Improbable Eats

January 25, 2010

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, the Lunch Edition

Last week, I played caterer to a very special guest. Apron tied on tight, prep bowls aplenty, and a glass of white wine to keep me cool under pressure, I served a three course meal that was light, bright, and of course, low in sodium. While my companion’s identity will remain anonymous – sorry, I’m keeping this one to myself – I will share with you the secrets that made this mid-afternoon feast an easy success. I went simple, choosing recipes that I could make the evening before, that required minimal attention, and that, well, honestly, had a lot of margin […]

January 14, 2010

Holly Holly Hollandaise

Happy Semi-Hump Day (just two more afternoons to go until the weekend) and a special thank you to those readers who wrote in their votes for this morning’s post. The winner, of course, was the perfectly poached Eggs Benedict that Mom whipped up during Stanford’s bowl game on New Year’s Eve. The origin of this dish is still a mystery. Multiple people and places have been accredited for its creation, from a special order by a hungry (and demanding) patron at the Waldorf Hotel circa 1894, to a traditional French cuisine named œufs bénédictine, consisting of a toasted piece of […]

January 13, 2010

Holy Anchovy

When my kidneys failed six years ago, and I began my low sodium diet, I assumed certain foods were permanently off the “safe food” list. Anchovies, sardines, and any other tiny fish packed in a tin can, I thought, were swimming in sodium, and while I cannot say that I ever consciously chose to eat them before my diet changed, I found myself wincing with culinary jealousy when I read about other cooks using this fishy flavor to enrich their dishes. Anchovy and herb pate, kale puttanesca, a chunky Mediterranean tapenade, a milky Cesar salad dressing, even bread – these […]

January 7, 2010

Truth In Advertising

The culprit: Dragonfly Brand Dark Soy Sauce. The problem: Up until one night ago, I was under the impression that this was an unbelievable low sodium soy sauce substitute. The well-worn, nutritional label on the bottle I own says that it only has 55 mg of sodium per 1 tablespoon. But on Temple of Thai, a site that sells the imported sauce, states that there is a whopping 510 mg of sodium per tablespoon. Curious indeed! While I clearly need to do more investigating on this particular subject, my moment of being hoodwinked reminded me of a very important topic: […]

January 4, 2010

Crispy Fried Chicken

Happy new decade! I have a great feeling about this one and since I am always scheming on how to push the boundaries of low sodium cooking, I have a lot of fun low sodium projects ahead. The last weeks of 2009 were filled with a host of low sodium feasting and as promised, these next few days will be spent recapping each delicious bite: low sodium tamales, low sodium Chinese chicken salad, low sodium dream bars, low sodium gumbo. They are all coming your way and will blow your mind in due time. But to kick us off, I […]

December 16, 2009

Sticky Tummy Bread Pudding

Let’s start the morning with a shot of some beautiful, homegrown eggs. Cage free and totally enchanting with their varying shapes and colors. They were a most special gift from some good friends who are raising chickens of their own and I could not wait to use them. Well actually, I had no other choice. I am leaving for a bit of a holiday break and with two dozen eggs, a fresh loaf of no sodium bread, a whole block of Heluva good cheese, and a bunch of fresh kale, I was tasked to use up the goods as quickly […]

December 1, 2009

Cookie Hang

Oh me oh my – it’s the holidays. 96.5 has been blasting Christmas carols since the middle of November, store-front windows are sporting a menagerie of lights and pine needles, and people are gathering regularly for exchanges of gifts, goodies, and sweet treats. Last night my book club traded in well-read pages for a cookie hang which, for those of you who do not craft on a regular basis or own an absurd amount of tupperware, is an event in where people gather with enough baked goods for everyone to share. There are oohs and ahhs, a lot of munching, […]

November 20, 2009

Check Out My Cheese

Usually I try to come up with a somewhat intriguing title. But this time, the subject was so exciting that I had to rush past the presentation and skip to the good stuff. I made cheese. No seriously, I did. All by myself. Most amazingly, it was really easy. And most surprisingly, people who usually eat salt, lots of it, liked it. So the scenario goes like this: like I said in my last post, I signed up to attend the Jam It session at 18 reasons on Thursday night at which jamming, pickling, and DIY-fooding enthusiasts and professionals gathered […]

November 18, 2009

Pick a Pickled Pepper

Or carrots. Or fennel. Or grapes. On Monday night, I rushed home with vinegar in hand to prepare for the 18 Reasons Jam It event as well as create some down-home gifts for my relatives in Philadelphia. It’s Turkey Time people, and nothing says “thank you” on Thanksgiving like a jar of pickles. Am I right? I know I am. Let me tell you this – sodium free pickling is not only possible, it is easy and can be even more thrilling than your typically transformed cucumber. Without salt, you become more creative with your seasonings and spices. And if […]

June 9, 2009

Beefcakes

Just a quick warning – the beginning of this story is sodium-heavy – but, I promise that the ending holds a savory surprise. For the Boy’s birthday, I decided to dive into a baking adventure and make MEAT CUPCAKES – inspired by my friend Gina’s meat cookies and Mei’s salmon cupcakes. So, at five a.m., I rolled out of bed to begin creating two delicious bite-sized tins of celebratory meat muffins: a bacon, beer, & chive cupcake with blue cheese “frosting” and a fig and prosciutto cupcake with goat cheese “frosting.” I did not intend on making these sodium-girl friendly, […]

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