Kroger NuVAL

http://www.nuval.com/kroger/



Eating Healthy Since Feb, 2004
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Low Sodium Food Find - Tomato Sauce

Low Sodium (LS) tomato products are not impossible to find.  Kroger has their store brand have a green band for easy identification.  I always try to mention how much I appreciate the carriage of LS products.  I even go so far as direct employees toward products that actually taste good as well.  As such I've also mentioned to Meijer that they stopped carrying a LS brand of salsa: Frog Ranch.  I also in-aisle promoted it to another customer that was browsing the only other store in Lexington that still carries it; Kroger.

But today I am giving props to Sav-A-Lot food stores (SAL) at Lexington's Eastland shopping center.  They have a pretty low selection of LS as a whole, but they do regularly stock one of my hardest to find products.  Tomato Sauce.  A product of the 50s, tomato sauce is lightly seasoned and simmered, not simply pureed tomato  One of my favorite quickee pizza sauce recipes just adds minced onions to tomato sauce.  The SAL  store brand,  Diane's Garden is only 4/$1.  I use it as a quick pasta sauce for one.  Its perfect for a dine alone night.  Most nights LOL. I pop open the can, add, black pepper, onion powder, minced garlic, Italian seasoning and a splash of vinegar.  I swizzle stir it right in the can.  Super quick.


Ke7in

Eating Healthy Since Feb, 2004
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Low Sodium Tomato Juice

this gem was buried in a post about soup, and I wish to highlight it. I get so frustrated with the sodium levels of most tomato products. Thankfully, there are plenty of no salt added varieties of most common tomato canned products.

But look at the side of a V8 or tomato juice . oh my.

But you can make your own tomato juice using tomato paste and water. 1:4 tomato paste to water. Now that is a bargain. Use no salt added tomato paste, ad no salt added water, and you get no salt added tomato juice. Now to cram in 7 other ingredients for a v8. sorry man, you're on your own. `

http://lslf.blogspot.com/2004/07/mmm-noodle-soup.html

Eating Healthy Since Feb, 2004

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substitute

The graphic is a screen shot of a pdf that I made of it.

at one point I made a new version of this using the chili powder recipe I have previously linked. Careful readers can do something similar. It also cuts the number of spices down by one. I suppose you could break down the pumpkin pi spice into its component parts, but I won't, because I am widely known for my pumpkin pies at thanksgiving, so I think its "cute" to have the spice in my chili. Even though, like chili powder, Pumpkin Pie Spice is just a common ratio of spices used in the most common pumpkin pie recipe. And originally chili powder had the same purpose for chili, but not people use it as an ingredient, then add many of the same things already in the chili powder. Conversely, despite how it may sound, "Allspice" is not a mixture but a real deal. The British thought it had a multi-flavor aspect to it, thus naming it allspice.

all repeition is due to the 3 year gap in my posts Grin

Eating Healthy Since Feb, 2004

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chili con png

I am posting my secret spice mix as a graphic so as to mess with the spiders.

Eating Healthy Since Feb, 2004

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Image copyright 2008 Kevin Fillips

My Chili

I misjudged how much chili I was going to have yesterday. Ultimately it made 15 ladlefulls of chili. Each one is about what I eat on a pile of Spaghetti. The sodium, and fat is way lower than I expected. My initial idea was to make a sodium free chili. But it does not need to be, in that the sodium I did use, when divided by 15, is negligable. Like 40mg or so per serving. Plus cheese if you want a 3-way. And its awesome. I created this recipe a while back, when I was thinking about commercializing it. I was going to move to Minnesota, which had no such chili. But I am here now, and we have Goldstars all over, and several canned brands in the grocery. Some even have 1000mg per serving! Dixie Chili is at least half the sodium (450 mg) of the other brands. Mine like 40 mg! so I will not necessarily be posting the recipe for my spice mix just yet. I have so protected this recipe that even when I give the recipe out, it calls for "kevin's secret spice mix". The spice numbers went from 12 ingredients to 15 when I substituted home made chili powder for commercial. because of this, I make a ginger jar full of the spice mix and just scoop it into the pot with the tomato paste, garlic, bay leaf, meat, water, and worcestershire.

I am going to experiment with Textured Soy Protein for a vegetarian version. And that could even be in the mix!

Eating Healthy Since Feb, 2004

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ABC News: Eat 'Supermeals' to Protect Heart: Experts

This is kind of interesting.
ABC News: Eat 'Supermeals' to Protect Heart: Experts: "They call their recommended diet the 'Polymeal,' playing off the 'Polypill' idea, which got a lot of attention last year, of giving everyone a combination pill to prevent heart disease.

The Polymeal includes ingredients that research has consistently shown can decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease. The menu includes wine, fish, dark chocolate, fruits, vegetables, garlic and almonds. All ingredients must be consumed daily in the recommended amounts, except for fish, which research suggests should be eaten four times per week."

Meatless Taco Filling

A nice meatless taco filling can be made with
Diced squash, mushrooms and onions.
sauté the onions first, followed by the squash, then the mushrooms. To this I add a can of dice no salt added tomatoes. I season to taste and bring to a boil. To this I add my favorite miniature pasta Acini di Pepe. Small pepercorn sized pasta that you find in Italian Wedding Soup. I cook the pasta in the pan with the vegetables watching to make sure it does not run out of liquid until the pasta is cooked. To this I add hot sauce and cayenne and cumin and parika, and a dash of tghe 1950s classic condiment "Kitchen Bouquet" as a browning agent. I use this like normal taco filling. It has the texture of meat, with none of the animal, and all the carbs hehehehe.

Eating Healthy Since Feb, 2004

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Still eating

I am still eating, but am doing things other than coming up with new things to eat. Here is some notes on what I have been doing.

My chips and salas are taco shells, and low sodium salsa.
My treats are freezer pops. I have discovered "carribean pops" which are more substantial.

Yesterday, I lookd at my cincinnati chili recipe, and realied with portion control, it was not all that high in sodium. I adjusted the ingredients to handle the elimination of commercial chili powder. Basically, I just added Oregan, Paprika, onion and garlic powder, and upped the cumin and cayenne. I had some last night, and it was tasty. Oh, and I lowered the salt by 1/3. That dropped the total socium in the entire batch to 320mg a serving. A low sodium diet allows up to 800mg for the noon and evening meal, and 400 for breakfast. I still do not come to that limit very often.

Eating Healthy Since Feb, 2004

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