Seasoning Your Food

Are you new to healthier eating? Do 'diet' foods seem boring and bland to you? What options are there for seasoning foods while limiting saturated fat and salt - those staple flavors in so many foods in the 'standard American diet'? (Refer back to the post on Fiber and Sodium for reasons to limit sodium and the page about fats as a macronutrient for how to select fats for better health).

If you aren't already dealing with a health condition for which your doctor has recommended cutting salt out, slowly weaning off of it will help you ease into a healthier way of eating in a way that you hardly notice that you're eating less salt. Start off by choosing low- or no-salt options for ingredients like broth, soy sauce, canned 'cream of' soups, and canned vegetables (you can still add salt during cooking).

For those who are accustomed to using pre-blended spice mixtures (like taco seasoning packets, steak seasoning blends, lemon pepper, etc), you can also swap to lower sodium versions, just to start getting used to less salty flavors. Mrs. Dash branded seasonings are all no-salt (formulated when the DASH diet, a low-sodium heart-health focused diet was at its peak popularity), and they are a great option for cooks with no time to blend their own seasonings or chop fresh herbs, etc. You may pay a premium for the branding, so look for store-brand options as well.

Culinary herbs are aromatic green leafy bits of plants that, when used in small quantities, offer bright summery flavors. Whenever possible, opt for fresh herbs over dried - if you have a bit of a green thumb and a place to grow them, they grow well in pots or in well-drained full-sun areas of a garden. Once established, many will come back from year to year, and you can cut or pinch off just what you need for any given meal right when you need it. You will find that you'll need to cut them back severely from time to time (most do well bundled and hung upside down to dry; strip the leaves from the stems once dried and store in glass jars for use during their dormant season).

Some common herbs that many people enjoy include chives (add a fresh green onion flavor), basil (pairs well with tomatoes and Italian style food), oregano (the main flavor in pizza sauce, or add to your next pot of chili - it's also a component of taco seasoning), thyme has a lighter flavor that I enjoy as part of a balsamic vinaigrette, or as an ingredient in light/broth-based soups. Parsley adds a slightly celery-type flavor, often included in Italian blends along with oregano and basil, and is a classic edible garnish. Fresh dill pairs well in a white wine vinaigrette, and with cucumbers in a classic cucumber salad or sandwich - or with fish (I like to add it to tuna salad or cook fish with it). Rosemary is a classic flavor paired with red meat or roasted potatoes, and mint (while it can take over the garden) can be added to a fruit salad or fruit-based side dish, or used with stronger flavors like lamb. Seek out recipes that use fresh herbs, and as you get a feel for which flavors you enjoy pairing up, add those to your regular rotation.

Spices are typically seeds, seed pods, roots, or even bark, dried and often sold either whole or pre-ground for use. They include warm flavors like black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cayenne, cumin, chili powder, cloves, and coriander as well as cool flavors like anise, cardamom, fennel, or caraway. When blended (sometimes with dried herbs), they can become complex flavor combinations like garam masala, taco seasoning, jerk seasoning, or in a sweet application, apple pie or gingerbread-type 'mixed' spice. Start off with some recipes for spice blends if you're just beginning to learn about flavors - you can customize any spice blend to leave out the salt, the heat, or a particular flavor you're not fond of (cumin, for example, can be a bit polarizing in terms of loving it or hating it). My kids are not fans of the heat of cayenne, so my custom taco seasoning and jerk seasoning blends don't include those, in addition to being drastically lower in salt than the blends available in the store.

Some sample spice blends that I make at home to keep on hand can be found here: Recipe - Seasoning blends