Creamy Pesto Salad Dressing

I've always enjoyed The Old Spaghetti Factory's Creamy Pesto Salad Dressing. A few weeks ago I met a friend there for lunch and requested the creamy pesto dressing for my side salad. That lead me to look online for a copycat recipe. I found the same clone recipe all over the place including at CD Kitchen. I decided to try to adapt it to low sodium.


I originally made the dressing just for me because I thought my husband might not like the predominant basil flavor. I was wrong! He tasted it and wanted some on his salad too. I knew the clone wasn't going to work with a low sodium diet; the ingredients needed some adjustment. Plus, the recipe made 1-1/2 cups of dressing. That's a lot for just two people. So I worked on cutting the sodium level and cutting the quantities. Here's what I came up with:



Creamy Pesto Salad Dressing
(Printable Recipe)

1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup buttermilk (I use Knudsen brand* -- at 130 mg/cup, it's really low sodium for buttermilk)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. dried basil
1 Tbsp. finely grated Parmesan cheese

Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl. Refrigerate for at 30 minutes before serving. Whisk again before serving.


*If you live in the eastern, southeastern and midwestern United States, Knudsen is known by the Breakstone's name.

Soy Sauce Studies

Soy sauce is a great flavoring agent. It’s perfect, of course, for Asian inspired dishes. But it’s also great in beef dishes. Before CHF (congestive heart failure) affected my cooking approach, I always added a tablespoon or so of soy sauce to beef stew, pot roast, Swedish style meatballs, even super simple hamburger gravy. The addition of a bit of soy sauce boosted the “beefiness” of those and other dishes. It’s the umami , a basic flavor profile that is common to savory products such as meat, cheese, and mushrooms.

What’s the problem with using soy sauce? It’s as salty as all get out! Even the so-called low sodium versions are pretty high in sodium content. When it comes to “heart healthy” recipes and products, soy sauce is ever present. It’s understandable because it does add so much flavor. It makes a terrific marinade for all kinds of super lean cuts of meat. You can make tasty stir-fries with just a smidgen of meat and an overload of good-for-you veggies. But… Just because a dish is low in fat, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily “heart healthy.” Anyone suffering from hypertension, CHF, and other heart-related problems knows that controlling sodium intake is important too.

A quick look at the soy sauce options readily available at most grocery stores are pretty discouraging. Kikkoman regular soy sauce has 920 mg. of sodium for just one tablespoon. Its lite or reduced sodium version has 575 mg. per tablespoon. Better but definitely not great. San-J Tamari has similar numbers: the regular is 960 mg. for one tablespoon while the reduced sodium version has 700 mg. per tablespoon.

Are there any decent alternatives out there? Well, one possibility is making your own low sodium soy sauce substitute. There are several recipes online and in cookbooks for DIY no salt/low sodium soy sauce substitutes. I tried a few of them but was not impressed. They're usually a combination of beef broth, molasses, and vinegar with a bit of ginger and garlic added for good measure. That combo didn't taste good to me and didn't work well with some Chinese dishes. Plus the homemade concoctions didn't last long in the fridge. Commercially bottled soy sauce has a much longer shelf life.

I’ve read posts on so many forums touting the low sodium content of Bragg’s Liquid Aminos and its use as a soy sauce alternative. Bragg’s products are readily available in the natural foods sections of most grocery stores and at most health food stores. The problem is that most of the people hyping the low sodium properties of Bragg’s haven’t done the math correctly. The Bragg’s current website notes that 1 teaspoon is considered one serving, and that single teaspoon contains 320 mg. sodium. It takes three of those teaspoons to equal one tablespoon, the standard serving size for soy sauce. 3 x 160 mg. = 960 mg. per tablespoon of Bragg’s. I don’t see how that can be considered a truly low salt alternative. (For more information about Liquid Aminos, check out this more recent POST.)

The idea of shopping at an Asian market, if you've got one nearby, is a good one. That way you could spend hours searching the aisles and checking labels. You might discover some hitherto unknown brands of soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, fish sauce, etc. with very low sodium contents. It could be a lot of fun.

All is not lost, however. Years ago I discovered House of Tsang Lower Sodium Soy Sauce from Healthy Heart Market. This soy sauce has 320 mg. sodium per tablespoon. But the lowest sodium is by far China Town Soy Sauce, also from Healthy Heart Market. It has only 145 mg. per tablespoon. Now that’s super low! It doesn't have the more refined taste of saltier soy sauces, but it's a good low sodium option.

If you’re interested in creating low sodium Asian style dishes & stir fries, you’ll need some other flavoring ingredients in addition to just soy sauce. Toasted sesame oil is a must. A drizzle on top of finished dishes or in marinades adds a wonderful toasted, nutty flavor. Most grocery stores carry at least one brand in the ethnic foods aisle. Another must-have is unseasoned rice wine vinegar. Combined with other flavoring agents, it adds extra sparkle. Hot chili oil with or without red pepper flakes are also necessary. Just the slightest sprinkle enlivens bland dishes. Of course, if you like hot foods, add more.

Ginger & garlic are other requirements. Both flavors are necessary for Asian style dishes. And it doesn’t matter how you get that flavor. You can find powdered ginger or garlic powder everywhere. Most grocery stores carry jarred crushed ginger and jarred crushed garlic in their produce section. Usually the bottled garlic and ginger are prepared without salt. Many stores now carry whole peeled garlic cloves in the refrigerated section of their produce department. And some stores carry Gourmet Garden fresh herb pastes in handy tubes. These are usually found in the refrigerated section of the produce department. Watch out, though. Be sure to read the labels. Although the product is super convenient, the chili & garlic pastes are relatively high in sodium. However, the ginger and cilantro/coriander pastes are pretty good. And, in order to create a consistency useful for squeezing out of a tube, fillers have been added so the herbal flavor may not be as strong as desired. Of course, there’s always fresh ginger and fresh cloves of garlic.

Cilantro is another flavoring agent that works well in Asian style dishes. A generous sprinkling of the freshly chopped herb really boosts taste. Although fresh cilantro is best used as a finishing garnish, I have also thrown a couple of tablespoons of my own homemade frozen chopped cilantro into marinades & stir fries. Not as good as fresh, but better than no cilantro at all.

Another handy ingredient is Chinese Five Spice Powder This spice blend most commonly combines the sweet tones of star anise, fennel seeds, cloves, ginger, and cinnamon with the bite of Szechwan pepper and sometimes white pepper. It's one of the flavoring agents in Hoisin sauce, so it can be a good substitute. The sweet and pungent flavor goes well with meats and stir fries. Be forewarned, though. A little goes a long way. So you’re better off using just a ⅛ teaspoon to start with until you’re sure you like the flavor. It's also available in the ethnic foods section of most grocery stores.

The bottom Line: If you make your own lower sodium soy sauce substitute, then “the sky’s the limit.” You don’t have to worry about soy sauce sodium quantities at all. Just be sure to watch out for other Asian ingredients that are high in sodium. Things like Hoisin sauce, Oyster sauce, Thai fish sauce, garlic/chili paste, etc.

If you'd prefer using a commercially prepared lower sodium soy sauce, look for Asian inspired recipes that do not call for more than ¼ cup of soy sauce. Instead of the ¼ cup, just use 2 tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce.

And, of course, please realize that lower sodium soy sauces or soy sauce substitutes will NOT taste as good as the higher quality, authentic Chinese or Japanese sauces. But they will taste pretty good and they will definitely be lower in sodium.

Low Sodium Supermarket Dining: The Refrigerated Foods Aisle -- Part 2

Just as a reminder, the goal of this series of posts is to find ways to create a truly low sodium diet using regular grocery store products, including convenience & processed foods. Together we’ll “visit” the different aisles of a typical grocery store and discover how many easily available items can be used and modified to fit a low sodium diet. This stop, we’ll finish visiting Refrigerated Foods:

Fully Cooked Sausage

Fully cooked sausages, like Hillshire Farms brand products, are difficult to deal with. Most 2 ounce servings range from a “low” of 450 mg. up to more than 700 mg. The only way to use such a product is to limit yourself to working with the minimum serving size for one, usually 1 link or 2 ounces. Look for the sausage with the lowest sodium per serving.

You can create a skillet dinner for 2 by sautéing some sliced or chopped potatoes, onions, and bell pepper strips in a bit of oil and then tossing in some thinly sliced or chopped sausage a few minutes before serving. Obviously, the more potatoes you use, the better for you sodium-wise. To save time & effort, you can even use frozen hash browns likes the Ore-Ida Southern Style or Potatoes O’Brian. They’re both unsalted and ready to use. You could use other vegetables too. Cabbage goes really well with sausages. Be sure to divide the resulting dish into at least 2 equal servings and try to have everything else you serve with that meal very low sodium. This kind of sauté will give you the sausage taste but with a lot less sodium. If you use only 1 sausage for the two servings, that's even better.

You could do the same thing by tossing the sausage with different kinds of pasta or rice. Add the sliced or chopped sausage as toppings for low sodium soups right before serving. That way you can control the amount of sausage for each serving. Do the same with cooked bean dishes. You can also sprinkle sliced or chopped sausage on pizza or a main dish salad. By slicing the sausage thinly, you stretch the flavor. Just make sure that everything else in the meal is made with low sodium ingredients. Freeze unused sausage in serving size portions for use another time. Again, if you can use just one sausage for two servings, you'll lower the sodium content considerably. Stretching one link to create 2 servings will give you the sausage flavor without the salt overload.

The key to using fully cooked sausages is to use them only as a flavoring agent. If you’re on a low sodium diet, the days of having a couple of huge links or chunks of sausage at one meal are over. But you can still enjoy the sausage taste from time to time.

Hot Dogs

Speaking of fully cooked sausages… Grocery store hot dogs are just as problematic as other fully cooked sausages. Checking the labels is imperative. You can slice or dice up a single hot dog to flavor beans and soups. As with the other fully cooked sausages, stretching one link to create 2 servings is necessary

in order to avoid salt overload.

When it comes to the all-American hot dog sandwich, you will have to limit yourself to just one link and make sure everything else you eat that day is really low in sodium. No jumbo dogs or bun-sized dogs either.  Oscar Mayer offers an uncured Angus Beef hot dog as part of its Selects line that only has 370 mg sodium per link. That's the lowest I've found so far.  Sometimes uncured sausages or frankfurters are lower in sodium. Ball Park has a few franks under 450 mg./link. If you’re a hot dog aficionado, you might want to conduct a taste test to determine which frankfurter appeals the most to you. Obviously, eating a hot dog sandwich can’t be an every day occurrence, but it can be a special treat every once in a while.

Packaged Deli Meats

What an assortment to choose from… Yet hardly any are low sodium! You will find package after package touting their low fat content and many sporting the American Heart Association seal of approval. As though lowering fat was the only consideration for heart health! And don’t even get me started on the packaging labels. Some serving sizes are per slice while other are per ounce and still others are per gram. What’s a shopper to do?

The bottom line, though, is that most deli meat products are so high in sodium that you’d have to restrict yourself to only one slice or just a couple of those super skinny slices per sandwich. By the time you pile on lettuce, tomato, onions, mustard, & mayo on the bread, the flavor of the luncheon meat will be lost. What’s the point? You might as well just make yourself a veggie sandwich or a Swiss cheese sandwich. Nevertheless, if you really crave a deli type sandwich, read the labels carefully and try to limit yourself to between 200 – 350 mg. sodium for the meat portion of your sandwich. That may mean just one slice of deli meat or it may mean just a portion of the supposed serving size: only 2-3 slices instead of 4-6 slices. (For more on deli-meat products, check out this post and this more recent post.)

You may be fortunate enough to find low sodium salami. Gallo makes a dry salami product that’s only 260 mg. sodium for five slices.  Columbus also makes a low sodium salami with 290 mg. for a 5 slice serving. And salami is very tasty, so you could make yourself a salami sandwich using only four slices and still get a flavor punch.

Low sodium salami is great for pizza too. And julienned salami adds a lot to an entrée salad: lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, low sodium garbanzo beans, homemade croutons, chopped hard cooked egg, fresh mozzarella chunks, salami strips, and salt free Italian dressing. Served with low sodium crackers or bread. What a great summertime meal!

Fresh Salsa

Salsa can be a wonderful addition to a low sodium diet. It adds so much flavor and texture, especially when it’s the fresh variety. Most grocery stores carry a variety of fresh salsa brands, so the trick is checking the labels and finding the one that is lowest in sodium content. My personal favorite is La Mexicana Mild Salsa with only 75 mg. sodium for a 2 tbsp. serving. A tablespoon or two spooned on top of grilled chicken or fish is wonderful. You can serve salsa with scrambled eggs or use it as an omelet filling. You can use it to top a bowl of chili or Mexican flavored soup. The possibilities are endless. You can make a great guacamole dip by just smashing up some avocados and adding some fresh salsa. Now that’s something low in sodium that you can dip no-salt-added corn chips into. If you want to extend the salsa for some serious dipping, throw in equal parts unsalted pico de gallo from the produce department. Or you could add some freshly chopped tomato or even some chopped low sodium canned tomatoes.

With a little creativity, imagination, and determination, even the refrigerated aisle of your local grocery store offers some opportunities for low sodium dining.