Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook–so glad you’re here!
Today, and for the next few posts, I’m going to deviate from my sauces of California Cuisine to bring you a special segment on low-sodium California Cuisine recipes.
Here’s why:
On Sunday, Mr. Stone Soup took me to the emergency room. This is never a good way to start your day. We got there at 7:45 in the morning, which was fortunately just before the whole world wakes up on Sunday mornings and, apparently, decides to go to the ER. I got seen right away and the wonderful staff lavished me with attention and had me out of there in a little under two hours, which is probably some kind of record. When we left, there were patients hanging from the rafters–it was truly incredible to see how many people had arrived in those two hours.
Preliminary diagnosis in hand, I also had an appointment scheduled with a specialist on Monday morning. The specialist was an older, no-nonsense gentleman who told me I needed to, at least in the short term, dramatically reduce my salt intake and drink tons and tons of water. Water–ok, I can get behind that. But the reduced salt task sounded awfully onerous, not to mention totally tasteless. I moped for a while. I didn’t eat much. I laid in bed for a while. I had a pretty good pout. And then pulled myself up from my malaise and said “Keri–you are The Stone Soup Cook!” You can figure this out.
Since I hadn’t eaten much yesterday, this morning, I woke up hungry and wanted a good breakfast. I started my quest for a good breakfast by thinking about all the things in nature that require no salt: fruit, lots of vegetables. So far, so good. Those are all things in the California Cuisine wheelhouse. Eggs? Well…better with salt, but I could get by with just pepper. I decided to make a veggie omelet–and trust me: this is a really good omelet. Would it be better with salt? Maybe. But I’ll say it again: this is a really good omelet. In the place of salt, I have substituted this great Florida Citrus Pepper Blend from The Spice House and Smoked Paprika from Penzey’s, both of which are bursting with flavor and entirely salt-free:
I sautéed some asparagus and red bell pepper and put a slice of American cheese (which yes, I realized too late, has a little salt) and topped the whole thing with avocado slices. This is truly a California omelet and it was VERY healthy. I’m going to try it tomorrow without the cheese. It may not be worth the hit on taste for the little bit of salt. We’ll see. I considered this to be a very good start.
Today, the malady which sent me to the ER has subsided somewhat and I’m feeling more like my old self, only perhaps a little better emotionally for having taken positive steps to make myself a little bit healthier. I hope this continues. I’m making other changes, also: instead of leaning into anger, I’m leaning into joy, starting with this little dog, who–yes–just graduated from puppy kindergarten:
Instead of leaning into anxiety, I’m taking him for a walk. Instead of leaning into frustration, I’m finding ways to make lemonade. Dramatically decreasing my salt intake sounded like a prison sentence from my doctor. Now, I’m trying to embrace the task and see if I can make it tolerable. Who knows? it may dramatically change the way I cook. And that’s not a bad thing.
Tune in tomorrow for a super healthy lunch smoothie!
Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
