in Korean restaurants). In this thread, I'm just asking about cookbooks or websites that either have good recipes that are expressly non-salty or well adaptable to leaving out the salt and salty ingredients.

Edited January 23, 2016 by Pan (log)

[FauxPas]

I forgot about another site that I used to find very useful - Sodium Girl's site:

 

http://www.sodiumgirl.com/

 

The name seems odd, but she has to eat a very low sodium diet due to kidney disease. Her approach is fun and fairly inventive. Somewhere on her web site, I am sure she recommends some other sites, but I couldn't find that with a quick search. 

 

She also wrote a cookbook (link is on her web site), not sure how good it is though it gets decent reviews on Amazon. Amazon has some used copies listed. 

 

And also there is a web store for low sodium foods called Healthy Heart Market. If you need a sodium-free baking soda or powder or salt-free pickles, they have them. Also low sodium condiments, soups, etc. 

 

http://healthyheartmarket.com/

 

 

 

[FauxPas]

Found the other two I used to peruse: 

 

Please Don't Pass the Salt at  http://dontsalt.blogspot.com/ and The Daily Dish at http://thedailydish.us/

 

 

 

[ChocoMom]

I peruse all kinds of recipes on Pintrest, and found these:

http://www.skinnymom.com/30-low-sodium-meals/

 

http://hubpages.com/food/3-Steps-Homemade-Low-Salt-Spaghetti-Sauce

 

http://shescookin.com/10-heart-healthy-low-sodium-recipes-to-stay-healthy-all-year/

 

http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/nutrition/advice/a5523/7-low-sodium-pantry-item-swaps-115433/

 

The last one isn't recipes, but rather things to swap out for some low-salt options. Hope that helps!

[Pan]

Thanks for all the links. Sodium Girl's recipes, in particular, are really interesting! I think I'll try her "cauliflower chorizo" at some point.

[FauxPas]

4 hours ago, Pan said:

Thanks for all the links. Sodium Girl's recipes, in particular, are really interesting!

 

She's so upbeat and her excitement is contagious, isn't it? And she really was inventive at times, though I haven't looked at her site for a while now. I hope you will share some details/pics of meals you cook! 

[Pan]

Sure, if I make any of these recipes, I'll be sure to report back on my results.

[Deryn]

Oatmeal without salt is a problem for me since I don't put anything on oatmeal except salt. I have never liked it with anything sweet and I don't use milk. Right now I have to reduce salt too though so oatmeal is probably out as well since, without any salt at all, I find it very difficult to eat. I will just have to try my own flakey salt-on-top solution I guess or forego it entirely for now.

 

Thanks for all the links everyone.

[Pan]

I haven't eaten oatmeal in a long time, but you could try a masala oatmeal with various spices, perhaps some curry leaves and some fresh cilantro and see how  it works out.

[Pan]

Another idea: Do you like yogurt? If you do (and you can eat it), you could consider combining your oatmeal with some yogurt and, say, ground cinnamon. When I was on the Zone diet, I used ricotta, but unless you make it yourself, be careful about the salt content. It's not nearly as salty as most other cheeses, but I've been avoiding it.

[Deryn]

Thanks, Pan. I would be more likely to try your curried oatmeal suggestion than mixing it with yogourt I think. I am Welsh by heritage but I think I must have inherited a Scottish oatmeal gene somewhere along the line. We ate oatmeal almost every day in winter (which lasts a long time where I come from) when I was growing up and I was the only one in my family who ate it plain with just a bit of salt (either during the cooking process or sprinkled on top). Everyone else used sugar and milk, etc. I do like oatmeal cookies which are sweet but just aren't the same thing as oatmeal from a bowl in my warped mind.

[Pan]

:-) Doesn't sound like you have a warped mind, just a particular taste and affection for a type of comfort food.

 

Another idea I have would be to make an Italian-style risotto, but with the oats instead of rice. To avoid salt, use no cheese but make a stock from some good-quality dried mushrooms that you soak in water for some time, and use that as a base, along with fresh mushrooms and any kind of herbs you like (parsley, thyme, what have you), plus maybe some other vegetables like carrots.

[Deryn]

Another suggestion that might be useful for injecting flavour into (some) dishes to help in making lo/no salt dishes more palatable ... 'sundried' tomatoes (or the equivalent home oven 'dried' without salt or with very little salt - cooked down till all that lovely rich acidic flavour comes through in every bite).

 

Tonight I made what turned out to be a soup-y 'multi-cultural' concoction with no salt at all. Believe me, you would not want the recipe - it was just everything healthy I could find around the house including garlic, ginger, red lentils and sprouted organic quinoa, spinach, mushrooms, a smattering of onions and peppers, and various east Indian spices cooked in the IP using plain water. Broth would have made this a decent soup I think but what I had involved too much salt so water it was. I wish I could say it was 'successful' (initially) ... it wasn't - more like a very bland gruel (not helped by using the soup function so it was probably a bit overcooked, and adding what seems to be way too much of the H20 stuff). Not my finest culinary hour but I didn't have guests so it was no big deal except that I was hungry and was determined not to waste it all if I could help it. So I tried doctoring it with lemon juice, and vinegar, more spices, loads of pepper and various Japanese pepper blends ... and nothing hit the spot till I added some sundried tomatoes as a last resort. Definitely still not the best soup I have ever eaten but at that point it was edible at least.