Heart healthy recipes?

[Mutley]

My SO's grandfather had some heart trouble a while ago, and is getting a bit depressed about the tasteless food he's been having to eat since. Does anyone have recipes for low sodium and low fat meals I can pass along to make things a little better for him?

[noamnety]

1. Right now I am making homemade chicken soup

with lovage and saffron. (Lovage is a perenial herb with a strong celery flavor.) Homemade soup of almost any sort is great because you can cut way back on salt and add other flavors in their place.

There's a west african peanut butter tomato soup I want to try soon - sounds weird, but I think it will be good.

Good salads are an option - something like fresh mozzarella with good tomatoes, basil and vinegar would be tasty and fairly filling.

Maybe fajitas or burritos that rely on low sodium salsa for flavor. And chicken salad with plain yogurt instead of mayo and some curry powder and lemon juice for flavor.

[HopeHoops]

2. This is a true experience, and I recommend it for him.

My late mother-in-law hadn't eaten more than a few mouthfuls of anything at a time for months (Alzheimers). We came to visit armed to make BLTs, but not with real bacon. Morning Star Farms makes "breakfast strips" you do in the microwave. They taste like bacon and crunch like bacon and on a BLT, they are perfect. I added cheese and sliced mushrooms and brought along fresh strawberries. SHE ATE THE WHOLE DAMN SANDWICH! My father-in-law was in shock.

The prep time is minimal. Slice a tomato, wash some lettuce, toast some bread, and put the strips in for a minute or so (depending on how many, microwave power, etc.) and BINGO! BLT! Try it yourself first - the things are yummy.

[Brigid]

3. Must try this myself.

Sounds yummy! :9

[HopeHoops]

4. It is - and quick!

If you're making it for yourself, try the sliced mushrooms and cheese (provolone in particular).

[SacredCow]

5. By themselves, those strips are not all that great, but they do make a good sandwich...

Their other offerings (sausage, burgers, breaded chicken patties) are also pretty good.

I'll use the chicken patties to make a version of chicken parmesan (going easy on the cheese, of course, and using a light tomato-basil sauce).

[HopeHoops]

11. Actually, if you put them on a toasted hamburger bun with tartar sauce and cheese,

They're not far off in flavor and consistency from what McD's laughingly calls a fish sandwich - well, minus the nasty fish smell.

[SacredCow]

13. Even when I ate fast food, I couldn't stomach that McD's fish sandwich....

That thing is just repulsive in every way!

I use the bacon strips, though- In a sandwich (especially with nice, fresh tomatoes) they work pretty well.

[HopeHoops]

15. Yeah, I know - those so called "fish" sandwiches are pretty rank.

I went vegetarian 20 years ago. The Morning Star stuff is pretty good but I prefer the Garden Burger style patties. Boca is too close to real meat and that kind of grosses me out now. Face it, the breakfast foods don't taste like "meat" to begin with - it is form, texture, and spicing. I also like the veggie dogs on a stick over a fire - sauerkraut and brown horseradish mustard - yum. Our kids invite their carnivorous friends over and even THEY love the veggie dogs - yes, they know they aren't meat. One of the girls got her parents to start buying them because she liked them better than meat hot dogs.

[SacredCow]

17. I'm not vegetarian, but I don't eat a lot of meat.

Basically, only when I eat out, or at someone else's house. I LOVE the original Garden Burger patties- They're not like a burger, but overall they have a really good flavor and texture. Bocas are OK, but I'd prefer the Garden Burger or the MorningStar offerings. I like the corn dogs, too- they make for a great quick "meal" when I'm not in the mood to cook anything.

The Morning Star sausage patties are pretty good, but there's another kind called "Gimme Lean" that comes in a roll package like the Jimmy Dean sausage. I WAY prefer those to acutal sausage, as heavy grease and fat tends to make me feel awful these days.

[HopeHoops]

19. The corn dogs are a little sweet, but I admit to snitching them once in a while.

You have to watch cooking them in the microwave - it is easy to get a hard spot in the corn coating.

Have you tried the portobello Garden Burgers? Those are my favorite. I also like Morning Star's mushroom lovers burger.

[SacredCow]

20. I don't cook anything except the bacon in the microwave....

burgers are done in the skillet and corn dogs and chik patties in the toaster oven.

I haven't seen the portobello garden burgers. The local stores don't stock any of these things consistently. One day, they'll have Garden Burgers out the yin-yang, the next week- nothing. I buy more than I need and store them as needed.

[Lex]

9. Those have 230 mg of sodium per serving

so I'm not sure that would be considered "low sodium" for a heart patient's diet.

[HopeHoops]

12. 115 mg - you only need one strip for a sandwich.

That's pretty damn low for ANY kind of sandwich! Even 230 mg is pretty low, but you have to make a pretty big sandwich with juicy tomatoes to use two strips - otherwise it would be pretty dry.

[Lex]

14. And most breads are fairly high in sodium too

unless you can find a low sodium bread (most grocery stores don't carry them unfortunately). So you'd have to count that too in the sandwich count. It's pretty hard to eat low sodium with processed foods.

http://www.morningstarfarms.com/images/ServeImage.aspx?BID=29192&MD5=714d8244ef514ee6b9b94c873e6a1ade

[RebelOne]

10. Love those Morningstar bacon strips.

Another favorite is Morningstar sausage patties. Ultra delicious.

[SacredCow]

6. If he's been eating as he pleased for decades, it's going to be hard on him....

Switching to a heart-healthy diet takes some sacrifices because, quite frankly, fat tastes good. And once you've become accustomed to the taste of high-fat food, it's hard to give it up because you compare everything to how each dish "should" taste. Me- I grew up on skim milk and low-fat fare (as my Dad had a heart condition from the time I was very young), so it was fairly easy for me to cut out the "bad" stuff when I had to (not that I don't LOVE a prime grade steak now and then!).

I'd say find out what kinds of foods he likes, then go browse a few "Cooking Light" magazines and pick out some that sound promising (Cooking Light is a fantastic source for healthy recipes and they're (usually) not crazy-difficult dishes like Gourmet or Bon Apetit).

Best of luck!

[Lex]

7. If he likes spicy/hot, try adding chopped jalapenos

or red pepper flakes to his veggies. Or find the no-sodium bouillon (sp?) cubes in flavors like beef or pork and cook with those.

And here's a good link with recipes:

http://www.lowsodiumcooking.com/free/Archive.htm

[Lex]

8. self delete, wrong place

[supernova]

16. Try lemon juice and vinegar to perk up flavors

rather than salt.

Salads, even entrees are improved by the addition of a little lemon juice or vinegar, esp. infused vinegars like rosemary and tarragon.

Also, removing the salt, you can go all herby.

[HopeHoops]

18. Another idea if he likes the TASTE of salt - Dulse Granules.

You can get a shaker for $3.25 from Maine Seacoast Vegetables. They're closed until the 30th of August, but you can order everything online:

https://seaveg.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13&products_id=12

It is a type of seaweed and it tastes REALLY salty, but it isn't. I use the full leaf seaweed all the time to season food. The shaker is convenient because you can put it on like salt and it adds the same basic flavor. The difference is it also adds all kinds of essential minerals, and a lot that are completely missing in processed foods.

The label on the whole leaf calls a serving 1/3 cup (7g) and that's a SHITLOAD! I never use anything close to that. But even if you did, you would only get 122 mg of sodium. You would also get 2g of protein, 16% potassium, 19% iron, 42% B6, 23% B12, 243% iodine, and curiously, 15% fluoride. Chromium, zink, magnesium, and phosphorus also make showings.

As far as I'm concerned, there is no better salt substitute. It is also yummy just as a snack food and nothing about it is bad for you.

[The empressof all]

21. I make a Fat Free Pesto "Cream" sauce that's yummers

Process a block of fat free Cream Cheese, two cloves of garlic (or more if you like) and about 3/4 a cup of Basil. You can thin this out with fat free milk to make a sauce for Pasta or use it thick as a dip.

Now if you can eat fat...Use the real Cream Cheese, double the basil, add a stick of butter and some Pine nuts or Walnuts. Thin with a little EVOO. Serve on Toasted Italian Bread.

[SacredCow]

22. That sounds interesting....

I might give that a try tonight- my basil plant is almost gone, and this will put the last of it to good use.