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: Buttermilk-Blue Cheese Smashed Red Potatoes

So, I got suckered into buying an alumni book from my undergrad college UWG and part of the "Thank you" was a subscription to three magazines. I cannot remember what all I subscribed for, but I did start getting Cooking Light. I think I'm in love! I was flipping through the pages and there is so much in there to inspire me to want to be a healthy eater and start cooking again! First up was this recipe. I actually doubled it because I know I come from a family of starch lovers.

We had it with Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches and salad- classy paper plate I know!

Like I said I doubled it so here is what I did:

Ingredients

• 2 pound small red potatoes
• 2/3 cup light buttermilk
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

• Place potatoes in a saucepan; cover with cold water to 2 inches above potatoes. 
• Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer 15 minutes or until tender; drain.
• Return potatoes to pan. 
• Add buttermilk, blue cheese, salt, and pepper to pan; mash with potato masher to desired consistency. (I had to use a wooden spoon but it did the trick)

These were pretty yummy. Tim is not a fan of blue cheese, but he didn't know it was in them until after I told him. He also ate about half the pot so I am very glad I made doubles! I'm actually shocked there is a little leftover; so I'm surprisingly looking forward to lunch at work tomorrow ha!

Dinner at Our House: Roasted Red Ranch Potatoes

Tonight we didn't really plan dinner out at all. I was at work and I called mom during lunch to ask her what she wanted to do. She suggested eating out, but I knew both Tuesday & Thursday I'd be eating fast food, and most likely on Wednesday too since that *may* be our arrival time for the kiddos! I knew we had chicken in the freezer, tortillas in the fridge, and we always have tons of cheese & lettuce. I also remembered I had bought some buffalo sauce so I suggested wraps (recipe here).

When I got in the car after work I immediately called mom (my routine when I get in the car after work: Call Tim. check in. Call mom. check in. It's like clockwork). I asked what kinds of sides we had that we could make and she mentioned I still had leftover red potatoes. I also remembered while driving we had a packet of ranch mix and I've been seeing that commercial where a kid makes ranch potatoes. I thought, hey why not try that.

It really was easy.

Use about 2lb of red potatoes quartered
1 packet of ranch dry mix
it SAYS use 1/4 cup of oil, but that's way too much. I used half that. (I also used canola oil if that matters)
Mix it all together (you can use a baggie or I just did it in the Pyrex dish with a cover). Bake at 450 for about half an hour (which works out well because it took roughly that long to get dinner going).

Doing it that way made 4 servings and 1 serving was about 5 WW points. I hate to think of what it would be if I used ALL of the oil suggested. However, they are SO YUM! Easy to make and yum!

I took a picture, but it wasn't very flattering hehe.