More Low Sodium Products

First, from Trader Joe's. I realize that not everyone has a TJ near them. But if you're following a low sodium diet and can get to a store every once in a while, take advantage of their many low salt products.

Last time I was there I discovered three new canned food items: TJ Low Sodium Minestrone Soup and TJ Low Sodium Chicken & Mafalde Pasta Soup. Both these soups are ready-to-eat and have only 140 mg. sodium per 10.75 oz. can. Probably good for a quick snack or to round out a skimpy dinner. The third item I found was TJ Whole Peeled & No Salt Added Plum Tomatoes with Basil in 28 oz. cans. I'm going to use the tomatoes tomorrow when I make some spaghetti sauce.

In the natural foods sections of my local grocery store I rediscovered a couple of snack treats. True confession: I really like barbecued potato chips. But they're horribly salty and not exactly a healthy or wise food choice. But... every once in a while it would be nice to indulge. Well, I had forgotten about the folks at Terra. They make a nice assortment of unsalted potato chips. Today I went home with a bag of unsalted barbecue chips and a bag of unsalted lemon pepper chips. In the past I've also purchased their unsalted sweet potato chips many times. My husband is not that fond of the sweet potato chips, but I love them.

Here's my plan: I'm only going to serve the potato chips once. Then I'm going to run the remainder of them through my food processor for some fabulous flavored crumbs. I think the lemon pepper would be great with fish and the barbecue good with chicken. They're already oiled enough, so I won't have to worry about drizzling with butter. I'll combine them with a bit of breadcrumbs too.

Look in the natural foods or health foods section of your grocery store for regular unsalted potato chips; there are several brands available now. You might find the Terra brand flavored ones too. You can also look in your local natural foods store. Don't be afraid to ask either the grocery store or natural foods store to start carrying the salt free chips.

OK, this last item is mind boggling. I happened upon a package of Pinch of Salt Fritos. Another true confession: I actually do like the taste of Fritos. I just can't eat them because of the saltiness. And this has been my feeling about Fritos for years, long before my husband had to watch his sodium intake. Regular Fritos (and most other chips) are so overly salted that after a few munches, the inside of my mouth actually starts to burn. So when I saw the promise of lightly salted Fritos, I decided to give it a try. I knew it was a gamble and I might very well end up tossing the package in the trash. But I was pleasantly surprised when I started eating them and my mouth didn't start hurting. The salt content is cut more than in half. It's now 75 mg. sodium per a 1 oz. serving compared to 170 mg. per serving. That's quite a difference. And, I think they taste better now too. Of course, like the flavored potato chips, I won't be serving them more than once or twice. I think the Fritos would make good crumbs too.