Sadly no recipes or photos to show today, but just more on the learning curves of cooking healthy and low sodium, and moving (we hope) towards normal blood pressure, naturally.
Growing up in Alaska and having easy access to fresh, FRESH seafood, I didn't learn till the military moved Klark and I to Colorado just exactly what the repercussions of "land-locked" really were. Colorado has been good to me, and I've reconnected with some great friends, but I am finding that I miss not just sea level (and the breathability it affords) but the ocean itself. I bought fish for the first time in my life last summer, and learned just how good I had it! Am perhaps waxing poetic about things over which I have no control, but have started treating the fish I buy with a little more respect and have made the mango peach blackened ahi again.
I have been extremely pleased to learn that many of my favorite curries and other Asian foods can be made low sodium. And I've made chicken tikka masala a few times in the past month -- using the bottles from Whole Foods -- I LOVE that store... I could spend hours and Bill Gates' salary in there very easily.
On the flip side, I learned that some of my favorite low-calorie, low-fat snack foods are extremely high in sodium - notably dill pickles. How disappointing. What did I do, but Google low-sodium dill pickles and I found what promises to be a great recipe from Low Sodium Cooking.I'm very excited to try it.
In perusing the rest of the site, I learned that the owner, Dick Logue, has created a cookbook, 500 Low Sodium Recipes: Lose the salt, not the flavor in meals the whole family will love. It just arrived today and I looked at most of the recipes, and I'm very excited to start experimenting! Everything looks really really tasty, and I can't wait to try it all. His book combined with Clean Eating Magazine and Rachael Ray Magazine makes me look forward to cooking and playing around in our kitchen again, at least until summer hits, the house is 80 at its coolest, and the simple act of boiling water turns the house into a sweltering carpeted swamp.
It also makes me feel better about subjecting poor Klark to my new food reality when he gets home from Afghanistan -- there are lots of great favorite foods that we can make that will be super tasty. All things in moderation, but I am excited cook lots of fabulous romantic, healthy dinners in, and to save money, especially as we start to look at a move to our next duty post and we'll be living on a single income again.
