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Food Help (Shuga?)
Hi ladies. I need some help. I mentioned Shuga in the title because I know you are quite the foodie. My husband needs to cut salt out of his diet, completely. We just went to the doctors because he had a high blood pressure episode which was pretty scary. So the doc said that his daily salt intake should hover around 1g (or 1,000mg). Well, we have been reading food labels and salt is everywhere. So I want to start making more of my own food. I got an easy salt-free recipe for dough so we can have pizza or bread or whatever. I would like to make my own tomato pasta sauce. Anyone have a good, EASY 
recipe? Also, I would love to make fish chowder, as well as broccoli and cheddar soup, but with as little to no salt as possible. I will do more searching online but I go to you girls first because I know you are awesome.
Any other recipe ideas that you have used for a salt-free diet are welcome. Thank you so much ladies!
Re: Food Help (Shuga?)
The easiest pasta sauce I know how to make (and if you cook it down a bit it works great as pizza sauce) is to saute onions and garlic (however much you like...I like it garlicky), toss in a can of crushed tomatoes, and season to taste with basil and oregano (or whatever spices you like). So not really a recipe. What makes the difference, though, is using delicious canned tomatoes. I like San Marzano - they're more expensive, but I find that they taste so tomato-y that I don't really need to do much to doctor them. I have a ton of frozen roasted tomatoes right now, so I've been tossing a handful of those in near the end to really amp up the tomato flavor.
If you like your sauce smooth, or need it to be smooth for some application, you can stick blender (or real blender) it.
Also, with a lot of recipes that aren't bread or baking, I find that you can just skip the salt and season it to taste at the end. It will taste less rounded (I don't know how else to describe it.) than if you'd salted as you go, but still usually tasty. So for your soup and chowder, just find a recipe you like and modify it!
I don't know if this would help, but I use spices from The Spice House-- they make mixed blends that are very flavourful and because they make them all by hand, they know how much salt-- if any-- are put in their blends. They are really helpful, too, so you can call and explain the situation and they can tell you which blends would work. I also like their variety of peppers-- the Telicherry black pepper is so incredible, that I find it is often enough on its own.
Since I'm allergic to onions, I have found them to be invaluable in helping me add flavour to make up for the lack of onions. My husband doesn't even miss them, at this point. (He also has to avoid salt because of his high blood-pressure and family history of heart disease.) The blends are comparable in price to what you buy in the supermarket-- it's the shipping that makes it more expensive, but usually they offer free shipping promotions (and if you're a new customer, they may be willing to help you out on that front, too).
As for tomato sauces, are you looking for ones that use canned tomatoes and tomato paste (thickens the sauce nicely) or a fresher alternative with chunkier bits of tomato?
I agree re: San Marzano tomatoes!
So, if you want quick and easy pizza sauce with no onions and no lumps. Buy tomato sauce (in a can with the crushed and diced tomatoes) Add garlic powder, onion powder will give you taste without texture, pepper, oregano and basil. If he wants it to have more of a kick add more black pepper and/or crushed red pepper. I actually very rarely add salt to my tomato sauces.
Pre-made's will always get you on the sodium. It will definitely make both of you more aware of what you're eating. It can be done, you just have to be cautious. While neither of us have a problem, my FIL has high cholesterol and BP issues so I cook like DH already does when I can help it since it's hereditary
Just be careful with the onion and garlic powders-- lots of those have salt added, too. Salt is sneaky like that!
MH likes chicken, but with shake n bake on it. I have done it with bread crumbs and it is good. I have to get him to change the way he eats. He will cover everything in BBQ sauce if he thinks its bland. He likes salads but he wants to know how to make our own salad dressing so we cut out that sodium. I need to find a great burger recipe. Every time I make patties he says they taste like my meatloaf (since I use the same spices that would make sense). I suppose I am looking for ideas on making condiment-ish items, like sauce, salad dressing, rubs for steaks.
He eats like a 2 year old sometimes. He was never big on change and complains when we try something new.
Okay. So for burgers, try 1/2 teaspoon each onion and garlic powders (check for added salt) and black pepper. I'd normally also add salt, but you'll be fine to leave it out. I'd use that for a pound of ground beef. The onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, and salt is my go-to burger seasoning, but you could add in things depending on the kind of flavors you guys like - chili powder, cumin, etc. IDK what you put in your meatloaf but maybe avoid that.
For salad dressings, I think your best bet will be a vinaigrette. Pick a vinegar that appeals to you (balsamic, white wine, whatever) and some olive oil, then add things to taste. I like white wine vinegar, oil, pepper, and some minced garlic. Either put everything in a jar and shake it up or whisk as you add the oil so that everything gets mixed together. I don't know how well that will go over with your hubs...he seems like the type that probably prefers a nice ranch dressing. That's not hard to make either though.
For ketchup, I'd just buy a reduced-sodium version. For barbecue sauce, you could try a couple of different recipes and just cut whatever amount of salt is called for...I suspect it'll be a fairly small amount to begin with. You'll be able to tell from the ingredients list what kind of sauce it will be - like some are pretty sweet, some are more vinegary, and so on.
It's obviously still a little hot for soup, but if that's something you guys like, homemade ones can have tons less salt than canned ones.
Over time I think you'll find out what flavors you like so that you can make up for lack of salt with something so that he doesn't feel compelled to cover everything in some sort of sauce. Like, when you try a recipe, taste it without the salt or with half the salt and see what other flavor you might be able to punch up in its place. I think you can make a big difference in cutting down on the salt, but some of it will just have to be him being willing to change his ways a little bit.
Whew, that was long. Didn't mean to dominate...I'm just a wordy talker.
I bought my grandmother these two cookbooks for Christmas after her Dr. told her not more salt, they seem good.
Sadly, she was hospitalized and passed away before she could actually use them...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047T745E/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1580625258&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0DTAG62BB5G7N372ZPW3
http://www.amazon.com/American-Heart-Association-Low-Salt-Cookbook/dp/1400097622/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1313696863&sr=8-4
If he doesn't like bland food, then he has to figure out what herbs and spices he likes.
1g is super low for a goal, it's going to be very difficult to stick to this (as you've already seen by looking at sodium in an english muffin!) The following is a link with the DASH diet, which has lots of good info, the spice blend and the spices that go well with chicken are something from the American Dietetic Association that I give out to patients. Good luck!
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/new_dash.pdf
Spice Blend Recipe (makes about 1/3 cup): ? 5 tsp onion powder ? 2 ? tsp garlic powder ? 2 ? paprika ? 2 ? tsp dry mustard ? 1 ? tsp crushed thyme leaves ? ? tsp white pepper ? ? tsp celery seed
Chicken Basil Cloves Cranberries Mace Mushrooms (fresh) Nutmeg Oregano Paprika Parsley Pineapple Sage Saffron Savory Tarragon Thyme Turmeric Tarragon Thyme TomatoI don't have a lot of advice for specific recipes, but this site has quite a few including for sauces and even ketchup:
http://www.lowsodiumcooking.com/free/Archive.htm
Also low-sodium is a recipe category on AllRecipes and there are quite a lot. Anything in a jar or can I only buy if there's a no-salt added option (no salt added peanut butter is still good!) Dried beans take while to cook, but if you make the whole bag at once they freeze well. We used to eat almost only prepackaged meals and my sodium intake was out of control. Once DD started eating with us at 6 months I drastically changed the way we ate since they can only handle small amounts of sodium.
Good luck! It took my taste buds awhile to adjust, but I know it's so much better for us overall.