“Doritos” April 29, 2012

So today I decided to try and make low-sodium “Doritos” using the Table Tasty and the Bravado Tex-Mex Chili seasonings. I have found that the corn tortillas that have 0mg of sodium don’t hold up very well. They crack easily, and not to mention they have a rubbery texture. I have recently found a great lower sodium tortilla made by Tumaro’s Gourmet Tortillas. They have a 55mg per tortilla, but I can’t find that version in my local stores, so I opt for their Mulit-Grain low in carbs tortillas that have 85mg per serving. The best part, is that they taste and perform as well as the regular flour tortillas.

So I took 2 tortillas and cut them into small triangles/pieces. I lined my cookie sheet with foil and sprayed it with cooking spray.

I then melted unsalted butter,

mixed 1 teaspoon of each: Table Tasty and Bravado Tex-Mex Chili seasoning.

Then I sprinkled the seasoning on all the little tortillas pieces.

I baked them in the oven at 425 degrees for 10 minutes.

They came out a little burnt, but still tasted okay. I think next time I’ll cook the tortillas for 5-7 minutes, then I’ll brush them with the unsalted melted butter and sprinkle with the mixed seasonings. But at least it wasn’t a total and complete failure or fire.

Oh, and my husband ABSOLUTELY LOVES the Table Tasty. He told me to go ahead and buy the “big thing” of it. I think this has already become a staple in our house.

T..T..T..T..T..T..T….Tasty, Tasty April 21, 2012

Thanks for that intro Fergie Ferg. Now, on with the real story. So Christy over at the Daily Dish has made several posts about this great salt free seasoning called Benson’s Table Tasty. She had a giveaway a few weeks ago, but I didn’t win, but was still intrigued about her rave reviews, so Tuesday I was ordering some of our Mr. Spice sauces so I decided to go ahead and pick up some Table Tasty too. I placed my order on Tuesday and when I got home from work last night, my bottle of Table Tasty was sitting in my mailbox. Man, that was quick delivery! I was pretty excited.

I ripped the bag open and included with my Table Tasty were a few recipes and  a sample of Bravado Tex-Mex Salt Free Chili Seasoning. Again, I was excited with all the little extras that came with my order.

One of the recipes suggests mixing half and half of the Table Tasty and the Bravado Tex-Mix mis for a more Dortio like flavor. This has me very curious. I hope that one day next weekend I’ll be able to throw this mixture together and make some homemade low-sodium Dorito’s. Can’t wait to try it out and see how good they are. If things go well, or even if they don’t, I’ll post about it.

So about 2 sentences into writing this post my baked potato had finished cooking. I typically use Mrs. Dash Table Blend on my potato, but today I decided to try the Table Tasty. I sprinkled a little bit on a bite of potato, and MAN is this stuff tasty! I was quite pleasantly surprised. This stuff has SOOOOO much flavor, but it’s not overpowering. I can’t wait to try it on other foods.

So if you’re looking for a good salt free seasoning you should definitely try Benson’s. They have a handful of other seasonings that we may be trying later. And of course, if the “Dorito’s” turn out, then we’ll definitely be getting more of the Bravado Tex-Mex Chili mix.

Lemon Millet Pilaf March 31, 2012

So after months of talking about this I’m finally posting about it. So as I said in yesterday’s post this will make a great side dish for any Spring or Summer dish. It’s super easy and quick to make.

So this is millet. It’s a grain that kind of looks like chicken feed or small popcorn kernels. Anyways it cooks up kind of like rice. Here’s the final dish of Lemon Millet Pilaf:

My husband marinated chicken in Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper marinade. We had a little bit left over so we drizzled it over the pilaf. It added more of the lemony flavor (disregard all the knicks on the edge of the bowl. This is a paint your own pottery bowl from a few years back). I’ve added the recipe for this dish to the recipe tab.

M.I.A March 30, 2012

Ok, so I’m still alive. March has been insanely, crazy, busy for me. I’ve had a party every Saturday this month. My house has been neglected, my puppies haven’t been walked and we mostly ate whatever rations were left in the cabinets. Not to mention this cute little guy made his appearance into the world on 03.28 at 715 pm. This is our newest little nephew, Connor James.

Ok so enough of the cute little chubby cheeked boy and on to the blogging. So Monday I had a a very productive day. I had a little time at the end of my day at work so I made a dinner menu for the next 5 weeks AND the grocery list for it. I printed off the menu and it’s posted on our refrigerator.

I’ve also written notes for things like veggies or herbs that I need to buy for that weeks meals. I came up with 23 different meals. I’ve also been looking through one of my vegetarian cookbooks and I think I can find a few more recipes to try too. We often buy veggies or herbs for certain recipes and I either forget about it or I’m missing another ingredient and it all goes bad. We went grocery shopping Monday night and we didn’t spend as much as we usually do. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep this menu thing up. It’s very helpful for me since I work 10 hour days and I don’t get home till 6.

So sometime soon I’ll be posting the recipe for the Lemon Pepper Millet that we had a few weeks ago. It will work as a great side dish especially now or for this summer. It has a nice lemony smell and taste. Hopefully with my menu creation I’ll be more organized and will actually be able to blog more regularly during April.

5k and Birthday March 4, 2012

So yesterday was a very busy day for us. We woke up at 6 to get ready to go run the Little Rock 5k at 8. It was a nice chilly 40 degrees out. The worst part was just standing around waiting for the race to start. Once we got going we got warmed up pretty quickly. I lost Clay somewhere around the quarter mile mark, which is ok because I like to run alone. I ran the first mile and mostly ran and walked the last 2.1 miles. My hip started feeling a little uncomfortable around mile 2 and only hurt once for about a second. I finished in 38:23 (12:23 pace) and Clay finished in 35:05 (11:20 pace). I think those are pretty good times since Clay hasn’t been running or walking in weeks and I’ve only been walking 2(+) miles with the dogs. I forgot to get a pic of us either before or after the race, but here’s our finisher’s medal. This year marked the 10th year for the Little Rock Marathon/Half Marathon, so the theme was Celebrate (70’s Disco).

So we finished the race, came home and relaxed for a bit, then ate lunch and got ready to head to my niece’s first birthday. She definitely had a good time at her party and enjoyed her cake.

Her birthday outfit

 

 

 

Something New February 28, 2012

So this past weekend we used our juicer to make fresh orange and grape juice. They were both really good.

In other news today while I was picking up some strawberries for my strawberry spinach salads I came across this little granola bar.

I now have this unconscious habit of seeing something, mostly food, and picking it up to check the sodium content. I picked one up turned it around and read, “sodium 0mg.” What?! Really?! So I picked up another (total of 4) and they all had 0mg of sodium. Not to mention these little treats are vegetarian, gluten free, AND once again I can pronounce and I know all of the ingredients. So I bought this one here, Sesame.

I found these bars at Wal-Mart in the open refrigerator section (like where you buy your veggies). Each bar was $1. I think this would make a great snack while hiking or before a work out (the nuts will provide a good amount of protein).

So I of course came home and Googled the brand name. Here’s their website where you can find out more about the brand, Mariani, and more about the different granola bars they have. I’ll be saving this for my afternoon snack tomorrow or for a snack tonight when Clay gets home so he can try it too.

Speaking of Clay, about 3 weeks ago he started having problems with blacking out and getting really dizzy and lightheaded when he stood up. I told him it sounded like his blood pressure was dropping too much and he need to call his Nephrologist. He did and we had to monitor his BP for 3 days. His BP was staying pretty low and definitely dropping to very low when he stood up. The Nephrologist told him to quit taking the Losartan and he will now be taking Aldactone (water pill) to help flush his kidney’s out. So hopefully this will work.

T-4 more days till our 5k Saturday morning and my nieces 1st Birthday Saturday afternoon!

 

 

Fruity February 23, 2012

So we put our new juicer to the test Tuesday night.

We made an apple, pear, strawberry juice. It was yummy! We used 1 Granny Smith apple, 3 pears, and 1 cup of strawberries. The juice made about 24 0z and contained a total of 9mg of sodium. Clay and I split the juice and I think we only wound up drinking 6 ounces each. He had the rest for breakfast the next morning.

We can’t wait to make more juices and experiment with other fruits (watermelon) and even try some veggie juices.

So, since I’m on the topic of fruit, a few weeks ago Sodium Girl blogged about these great little fruit leathers (a.k.a grown-ups fruit roll-up). So I decided to see if I could find them at Kroger or Whole Foods. We did our big monthly grocery shop and I forgot to look for them. So I went back to pick up a few things and I actually remembered to look for them. And what would you know? I found them! Kroger had 2 of the flavors in boxes, apple and grape, and they had all the flavors 3 for $1. The 3 for $1 deal turned out to be cheaper per serving than the boxes. I just grabbed 3 the first time just to see how they tasted. I picked up a strawberry, mango, and grape. We LOVED them! So glad we found a great little low and no sodium snack/treat.

This time I decided to go ahead and buy $5 worth of these since they were so good. Not only do they taste great, but each little leather gives you half a serving of fruit. I bought 3 autumn apple (5mg of sodium per leather), 4 harvest grape (0mg), 3 mango sunrise (0mg), 4 summer strawberry (0mg), and 1 orchard cherry (0mg).

The best part about these little tasty treats, is that I (and probably most 3rd graders) can pronounce all 3-4 ingredients in them!

So I’d suggest you look for these tasty little leathers in your local grocery store, especially if you have kids, much healthier than a fruit roll-up. Check them out here at Stretch Island Fruit Co.

On a side note, when I was leaving my house yesterday morning for work I got a surprise of 3 deer in my neighbors yard.

Here's the one by our trail, by our fence

Extra long weekend February 21, 2012

I had a great 4 day weekend that unfortunately ends today (back to work tomorrow). At least it’s only a 3 day work week. So for the past 4 days I’ve been able to take the puppy girls on a 2 and sometimes 2+ miles walk for the past 4 days.  I think they’ll be disappointed tomorrow. I work a 10 hour day so by the time I get home at 6 it’s too dark to hit the trails. This is also why I’ve been MIA from blogging. I get home at 6, work out for 30-45 mins, then take a little break, fix and eat dinner, watch a 30 min TV show, then it’s already 9, which is my bedtime. I’m looking forward to springing forward and gaining more daylight in the evenings.

So to end our nice little 4 day weekend I decided to take the dogs on a hike or new trail walk. We , or I, decided to check out the newest walking/running/biking bridge here in Little Rock. It’s literally about 15 mins from our house.

Tried getting a pic with the girls...no luck

The bridge. It's only about a quarter mile long

And my favorite picture from our adventure today:

Sun shining through the tall pines

We also got our juicer delivered yesterday. So today after our adventure I stopped by the store and picked up some fruits and veggies so we can begin our juicing adventure. Hopefully I’ll be posting about that sometime this week. Oh and our 5k is in 11 days. I haven’t been running much because of some hip pain, but I have been walking and jogging on a regular basis. I just hope to finish so I can get my finisher’s medal.

 

 

 

Movie Review February 14, 2012

First off for those of you who celebrate Valentine’s Day….Happy Valentine’s Day! We don’t celebrate, it’s just something we decided when we started dating. Although we did celebrate Valentine’s the first year we were together. It was a little strange because we had only been dating for a month, and we had never been dating anyone during Valentine’s. Plus I’m not much of a girly girl, except when it comes to a cute, cheap pair of flats. So in honor of Valentine’s here’s a Valentine I found from 1986-1993 (I would have been 4 in ’86, so just learning how to write, and my Grandmother passed away in November ’93) that I addressed to my Grandma Nettles.

Ok, so tonight I pulled up this great documentary on Netflix. It’s called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. If you haven’t seen it, you should, and soon. I rated it a 5 on Netflix. Basically this guy, Joe Cross, decided to change his diet and lifestyle. He was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and taking lots of meds to control it, with some luck. So he decided to try to cut out as much processed foods as possible and really amp up his intake of fruits and veggies. So I’m not going to ruin the movie by telling you the ending so you’ll just have to watch it for yourself.

So since we’ve already had to make changes in our diet due to my husbands kidney disease this movie really got us thinking….really hard. Is this something that could help us? Could it possibly prevent his kidney’s from failing or prevent him from possibly having to take a steroid? So in 3-5 days we’ll be getting our new juicer in the mail, which is really exciting since I have a four day weekend coming up. I hope it gets here by Saturday so we can start playing. AND I’ll be SUPER excited come May when strawberry season is in full bloom! I LOVE strawberries and we have some of the fattest, reddest, juiciest berries around. Trust me, I’ll be dedicating an entire post to this lovely little berry come May…so get ready!

Also, I posted the recipe for the Spicy Rice balls in the recipe tab.

Breakfast Wraps February 12, 2012

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. I have been meaning to post about a few things, but life has been busy and I’ve just forgotten. Monday I was inspired by The Daily Dish’s post about meatless meatballs and spaghetti. So Tuesday night I busted out my vegetarian cookbook that my sister-in-law gave me for Christmas in 2010. I had been wanting to try this recipe for a while, but I had always forgot to buy wheat germ at the store, then once I bought wheat germ, I forgot about the recipe. So her post reminded me of this. My recipe called for rice, egg, milk, oats all mixed together. Then you form them into “meat”balls and roll in wheat germ and cook in oil until browned. We added ours to our spaghetti and homemade low sodium sauce. We both really liked the crunch outside of the “meat”balls. And since they were made using rice they were really filling. I did have a hard time forming the mixture into balls and keeping them that way. I think I’ll need to use a stickier rice. I’ll post the recipe later.

So this morning we slept and we were both pretty hungry when we woke up. A week ago I saw a low sodium tortilla on healthyheartmarket.com website. I went to the original website to see if I could purchase these at any of my local stores. Lucky for me they said that their brand is sold at Kroger. I couldn’t find the 55mg Soy-Full tortillas, but I did find some that have 85mg.

They are actually much better than the 0mg corn tortillas. They hold up well and don’t have that rubbery taste. So this morning we made breakfast burritos. We used eggs, fried potatoes sprinkled with Mrs. Dash fiesta lime, green onions, and little bit of cheese. I also used a little sour cream and put some of Mr. Spice Hot Wing sauce on one of mine. Clay used Mr. Spice Tangy Bang on one of his and a little bit of Frog Ranch Medium Salsa on the other. The 2 tortillas had about 475 mg of sodium which is still under the 500mg per meal. They were really filling and I’m sure we’ll be making them again, for breakfast or dinner.