Spinach Salad with Strawberries and Sweet-Hot Lime Vinaigrette

One more bowl of awesomeness in this series of summer salads! We could eat this every night and not get tired of it.

Vinaigrette:

1/4 c lime juice
zest from two limes
3 T sugar
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/4 t black pepper
1 T canola oil

Mix all ingredients using a immersion blender until well blended (or shake in a sealed container to combine).

Salad:

1 box baby spinach leaves, large stems removed
2 c strawberries, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 shallot, sliced thin
2 T fresh mint leaves
2 T pine nuts
Vinaigrette (see above)

Combine spinach, strawberries, mint and shallot in a large bowl and toss with dressing. Transfer to serving bowls and garnish with pine nuts.

(If you want this to be the main course, you may wish to add pan seared chicken as shown in the photo.)

Serves 2 (if main course) or  4 (if side salad). Sodium content is near zero unless you add chicken.

Citrus Salad with Honey-Lime Vinaigrette

Here is another delicious salad for those hot summer months. This one is light and refreshing, and is easily converted into a full meal by adding some pan seared chicken.

Salad:

1 pkg Arugula
1 grapefruit
2 oranges, clementines or tangerines
1/2 c red onion, sliced
2 T fresh mint leaves
almond slivers, toasted
shaved parmesan cheese

Cut grapefruit in half, then cut peel and pith off outside with a sharp knife. Loosen the sections from one another, then remove seeds and outer layer from fruit. If using orange, repeat this process, or for clementines or tangerines, section the fruit and remove all pith and seeds. Combine first five ingredients in a large bowl and toss with dressing. Garnish with almonds and cheese. Top with cooked chicken if desired.

Dressing:

3 T freshly squeezed lime juice
1 T cider vinegar
2 t honey
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1 t lemon verbena leaves, minced
2 T olive oil

Place all ingredients in a glass bowl and mix with an immersion blender until emulsified.

Serves 4 - sodium content is low, but depends on how much parmesan cheese is used and if chicken is added

Mesclun Salad with Chicken and Lemon Vinaigrette

What to do with a single leftover chicken breast? On this warm July evening, we decided to make a light and healthy dinner salad with it. Good call! This meal was both delicious and satisfying. As an added bonus, we didn't heat up the kitchen and cleanup was minimal.


For the dressing:

2 T lemon juice
1 T white wine vinegar
1 t Dijon mustard
tiny pinch of salt (~1/16 t if you insist on a measurement)
freshly ground black pepper to taste
dash of onion powder
1 T extra virgin olive oil

Place all ingredients in a small, deep container (a 2 c capacity glass measuring jar works very well) and mix with an immersion blender. Set aside. If you don't have an immersion blender, then add everything except the olive oil. Whisk the ingredients rapidly while you slowly add the oil. Stir vigorously until well blended.


For the salad:

1 chicken breast, sliced into two thin cutlets
5 oz box of mesclun salad mix
1 carrot, julienned
1/4 c dried cranberries
2 scallions, sliced thin
2 T pine nuts
2 T shaved parmesan cheese
freshly ground black pepper
Mrs. Dash original blend seasoning
1 T vegetable oil

Season the chicken cutlets with black pepper and Mrs. Dash. Cook in oil over medium high heat until outside is browned and inside is cooked through. Set aside to cool, then cut into bite sized pieces.

In a large bowl, combine the salad greens, carrots, cranberries, scallions and pine nuts. Pour dressing over salad and toss well to coat evenly. Transfer to serving bowl, then top with parmesan and chicken.

Serves 2
<250 mg sodium per serving

Bourbon Barbecued Chicken For Two

Sauce:

 1/4 cup onion, minced
2t vegetable oil
1/2 cup diced tomato in sauce
2T molasses
1/4 cup bourbon
1t Worcestershire sauce
1t white vinegar
2T brown sugar
1T chipotle chile powder
2T honey

Sauté the onion in oil until softened. Add remaining ingredients, then simmer to reduce volume by about half, mashing any tomato chunks as you stir.

 Dry rub:

Combine the following in a small bowl -
     1T brown sugar
     1T chipotle chile powder
     1 t garlic powder
     1/2 t cayenne

 The Chicken:

 4 boneless thighs (use bone-in if grilling)

Apply dry rub and let sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Preheat broiler* (or grill). Broil (or grill) for about 2 minutes per side to sear, then baste with BBQ sauce and return to heat. Continue to alternate flipping and re-basting (less than one minute per side each time) until chicken is cooked through. Bone-in chicken will take a bit longer than boneless.

Serve immediately. We paired this with corn and cucumber salad for a delicious summer meal.

Makes two servings, <300 mg sodium per serving


*Broiling Tip: Line a half sheet pan or roasting pan with aluminum foil. Place non-stick cooling rack on top of foil. Arrange meat on rack allowing some space in between pieces. This keeps the meat from getting soggy and lets the edges get crispy.

Cheesy Pasta Bake, Revisited

I've been in the mood for comfort food, so we decided to give the cheesy pasta bake a second look. This dish used to be in regular rotation - it is easy to prepare, tastes great, fills you up, and makes good leftovers - but since the sodium restriction went into effect we haven't tried it many times. Our previous attempt at converting this recipe was not a bad effort, but it wasn't quite as wonderful as we had remembered. Something was missing, and it wasn't hard to define: this recipe just isn't the same without real smoked sausage. Out of all the adjustments, substituting raw homemade (and unsmoked) sausage for the Andouille had the biggest effect (in terms of sodium and flavor/texture).

Last night we cooked this dish with Thomas Ragin Cajun Andouille Sausage. Yes, it has 550mg of sodium per 2.5 oz, but I found a way to manage this and keep the sodium per serving of pasta at 700mg. I followed our previous recipe (other than the sausage) with these modifications:

1. We started with 3/4 of the package of sausage, saving the remainder for use in omelets and such. This left us with 10.5 oz (2310mg sodium).

2. After browning, I separated about 1/3 of the cooked sausage and did not return it to the cooking pot. This left only 7 oz of Andouille in the pot (1540mg sodium). The reserved portion of meat was added at the end to my husband's portions only. My servings had less of the salty meat, but it was enough to provide the correct flavor and texture. PDM certainly didn't mind taking one for the team and eating the extra Andouille.

3. With less meat in the dish, I increased the amount of pasta (16 oz instead of 12 oz) and low sodium organic chicken broth (3.75 c instead of 3 c).

While noticeably less meaty than our traditional version, this revised recipe had ALL of the yummy texture and taste of the original. Unless we get a smoker and start making our own real Andouille, this will be the "go to" version of the recipe, and the cheesy pasta bake will be back in the regular rotation.  Happy!

Grilled Swordfish with Tropical Fruit Salsa

Fire up the grill for this easy and delicious meal!

Grilled Swordfish with Tropical Fruit Salsa - serves 4 (~250mg sodium per serving)

1 lemon, juice and zest
1 lime
1 ripe mango, diced into small pieces
1/4 c diced fresh pineapple
2 fresh jalapenos, seeded and chopped fine
1/2 red onion, diced fine
1/2 red bell pepper, diced fine
2 T chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 t sugar
1/4 t cayenne
2 lb swordfish steak (four 1/2 lb steaks)
olive oil
salt and pepper

For the salsa:
Combine the mango, pineapple, jalapeno, red onion, red pepper, sugar, a scant 1/8 t salt, and cilantro in a small container. Add the juice of 1 lime, plus the juice of 1/2 lemon and stir. Cover and set aside until the swordfish is ready.

For the swordfish:

Prepare the grill - light the charcoal and when ready pile onto one side of grill to create a two zones of heat. Brush each swordfish steak with olive oil and season with a very small amount of salt and black pepper to taste. Grill over coals in hot part of grill for about 3 minutes per side, turning once. Transfer to cooler part of grill and cook for another 3 minutes per side, turning once. Serve on warm plate topped with lemon zest and tropical fruit salsa. Cut the remaining 1/2 lemon into quarters and place one onto each plate to squeeze onto the swordfish if desired. Serve immediately.

Lamb and Butternut Tagine

A tagine  is a North African stew that is named for the traditional pot that is used for cooking. We altered our chicken version to take advantage of some lamb that we had in the freezer.

Lamb and Butternut Tagine - serves 4 (500mg sodium per serving)

~1.5 lb lamb stew meat, cubed
1 T canola oil
1 medium onion
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 T harissa
1 t ground cumin
1 t ground coriander
1/4 t salt
1/2 t ground cinnamon
3 c low sodium organic beef broth
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced into cubes
2 c golden raisins
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

Preheat oven to 350F.

Brown the lamb in oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat, then remove meat from pan, cover and set aside. Saute the onion until softened, then add garlic and cook another minute or so until fragrant. Return the lamb to the pot and add enough broth to cover the contents. Cover the pot and braise the lamb in the oven for 1.5 to 2 hrs. Add broth as necessary to keep the lamb covered.

Return the pot to the stovetop. Add all remaining ingredients except chickpeas and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add the chickpeas and cook for about 5 more minutes.

Serve alone, or with couscous.

Chicken Piccata

It did not take too much effort to create a lower sodium version of chicken piccata. We did it by starting with organic chicken, using white wine only instead of broth for the sauce, and reducing the amount of salt and Parmesan cheese in the breading. These reductions allowed us enough leeway to keep the delicious capers that are a signature flavor in this meal.

Chicken Piccata (serves 4) - 545 mg sodium per serving*

2 chicken breasts (about 1 pound)
1 egg
1/2 c flour
 2 T grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 t salt
1 t pepper
~2 T olive oil
4 T unsalted butter
1/2 c dry white wine
3 T lemon juice
3 T capers, rinsed thoroughly and drained
3-4 T chopped fresh flat leaf (Italian) parsley

Slice the chicken in half to make two thin cutlets from each breast. Pound the cutlets until they are evenly flat and about 1/4" thick. Beat the egg and place into a dredging bowl. Mix the flour, cheese, salt and pepper in a second dredging bowl. Coat each piece of chicken with the egg, then dredge in the flour mixture to cover, then brown in a skillet with a small amount of oil. This is best done in two batches. Remove chicken from skillet and cover.

Add more oil to pan and use 1 T of the flour mixture to make a roux. Add oil as needed to maintain a thick liquid consistency. Cook the roux until slightly browned. Add the wine and lemon juice and cook to for a few minutes to reduce the liquid. Whisk in the butter 1 T at a time until combined. Add capers and cook for another minute or two, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Plate the chicken, cover with sauce, and garnish with parsley. Serve hot.

*Actual sodium content is probably less than this maximum because not all of the salt in the flour will be transmitted to the finished meal. Rinsing the capers probably reduces their sodium content as well.

Week 13: Seared Ginger-Balsamic Salmon with Hot and Sour Slaw

We didn't have the energy to create something original this week, so we tried a new recipe that was published in last Sunday's newspaper. I found it online here, if you want to give it a try. It was not particularly low sodium, but we did manage to reduce it to an acceptable level by leaving out the salt and using less soy sauce. It made a delicious meal that was a nice change of pace from our usual salmon dish.

Hot and Sour Soup

Our first attempt to convert a hot and sour soup recipe was OK, but not great. It tasted a bit bland and under seasoned compared to our memory of the original recipe. We jotted down a few ideas for improvement and tried again this week. This time the soup was deliciously flavorful and spicy - comfort food for a rainy Friday night.

Hot and Sour Soup - serves 4 (<400 mg sodium per serving)

4 c organic low sodium chicken broth
~1/4 lb mushrooms (we used baby bella and shitake), sliced
1 small can bamboo shoots, sliced into matchstick size
1 1/2 T ginger root, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 T  low sodium soy sauce
1 t hot pepper flakes
1/2 lb pork tenderloin, cut into bite sized strips
2 t sesame oil
2 scallions, sliced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
3 T Chinese black vinegar (or substitute 1 T balsamic and 2 T red wine vinegar)
2 T cornstarch
1 egg
1/4 t salt
pepper

Season pork with salt (very lightly) and pepper. Drizzle with the sesame oil. Lightly brown the pork in a dutch oven over medium heat, working in batches. Remove and cover (the pork does not need to be cooked through at this point). Set aside.

Add garlic and ginger to the pot and saute about 1 minute. Add stock, soy sauce, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, red pepper flakes, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer about 10 minutes. Add pork and simmer an additional 10-15 minutes.

Mix vinegar and cornstarch in a small bowl. In another small bowl, beat the egg. Slowly pour in the beaten egg, stirring constantly. Stir in the vinegar and cornstarch. Cook uncovered for about 3 minutes, until soup begins to thicken. Stir in scallions just before serving. Top with cilantro and a dash of sriracha sauce if desired.

Orechiette with Cannelini Beans & Spinach

We had a busy week, so this week's new recipe was from one of our cook books. We did not make any substantial changes other than to omit the salt and use organic low sodium vegetable broth, which has much less sodium than the usual kind. I could not find no-salt-added cannelini beans, so I bought the normal kind and rinsed them thoroughly to remove as much sodium as possible. Since this is NOT an original recipe, I will simply cite the source and tell you it was very tasty. We'll definitely make this again.

Gourmet Meals in Minutes by The Culinary Institute of America, Lebhar-Friedman Books, NY, 2004, page 264.  ISBN 0-86730-904-0

Spicy Szechuan Stir Fry

This was, quite simply, the best damn stir fry we've ever made. It was even tastier the next day for lunch! We started with a recipe from one of our cookbooks, but went off the reservation pretty quickly and ended up with something that we can definitely call our own. You can make this less spicy by leaving out the hot peppers. We served this over a plate of noodles.

2 T Hokan Szechuan Sauce (bottled, found in the Asian section of a well-stocked supermarket)
3 dried habanero peppers, reconstituted in warm water and then minced
1 t garlic powder
1 t ground cayenne pepper
1.5 lb chicken breast, cut into strips
1 onion, sliced into half rings
1 red pepper, cut into strips
3 scallions, sliced thin
2 cups napa cabbage or bok choy, coursely chopped
8 oz shitake mushrooms, sliced
1" piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 T low sodium soy sauce
2-3 T peanut oil

Mix the first four ingredients and combine with the chicken pieces. Marinate at least fifteen minutes.

Heat 1 T of the peanut oil in a wok or large skillet until almost smoking. Cook one half the marinated chicken until browned on all sides, remove from pan. Add more oil and cook the remainder of the chicken. Remove from pan and set aside, covered. Add enough oil to loosen the fond in the pan and bring up to cooking temperature. Add the onions and red peppers to the hot pan. Cook, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes. Add the green onions and ginger. Continue to stir fry for another 2-3 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook for 2-3 minutes more, or until the released liquids have reduced or evaporated. Add the chicken back to the pan along with the napa cabbage or bok choy and the soy sauce. Cook for another minute or two, until the chicken is hot and the vegetables are crisp-tender.

Serve immediately over rice or noodles. Makes 4 servings, with 360 mg sodium per serving.

Chili

A change in the weather inspired this week's recipe choice: chili. After several weeks of unseasonably warm weather, we finally got another taste of winter. A giant pot of hot chili seemed like a good idea for warming ourselves up. Nothing beats a big bowl of comfort food and some homemade jalapeno cheddar cornbread.

The best way to have complete confidence and control over your sodium intake is to make as much as you can from scratch. This chili recipe includes instructions for making your own chili powder. It isn't difficult at all, and tastes so much punchier and fresher than industrial mixes. You also have the advantage of making it to your taste. You will need to start with whole dried chile peppers, which can be found in the ethnic food section of a well-stocked grocery store.

PDM's Chili Powder

3 dried Ancho chiles
3 dried California chiles
3 dried Guajillo chiles
1 T garlic powder
2 T whole cumin seed

Cut up the chiles into small strips using kitchen shears or a sharp knife. Toast the ingredients in a dry saute pan briefly until fragrant. Remove and grind into a find powder.

Chili (serves 8-10)

2 medium onions, chopped and divided
5 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
1 lb sirloin
1 lb chuck roast
~40 oz diced no salt added tomatoes, pulsed in food processor to remove chunks
2 14-oz can(s) organic mixed bean, rinsed and drained
8 T chili powder (recipe above)
1/2 oz "secret ingredient" (some of you can guess what this is - it complements chile peppers)

"Grind" the beef by cutting into 1" chunks and then pulsing in food processor 5-6 quick bursts. Brown ground beef in small batches over medium high heat in a large dutch oven. Set aside to drain when done. After all meat is browned, cook the jalapenos and all but 1/2 cup of onion over medium high heat until softened. Add tomatoes, meat, beans, chili powder, and secret ingredient and cook covered over low heat for about an hour, until the meat and beans are cooked through. Near the end of cooking, add the remaining 1/2 cup onion.

Serve with cornbread. Each serving contains less than 200 mg sodium (not including cornbread).

Barbecue Chicken Pizza

This is our low sodium (but very tasty) version of Mellow Mushroom's "Funky-Q" pizza (with jalapeno, because that's the way we roll). We started by making homemade barbecue sauce and simmering it for hours, made our own dough for the crust, cooked the meat and onion, and then assembled and baked. This makes six generous slices with less than 200mg sodium per slice. We ate three each and were pleasantly stuffed afterward. And did I say it was delicious? Just making sure.

Barbecue sauce

1/4 cup minced onion
2 T vegetable oil
1 14-oz can no salt added diced tomatoes, pulsed in food processor
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup molasses
3 T brown sugar
2 T OJ
2 t chile powder
1 t mustard powder
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t garlic powder
1 t liquid smoke
1/2 t black pepper

Saute onion in oil until golden (about 8-10 minutes). Add remaining ingredients, turn heat to low and simmer about 2 hrs, stirring occasionally. Blend with immersible blender. Keep warm until ready to spread over pizza.

Dough/Crust

This herbed pizza crust recipe is from Dick Logue's 500 Low Sodium Recipes book, page 442. The only changes I made were to increase the water to 7/8 cup and I add 1/8 t salt. Process in bread machine on dough cycle. Preheat oven to 500F. Roll out flat on a lightly floured, large piece of parchment paper over a cold pizza stone. Prick surface with a fork as shown and let rest for a few minutes.

Prepare Toppings

For pizza toppings, caramelize a sliced onion in butter over low heat until very soft and browned. Cook 2 slices of low sodium bacon, reserving the drippings. Chop or crumble bacon into small pieces and set aside. Cook two diced chicken breasts in the reserved bacon grease until browned on the outside and cooked through. Drain and combine with enough barbeque sauce to coat. Coarsely chop a few pickled jalapeno rings. Grate 1 ounce of low sodium cheddar cheese and 1.5 ounces of fresh mozzarella (it helps if you freeze the mozzarella first).

Final Assembly and Bake

When the oven reaches 500F, place the pizza dough (on stone with parchment) in the oven. Bake 4-5 minutes, until top is dry but not golden brown. Remove from oven and place on heat-safe surface. Top the crust with the remaining barbecue sauce, then add the chicken, bacon, jalapeno, caramelized onion, and cheeses. Return pizza to oven and bake until cheese melts and just starts to turn spotty brown. Slice and serve, baby!

Spicy Asian Slaw

This recipe was something I threw together to use some random odds and ends from the fridge. It was good enough to be my new recipe of the week. We'll definitely make this again. Super fast and easy! If you don't have all the ingredients, this recipe is flexible enough to make substitutions with similar foods. I chose this particular mix partly because I had the onion, jalapeno and cilantro left over from a burrito meal, and the cabbage was left over from another recipe. The only thing I had to buy was the cucumber.

Spicy Asian Slaw (serves 4)

2 T rice vinegar
2 T vegetable oil
1 T sesame oil
1 t low sodium soy sauce
1 t sugar
freshly ground pepper
2 c. shredded cabbage
1 cucumber, peeled, quarted lengthwise, seeded and chopped into 1/4" slices
2 T chopped onion
1 fresh jalapeno, seeded and chopped fine
2 T fresh cilantro, chopped
1 T sesame seeds, toasted

Whisk first six ingredients together in a bowl until well blended. Fold in remaining ingredients, stir to combine with liquid sauce, then refrigerate for about an hour prior to serving.

40 mg sodium per serving (or omit the soy sauce to remove all but trace amounts of sodium)

Prime Rib for Two with Asparagus

This week's New Thing was a prime rib recipe in the Cooking for Two section of Cook's Country magazine (Dec/Jan 2012 issue, page 5). This was a 2.5-pound bone-in rib eye steak that was browned on all outside edges over medium high heat in an enameled cast iron skillet, and then finished very slowly in a 200F oven until medium rare in the center (about 122F on the meat thermometer). After resting, it was cut on the bias for serving. Since we did not make any significant changes to this recipe I refer you to the magazine for details. We won't do much differently the next time we prepare this meal other than to brown the outside of the meat a little longer and take steps to make the sauce a bit thinner and more like a classic jus.

The "prime rib" from this recipe was accompanied by asparagus that we cooked with lemon juice, shallots and garlic. We sauteed for a few minutes and then added a dash of water and cooked covered until just crisp-tender. Simple and delicious.

Good meal for week three!

French Style Onion & Mushroom Soup

This week we adapted a low sodium French onion soup recipe to our tastes by adding mushrooms and changing up how the bread and cheese are used in the recipe (because I don't dig soggy bread). The soup was rich, tasty and surprisingly filling. Here is how we made it:

RECIPE: French Style Onion & Mushroom Soup (4 servings)
Sodium = 325 mg/serving

For the croutons --

1/2 french bread loaf (about 6-8 slices), slightly stale, cut into cubes
4 T unsalted butter
1/2 t dried thyme

Preheat oven to 425F. Melt butter in baking dish in hot oven. Add bread cubes and thyme, toss to coat evenly. Bake, stirring often, until light golden brown and crisp. Remove from oven, set aside to cool.

For the soup --

1 lb onions, sliced into half rings
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
4 T unsalted butter
4 cups organic low sodium beef broth
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 t low sodium soy sauce
dash of hot sauce (optional)
1/4 t No Salt (KCl)
freshly ground black pepper
4 oz Swiss cheese, shredded
Croutons (see recipe above)

Melt butter in dutch oven on medium heat. Add mushrooms and onions, stir. Cover and cook on medium low for about 15 minutes on medium low heat, stirring occasionally. Uncover and reduce liquids for about 5 more minutes. Add beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and hot sauce, KCl and black pepper, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Preheat broiler while soup simmers.

To serve --

Ladle soup into oven-proof bowls. Layer with croutons and top with shredded cheese, then place under broiler for a couple of minutes, until cheese is melted and just starting to become spotty brown. Handle hot bowls with care, placing them on a plate for transport. Serve immediately.

The Mother of All Recipe Conversions: Spicy Pasta Bake with Sausage

This used to be one of our favorite "go to" recipes for winter comfort food. It was tasty, filling, and not much trouble to prepare. Unfortunately, it was also the one recipe we had been completely unable to alter enough to bring the sodium down to a reasonable level. The original recipe (from the Feb/March 2008 issue of Cook's Country) had five significant sources of sodium. Here they are in order, along with our lower sodium substitutes:

1. The sausage. Big, big problem, no matter what variety you choose. The recipe calls for one pound of chorizo, but we also used to make it with andouille or other smoked sausages. The amount of sodium in one pound of smoked sausage varies widely, but the range would be 3200mg on the low end to 5500mg on the high side. This was the toughest ingredient to substitute. We cut the sodium by a factor of 10-15 (yes!) by making our own andouille sausage using a recipe found in Dick Logue's 500 Low Sodium Recipes cookbook. This homemade version contains just 330mg of sodium from the pork meat itself. If you aren't feeling ambitious enough to grind your own sausage (although it is not difficult), you could also substitute Trader Joe's chicken Italian sausage, which only has 787mg/pound.

2. The cheese. We used to grate 8 oz of pepper jack cheese to add to this dish, which contributes 1440mg of sodium. I have not been able to find a lower sodium version of this type of cheese, so I cut the amount of pepper jack to 4 ounces and substituted 4 ounces of grated swiss to cut the cheese contribution down to an even 1000mg of sodium while keeping the flavor and texture the same. Swiss is the lowest sodium variety of hard cheese.

3. Low-sodium chicken broth. Yep, even the "low sodium" variety has 450mg/cup. This is better than the regular kind, which has about 760mg/cup, but since we need 3 cups this adds 1350mg to the pot. Fortunately you can easily find organic low-sodium chicken broth that has only 80mg/cup, bringing this ingredient's share down to 240mg.  If you really wanted to get stingy, Wyler's makes an instant chicken flavor broth that doesn't have any sodium (and probably doesn't have any real chicken either, but still tastes pretty good in recipes). Sometimes we use it half and half with real broth.

4. Next up is the 1/2 teaspoon of salt. That adds 1180mg to the total. We ended up reducing the sodium level enough with our other substitutions that we were able to leave this in for flavor, but you could also substitute KCl salt, which contains zero sodium. I added about 1/4 teaspoon of KCl to bump up the salty flavor.

5. The last problem child is the 10 oz can of Ro-Tel tomatoes, which contains 1040mg of sodium and has no low sodium alternative from the same manufacturer. We got around this by using a 14.5 oz can of Eden Organic Diced Tomatoes "Just Roma Tomatoes" that we purchased at Whole Foods and adding hot peppers into the recipe as a separate item. It contains only 20mg of sodium. If you can't find this product, most grocery stores carry no-salt-added diced tomatoes that contain 175mg for the whole can.

So... how did we do? The original recipe states that it serves 4, although in practice we usually get 6 meals from it so I will divide everything into 6 portions. The dish as made in the past contains anywhere from 8340mg to 10640mg of sodium depending on what sausage is used, which works out to 1390mg - 1773mg per serving. Way too high! Our version as cooked last night contained 2820mg in the pot, which is 470mg per serving. (If you use the Trader Joes's chicken sausage and regular no salt added diced tomatoes this would become 572mg per serving, which is still quite respectable.) I seasoned my plate with Mrs. Dash Table Blend and about a tablespoon of Hillside Orchard Farms Habanero hot sauce (add 43mg to my serving for that).

Bottom line - this conversion was very challenging, but I would call it a success. The texture and taste were nearly identical to the original recipe, although it definitely tastes less salty and needs more of the other seasonings to compensate.

LOW SODIUM CHEESY PASTA BAKE**

1 lb homemade "andouille" sausage (Logue, page 412)*
1 T vegetable oil
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced fine
3 habanero peppers, seeded and diced fine (optional, but we like it extra spicy)
1 onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups organic low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 14.5 oz can no salt added diced tomatoes
12 oz penne pasta
4 oz swiss cheese, shredded
4 oz pepper jack cheese, shredded
4 scallions, sliced thinly
1/2 tsp salt - optional
1/4 tsp potassium chloride ("NoSalt" or other brand) - optional
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat broiler. In a large dutch oven, cook sausage in batches until browned. Remove to a paper towel lined plate and set aside. Add the vegetable oil to the pan, then cook the onion and hot peppers until they begin to brown. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, then add the sausage back to the pan.

Pour in broth, cream, tomatoes and pasta and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Add salt, KCl, and black pepper to taste. Cover and simmer until pasta is done, stirring often. This should take about 15 minutes.

Turn off heat and stir in the swiss cheese. Sprinkle the pepper jack cheese on top, then place pot under broiler for a few minutes until the cheese is spotty brown. Place into serving bowls and top with a handful of scallions.

*A worthy substitute is Trader Joe's chicken Italian sausage, if you do not wish to make your own andouille flavored sausage from scratch. If you decide to make the sausage yourself, we followed the Logue recipe for the most part, but we prefer to grind our own pork in a food processor rather than purchasing ground pork because you can control the fat content by selecting an appropriate cut of meat - Boston butt works well, but you can use other cuts. Pork tenderloin is not recommended because it is too lean.

**RECIPE UPDATED 5/3/12 because it just isn't the same without real Andouille sausage. We found a way to make it work. Hooray! Changes are detailed here: Cheesy Pasta Bake, Revisited.