Dinner at Our House: Low Sodium Living

Hello friends! It has been a little bit, but that's just my style I suppose. I pop in and out of the blogosphere whenever the mood strikes. I definitely wanted to update you all on what's being going on here at our house.
Dinners are a-changin'. Tim went to the doctor last week and discovered he's got some blood pressure issues. So step one was to limit his caffeine, and step two was to get his sodium under control. Now let me tell you what I've learned: EVERYTHING I LOVE IS FULL OF SODIUM. I'm not a gal who ever adds salt to a meal, but OMG, it's in everything delicious. Or so I thought. I'm also learning that I can make things on my own. Behold! Two experiences from the past two days: low sodium taco meat and low sodium ranch dry mix for roasting potatoes.

Low Sodium Taco Meat

All this was found in the house (OK, so we had to buy a couple items, but no biggie)

The recipe I made based on a couple of internet searches ended up being:

1 tablespoon Chili Powder

2 teaspoons Onion Powder

1 teaspoon Ground Cumin

1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1 teaspoon Paprika

1 teaspoon Ground Oregano

Ooohhh ahhh! The colors! Did I mention it smells wonderful?

All shook up! ;)

I always use lean ground beef from Publix and after browning it I added the mix and 2/3 cup water just like you would do on the taco mix. Turned out pretty similar as far as consistency went.

See!

Now check this: 270 mg per serving, times 6 = 1,620 mg total! And what on earth is all that stuff listed in the ingredients? OH! And did I mention this packet is the "Low Sodium" version? Laugh!

When I do the math using myfitnesspal my whole mix is 83.6mg of sodium! And you already saw all my ingredients. Insanity! But, the important question is this: does is pass the taste test? It's a bit different, but I think it's something I can definitely continue to research and play with.

Low Sodium Ranch Dry Mix (I used it to roast potatoes)

If you're a follower of mine on Instagram you saw I made roasted ranch red potatoes the other night. I used a ranch packet and cooking spray to cut calories. Too bad I still had TONS of sodium in the recipe. So tonight, we had the rest of the bag of red potatoes to use up before they spouted legs and walked away (ha, ha, get it?). I again did some internet searching and decided on the following:

2 Tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried dill
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme

This one really smelled yum!

Annnd mixed!

I once again cut up red potatoes and sprayed them in a light coating of cooking oil and then mixed in the dry spices. Threw them in the oven for about 45 minutes on 450 and stirred every 15 minutes. They smelled AWESOME! Every time Tim did a taste test he'd eat more, that's how I knew they were going to be awesome. So sodium comparison? A ranch packet has 2,160 mg of sodium!! My mix? 16.1mg! Win!!

Nom nom nom - we had it with low sodium BBQ chicken.

Did I mention that the potatoes are only 3 points per cup? Oh yes! I feel like a rockstar! Here's to trying new things and learning how to live in this low sodium lifestyle!

Dinner at Our House: Parmesan Parsley Chicken

Last night the family tried something new. I found a recipe on lowfatlifestyle.com for Parmesan Parsley Chicken.

It was really yum, but I think in the future when we make it we should have a side of spaghetti or pasta with sauce. I really recommend this one! It weighs in at 3 old WW pts. (shocking!)

Ingredients:
• Vegetable oil spray 
• 4 slices whole-wheat bread for bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese 
• 1-1/2 tablespoons finely snipped fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsley 
• 1-1/2 teaspoons paprika 
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled 
• 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk 
• 6 (4 ounces each) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, all visible fat removed 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly spray a rectangular baking sheet and slightly smaller cooling rack with vegetable oil spray. Put rack on baking sheet. Set aside. 
2. In a food processor or blender, process bread into fine crumbs. Pour into a shallow bowl. Stir Parmesan, parsley, paprika, garlic powder, and thyme into crumbs. 
3. Pour buttermilk into a shallow bowl. 
4. Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Dip chicken into buttermilk, shake off excess liquid, dredge in crumbs, and shake off excess crumbs. Put chicken on cooling rack. Spray each breast with vegetable oil spray. 
5. Bake for 15 minutes, turn chicken, and bake for 10 minutes, or until done. 

Mmmm. And yes, it's on our fine Chinet paper plates! :)

Dinner at Our House: Buffalo Chicken Wraps

I think I've shared my crock pot Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches before, but this is a different recipe I found for wraps in a magazine.  I thought I'd try something else out for a change, so let me know if you like it. These turned out super yummy and I thought they photographed very beautifully too :)

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed (on sale at Publix til Tuesday)
• 1/2 teaspoon canola oil
• 2 tablespoons Louisiana-style hot sauce (on sale @ Publix til Tuesday)
• 1 cup shredded lettuce (On sale at Publix!)
• 2 flour tortillas (6 inches), warmed (I buy the reduced fat ones; fat free when I can find them)
• 2 teaspoons reduced-fat ranch salad dressing
• 2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

This recipe is very easy to make. (Note: it makes 2 servings, but it can EASILY be doubled or tripled for more people and/or leftovers).

Step 1: Spray cooking spray in your skillet. Add chicken and oil. Cook approximately 6 minutes on high heat. Basically, get the pink out.

Step 2: Add in your buffalo sauce, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer (roughly 3-5 minutes). I actually saved the bottle I bought on sale, and opted to finish off a bottle of Frank's Red Hot.

This is what it looked like after it simmered.

Step 3: Warm your tortillas. Add chopped lettuce.

Lettuce! And yes, paper plates tonight because I'm already missing my mom's clean up...

Step 3: Add chicken!

Yumz!

Step 4: Add blue cheese crumbles (ps- mine are reduced fat). Or Tim used reduced fat shredded cheddar.

And...I'm a girl who loves her cheese, but it's ok because I hit the gym earlier.

Step 5: A touch of low fat dressing. We used light buttermilk ranch.

All this for right at 6 WW points. Not too shabby.

This meal for the both of us was right at about $6-7. (We also roasted some red potatoes to go with this meal). Compare that to what you pay somewhere like Buffalo Wild Wings. And compare it to how much FAT is in theirs. You can have great taste for less money and less fat. Just get creative.

Dinner at Our House: Creamy Basil Chicken tossed in Angel Hair Pasta

I forgot to post this one. Sorry, I plan on playing catch-up this weekend. Last week I made a variation of this recipe.

Dad's plate had all the veggie options too.

This was a closer shot of the pasta.

• 6 ounces angel hair pasta
• 1 12 oz. can evaporated skim milk
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons basil
• 1/4 cup shredded fresh parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons shredded fresh parmesan cheese
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 -3 chicken breasts cut into pieces

Cook pasta according to package directions.

For Chicken:
Cook chicken in a sprayed skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground pepper, garlic and basil to season. Sit to the side.

For sauce:
Stir together milk and flour. 

Stir in garlic and basil. 

Cook and stir over med. heat till mixture is bubbly and thickened. 

Cook and stir 1 minute more.
Add 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. Stir till cheese is melted.
Cook 1 minute more.
Toss pasta with sauce and add chicken.

All in all it was ok. It was almost too sweet from all the basil. It needs something salty or spicy with it. 

Dinner at Our House: Creamy Chicken Rice Soup

We've done it again. This is our third recipe of the new year that we've tried and it is only January 6! My mom is the one who actually cooked it tonight because originally I planned to work late. This recipe also came from my tasteofhome cookbook gifted to me by Mom S. I wish I had been in the kitchen to photograph it more, but the picture I took of my bowl looked boring and didn't do the soup justice, thus I won't be posting it. The Creamy Chicken Rice Soup was delicious and one serving of it (1 cup) is only 4 points. We had green salads and some of our garlic knots to go with the soup.

You can find the recipe and nutrition info here.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chopped carrot
• 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/3 cup chopped celery
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups cooked long grain rice
• 1 cup cubed cooked chicken
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon white wine, optional

Directions

• In a large saucepan, saute the carrot, onion and celery in butter until tender. Stir in flour until blended. Gradually stir in broth. Add the rice, chicken, salt, pepper and garlic powder; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
• Reduce heat to low. Stir in the milk, lemon juice and wine if desired. Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 6 servings.

And yes, we used the white cooking wine :)